The words the students learn are collegiate level vocabulary words, and, in some cases, rare “forgotten” words published by academic websites. The game is played with handmade flashcards specially designed for Rota students using drawings and pictures to assist the students’ learning.
After their long training, the first group of our students left for the high school and immediately we were contacted by their English teacher who said, “I have never seen children with this size and capacity of vocabulary in the ninth grade.” In fact, it is likely that there isn’t another public junior high school anywhere releasing students with this kind of vocabulary.
The students, normally shy and quiet in front of educated people, find that they feel able to talk fearlessly now. They speak of their newly acquired words with their chests puffed out with pride, beaming as they report story after story of the way their success is admired by the whole community of Rota, who understands at a core level that they are witnessing something truly spectacular.
Students are empowered by the game. Perrijane Taimanao, John Quitugua, and Sierra Valdrez think hard and then say in a serious tone that their words “Feel great, really great.” Sixth grader Taylor Hocog knows that the word petrichor means “the smell of the earth after a rain”. Taylor says that when she told her family her favorite word they said, “What does it mean? They were amazed.”
Everybody wins in the Rota Junior High School game because students of different abilities compete as a team. Children can show what they know by drawing a picture, acting out the meaning of the word, or simply by defining it verbally. Then they spell the word. When they succeed, they keep the word card and at the end of the day, the team with the most cards wins. The team aspect is important. A child who struggles in language arts is paired with a child whose skills in English are high, and when one person on the team wins, both students receive a prize and recognition. The entire game is student centered and student run.
The students even began to tease the principal, Mrs. Maria Quitugua, with some of their really rare words. Laughing, the principal said, “That’s not fair! At least give me some context clues!”
Sixth grader Catherine Manglona, who knows words like chaffer, devoirs, rectify and peregrination, says, “It feels wonderful because you know words that other older people don’t know.” In fact students who already have siblings in college often challenge their older counterparts using their new vocabulary words and the middle-schoolers win at every showdown.
Seventh grader Paolo Urbano likes his favorite word diligent because it makes him feel smart. Brian Mendiola likes “apoplectic, because sometimes I get mad, too.” Rhowan Hizon says the words, “Feel cool because, like, I’m a not a nerd and yet I cannot get the words out of my head, it’s like a melody in my head.”
Ursula Manglona says she likes velocity because “It goes fast like I do!” Jada Aldan likes efflorescence because “It’s fun to say,” and, she adds, “I like ricochet because it bounces right through my head.” Jonas Maratita likes embellish because he likes to decorate. Seventh grader Ian Jacob says his favorite word is “Discerning, because it helps me learn.”
Izzamil Camacho says, “I get to learn new words and it feels good. Last week I used cibosity and my godbrother Joshua couldn’t even understand it!” Anako Suzuki likes flamboyant because, she says, “I’m stylish too.” Marilou Masga likes tatters, Shannon Barcinas likes pragmatic saying, “I used it on an essay and I feel smart because I know words that I haven’t known ‘til now.” Plenty of students reported loving the words lethargic and putrid because then they can say lazy and stinky using big words.
This unique, challenging word game reaches the whole island of Rota. One student, Franorylynn Mesngon reported that when her parents discovered what she was doing at school and heard her new vocabulary word, “They asked me, ‘What does it mean?’ and I explained it to them and they went to the dictionary to look up the word and then we started this game at dinner where we take words from the dictionary and teach my little brother. It makes us feel like we succeeded in something.”
Seventh grader Glenica Maratita says that when she gets frustrated with her family she just pops out a fancy word that they don’t understand and everyone is so impressed that the argument is over. Then Glenica adds, “At night when I am bored I go to my room and I take out my vocabulary cards and sit on my bed and study them and then I test myself. Even later on, my cousin started testing me too.”
Nesia Aguon says, “I was telling my brother these words and he says, ‘What the heck are these college words?’ and it feels good because I’m teaching my own brother sometimes.”
Preston Cabrera likes perspicacity, and, like so many of our students, he places great value on his words; he knows he’s doing something special. Roy Manglona said that when he told his mother than he was winning in the vocabulary game she said to him, “You must be very smart then!” Colby Ogo likes cohesive and admits that he says the word a lot of times because it’s fun. Noah Quitugua likes diffident while Frank Mesngon likes hyperbole and hovering. Tiny, little Antonette Sabangan likes meticulous because, “It means neat, like me.”
Seventh grader Kent Manglona recounts a funny story, “I like fopotee because it means a stupid person and every time my dad gets frustrated with me I tell him to call me fopotee and he says, to me, ‘What does it mean? ‘ and I tell him, ‘Go and get another college education and then you will know what it means.’”
At Rota Junior High School even in the sixth, seventh, and eighth grade children master the meaning and spelling of difficult words like susurrus, improcerus, bajulate, alfresco, and truculent. When they learn words, they feel important, powerful, and educated. Children digest material inconceivably above their grade level. It’s a wonderful thing to watch what’s happening at this tiny junior high school.
In a recent after school vocabulary event, Juzette Austria, the winner of the sponsored twenty dollar grand prize said, “I never thought I would win. I‘ve been studying these words for three years now. I taught my parents the word abstruse because I talk too fast!” (Abstruse means hard to understand.) What isn’t abstruse is how beautiful Juzette’s huge vocabulary really is.
Parents honor their children. Siblings congratulate their little brothers and sisters. Whole families acquire vocabulary. On a more academic level, the school’s reading specialist Mrs. Aimee Steiner says that the reason for the game isn’t just because it’s fun. “We’re not playing at this; this is serious. When these sixth, seventh, and eighth graders leave this campus, they walk into a world where adults battle not with fists, but with words. Rota’s children have a superior vocabulary. No Rota child will ever be a victim. No student from this island will ever be poor or tricked or humiliated,” she says. “I know this because I see them mastering these arcane words, words that give them power in the real world.”
(Any educator wishing to know more about this game should contact Mrs. Steiner at [email protected].)
