Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

1. What do you think the word verbomania might mean? Explain your rationale. What words do you see in the longer word? What connotation do you associate with this word, and why?

Teaching Suggestion: This term might be new to students, but breaking it apart into verb and mania can help them to hypothesize about its meaning. Nick rebels against reading his father’s dictionary but also demonstrates his love and talent for vocabulary. Over the course of the novel, he approaches words as he approaches soccer; this builds the theme of Verbomania as a Sport. After considering these or similar resources, students might practice the intentional use of very long words in sentences, dialogues, or skits. These words also might connect to other subjects students are studying, providing a chance for cross-curricular learning.

• With “What's the Longest Word?,” PBS presents a 7-minute video about long words, what they mean, and even the definition of the word word.
• “13 Fancy Words to Use to Boggle People's Minds” by BBC examines some extremely long words, including one that means the fear of long words.