There are three tiers of vocabulary. Tier 1 is "every day'' words. Tier 2 is cross curricular vocabulary. Tier 3 is content specific vocabulary. Tier 1 vocabulary is the least specialized type of vocabulary & therefore it is the one that gets the least attention. Most of the vocabulary that our students will encounter and use during their lifetime, yet they will receive limited or no Tier 1 vocabulary instruction. I think back to my own experience, and it was Tier 1 vocabulary that always made me feel the most self-conscious about speaking because I was not sure what those "easy" words were in English. For me, home was in Spanish and school was in English. That means in my mind anything that had to do with household chores, family, and church was in Spanish. There was a time that I had to stop mid sentence because I did not know how to say sarten (a pan). I am a biliterate educator, but my Tier 1 vocabulary in both English & Spanish has a few gaps because I still tend to use one language more than another when I am at home and when I am at work. How much have students developed their Tier 1 vocabulary in both English & Spanish? What are we doing at our campuses to teach our students the multiple ways to describe "every day" objects & events? Having a strong Tier 1 vocabulary can help our students understand idioms, sayings, colloquialisms, and implied meanings during all conversations.
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