Category Archives: Social Sciences

Several years ago, a couple of my colleagues analyzed the results of the New York State Regents Exam in Global Studies. They wanted to understand why an entire cohort of juniors missed the same question on Neville Chamberlain, et al, and the Munich Pact. They didn’t need to look far at all: students reported that they didn’t understand the word appeasement. 

Here then is a context clues worksheet on the verb appease, which is only used transitively. The sheet itself would be relatively simple to change to appeasement, if you prefer to teach the noun.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

You might find this context clues worksheet on the noun kaiser useful, especially if you’re teaching a global studies class that addresses German politics in the second half of the nineteenth century, and, of course, World War I. Please do remember that this is a derivation of the Latin cognomen Caesar, appended to Augustus, Rome’s first emperor. Assisting students in taking that knowledge a step further you can demonstrate to students how far this word traveled by pointing out that the Russian emperor’s title Czar also derives from Caesar.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

Here is a context clues worksheet on the verb assimilate that you might find handy in teaching social studies. It’s used both transitively and intransitively. Beware, however (and you may want to consult Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary on this), when you use it transitively, with the prepositions to, into, and with, you will need to use caution as meaning can shift in those constructions.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.