English Vocabularyusually ages 5–11

Discussing and Questioning New Words

Ask and answer questions about unknown words in texts; discuss word meanings and link new vocabulary to words already known

How to tell they’ve got it

Tick these off as you see them — no test required.

Ask 'What does ___ mean?' when meeting unfamiliar words during reading
Use context and pictures to work out what a new word might mean
Explain a new word by connecting it to a known word (e.g. 'enormous means really really big')

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Try this together

When your child comes across a word they don't know in a book, do they try to figure out what it means from the other words around it and connect it to words they already know?

Where this sits on the map

Stuck here? Check the skills it builds on first. Confident? Here’s what it unlocks.

Builds on

Nothing on the map comes before this — it’s a starting point.

Discussing and Questioning New Wordsthis skill · ages 5–11

Unlocks

Domain Vocabulary Across Subject Areasages 9–11Academic and domain-specific vocabulary acquisition builds on the habit of discussing word meanings and linking new vocabulary to known words

Using New Vocabularyages 5–9Need to understand words before using them

Word Parts as Cluesages 5–8Context clues support morphological analysis

Defining Wordsages 6–9Context clues support defining words

Expressive and Sensory Languageages 6–9Context clues support understanding literary language

solid = must come firstdashed = helps

Curriculum alignment

Candidate matches to official curriculum codes — machine-suggested, unreviewed (v0.1).

Show candidate curriculum codes · 3 ACARA · 2 NSW · 3 VIC

Australian Curriculum v9 candidate

AC9E1LY05medium confidenceYear 1 · Literacy

use comprehension strategies such as visualising, predicting, connecting, summarising and questioning when listening, viewing and reading to build literal and inferred meaning by drawing on vocabulary and growing knowledge of context and text structures

AC9E5LA08medium confidenceYear 5 · Language

understand how vocabulary is used to express greater precision of meaning, including through the use of specialist and technical terms, and explore the history of words

AC9E4LY05medium confidenceYear 4 · Literacy

use comprehension strategies such as visualising, predicting, connecting, summarising, monitoring and questioning to build literal and inferred meaning, to expand topic knowledge and ideas, and evaluate texts

NSW syllabus codes & stages only

EN1-RECOM-01medium confidenceEnglish K-10 · Stage 1

ENE-RECOM-01medium confidenceEnglish K-10 · Early Stage 1

Victorian Curriculum 2.0 codes & levels only

VC2E1LY12medium confidenceEnglish · Level 1 · Literacy strand

VC2E4LY09medium confidenceEnglish · Level 4 · Literacy strand

VC2E5LY09medium confidenceEnglish · Level 5 · Literacy strand

These are candidate alignments generated by semantic matching — machine-suggested and unreviewed (v0.1), not official or verified mappings. For official curriculum content see australiancurriculum.edu.au, curriculum.nsw.edu.au and f10.vcaa.vic.edu.au. Don’t rely on them for registration or compliance purposes.

Nearby on the map

Shades of Meaningages 5–9 Sorting & Categorising Wordsages 5–8 Using New Vocabularyages 5–9 Word Parts as Cluesages 5–8

All Vocabulary skills →