WHHS students seek victory in Vocabulary Bowl

Alan Zhang, ‘20, tests his vocabulary knowledge on the interactive learning website vocabulary.com. Many English teachers have shifted their vocabulary teaching method to the vocabulary.com system.

One new feature at WHHS this year is the use of the vocabulary.com website in place of vocabulary workshop books in english classes. Many students have begun to notice that this website also includes a “Vocabulary Bowl.” The Vocabulary Bowl is a competition in which more than 38,000 schools from the United States and Canada participate. Points are awarded for every word that a user masters.

Last year, with fewer classes opting to use vocabulary.com, WHHS placed fourth on a national level for the Vocabulary Bowl. The school mastered 213,107 words, which is 152,344 fewer words than the 2016-17 champion Etiwanda High School in Rancho Cucamonga, California. As of Oct. 17, WHHS is in second place behind the defending champion, Etiwanda, by 15,067 points.

WHHS’ current leading teacher on the school leaderboard is Dawn Wolfe. Wolfe finds vocabulary.com a useful tool for her AP students. She is able to input words from essays they read, and vocabulary.com automatically forms lists with words that tend to be harder for students. Wolfe says, “the kids’ vocabularies are growing, and I see evidence of that in writing conversations, and how the students respond to my vocabulary use as well. The vocabulary.com program is really interactive, and has helped with teaching.”

Alan Zhang, ‘20, has mixed feelings about vocabulary.com.

“It’s neat that Walnut Hills is placed second place in the nation for the Vocab Bowl. However, on the whole, I don’t think that vocabulary.com is a good substitute for traditional vocabulary education, since the meanings of words aren’t conveyed as well online than in class. But the website is a valuable resource for the future, and Walnut should continue to jump on opportunities for progressive education.”