In this 10-hour course,  part of a multi-course series concerning the roots and affixes that signal the meanings and usages of English words, I (Dr. Karen Wieland) teach middle-grades students to identify, understand, and apply knowledge of about 100 English suffixes that come from Old English/Germanic, Latin, and French origins. 

Though the focus of our work will be on suffixes, we will naturally discuss many hundreds of Latin and Greek roots as we generate examples of suffixed words.

WHY STUDY LATIN AND GREEK ROOTS AND AFFIXES?

In my experience, the most common strategy used by students who experience reading difficulties when they encounter an unfamiliar multisyllabic words is -- you guessed it -- “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. And developing readers aren't sure how to work the words out, so 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 approximations of their pronunciations and discern their meanings. 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 ELA classes are able to offer more than a cursory examination of Latin and Greek roots and affixes.  That's where this class comes in.

In this class, suffixes will be studied using a range of consistent approaches, including brainstorming, study-card creation and review, reinforcing study games,  contextual reading with guided think-alouds about unknown word meanings, and writing activities.

Students may find it helpful to complete Vocabulary Building with Roots and Affixes - Latin & Greek Levels I and II before taking this particular class.

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
- Teachers who work with any students fitting the above patterns

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!