Tag Archives: word roots

Word Root Exercise: Eu

This worksheet on the Greek word root eu–it means good and well–will help students quickly acquire an understanding of several key English words. I would think these words would be particularly useful for students interested in pursuing inquiry in the life sciences.

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: Equ/Equi

Here is a worksheet on the Latin word roots equ and equi. As you no doubt recognize, as, let’s hope, your student do as well, these two roots simply mean equal. These roots produce a variety of words that are used across learned disciplines, but especially in quantitative sciences and geography.

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: Ante

Here is a worksheet on the Latin word root ante. It means before and shows up in the Spanish conjunction, preposition and adverb antes de (again, before).

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 Weekly Text, September 28, 2018, Hispanic Heritage Month 2018 Week II: A Lesson Plan on the Latin Word Roots Mal and Male

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.

A Lesson Plan on the Greek Word Root Anthrop/o

It’s a very productive root in English, and at the root of a lot of words used in scholarly and academic discourse, so I expect this lesson on the Greek word root anthrop/o, which means man and human, should be useful to teachers in several disciplines. I start this lesson with this context clues worksheet for the noun humanity to provide a basis for the heuristic work this scaffolded worksheet with an independent practice assignment requires of students. The context clues worksheets can serve as the prior knowledge students will need to help them understand the meaning of this Greek word root.

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.

Word Root Exercise: Omni

OK, it’s a Sunday morning and I’m preparing to send out a clutch of resumes for some positions that might be appropriate for me. On my coffee break at the moment, let me post this worksheet on the Latin word root omni. It means all. It is a very productive root in English, forming the basis of the adjectives omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent, among many other words.

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: Medi-

Here is a worksheet on the Latin word root medi if you can use it. It means middle, so you already know how productive this root is in English.

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.

Master List of Latin Cognates

Over the years, I’ve worked steadily at engineering a vocabulary building curriculum that uses Greek and Latin word roots to help students develop the active academic lexicons they need to succeed in school. Early on, because I work with so many Spanish-speaking students, I started to work up cognate lists of words that were similar or even identical across the Romance Languages.

One of the results of that effort is this master list of Romance Language cognates. Over the summer I copied and pasted all these lists into the word root worksheets that proceed from a given root.

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: Derma, Derm, and Dermat/o

It probably won’t take your students long, using this worksheet on the Greek word roots derma, derm, and dermat/o, to figure out that those roots mean skin. That’s why the doctor who deals with the organ of skin is called a dermatologist.

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: Dem/o, Demi

The second post immediately below this one is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on pandemics. In that post I mention that one can discern the Greek word root dem within that noun, and that dem–or, as in the case of this Greek word root worksheet, dem/o and demi–means people. That said, I must make note of, and offer caution on account of, the fact that in Latin the root demi means half or less than. Now you know why espresso is served in a demitasse.

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.