This 17-page packet includes Memory (Concentration) cards for 47 of the most common irregulars (6 game sets of 16 cards each—‘to be’ gets two), along with instructions for preparing and playing memory games and a couple of other useful games to practice irregular past tense verbs. These games make great change-of-pace or end-of-class activities. Most are quite fast, once the materials have been prepared, and simple to learn. With six sets of cards, you can have the whole class play a memory game (make an extra few sets for a large class), then have them trade sets for a second game or another day. Memory also makes a great review if some students finish their work early (or even for one student who needs extra practice. It can be played by one player or up to four.) If you would like other irregular past tense games in addition to memory card games, consider getting "Games to Practice Irregular Past Tense Verbs" ($4.75) instead. It includes all these memory cards and game ideas, with two past tense sentence scrambles and a team gap-fill race as well.

Help intermediate English learners (or middle- high school English students) master academic vocabulary by learning some of the most useful word root and prefix combinations. Examples and practice with over 30 important Latin and Greek roots, including 3 pages on Greek roots, 2 on sensory roots (aud, vid, spect, etc.) and 1-2 pages each on words made from cedere (access, exceed, preceding, procedure, successive, etc.), and 2 other especially high-value roots, pointing out Spanish cognates (as well as warning about false cognates like sensible, which means sensitive in Spanish.) The packet includes suggestions for teaching roots and practicing them with several games, including 'memory' (or 'concentration')-- with 4 sets of memory cards to practice 24 words and meanings from the roots in the packet. It starts with a worksheet reviewing common prefixes and introducing several useful roots. Other practice activities include gap-fills, multiple choice, and matching exercises, beginning with root and prefix combinations that have easy-to-guess meanings based on the root meaning, and going on to important academic words that are not as easy to guess from the root-- with the needed explanations and examples given in the introduction before each practice. Teaching all the roots in this packet would take about 20 minutes to half an hour for 8-10 days, plus 15 minutes occasionally for review games. The Greek root examples and practice might take 45 minutes. Most of the rest of the worksheets will take 15 minutes to half an hour (or a little longer if you want to brainstorm with the class first). Most of the games need about 15 minutes, and the memory games can be played by early finishers (1-4 students per set of cards) without help once they've been introduced. CCSS L.5.4b, L.6.4b, L7.4b, L.8.4b, L.9-10.4b

According to research, ELLs need help learning to recognize and work with cognates. Since both Spanish and a majority of English academic vocabulary are Latin-based, Spanish-speaking students of English have a huge head start on CALP (academic) vocabulary if they can learn some simple rules for these cognates. This EnglishHints packet of task cards, worksheets, and games (including a crossword puzzle and an adaptation of bingo for review) introduces some important English academic words that have clear Spanish cognates. By studying and practicing with them, students will become familiar with common patterns of the differences between the English and Spanish for these words. The patterns they learn will transfer, giving students the skills they need to recognize and understand many more words. It’s important that students not only recognize similarities in word meaning, but also the times when apparent similarities mask differences in connotation or meaning. This packet has a worksheet on false cognates, asking students to verify meanings with a dictionary and helping them understand that they should not rely on apparent similarities for words they want to use or need to understand accurately. There are two task cards for each of 16 important academic word ‘families.’ The first card gives the most common verb, noun, adjective, and adverb (if used) forms of each word and practice choosing the correct form to complete sample sentences. The second card gives one more example of use, but then asks students to determine which of four alternate sentences (not using the target word) accurately reflect its meaning. By practicing with both kinds of cards, students get to work with multiple examples of each word’s use. They should become familiar with the common suffixes like –tion, -able, -ed, -ive, and –ly, the ways they correspond with Spanish suffixes (-ción, -sión, -able—pronounced differently-- -ado, -ido, -ivo, -mente, etc.) and where words with those endings fit into sentences. There is also a page teaching the English stress and pronunciation of each word form- designed for teachers to go over with the class, so all can hear and repeat the correct forms and notice the changes in stress as verbs convert to nouns or adjectives. Revised 2018 to add more practice. 36 pages total including answer keys.