Latin root word stems and their program applications

¶ … Stems

Increasingly, because of the use of e-mail and instant-messaging, as well as spell and grammar check, the level of spelling and grammar is declining in school children. It is not surprising to see even young adults send letters to someone saying, "Thank u 4 the money 4 my birthday." They do not even know that they have done something incorrectly. These students will go into many different careers when they graduate, and in most cases will need writing skills. With increased globalization, they will have to make themselves understood, not only by other Americans, but by others around the world.

There are a host of different ways to teach children spelling, grammar and vocabulary. One of these ways, which in the past was used more often because of the studying of Latin in schools, is word stems. These can help in the learning process to teach different areas of study.

For example, word stems can be helpful in vocabulary building. Once a student learns the meaning of a number of different word stems, such as, "bi," "circum," "inter," "intra," and so forth, these words can be hooked on to other known ones, and the vocabulary quickly increased. For example, there are the words, "bicycle," "unicycle, and "tricycle." Of course, such learning is going to be very helpful for the children when they take their state tests and then examinations for college. Stems are also very helpful for spelling. Once the children learn how to spell the main word, they can add these easy-to-spell stem words.

As noted, the world is becoming more and more global. There are many people living in the United States who are just beginning to learn the English language. There are also many Americans who are traveling or moving abroad for work or pleasure. Unless the person is very good at learning languages, it can be frustrating. However, learning the stem words can be very helpful, especially if the other language is one that uses a similar one or derivation. People who live in the United States and learning English as a second language can find stem words very helpful, as well.

Of course, there are other reasons for using words stems as well, such as increasing reading, writing and speaking ability, searching on the Internet, looking up words in the dictionary or encyclopedia, even puzzles.

This current year, the school system began requiring that all students in the grades fourth through eighth study word stems during the school months. My principal assigned me the responsibility of making sure that all teachers in these grades were trained in their usage, had the proper materials and were following the timeline to implement the program.