In growing your vocabularies prefix, suffix, compound words can help a lot without much stress. For school going children it can be taught in playful activities. The children would love to compete and learn fast.
Prefix when added change the meaning entirely thus must be taught well to improve efficiency. Some prefix give positive whereas some negative meanings like;
Un; unhappy, unhealthy, unlucky, unnatural, unnecessary, unmarried, unwanted, uneducated.
In; inauspicious, indecent, inactive, indirect, insecure, incomplete, inedible, incorrect.
Dis; disorder, disconnect, disobey, dislike, disadvantage, disqualify, dislocate, dishonest, discourage,
Mis; mistake, mismanage, misconduct, misunderstand, misbehave, misspell, misfortune, misfit.
Il; illegal, illegitimate, illegible, illegitimate, illogical, illiberal, illiterate.
Im; impossible, impolite, immobile, impure, impartial, impractical, immature, imperfect.
Mal; malnutrition, maladjustment, malformation, malpractice.
Anti; anti-corruption, antibiotic, anti-terrorism, antihero, anti-ageing, antioxidants.
Re; recall, remember, relocate, replace, rejoin, report, remarry, reproduce, readdress, rearrange.
Pre; preface, premature, precaution, preposition, prearrange.
Over; overflow, overcome, overtake, overwrite, overestimate, overdo, overwork, overcook, overview.
Under; underestimate, understand, underweight, underwear, undergo, underground.
The words which end in these suffixes are Adjectives.
Ful; meaningful, beautiful, colourful, shameful, artful, fearful, dreadful, tearful, dutiful etc.
Ous; famous, tremendous, treacherous, dangerous, jealous, zealous, delicious, ferocious etc.
Ive; active, positive, negative, attentive, educative, effective, defective, protective, digestive etc.
Ent; intelligent, deficient, efficient, prominent, eminent, different, ardent, evident, dependent etc.
Ant; important, adamant, reluctant, tolerant, arrogant, abundant, dominant, extravagant etc.
Al; natural, casual, nominal, tropical, national, terminal, seasonal, formal, practical, legal etc.
Less; meaningless, nameless, shameless, brainless, senseless, colorless, effortless, aimless etc.
Some; troublesome, cumbersome, twosome, irksome, gruesome, burdensome etc.
Able; comfortable, portable, affordable, charitable, adorable, removable, disposable etc.
Ible; flexible, irresistible, terrible, sensible, eligible, negligible, gullible, edible and inedible etc.
So almost 75% of adjectives can be taught playfully to the learners.
In the same way words which end in these suffixes are Nouns.
Ment; development, enlargement, enrollment, employment, assessment, retirement, encouragement, improvement etc. (if the suffix is eliminated we get a verb so easily kids learn verbs as well nouns)
Tion; promotion, regulation, creation, certification, demonstration, vibration, renovation, reservation.
Sion; tension, pension, suspension, decision, conclusion, extension, depression, repulsion, omission.
Ness; kindness, tiredness, freshness, happiness, curiousness, carelessness, truthfulness, shyness, softness. (when ness is removed we can get adjectives)
Ty; simplicity, honesty, property, casualty, poverty, novelty, generosity, beauty, creativity.
Cy; policy, efficiency, tendency, diplomacy, literacy, decency, deficiency, privacy, accuracy.
Ance; importance, arrogance, appearance, reluctance, tolerance, abundance, extravagance.
Ence; intelligence, reverence, difference, preference, eminence, turbulence, interference.
Age; parentage, percentage, shortage, advantage, patronage.
Ship; hardship, leadership, friendship, partnership, scholarship, entrepreneurship, fellowship.
Some people only have good knowledge of compound words and a family of words. It also helps lot if learnt with curiosity and interest. Two nouns are combined to make a compound word. Time-table, dressing-table, dining-table, bed-room, bath-room, toilet-cleaner, lamp-shade, lime-light, room-mate, life-partner, play-ground, table-cloth.
Some words have many derivatives which too can extend word knowledge.
Familiar, familiarity, familiarize, familiarization, unfamiliar,
Hospital, hospice, hospitalize, hospitalization, hospitality, hospitable, inhospitable.
Special, specialist, specialty, specialize, specially.
Some words have a set like Noun, Verb, adjective and adverb. it is essential to know the family of a word to be thorough. Mostly we know only one or two words generally used. English has a lot of flexibility and it must be learnt to use in appropriate manner.
Laughter (noun), Laugh (verb), Laughable (adjective) and Laughably (adverb).
Death (noun), die (verb) , dead (adjective) and Deadly (adverb)
Knowledge (noun), know (verb), Known (adjective), knowingly (adverb)
In the same way we should encourage the use of synonyms through reading and writing practice.
Think, ponder, reflect, muse, fancy, guess, consider though convey similar meanings yet the words have strong expression at apt places if used accurately.
Nowadays though children have access to net yet the good things especially towards language learning are ignored. in schools competitions for language improvement can be conducted where children are encouraged to write on their own instead of memorized essays.
Mostly children tend to get confused as pronunciation can not determine the correct idea of spellings in children's mind. same pronunciations have different spellings thus end up in confusions.
Words with missing vowels or jumbled letters too give good and sound practice to learners initially stimulating their interest for language learning. Kids learn much faster and eagerly so in schools the teachers need take special efforts to improve language skills and stimulate learning attitude.