Tamil Nadu - Madurai   

It’s enthusiasm from the word go as students learn to use dictionary

— Photo: K. Ganesan

TWISTS AND TURNS: Students of Government Higher Secondary School at Karungalakudi in Madurai district learning to use dictionary.

MADURAI: It was their first tryst with the lexicon. The eighth standard students of Government Higher Secondary School in Karungalakudi in the district discovered not only new words but also the way to get at their meanings on Monday during a session on ‘Dictionary and Thesaurus’ at The Hindu Newspaper in Education session.

Resource person Sujatha Manikandan introduced the dictionary to the children as a storehouse of knowledge. This was followed by on methods to approach the lexicon. The students were made aware of ‘guide words’ and ‘entry words’ that help the learner to find the meaning. She also demonstrated how division of the dictionary into three sections – from a to e, f to p and q to z – would facilitate speedy search.

The children were given a few words and asked to look for their meanings in the dictionaries provided to them. They were also taught to locate the words through the first, second, third or fourth letters.

The twist came when words with the same spelling, like ‘fast,’ were given. Enthusiasm picked up and there was a competition to come out with the meanings. Those who could get at it first read out the meaning from the dictionary.

The resource person asked the students to read the newspaper every day to improve their knowledge.

They should read one paragraph or the headlines and look for meanings of difficult words in the dictionary, she said.

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