Activity 1

A trick to remembering the meaning of "principal" is that the head of a school should be your pal--the last three letters of the word. Can you come up with any other "tricks" to help you remember the meanings of confusing words or homonyms? Try to find an internet site that lists such memory devices, and list some of the ones you found most helpful.

Activity 2

Some of the most important organizations and companies in the country, the NAACP, the ACLU, the NCAA, are known almost exclusively by initials. Conduct an internet search, starting at a search engine like Yahoo! or AltaVista, and find out what the letters in the titles of these, or any other organization, stand for. Why do you think these organizations decided not to go by their "full names"?