Starting from Meaning
Sharing how to learn words and language through meaning first. This clay model created by an adult client shows the meaning of ‘onto’ so beautifully and with a sense of movement, too.
Picture-thinkers or hands-on, creative people learn easily when they engage with meaning first:
They clay the meaning, then explore and experience the real meaning of the word in the real world.
The word is also clayed: visual, hands-on work, yet with focused reference to the meaning in the dictionary.
The dictionary meaning of this word is: onto, used to show movement into or on a particular place.
We ask, ‘Where is the exact meaning of onto in the model?’
Learners clay meaning in their own context, making it interesting and relevant for them. In this case, the clay figure stepping up onto the clay block. When asked to explain, they would point at the foot leaving the lower block of clay moving to the higher block… also indicating movement. Now they have shown you that they understand the meaning of onto!
