COURSE DESCRIPTION

In this 10-hour course, part of a multi-course series, I (Dr. Karen Wieland) teach learners to identify, understand, and apply knowledge of  about 75 high-utility Latin and Greek roots and affixes, which signal the core meanings of thousands of English words.

Across our 10 one-hour sessions, students will learn about the complicated history of the English language and how that history affects the English lexicon. Then they will spend the the bulk of the term working with 75 high-utility Greek and Latin word roots and a few dozen affixes (prefixes and suffixes). The roots studied in this course are different than those studied in Vocabulary Building with Roots and Affixes - Latin & Greek II.

Each Latin or Greek root will be studied using a range of consistent approaches, including brainstorming, online research of English words derived from Latin and Greek word elements, student share-backs of their independently curated word lists, rich discussion about the meanings and usages if interesting derived words, and periodic study games and crossword puzzles.

Based on parent/student interest,  a Level 2 section will be planned to follow on the heels of this one.

WHY STUDY LATIN AND GREEK ROOTS AND AFFIXES?

In my experience, the most common strategy used by students who experience reading difficulties when encountering an unfamiliar multisyllabic words is -- you guessed  -- “skip it.” 

Why don't they just sound those words out, you may wonder?

Well, when words are derived from other languages and contain less common orthographic patterns, phonics often fails as a decoding technique. If developing readers aren't sure how to work the words out, they skip them and hope context will sufficiently disambiguate the author's intended meaning.

There is an alternative.  If students have knowledge of common root and affix patterns and their meanings, they can use this knowledge to generate approximate pronunciations and discern word meaning. Ultimately, using these morphemic strategies improves students' overall reading comprehension.

“Latin -- and classical Greek -- are as vital to beginning vocabulary instruction as phonics is to reading," explains Joequil Lundquist, the author of English from the Roots Up: Help for Reading, Writing, Spelling, and S.A.T. Scores (Literacy Unlimited, 1989). "Just as phonics helps children figure out what words are, Latin and Greek help them figure out what words mean. ” 

Unfortunately, not many elementary and middle-grades teachers are knowledgeable about Latin and Greek roots and affixes.  That's where this class comes in.

WHO BENEFITS FROM STUDYING LATIN AND GREEK ROOTS AND AFFIXES?

- Students learning English as a second language
- Students with reading difficulties or other specific language learning differences
- Students who have a need to increase their listening, speaking, or reading vocabularies
- Word-curious students

HOW, SPECIFICALLY, WILL YOUR CHILD BENEFIT FROM THIS COURSE?

(1) Each Latin or Greek root or affix gives a student access to the core meanings of an exponentially greater number of words. Once your child learns 10 high-utility roots, s/he will be able to understand the core/basic meanings of 100+ high-level words. 

(2) Root and affix identification facilitates word recognition!

(3) Morphemic word analysis is a great alternative to the ineffective “skip it” strategy described earlier.

(4) The vocabulary emphasized in middle-grades and more advanced texts often contains high-frequency Latin and Greek roots and affixes. 

(5) Root and affix knowledge is one form of lexical (word) knowledge, and reading comprehension is heavily dependent upon lexical knowledge.

I hope you agree that the study of Latin and Greek roots and affixes will be fruitful for you child! I look forward to working with you to promote your child's vocabulary development and word-curiosity!