Word Games
By Susan Mandel Glazer

Did you know that the Earl of Sandwich coined the meaning for the word "sandwich?"

There's nothing worse than book lists for students during summer break. Some parents make their kids read only what's on the list and then kids see reading as a drag. I agree that children need to be involved with literacy activities during summer break in order to keep up with their skills. But what they do is the key to keeping the desire for literacy high.

Word games can lure curious kids to have a lot of fun and increase their vocabulary at the same time. Here are some entertaining ways to keep vocabulary growing all summer.

Palindromes
Palindromes – words or sentences that read the same way forward and backwards – are fascinating. Although I'm often frustrated because I have difficulty solving them, kids seem to thrive on the challenge. Here's a list of palindromes to get you started. Be sure to suggest that your students try creating a list of their own with their parents.

Writing a palindrome on a 3"x5" card and then writing the definition on the back is a great way to start a word game. Place the cards definition side up on a table. The object of the game is to "Guess the Palindrome" from its meaning.

Sentence and phrase palindromes are stimulating, frustrating and exasperating at times. The trick is to realize that backwards really means just that – you begin with the last letter and read the phrase from right to left. Can you read these sentences and phrases forward and backward?

Name no one man
Step on no pets
A man, a plan, a canal, Panama!
Madam I'm Adam
Flee to me remote elf
Nurses run
Was it a rat I saw?

Ask your students to see if they can come up with some new ones.

Words borrowed from names
The concept of words being borrowed from names gets kids to admit, "I would've never believed it!" Did you know the origin of these words? Encourage your students to find the "real" meanings behind other words.

Adam's apple: Adam, the first man, who ate the the forbidden fruit, an apple, in the Garden of Eden.

bloomers: Amelia Bloomer, a pioneer feminist who made them popular.

leotard: Jules Leotard, a French acrobat who designed it as a costume for his trapeze act.

sandwich: John Montagu, fourth Earl of Sandwich, who invented it so he could gamble without stopping for a regular meal.

teddy bear: Teddy Roosevelt, President of the United States, who spared the life of a bear cub on a hunting trip.

Concentration
Concentration is a game genre that can be used to turn all of these word plays into games. To play, use only one side of flashcards. Create two identical sets of the palindromes or words borrowed from names and their definitions. Shuffle four pairs for younger children (you can use more for older kids), and place them face down and randomly spread out on a table top.

The player then picks any two cards and looks at them. If they're a pair, he or she keeps them. If they're not, the cards are put back on the table, face down in the same place from where they were picked up. The trick is to remember where different cards are located on the table when they're facing down so when it's your turn, you remember where the pair is located. Each player takes a turn, and the one with the most pairs of cards wins. Concentration is great for learning definitions, identifying where words are borrowed from and much more.

After playing a few of these games this summer, your students will learn to really love playing with our language. Enjoy your break!

Susan Mandel Glazer is the Director of the Center for Reading and Writing at Rider University in Lawrence, NJ.

May, 2005, Vol.35, No.8