Got to Teach!: Teaching Greek and Latin Roots Some estimate that up to 75% of the English language is derived from Greek and Latin roots. They truly are the "building blocks" of English and present teachers with an extremely powerful framework to nurture students' vocabulary development. Why should you be teaching Greek and Latin roots to your students? 1. Consistency: Not only do these roots follow fairly consistent orthographic patterns, they also have distinct semantic components; these features, when explicitly taught, allow students to link pronunciation, spelling, and meaning when encountering new and/or challenging words. Just as primary teachers utilize the consistency of word families to teach their emergent readers, upper grade and secondary teachers can also rely on the consistency of roots when teaching their students. 2. 3. 4. Activities for Teaching Roots Most of the pintables referenced below can be downloaded for free {HERE}. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
The World's Most Spoken Languages And Where They Are Spoken This beautifully illustrated infographic (above), designed by South China Morning Post’s graphics director Alberto Lucas Lopéz, shows the most spoken known languages in the world and where they’re spoken by the 6.3 billion people included in the study. Based on records collated from the database Ethnologue, the infographic illustrates the wide-ranging facts and figures of the world’s living languages catalogued since 1951. “There are at least 7,102 known languages alive in the world today. Twenty-three of these languages are a mother tongue for more than 50 million people. The 23 languages make up the native tongue of 4.1 billion people,” says Lopez on his infographic. “We represent each language within black borders and then provide the numbers of native speakers (in millions) by country. You can see the full pie chart in all its technicolor glory here. [H/T: ZME Science] Read this next: Blood Donors In Sweden Get A Text Whenever They Save A Life
Top 10 Characteristics Of Effective Vocabulary Instruction by Kimberly Tyson, Ph. D. of learningunlimitedllc.com We know that there is a strong relationship between vocabulary and reading comprehension. Systematic vocabulary instruction is an integral part of a K-12 comprehensive literacy framework for instruction. Common characteristics of effective vocabulary instruction have been documented in numerous professional journals and books. Effective vocabulary instruction across grade levels and content areas is key. As part of 12 Days: 12 Tools I have shared 4 templates and tools for vocabulary. Tool 1: Top Tips for Words WallsTool 2: Concept CirclesTool 5: Marzano’s 6-Step Vocabulary ProcessTool 7: Alphaboxes Graphic Organizer Top 10 Characteristics of Effective Vocabulary Instruction You can put this infographic to use tomorrow; several immediate uses come to mind. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
Improve Comprehension: A Word Game Using Root Words and Affixes ReadWriteThink couldn't publish all of this great content without literacy experts to write and review for us. If you've got lessons plans, videos, activities, or other ideas you'd like to contribute, we'd love to hear from you. More Find the latest in professional publications, learn new techniques and strategies, and find out how you can connect with other literacy professionals. More Teacher Resources by Grade Your students can save their work with Student Interactives. More Home › Classroom Resources › Lesson Plans Lesson Plan Overview Featured Resources From Theory to Practice Middle school students love friendly competition, and word games can be an ideal context to help them study the meaning, structure, and spelling of words. back to top Make-a-Word Game Chart: This handy chart will help your students research and record the meaning of each prefix, root word, and suffix of the words listed. Pressley, M. (2001).
Root Words, Roots and Affixes Many English words are formed by taking basic words and adding combinations of prefixes and suffixes to them. A basic word to which affixes (prefixes and suffixes) are added is called a root word because it forms the basis of a new word. The root word is also a word in its own right. For example, the word lovely consists of the word love and the suffix -ly. In contrast, a root is the basis of a new word, but it does not typically form a stand-alone word on its own. For example, the word reject is made up of the prefix re- and the Latin root ject, which is not a stand-alone word. Common Latin and Greek roots Download a copy of the Common Latin Roots chart below. Download a copy of the Common Greek Roots chart below. Affixes One method of understanding the meanings of new words is to analyze the different parts of the word and the meanings of those parts. Download a copy of the Common Prefixes chart below. Download a copy of the Common Suffixes chart below.
Recently added - word meanings English Adjectives for Describing Physical Appearance - Vocabulary for Talking About How People Look attractive - a person who is very good looking. (men and women). Attractive is a word you might use to describe someone who is very nice to look at, but who is not stunningly beautiful or strikingly handsome. Example sentence: - "Princess Diana was a very attractive woman." bald - As soon as possible. A.S.A.P. is an informal expression that is used to indicate when things need to be done really quickly. Example sentence: - "Could you finish that report for me today, please? beautiful - abbreviation for the English preposition 'before'. Online chat abbreviation for the English word 'before', a word we often use to talk about things that happened earlier than other events. We also use the word 'before' to talk about things we expect to happen sooner than other future events that are likely. blonde - textspeak for the expression 'bye for now'. 'Bye for now' is a slang expression that we use when we are saying goodbye to people we expect to see or speak to again in the near future. short - you.
Word Information - an English dictionary about English vocabulary words and etymologies derived primarily from Latin and Greek word origins Knowing Your Greek Root Words Can Help You Learn New Languages by Erinn Stam If you enjoy learning new languages, or just want to increase your knowledge of English, you'll want to learn Greek root words. Understanding the definitions of Greek root words and how they are used in the English language will help you tremendously. How Knowing Greek Root Words Will Help You Grasp English Better Even if English is your native language, you'll find that learning Greek root words will increase your vocabulary. Greek root words make up much of our medical and scientific language, so you'll find these root words particularly helpful if you're going into one of those two fields. How Knowing Greek Roots Words Will Help You Learn a New Language When you study the root words, you are building for yourself a set of tools that can be used to take apart and then rebuild new words you encounter. Important Greek Root Words to Memorize You'll find there are several Greek root words that you will recognize once you learn them. Author Links Other articles
5 Great Infographics for Language Teachers and Learners Infographics are great learning materials. The colourful graphics, clear text and their size make them ideal for classroom integration. I have been posting some of the ones I deem educationl to help teachers leverage this resource to create engaging, relevant and personalized learning experiences in their classes. In this regard, I am introducing you today to a series made up of four parts all containing the best infograpgics about English language teaching and learning. Due to their size we could not embed all the infographics in one post instead we distributed them on four posts with each one of them containing links to other posts to make it easy for you to navigate the four posts without having to move away. Teachers can print them out and pin them on the class wall for students to access throughout the whole year. Part One ( scroll down to read the content of this part) Definite and indefinite articlesAll about AdjectivesPunctuation Passive VoiceWhen to use e.g and i.e Part One