Lesson plan of Word Structure and Formation

Objectives (5 - 10 minutes)

1. Understanding word structure: Students should be able to identify the structure of different words, recognizing whether they are simple, compound, derived, or primitive. This involves the ability to analyze the constituent parts of a word and understand how they come together to form meaning.

2. Identifying word-forming elements: Students should learn to identify the elements that make up words and are responsible for their formation. This includes identifying prefixes, suffixes, roots, and endings.

3. Word-building ability: Students should be able to create new words by combining the elements they have learned to identify. This may involve creating new words from roots, adding prefixes and suffixes to existing words, and other strategies.

Secondary objectives:

• Vocabulary development: Studying word structure and formation helps enrich students' vocabulary, as they come to understand the origin and meaning of various words better.

• Writing and reading improvement: Understanding word structure and the elements that form them contributes to improved writing and reading, as students come to understand better how words are constructed and how they relate to each other.

Introduction (10 - 15 minutes)

1. Review of previous concepts: The teacher should begin the class with a brief review of the concepts of syllable, morpheme, root, and word, which are fundamental to understanding the topic of the class. This review can be done through questions directed at students or through a small review game, such as a word search or a hangman game with words that have different structures.

2. Problem situations: Next, the teacher can present students with two problem situations that involve word structure and formation. For example: "How can we form a new word from the root 'love'?", "What happens to the meaning of a word when we add the prefix 'un-' to it?", "How can we recognize if a word is compound or derived?".

3. Contextualization: The teacher should then explain the importance of studying word structure and formation, showing how this knowledge can help students better understand the meaning of words, enrich their vocabulary, and improve their writing. The teacher can also mention that the study of word structure is fundamental to learning other disciplines, such as literature, history, and science.

4. Topic introduction: The teacher can introduce the topic of the lesson in an interesting way, telling the students that the Portuguese language has a wide variety of words, many of them with origins in other languages, and that understanding the structure and formation of these words can help them better understand the language and express themselves more clearly and accurately. The teacher can also share curiosities about word formation, such as the fact that many words in Portuguese are formed from Greek and Latin elements, and that adding a prefix or suffix can completely change the meaning of a word.

5. Attention gain: To finalize the Introduction, the teacher can propose a challenge to the students: they should try to create as many words as possible from a given root, adding different prefixes and suffixes. The teacher can also show students some "invented" words that have been added to the Portuguese language dictionary, to demonstrate to them that the creation of new words is a common and important practice in the language.

Development (20 - 25 minutes)

1. Activity 1 - Magic Word Card Game: (10 - 12 minutes) The teacher should divide the class into groups of no more than 5 students. Each group will receive a set of cards, each one containing an element that can form a word (root, prefix, suffix, ending). The teacher will draw a card and read the definition of a word that uses that element. The students in the group should then identify the word and put their cards together to form it. The group that forms the word correctly first wins a point. The game continues until all the cards have been used. The group with the most points at the end of the game wins. This activity helps students practice identifying word-forming elements and forming words from those elements.

2. Activity 2 - Word Creation and Spelling Review: (10 - 12 minutes) Still in their groups, students should receive a list of words that contain spelling errors. They should then use the word-forming elements they have learned (roots, prefixes, suffixes) to create new, correct words from the words on the list. For example, if the word on the list is "impossible", students could use the prefix "in-" to form the word "impossible". The teacher should circulate around the room, assisting the groups and clarifying any doubts. At the end of the activity, each group should present some of the corrected words to the class.

3. Activity 3 - Word Treasure Hunt: (5 - 8 minutes) To end the Development stage, the teacher should organize a "word treasure hunt" game. The teacher should hide several cards around the room, each one containing a word-forming element. The students, still in their groups, must then search for the cards and use them to form as many words as possible, writing down the words they find on a piece of paper. The group that finds the most correct words in the time allotted wins the game. This activity reinforces learning in a playful and fun way, in addition to stimulating cooperation among group members.

