Mysteries of The Vernacular

Mysteries of Vernacular are a series of videos from TED-Ed,created by Jessica Oreck and Rachael Teel, that explore the etymology of words. The origins of the words are often nothing like their modern meanings. I really like like how the original words are really surprising and I wouldn't have guessed the origins by myself. There are currently 11 videos, each on a different word, so watch for new ones to be released. The animations for the video make them even more interesting to watch. The narration is set to the scene of a book which opens and flips its pages to reveal stop-motion animations illustrating the lecture. My favorite video is on the word hearse, as the origin of hearse is quite different and remote from the current word. Click here for the full set of videos and at this site there are lessons accompanying the videos making these videos a great resource. Below is the video for the word hearse, where I learned how "herpex" became "hearse".

Mindsnacks SAT Vocab App

            A fun way to bring mobility to your vocab learning. This app provides fun vocabulary games that use SAT words.  As you master words, you go up in levels and unlock more games. Your avatar also grows from an egg to an adult creature as you level up. Games test both speed and accuracy. Some games work on spelling, while others develop rapid recall of info as well as many other skills.
            An example game is Swell.  Swell requires the player to match a word and a synonym to raise an ever-decreasing water level and save a goldfish. The water drains faster the more correct answers that are given. The app is free, but you will have to buy all but the first lesson. It is definitely worth it! If you need to share a single iPad, that is fine. SAT Vocab allows users to sign out of a account and another player to sign in.
           SAT Vocab App, made by Mindsnacks, is compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.  It is optimized for iPhone 5 and requires iOS 5.0 or later.

Vocabulary.com

This is a great website for improving your vocabulary for the SAT or any other purpose. The vocab challenge ensures that words tested are not too hard or too easy. There is not a time costly pretest, as the program learns from your wrong answers and adapts itself to your knowledge. As a reward for mastering words, you can earn badges, much like Khan Academy. Each badge means that the owner has a minimum number of points. I have 99,525 points and a prodigy badge. To achieve the prodigy badge, you need a minimum of 10,000 points. There are also patches for achieving various missions, like completing a whole round without a mistake. You can see all your friends’ achievements in the leaderboard.

Vocabulary.com also has a dictionary.  One of my favorite parts of the dictionary are the funny, amusing example sentences that make words memorable. The dictionary is different from the usual dictionary because you can look for lists of words. For example, a search for partsof:bicycle will come up with a list of words and their definitions, all parts of a bicycle.  Any search using the syntax partsof:<your noun here> will find the parts of that noun. The dictionary will also find words that rhyme with a specified word. Look on the left side of the screen while playing the challenge for tips on special search syntax and other help.

Another feature of Vocabulary.com is the blog and word lists. The blog has various vocab related articles that are extremely interesting. The word lists are lists of words composed from literature or the dictionary that people liked. These include lists for practicing for a spelling bee, making the lists worthwhile to read.  At any time, you can choose to designate a word from the website dictionary or a list from the list library as something you would like to include in your personal quizzes. The whole site is also ad-free for a non-irritating learning experience.