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 Have you ever noticed your learner trying to learn new vocabulary, spending lots of time and energy memorizing various definitions and then promptly forgetting them a few hours later? It's not their fault! It's because the human brain does not learn best by memorizing long lists of words and their meanings. This class is different! 

 Rather than studying a random list of definitions in isolation, we will study vocabulary the way the human brain works best; by making connectiong among related words. In this class, we’ll study words in the context of their word families to see the relationships among words that come from a common base or root. 

 Put simply, this class maximizes the science of learning to increase student vocabulary effectively and efficiently! No more frustrating memorization of lists of definitions and then trying in vain to remember them later. Rather, your learner will come away knowing how to figure out the meanings of words and their related words by finding their base or root, independently. 

 Each week we will start by examining an interesting vocabulary word. Together, we’ll work to identify that word’s base or root. From there, we will build and list other words formed from that base or root to see all the members of the word family and discuss the connections in meaning that the words share. We will also learn how to use a variety of resources to research a word’s origins, confirm its base, and discover related words. 

 Studying bases is a very powerful, effective and efficient way to build vocabulary and equip learners with the skills to figure out new words they encounter in their reading and cross-curricular work.

 Check out the slide in the class video for an example of a complete list of words we might build from this base - the total is 27!  We are able to cover 27 words - meaningfully -  in just a 30 minute class! After each class I will post a screenshot of our work from that day to the class page so students can review and share their learning, and practice working with the words we’ve learned; using them in their writing, conversation, looking out for them in their reading, etc. This is the way to build meaningful vocabulary exponentially! 

• Lesson 1: An Introduction to the history of English and to some of the basics; phonemes, graphemes, and morphemes and how they function to build words.
• Lesson 2: We'll learn the difference between a bound base and a free base and the difference between a base and a root.
• Lesson 3: We'll start to take a look at some of the resources we will use together for research; Etymonline, the Oxford English Dictionary, the Word Searcher, and the Mini-Matrix Maker. We'll also start to practice building some word webs.
• Lessons 4-8 will follow the same format. In each class, we will start with a word and determine its base, using online resources as needed. 

Once we have discovered the base, we will work to find other words also built from that base and create word webs and/or matrix charts for each one.  Each week, we will discuss the meanings of 20-30 words related to the base or root we study, depending on the word, and on our time. The ultimate aim is that by the end of the class your learner will be equipped with the knowledge to be able research words and generate lists of related words on their own.

https://outschool.com/classes/vocabulary-masters-an-etymology-class-for-word-lovers-ugJSyxLY?refuid=nD85Y1ms

Structured Word Inquiry (the approach to studying words used in this class) is an excellent strategy for learners with dyslexia as it removes the need to guess at a spelling, memorize lists of rules or rely on visual memory. Students study words in in the context of their word families; those words with whom they share a common base and therefore connections in spelling and meaning. Rather than being taught "tips and tricks" that overload working memory, students are taught to analyze words and that spelling is a system of logic and order.