The Week in Vocab
Review the Biggest Buzzwords of the Week!
When you follow national and worldwide affairs, you get access to claims of self-defense, high stock prices, old mysteries, sports trades and more. Each week, we’ll highlight the top buzzwords or terms that your students might not have known or even heard until now. All these words are featured in the most recent edition of The Week in Rap. And once students beef up their vocab, the news will make a lot more sense.
THIS WEEK
self-defense — a countermeasure to an assault on one’s self, one’s property or the well-being of another from harm. The right to use self-defense is a legal justification for using force in times of danger, but the interpretation varies from court to court.
Why it matters: George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch captain from Florida, shot and killed teen Trayvon Martin, allegedly in self-defense.
dividend — a distribution of a portion of a company’s earnings, decided by the board of directors, to a class of its shareholders.
Why it matters: Apple’s profits have become so high it will reward shareholders with a dividend and stock buyback program–something that former CEO Steve Jobs never did.
circumnavigate (verb) — to sail or fly around.
Why it matters: A new clue has surfaced that may help explain the mysterious disappearance of Amelia Earhart. Earhart famously set out to circumnavigate the globe in 1937, when she and her navigator, Fred Noonan, fell off the radar without a trace.
unprecedented (adjective) — never done or known before.
Why it matters: An unprecedented case has arisen for the NFL. Saints head coach Sean Payton has been suspended without pay for the next season for paying “bounties” to his players for knocking out players from other teams. Payton is the first head coach suspended by the league for any reason.
hate crime — a crime against a victim because of his or her perceived membership to a certain social group (typically race, religion, sexual orientation, etc.)
Why it matters: Former student Dharun Ravi was convicted Friday of anti-gay hate crimes against his roommate, Tyler Clementi, now deceased.
Did you hear any other big terms this week? Share them in the comments!
Learn all about these stories and more in The Week in Rap.