Departments : Issues in Literacy and Learning :
What’s My Word?
By Susan Mandel Glazer
Teaching prefixes, suffixes and roots can be fun – and might add a few new words to your class dictionary
"My word is 'microdermazitz,'" blurted 11-year-old John. "It's simple to figure out the meaning. 'Micro' means 'small,' 'derma' means 'skin' and this," John pointed to a pimple on his cheek. "Is a 'zitz.' So my word means a small pimple on the skin."
"How did you make up that word?" asked one of John's classmates.
"I used 'micro-' as a prefix. A prefix comes before the word, because 'pre-' means 'before.' So my prefix is 'micro-,' and it means 'small,' like in 'microscope' or 'microfilm' – you know, little things."
"The word 'skin' sounded too ordinary, so instead I used 'derma.' I know that means 'skin' because my skin doctor is a 'dermatologist.' I first wrote my word as 'micro-zitzderma,' but I switched the syllables because the word seemed better when it ended with a 'z.'"
What an extraordinary way for a teacher to learn that John understands how words are made. We can suppose, from his comments, that he understands the derivations of words. He's playing with prefixes, suffixes and word roots to create words of his own. In addition to the academic learning he gained, John learned that playing with language can be fun.
After several discussions like the ones outlined in this article, a group of six- and seven-year-olds created the following words:
monobike = one bicycle
monocar = one car
microbus = small bus
micromono = small one
Talking it out
The following is an illustration of the strategic instruction lesson format used by many of the teachers at the Center for Reading and Writing. In the example below, the teacher has displayed the following list of words: bicycle, bicolor, binocular, biennial, bicentennial.
The teacher may start the discussion by saying, "Each of the words has something the same. Who sees it?" At least one child is bound to pipe up with the fact that all of the words begin with "bi-."
After confirming the correct answer, the teacher points to each word and says it aloud with the class. Then it's time for the children to define each word as best as they can. "Bicycle," the first word on the list, is a word and an object with which many of the children will be familiar. The excited responses might include, "It's a bike! A two-wheeler bike!" or "I got one for my birthday!"
Upon moving on to "bicolor," some students may have begun to catch on to the meaning of the prefix, and the teacher may hear a child respond that "bicolor" means two colors because the "bi-" in "bicycle" meant "two."
A potentially tricky word like "biennial" gives the teacher a perfect opportunity to model the thinking that goes into taking the word apart, referring to prior knowledge and attempting to define the word. In thinking out loud, the teacher might say, "Well, I know 'bi-' means 'two,' and I know 'annual' means 'every year' and the rest of 'biennial' looks like 'annual,' so biannual probably means every two years."
The children can be encouraged to try defining other words with the help of prior knowledge. For "binoculars," students can be asked how binoculars are used. A little bit of thought and discussion may yield a response such as, "My dad uses his binoculars to see things that are far away. He looks through the binoculars with two eyes, so binocular means looking at something with two eyes."
"Bicentennial" might prompt stories of parties that students' parents or grandparents had for America's Bicentennial. More class discussion will reveal that "bicentennial" means "every 200 years."
Doing it yourself
You might post a "Prefix of the Week" chart, with a list of words that use the prefix you've chosen for that week. You can write the meaning of the prefix on the chart after the students have discovered it on their own. This lesson format works when guiding children to learn the meaning of any Greek or Latin root, prefix or suffix as well. You'll be amazed at how eagerly the kids make up words and how easily they understand meanings of existing words.
Some of the information in this column is taken from Assessment IS Instruction: Reading, Writing, Spelling, and Phonics for ALL Learners, by Susan Glazer (Christopher-Gordon Publishers, 1998).
Susan Mandel Glazer is the Director of the Center for Reading and Writing at Rider University in Lawrence, NJ.
March, 2004, Vol.34, No.6
