This activity uses a list of words, of which some are simple root words while others have prefixes, suffixes or both. Students follow guiding instructions that tell them to circle the root words, underline the prefixes and double underline the suffixes. When they have done this, the teacher can quiz them about what meaning the affixes add to the roots in question.
This activity is a step up from the previous identification work. Now they will look for prefixes or suffixes as they read a passage from a book. Teachers can decide exactly what the students should be trying to find on a given day and how they can identify them. They can combine this affix search with a reading comprehension activity which will focus on the meaning of the actual text after it is read and all the affixes are found.
Now students can create the words and add all the morphemes together. After the teacher gives them a list of root words, students can either choose from a bank of affixes to create new words or choose from memory. It depends on what level of mastery the teacher thinks that the students have achieved. Students should then describe the meaning of the words that they crafted from individual morphemes.
Students of the English language need to understand the standard order of words in a typical sentence. While in the past there was more fluidity in English syntax, it is much more common now to speak in subject-verb-order. This activity jumbles the words of simple, correctly-written sentences and asks the student to place them in slots marked subject, verb and object in that order.
The basic form of this activity asks the student to determine what form of the verb "to be" is correct for a given sentence. For example, students view a sentence lacking a word: "He _____ my brother." Depending on their level of mastery, the teacher can either provide a bank of words such as "are," "is," and "am" or simply tell them to recall the correct word to fill the blank. Further activities can use other verbs.