Goes home the day before

Study guide — test 2

Grade 1 · Writing · 48 words · the test is after lesson 39
For the grown-up at home. This is a short vocabulary test. Your child does not need to write anything tonight if they are tired — five minutes of talking is enough, and talking is better than copying. You do not need to read English well to help: ask your child to tell YOU what each word means, in any language. If they can explain it, they know it.

The words

a paradigm shift — a complete change of view
common ground — what both agree on
a watershed moment — a turning point
the crux of the matter — the central point
weather the storm — survive difficulty
a slippery slope — one step leading to worse
level the playing field — make it fair
a knock-on effect — a chain of results
take root — become established
a blanket statement — a claim about all
hold water — stand up to testing
in the final analyzis — when all is considered
it is worth noting that — note that
with the exception of — except
insofar as — to the degree that
by and large — mostly
in the context of — when looking at
all things considered — on balance
that being said — even so
to put it another way — in other words
for the purposes of — for
in so doing — by doing that
as regards — about
notwithstanding — despite
hyper- — too much / above
micro- — very small
macro- — very large
auto- — self
bio- — life
geo- — earth
-graphy — writing about
-cracy — rule by
-phobia — fear of
i.e. — that is
et al. — and others
cf. — compare
a working title — a first name for it
a preliminary draft — a first version
scope the topic — decide how wide
a literature review — what others wrote
a research question — what you will answer
a timeline — when each part happens
allocate time — set aside
a first pass — a rough attempt
narrow the focus — make it smaller
a structure — the plan of parts
a deadline — the due date
revise and edit — improve then fix

Three things to do, five minutes

  1. Cover and say. Cover the right-hand side. Your child says what each word means.
  2. Use it. Pick three words. Your child says a whole sentence with each one — out loud, not written.
  3. Find the hard one. Ask which word is hardest. Do that one twice more. That is the whole homework.
What is on the test. Matching each word to what it means · putting the right word in a gap · writing 3 sentences of their own. There is also one bonus word we have NOT taught — it does not count toward the score, so nobody should worry about it.