CATESOL24

John McWhorter, linguist of Black English, claims 'loving your language means a command of its vocabulary beyond the level of the everyday.' Many teachers send their students, armed with a vocabulary list, diving into the dictionary as a first contact. While that may offer a start, words are like onions (and ogres) and have layers, and command of vocabulary requires facility with the corresponding layers of each word. In this presentation, participants will explore layers of vocabulary words from denotations to collocations and discuss strategies for assisting students to develop a strong command of words.