Last week my husband and I were fortunate enough to attend the wedding of a dear friend in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. My word finding strategies served me well as I tried to retrieve some remnant of long-lost Spanish vocabulary. The term that I kept forgetting was the word for the beautiful stone esplanade along the beach. I seemed to have a brain freeze every time I tried to talk about the lovely walkway lined with shops, sculptures, and smiling people called El Malecon. I made a silly connection with the word “malcontent.” It was definitely not a link with semantics – everyone was friendly and seemingly content. But each time I got stuck on the word, I just thought of “malcontent” and immediately could retrieve “Malecon”.
Once again, word finding strategies are for everyone! Teach the strategy to your students and use it for yourself!