About WordGirl
WordGirl follows the every day life and superhero adventures of “WordGirl” as she fights crime and enriches vocabulary usage, all in a day’s work. Disguised as mild-mannered 5th grader, Becky Botsford, WordGirl arrived on planet Earth when she and her monkey sidekick, Captain Huggy Face, crashed their spaceship. In classic superhero form, WordGirl possesses superhero strength with the added benefit of a colossal vocabulary. WordGirl has a family and friends who have no idea of her secret identity. As WordGirl, she battles and prevails over evil (albeit ridiculous and comical) villains.
Each episode introduces four new vocabulary words and will reinforce their meaning in a variety of contexts throughout the episode. The vocabulary itself is not necessarily a plot point. The show teaches new vocabulary words to children in a variety of fun and interesting contexts. WordGirl is a superhero spoof, so storylines are funny takes of familiar stories from that genre.
WordGirl enriches young audiences’ vocabulary, closes the gap for those who don’t grow up in language-rich environments, instills a love of language, and fosters better reading comprehension.
The following goals serve as a model for harnessing the educational opportunities a program such as WordGirl offers.
- To engage children in a language-filled world that will provide a meaningful context and rich experiences to help build children’s deep word knowledge and engender a lifelong enthusiasm for language.
- Direct instruction of important targeted vocabulary words presented in multiple and interesting contexts in order to build children’s deep word knowledge and overall vocabulary interest.
- To provide role-models for children illustrating the power of words within a rewarding social/emotional and cultural context that includes positive character models from groups underrepresented or negatively stereotyped in the mainstream media, promoting the value of our diverse society.