4. Debates and discussions: During the activities, the teacher should promote debates and discussions among the students, encouraging them to explain the reasoning they used to form the words and justify their choices. This helps deepen students' understanding of word structure and formation and develop their argumentation and oral expression skills.

Return (10 - 15 minutes)

1. Group discussion: (5 - 7 minutes) The teacher should promote a group discussion, where each team shares its findings, solutions, and strategies used during the activities. Each group will have up to 3 minutes to present their formed words and discuss how they arrived at those formations. The teacher should encourage students to explain the reasoning behind the words they created, and justify their choices, which helps deepen students' understanding of word structure and formation. The teacher should also take this opportunity to make connections between the activities carried out and the theoretical concepts presented in the Introduction of the class.

2. Connection with theory: (2 - 3 minutes) After the discussions, the teacher should make a brief summary of the main ideas discussed, reinforcing the theoretical concepts of the class. The teacher can, for example, highlight the importance of roots, prefixes, suffixes, and endings in word formation, and how these elements can change the meaning and grammatical class of words. The teacher can also reinforce the idea that word formation is a common and important practice in language, and that the study of word structure and formation can help students enrich their vocabulary and improve their writing and reading.

3. Final reflection: (3 - 5 minutes) To close the class, the teacher should propose that students reflect individually on what they have learned. The teacher can ask questions like: "What was the most important concept you learned today?", "What questions have not yet been answered?", "How can you apply what you learned today in your daily life or in other disciplines?". Students should write their answers in a notebook or on a piece of paper, which can be turned in to the teacher at the end of class. This reflection helps students consolidate what they have learned and identify possible gaps in their understanding that need to be filled. In addition, reflection helps students realize the relevance of what they have learned and think about how they can apply what they have learned in other situations.

4. Teacher feedback: At the end of the class, the teacher should provide brief feedback on student participation, praising achievements and efforts, and offering guidance for continuous improvement. The teacher can also inform the students about the next steps in the learning process, i.e., what will be studied in the next classes and what the expectations will be.

5. Caution with evaluation: The teacher should be careful not to turn the discussion into an evaluation moment, avoiding asking direct questions to students or correcting their answers. The purpose of the discussion is to promote student reflection and understanding, not to assess their performance. Assessment of learning should be done continuously and formatively, throughout the teaching-learning process, and not just at the end of the class or course.

Conclusion (5 - 10 minutes)

1. Summary and recap: The teacher should begin the Conclusion of the class by summarizing the main points that were discussed and learned during the class. This includes the definition and identification of simple, compound, derived, and primitive words, the understanding of the elements that form a word (prefixes, suffixes, roots, endings), and the practice of forming new words from those elements. The teacher should emphasize how these concepts are fundamental to understanding word structure and formation in the Portuguese language.

2. Connection between theory and practice: Next, the teacher should explain how the class connected theory (the concepts and rules of word structure and formation) with practice (the card game, word creation, and treasure hunt activities). The teacher should highlight how the practical activities allowed students to apply and deepen their theoretical knowledge, and how theoretical understanding helped students perform the activities more effectively.

3. Complementary materials: The teacher should suggest additional study materials for students who wish to further their understanding of word structure and formation. These materials may include grammar books, educational websites, educational videos, online games, and review exercises. The teacher can also suggest that students practice identifying and forming words in their daily lives, observing the words they find in texts, conversations, and various media.

4. Relevance of the subject: Finally, the teacher should emphasize the importance of studying word structure and formation for the students' daily lives. The teacher can explain that knowledge of these concepts helps students better understand the meaning of words, enrich their vocabulary, improve their writing and reading, and express themselves more clearly and accurately. In addition, the teacher can mention that word formation is a common and important practice in language, and that studying these concepts can help students better understand the language and become more competent and conscious speakers.

5. Closing: To conclude the class, the teacher should encourage students to continue studying and practicing what they have learned, reminding them that the class is just the beginning of the learning process, and that deep understanding and fluency in word structure and formation require continuous study and practice. The teacher should also thank the students for their participation and effort, praising the achievements and progress of each one. Finally, the teacher can inform the students about the topic and Objectives of the next class, preparing them for future study and activities.