Vocabulary for Unit 1 - Writing Your Story, Memoir and Application Essays - LIST 1 - Vocabulary Activities

Sep 28, 2026

Uploaded by Stanley

Vocabulary activities for Unit 1 focused on “Writing Your Story: Memoir and Application Essays” using LIST 1 words. Students interpret meaning from context, then confirm definitions using dictionaries. A structured partner discussion applies each term to literature, film, and real-life examples. Writing tasks require each vocabulary word in a sentence grounded in the unit texts. Additional exercises compare shades of meaning with provided synonyms and support optional conversation practice using all terms.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryExam

FormatPDF

Pages9

Reading Time23 min

AccessFree to download

Activity 1: Words In Context

Activity 2: Use Your Resources

Activity 3: Application of Vocabulary

Activity 4: Writing about Literature

Activity 5: Shades of Meaning

Activity 6: OPTIONAL EXTENSION: Vocabulary in Conversation

Name Class Vocabulary for Unit 1: Writing Your Story: Memoir and Application Essays: LIST 1 Activity 1: Words In Context Directions: Use context clues to determine the meaning of each of your new vocabulary words. Write your best guess at the definition in the right-hand column. | Word | In Context from the Unit Texts | Possible Definition | | --- | --- | --- | | Benign | On the drive, I tried to calm myself with memories of benign park activities: the rainbow potato-sack slide orthe Viking ship.
from “The Monster of Kings Island” | | | Commensurate | The train threaded into the station. We climbed out, laughing dizzily, and I felt something commensurate to love: I had survived the monster, and all I wanted was togo back and be tossed around again.
from “The Monster of Kings Island” | | | Dubious | And every summer I was spared the horror of the world’s longest wooden roller coaster by being too short to clear Scooby-Doo’s outstretched paw in the park’s dubious measuring system of emotional and physical maturity.
from “The Monster of Kings Island” | | | Embody | I remember the snacks Mom told me she ate when she was a kid and how I tried to imagine her at my age. I wanted to like all the things she did, to embody her completely.
from “Crying in H Mart” | | | Endear | In South Africa back then, it wasn't common to find a white person or a colored person who spoke African languages; during apartheid white people were always taught that those languages were beneath them. So the fact that I did speak African languages immediately endeared me to the black kids.
from “Chameleon” | | | --- | --- | --- | | Fusion | Last, there’s my personal favorite: Korean-Chinese fusion, which serves tangsuyuk—a glossy, sweet-and-sour orange pork—seafood noodle soup, fried rice, and jajangmyeon.
from “Crying in H Mart” | | | Infamy | Even before I saw the roller coaster, its infamy was scored in my mind by way of the Beast’s ubiquitous logo: two manacled claws straddling a railroad track that disappeared into a fiery hellhole.
from “The Monster of Kings Island” | | | Innate | But by the summer of 1984, my body had failed my innate survival instincts by growing beyond the 48-inch ride requirement.
from “The Monster of Kings Island” | | | Pseudo | There will usually be a pseudo-French bakery with weak coffee, bubble tea, and an array of glowing pastries that always look much better than they taste.
from “Crying in H Mart” | | | Ubiquitous | Even before I saw the roller coaster, its infamy was scored in my mind by way of the Beast’s ubiquitous logo: two manacled claws straddling a railroad track that disappeared into a fiery hellhole.
from “The Monster of Kings Island” | | | --- | --- | --- | Activity 2: Use Your Resources Directions: Use one or more dictionaries to determine the definition of each word that best matches its use in the text (as seen in Activity 1) . Write the definitions in the right-hand column. | Word | Dictionary Definition | | --- | --- | | Benign | | | Commensurate | | | Dubious | | | Embody | | | Endear | | | Fusion | | | Infamy | | | Innate | | | Pseudo | | | --- | --- | | Ubiquitous | | Activity 3: Application of Vocabulary Directions: With a partner, discuss each question for 1-2 minutes. 1. Describe an animal that is seemingly—but not always!—benign. Explain your choice. 2. Sometimes people react to an event in a way that's not commensurate with what's happening. Describe a time when someone did this in literature, film, or real life. 3. How can you respond when someone tells you a dubious story? 4. Name a literary character or historical figure who embodies courage. Explain your choice. 5. Describe a person you find endearing. What endears them to you? 6. If you could have a fusion of any two kinds of foods, what would they be and why? 7. Name an infamous character in film or literature. What caused their infamy? 8. Do you think a person’

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What is required in Activity 4: Writing about Literature?

Students write one sentence for each vocabulary word, and the sentence must show understanding of both the word’s meaning and the related text.

Sep 28, 2026

Uploaded by Stanley