Review: Word Up! The Vocab Show

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I have shared on this blog many times how much we love Visual Latin.  Dwane Thomas makes Latin fun and interesting using short visual lessons and a fun sense of humor.  When I found out that he was working on a new series called Word Up! The Vocab show, I jumped at the chance to review it.

This is a brand new series.  Multiple sets are planned, but at this time Vol I is the only one that is available for purchase.  Each volume will contain 10 video segments lasting around 15 minutes long and will explore 20 Latin and Greek roots and 200+ English words.

Volume I covers the following words:

Lesson 1: Water-Aqua and Hydra
Lesson 2: Write-Scribo and Grapho
Lesson 3: Earth-Terra and Geo
Lesson 4: Many-Multus and Poly
Lesson 5: Place-Ponere and Thesis
Lesson 6: Time-Tempus and Chronos
Lesson 7: Good-Bonus and Eu
Lesson 8: See-Video and Skopeo
Lesson 9: Throw-Iacere and Ballein
Lesson 10: City-Urbs and Polis

There are now 3 Volumes of Word Up! The Vocab Show!

You can purchase Word Up! as either a download or a physical DVD.  Both options have pros and cons.  Downloads you can take with you anywhere and watch on different mobile devices.  I reviewed the DVD because I live in the country and have super slow internet.  Prices start at $25 per volume for digital and $30 for DVD. There is an option to purchase all three volumes at once for a discounted price.  Word Up! is also part of the Premium Membership.

Take advantage of the 2 free lessons!

Watch a short video of Word Up!

Word Up! The Vocab Show - Official Trailer from Compass Cinema on Vimeo.


To go along with the videos, you will also have access to Quizlet flashcards, quizzes, and games to reinforce and test comprehension.  Here is a sample of the Quizlet features for lesson one.

What Did We Think?

I will just come right out and say it.  We LOVED it! I watched Word Up! with my 12, 11, and 9 year old boys with my 7 and 5 year olds popping in on occasion. My 9 year old liked it so much he wanted to watch it everyday.  And he requested Vol II as a Christmas gift from his big sister (I did tell him he would have to wait on that.)

I really have never seen anything like Word Up! to teach vocabulary.  By learning the Latin and Greek roots found in the English words, students will be able to figure out the meaning of many words that they never knew before.  What makes it different from other methods?  Many other products I have seen simply have you memorizing lists of words.  Word Up! is nothing like that.  It is FUN to watch.   Dwane, Dwane, and Dwane (the Latin guy, Greek guy, and newsroom guy) all interact very nicely with each other.  The backgrounds are fun and interesting.  The words are shown on the screen as well as explained, and Dwane's sense of humor adds a little something special to the lessons.  There were a few more serious words that were taught in this DVD and I thought those were explained and taught very well along with the lighter ones.  Lessons are short (around 15 min) which is a perfect amount of time to learn the words being taught without dragging it out too long.  You do not have to worry about your children being bored watching this.  But, it is not just entertainment.  They will be learning as well.

No advanced prep is required for parents.  Children can handle it completely on their own because all they have to do is pop in the DVD or click on the download.   Although parents,  you may want to watch.  I enjoyed it and learned a lot myself :) The Quizlet feature is already set up for your students to be able to review and take quizzes, but you can make changes and customize those if you choose to after registering for a free account.  My boys were thrilled not to have worksheets they had to complete.

Word Up! is fun, affordable, easy on the parent, educational, and easy to learn.  What more can you ask for?

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of Word Up! for the purpose of writing a fair and honest review.  I received no other compensation and all opinions are my own.  I am disclosing this in accordance to FTC regulations. 

*links in this post are my affiliate links.  I only form affiliate relationships with companies whose products I actually use and can recommend!