Tag Archives: hispanic history

This week’s Text is a complete lesson plan on the Latin word roots mal and male. They mean, of course, bad, evil, ill, and wrong. This post, like all the material published here between September 15 and October 15, is in celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month. This material may stretch the boundaries of the letter of the month’s intent; on the other hand, the Latin language is, like it or not, a key part of Hispanic Heritage.

Over the years I’ve worked with many native Spanish speakers. My original impulse in writing word root worksheets, particularly those dealing with Latin roots, arose from the idea that helping students develop their own understanding of the Latin language as a bridge to English would hasten their journey to bilingualism. Ideally, students will retain their Spanish language skills while building their English vocabularies and understand the way these roots show up across the spectrum of Romance languages–often in the exact same words.

Here is a context clues worksheet on the adjective sinister to hint at the meaning of the roots mal and male, thereby pointing them in the right direction. This scaffolded worksheet is the mainstay of the lesson.

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.