For secondary school students Wordshark can be extremely useful, either to learn Key Stage 3 subject vocabulary or to cover any areas that have been missed – always with the option to add your own words.
The program works for this age group due to the varied content, the wide range of options, and because the quirky games are not age-specific.
For dyslexia or catch-up
Students with specific learning needs such as dyslexia commonly arrive at secondary school missing the skills that they need. Independent learning, one of the biggest benefits of Wordshark, means that students can work at their own level and pace without feeling they are being compared to others or judged. Read more about Wordshark for dyslexia and other special needs.
Key stage 3
Wordshark provides a fun and effective way to learn Key Stage 3 subject vocabulary. The Secondary subject lists ‘course’ covers a wide range of subjects: Art, Citizenship, D&T, Drama, English, Geography, History, Maths, Music, RE, PE and Science. If you want to provide practice of the words in context there are two games for this: Crossword 1 and Save the sharks.
The right starting point
There’s a ‘TEST’ button which takes a student through a few spelling tests and places them at a suitable starting point in Wordshark. Or they can start at the top of the ‘Wordshark’ course and make their way through it as it gets progressively harder.
Adding your own words
Wordshark allows you to add as many words as you like, to record the words and their definitions, and to upload images. You can even choose to add foreign language words, or switch to North American spellings.
Printable resources
Some of the games, such as the word searches, are also printable.
The boys are actively engaged, and are utilising the Secondary Specialist Subjects content assiduously, including your suggestions of adding unknown words to their lists so they actually know what they mean!
Amanda – ParentMy daughter has GCSE’s next year and uses it to reinforce the spelling of technical terms for science, geography etc. it is a great learning tool and easy to access.
Gillian William-Powlett – Parent, Jesmond
