Context

Hello, little linguists! Let's embark on an incredible adventure through the magical world of words together, shall we? Our first destination will be the world of negation prefixes in-/im-. These prefixes are tiny parts of words that have a superpower: they can change the meaning of words!

When we add 'in-' or 'im-' at the beginning of a word, often the word ends up having the opposite meaning. For example, the word 'happy' means to feel good, but if we add 'in-' in front of it, we get 'unhappy', which means to feel bad. Interesting, isn't it?

However, it's not always that simple. Sometimes, the prefix 'in-' or 'im-' can change other things in the word as well. For example, if we add 'in-' to the word 'happy', it becomes 'unhappy', but if we add it to the word 'tolerant', it becomes 'intolerant'. Did you notice the difference?

Introduction

The prefixes 'in-' and 'im-' are very common in our language, and when we learn about them, we can better understand the meaning of words and even learn new words! That's why it's very important for us to study them.

Besides knowing how to use the prefixes 'in-' and 'im-' to negate the meaning of a word, we will also learn something very cool: that there are words that start with 'in-' or 'im-' but are not negative words! For example, the word 'winter' starts with 'in-', but it's not a negative word, right? This happens because not always the prefix 'in-' or 'im-' changes the meaning of the word, and that's what we're going to explore in this project.

Now that we know a little more about the power of the prefixes 'in-' and 'im-', let's get our hands dirty and discover more about them. Get ready, the adventure is just beginning!

Practical Activity: 'Prefix Hunters'

Project Objective

The objective of this activity is for students to understand the use of the prefixes 'in-' and 'im-' to negate or not the meaning of words, as well as to expand their vocabulary and creativity by creating stories using the words found.

Project Description

'Prefix Hunters' is a fun and challenging project in which students will become true word hunters with the prefixes 'in-' and 'im-'. Through a word treasure hunt, they will discover the power of these prefixes and, in the end, they will create stories using the words found.

Required Materials

• Pencil and paper for notes
• Dictionary (physical or online)
• Books, magazines, or newspapers for the word hunt (can be borrowed from the school library or home)

Step by Step

Step 1: Introduction

The teacher will give a brief review of the concepts of prefixes, focusing on the prefixes 'in-' and 'im-', explaining how they can change the meaning of words. Examples will be provided, and practical activities will be done for the class to grasp the content.

Step 2: Word Hunt

Students, in groups of 3 to 5, will go to the 'hunting ground' (library, classroom, etc.) with the goal of finding the largest number of words that start with 'in-' or 'im-'. They should write down the words they find and their respective meanings.

Step 3: Word Classification

Upon returning to the classroom environment, the groups will classify the words they found into two categories: words whose meaning is negated by the prefix (examples: impossible, unfair) and words that are not negated (examples: winter, empire).

Step 4: Story Creation

Now comes the most fun part! With the collected and classified words, the groups will have to create short stories that include as many words as possible. The only rule is that at least one word in each story must be from each category (with negated meaning and without negated meaning).

Step 5: Story Presentations

Each group will present their story to the class. During the presentations, students should explain the meaning of the words and how the prefix 'in-' or 'im-' influences their meaning.

Delivery Format

Students will deliver the words found and their definitions, as well as the stories created. The story presentations will be done orally, in front of the class.

This project, besides being fun, will help students better understand the use of the prefixes 'in-' and 'im-', expand their vocabulary, and improve their writing skills. Word Hunters, let's get to work!