The Amazing World of...Dictionaries

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The Amazing World of...Dictionaries

• Objective We will have learnt...
• Why do we use dictionaries?
• How are they useful?
• How do we use them?
• How can they be used?

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Why do we use dictionaries?
Think about a literacy lesson

• There are probably more than 250,000 English
  words. Pocket-sized dictionaries have only the
  most common words in them. Most English
  dictionaries will tell you what a word means and
  what class of word it is, e.g. a noun, a verb or
  an adjective.
• Think of one instance were you would use a
  dictionary...discuss with your partner and report
  back to class ?
• We can use dictionaries for so many reasons, they
  help us with a variety of different needs.

Think about an unknown word
Think of a difficult spelling
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How are they useful?

• Dictionaries are used for...
• Finding and checking spellings.
• Finding a definition of an unknown word.
• Find out word classes - is the word an noun,
  adjective or verb?
• Gain extra knowledge of more complex vocabulary.
• Independent learning - you can find out for
  yourself!
• Research skills.
• Extends your thinking about theEnglish language.
• Can be used online as well so wedevelop our ICT
  skills!

Did you know... A foreign language dictionary
tells you how to say a word or a phrase in a
language other than your own. It does not tell
you what the words mean. I like to ride my
bike. Me gusta andar en bicicleta In the example
above you are told how to say 'I like to ride my
bike' in Spanish.
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How do we use them?
Finding information in a dictionary... All
dictionaries arrange their information
alphabetically. Each piece of information is
called an entry. For example, in an English
dictionary youll find words beginning with a at
the front, and z at the back. Because there are
lots of words beginning with a each letter that
follows decides which word comes first. For
example, ant will come after ankle because the
first two letters are the same but the third
letter is different, and t comes after k in the
alphabet. To find the word sunny start by
finding words beginning with s, then su, then sun
until you eventually narrow it down to sunny.
What do we mean by... Definition? A definition
is a phrase or sentence that describes the
meaning of a word.
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Guess the word from its definition.

• A person who travels into space.
• The world wide web.
• Trained fighter in Ancient Rome.

Astronaut
Internet
Gladiators
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How can they be used?

• Dictionaries can be used through different types
  of medium...
• Online
• Books
• Subject specific
• Foreign
• Illustrated
• Play http//www.clubbing.com/Pages/Games/GamePlay.
  aspx?gameChicktionarymodeplay

7
Using your dictionaries, find the definitions
of...

• Settlement
• Invade
• Roman
• Empire
• History
• Emigration
• Immigration
• Refugee
• Memory
• Interpretation

Write these words in your Literacy book with the
date and title Dictionaries.