Building Your Child's Vocabulary in Years 3 and 4: A Guide for Dubai Parents

What vocabulary means in Years 3 and 4

In Years 3 and 4, reading at school moves on from working out the words to understanding them. The National Curriculum in England says that, as reading the words gets easier, teaching should turn more towards vocabulary.

So the question changes from "can my child read this word?" to "do they know what it means here?" In Years 3 and 4, children learn to work out a new word from the sentence around it and from its parts, and to tell apart words that mean nearly the same.

Reading together and chatting about words are both worth doing. This guide adds two things: how to tell whether a word is really known, and how to choose the words worth working on.

The "Year 3 and 4 word list" is a spelling list

Search for a Year 3 or Year 4 word list and you will find the curriculum's list of 100 words. It is a spelling list: a mix of words children often use in their writing and words they often misspell. It is not a list of words to learn the meaning of.

The curriculum in England has no list of everyday words that children in Years 3 and 4 should understand. Apart from word parts such as prefixes, the only words it lists for their meaning are a handful of grammar terms. No one list could cover every book a child reads. The words worth working on come from your child's own reading and the topics they are learning at school.

How to tell whether a word is really known

Knowing a word is not all-or-nothing. It builds up, from barely recognising it to knowing it well. A child may read a word aloud perfectly and still not be sure what it means in a sentence. Five steps, each with a question you can ask:

1. 1. Heard it — ask: "Have you heard this word before?"
2. 2. Gets it in a sentence — ask: "What's happening in this sentence?"
3. 3. Can explain it — ask: "What does it mean?"
4. 4. Can use it — ask: "Can you make up a sentence with it?"
5. 5. Can tell it apart — ask: "How is it different from …?", with a word that means something close.

Most words sit somewhere in the middle for a while. That is ordinary. The steps are not a test for your child; they are a way for you to know which words to come back to.

Which words to work on

The words most worth your time are often the ones that turn up in books and in grown-up conversation, but less often in children's everyday chat — words such as "reluctant", "fragile" or "eager".

Technical words, such as the names used in a science topic, are usually taught with that topic at school. Words your child already uses all the time need no extra work.

Pick two or three words a week from the book your child brings home from school, or from a topic they are learning in class. A word inside a story comes with a sentence around it, which helps your child work out what it means.

One word over one week: a worked example

Here is one word over a week: "fragile", from this line in a story: "The vase was fragile, so Mum wrapped it in paper."

Monday (step 1): when you reach the word, stop briefly and explain it simply: "Fragile means it breaks easily." Then keep reading.

Tuesday (steps 2 and 3): ask what "fragile" means. "Something about the vase" is step 2 — your child follows the sentence but cannot explain the word yet. If they repeat your exact words, ask: "What else at home is fragile?"

Wednesday (step 4): point to something at home that is fragile, and something that is not. Ask your child to use the word about one of them.

Thursday (step 5): try a close word. "A glass is fragile. A flower petal is delicate. What's the difference?" Both words mean easily damaged. Fragile things can crack or smash, like glass. Delicate things are easily damaged and need gentle handling, like a petal. Your child does not need a perfect answer — discussing the difference is the point.

Later in the week: listen for the word. If your child uses it on their own, the word is becoming theirs.

Word parts: what Years 3 and 4 add

Children meet their first word beginning, un–, in Year 1. In Years 3 and 4 they learn many more, and the National Curriculum in England lists them with their meanings. Two of them:

• sub– means "under": a subtitle sits under the main title.
• inter– means "between" or "among": an international flight travels between two countries.

Children also learn about word families: words related in their spelling and their meaning. The curriculum's own example is solve, solution, solver, dissolve and insoluble.

When you meet a long word, try covering part of it together and asking what the rest means. Cover "inter" in "international", and see whether your child knows "national".

If English is not the main language at home

Many children in Dubai speak one language at home and learn in English at school. A child can chat easily in English with friends and still meet a word for the first time in a book. That is ordinary.

If it is easier, discuss what a word means in the language you share most comfortably. Then come back to the English word together, and use it in an English sentence.

You do not need perfect English to help. Reading together, asking what a word means, and listening for it later can be done in any home.

Not sure of an English word yourself? Ask your child to explain it to you. Explaining it is step 3.

When to speak to your child's school

If your child often reads a passage aloud well but cannot explain what many of the words mean, mention it to their class teacher. Your child's school sees their work all year and is the best place to start.

How GetYourTutors can help

Our free English check for Year 3 includes a part called Words and meanings. Your report shows how it went and gives ideas to try at home.

If you would like a tutor to work on vocabulary with your child, our English tutors teach in your home across Dubai.

Our other primary English guides include phonics, reading comprehension, spelling and grammar.