Teaching Prefixes and Suffixes to KS3 English Students.

It is increasingly important for students to learn about the English language, including the meaning of unfamiliar words, to improve and broaden their vocabulary.

There are patterns that exist in the English language that we can explore with our students to prepare them for welcoming new words into their daily life.

There are many activities you can access online to do with your students. The tasks you choose to do will depend on the level of your class and will differentiate across the students in your class. Picking a range of worksheets to use can help cater for the different levels of skill in your class.

What are some examples of activities you can do?

1. For helping students understand how prefixes and suffixes are used.

Cutting out prefixes and suffixes alongside everyday words will help students visualise how words can be changed with suffixes and prefixes to give them other meanings.

2. For practicing the recognition of negative words.

You could use an interactive magnet activity or print off worksheet to assess your students capabilities in recognising negative words and help them improve.

3. For students ready to face more complex words

If you are working with a more developed class or have students that are head of others you can give them activities such as this one to help them further.

Giving them a list of difficult words and having them work out the meanings without the use of a dictionary could be a true test of their suffix/prefix knowledge.