Ideally, one's talk segues into ways the precision of crafted phrases or stylized sentences amplifies messages, sharpens concerns, or frames praise. People pursue how words and their selective combinations illuminate and illustrate, persuade and perplex. For many, this intricate puzzle with language is a frolic, simple wordplay. In this article,…

Four doctoral students and their professor contemplate the value of play in their high school and college classrooms. They discuss their experiences teaching children's books, student illustrations, and excerpts from magazines and newspapers that convey the intricacies of the English language through homonyms, homophones, homographs, and polysemy.…

Describes the Spoken Words Vocabulary Activity. Recommends ways to implement this activity in class and shows how to use it to teach students traditional strategies for determining word meanings. (RBW)

Argues that trying to teach students new words outside of any reading context is a nonproductive enterprise. Describes one teacher's innovative approach to teaching students how to learn new vocabulary words embedded in actual texts. (HB)

Reports on the visit to Japan of a 60-year-old man who had last been there over 40 years ago. Relates several amusing anecdotes about language fluency and Japanese customs, mostly based on the changes a language undergoes in the passage of many years and the importance of an up-to-date vocabulary. (NKA)