Give your child's vocabulary a head start

Read all about it. A powerful vocabulary can often add to a person's employment potential and help make lifelong learning possible.

Plus, building a strong vocabulary increases a person's ability to communicate effectively, both socially and professionally. It also enables people to have a better grasp of the information that they read or are exposed to through other media, such as radio or television. This holds true for both adults and children.

The National Center for Family Literacy offers the following tips for improving a child's vocabulary:

• Encourage a child to read as much as possible from a variety of sources.

• Tell a story. Parents might be surprised by all the words they choose when they describe the things they do, the people they meet and the places they go.

• Act it out. Often, children and adults can benefit from visualizing words, either in the illustrations of a book or by acting them out.

• Expand on it. When telling a child stories and reading together, ask questions such as "how" and "why" to support the use of additional and more precise words.

• Encourage a child to search for words on the Internet.

• Use technology creatively to promote learning, such as using vocabulary-building video games.

To promote literacy, the video game publisher Ubisoft, the NCFL and actress Meredith Baxter have joined forces to create an online contest called the "Great American Word Challenge" that helps bring a sense of fun and excitement to literacy. Said Baxter, "There is nothing more powerful than the ability to express yourself with confidence. Building that confidence starts with a strong vocabulary, and the foundation for vocabulary- and future academic success- starts at home."

The contest, which runs through Jan. 31, pits cities against one another in a test of vocabularies. People across the U.S. are encouraged to compete in an online version of the video game My Word Coach for the chance to establish their hometown as the city with the best vocabulary in the country.

The city that gets the highest average score takes the title and the prize. Nintendo DS units and copies of My Word Coach will be donated to NCFL learning centers in the winning city.

For information, visit www .greatamericanwordchallenge.com.

This story is provided by North American Precis Syndicate Inc.