Tag Archives: building vocabulary/conceptual knowledge

Fundamentalism

Here is a reading on religious fundamentalism along with its attendant vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet.

This reading from The Intellectual Devotional Modern Culture focuses tightly on the origins of Christian fundamentalism in reaction to scientific developments in the nineteenth century and the growth and development of this theological trend across time. If I have noticed anything across the span of my life, it is the growth of fundamentalism across the globe and its religions. Moreover, there has been a tendency toward moral absolutism and certainty, and misplaced faith in things like financial markets, that has not, in my opinion, benefitted human civilization. What I mean to say, I suppose, is that these documents might be a good place to start a discussion with students about conformity and rebellion, orthodoxy and heterodoxy, and intellectual freedom and bondage.

If you find typos in these documents, 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.

Common Errors in English Usage: Farther (adv), Further (adv)

Here is a worksheet on differentiating the use of the adverbs farther and further. This is another document adapted from text found in Paul Brians’ book Common Errors in English Usage, which you may access for free at the Washington State University website.

What is the difference? Thanks for asking! Basically, usage sticklers insist on the use of farther for distances and further for extent of time or degree. Of course, in everyday discourse, these words are used interchangeably. In prose, however, the distinction might be well observed. In any case, one of the purposes of this series of worksheets (I have a hundred of them to post) is to help understand the concept of English usage, per the Common Core Standard in Language>Grade 11-12>1>b, “Resolve issues of complex or contested usage, consulting references (e.g., Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary of English Usage, Garner’s Modern American Usage) as needed.”

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.

A Learning Support on Writing the Imperative Sentence

Here is a learning support on writing the imperative sentence. This type of clause, as you know, issues an imperative, i.e. “the grammatical mood that expresses the will to influence the behavior of another.”

I wrote this document myself, synthesizing a variety of sources. I tried to keep this short, while integrating all the essential elements of this kind of construction–e.g. saying “please” when using an imperative sentence in speech or prose.

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.

Perpetrate (vt)

Here is a context clues worksheet on the verb perpetrate. It means “to bring about or carry out (as a crime or deception),” “commit,” and “to produce, perform, or execute (something likened to a crime).”

You use this verb only transitively, so don’t forget your direct object: what did your perpetrator perpetrate? A crime? A pun? A fashion faux pas? Your call, but just be sure for the sake of good grammar and elegance of style that you make that call.

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.

Word Root Exercise: Ambi, Amphi

OK, last but not least today, here is a worksheet on the Latin word roots ambi and amphi. They mean both, on both sides, and around. 

These are extremely productive roots in English, yielding ambience, ambivalent, ambiguous, an amphibian, to name just four. These are all good words to help students to understand abstract nouns, adjectives, and substantives.

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.

The Unabomber

Here is a reading on the Unabomber along with its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet.

This is one of the better articles from the Intellectual Devotional series. The writer recites the facts of the case while keeping the whodunit angle front and center. I only developed these documents recently, so I’ve never used them in the classroom. Still, having used successfully many articles from these books, I think I can predict that this one will be of high interest to students, so I have tagged it as such.

If you find typos in these documents, 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.

Cultural Literacy: Fiscal Policy

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on fiscal policy. This is a half-page worksheet with a reading comprising three long and fairly dense compound sentences, with three comprehension questions.

As I revised this document for posting, it occurred to me that it is probably inadequate to the task of assisting students in developing an understanding of fiscal policy. So this might be a seed document from which others could and probably should grow. Also, the reading might better serve English language learners and emergent readers if it were broken up, and two or three more comprehension questions added. As always, I would be very interested to hear what you have done with this.

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.

Berate (vt)

It’s Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Day today, so here is a context clues worksheet on the verb berate. It means “to scold or condemn vehemently and at length.” You only use this verb transitively, so don’t forget your direct object: you must berate someone or something–but really only someone.

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.

A Learning Support on Writing the Interrogative Sentence

Here is a learning support on writing the interrogative sentence. This is something I assembled myself using a variety of sources; it’s lengthy–two full pages of text with a number of examples.

In my experience, students struggle to write interrogative sentences. This points to a much bigger problem (and perhaps a fundamental failing in our educational systems and pedagogy) that I seek on a daily basis to solve in my classroom: students don’t really know how to ask questions. Since all learning begins with a question, this troubles me greatly, which is why I worked assiduously to create a support that would answer all students’ questions about, well, asking questions. I know I ask for this at the bottom of every documents post, but I would be especially grateful to you for your comments on this document.

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.

Write It Right: Can for May

Can for May. “’Can I go fishing?’ He can call on me if he wishes to.”

Excerpted from: Bierce, Ambrose. Write it Right: A Little Blacklist of Literary Faults. Mineola, NY: Dover, 2010.