Most programs in the Russian language that primary school teachers work on contain a topic in the third grade such as learning a word with two roots. Of course, such words are encountered even earlier, but usually this is not the focus of attention until a detailed study of the ways of forming words begins . Moreover, not many hours are devoted to this topic, and it is very important to explain it to children and consolidate their knowledge of it. Therefore, it is worth paying attention to some of the most important points.
Before studying this topic, it is necessary to consolidate the knowledge that schoolchildren have in morphology and word formation, including about the methods of word formation that are already familiar to them (prefix, suffix and prefix-suffix). If there are no problems with this, and knowledge is successfully applied in practice, then a new method of education is introduced, the addition of the basics, as a result of which complex words with two roots are obtained.
There are not many of them in Russian, but they exist, and children should be able to write them correctly. The main difficulties are caused by connecting vowels, in which, most often, spelling errors are made. Most often, teachers explain that there are two connecting vowels E and O, which is true in its own way. Typically, in textbooks for elementary school, exercises with such words as snowfall, a cinema and others where the roots are connected by these vowels are selected. However, it is often forgotten, and sometimes done intentionally, to say that some words with two roots do not have a connecting vowel. For example, a word such as “five-year plan” can cause children to have difficulty writing, since the second syllable says I, and not the usual connecting E. In high school, students are required to familiarize themselves with such examples, as well as writing complex words through hyphen. However, pupils may be perplexed, because the first teacher often repeated them and made them remember that only O or E. are written in complex words in the middle.
Therefore, it is better to immediately specify such moments when explaining the topic in the third grade, while not particularly focusing attention on them yet, but to a greater extent studying words with two roots, examples of which are given in textbooks (most often, they are of the same type, such as a snowmobile , scooter, etc.).
It is necessary to draw the attention of children to the semantic load of the roots, and also why these words are formed. This is necessary so that students can understand that not all long words necessarily have two roots. For example, the words "potato" or "tomato" have one root, and their spelling is associated with completely different spelling patterns. So, it is better to choose words with two roots (at least until the children understand the topic well) as simple as possible, as well as common in their everyday life. It’s better to start with nouns, gradually familiarizing yourself with complex adjectives (Great Russian, etc.) and other parts of speech.
It is important to remember that it is much better for children of this age to learn the material in practice, therefore there should be a minimum of theory, and it is better if the explanation allows the children to draw their own conclusions about the formation of such words, as well as their meaning.
For practical exercises, you can use the following tasks. The child is given the task of independently composing several such words, as well as identifying the roots in them. Students are given several parts of complex words in random order, which they must correctly connect to each other. Children should explain the spelling of one or another vowel in words: steamboat, chimney, steam locomotive and others.
It should be noted that words with two roots are often found in everyday life of schoolchildren, therefore it is quite important to be able to write them correctly, because a well-written dictation or presentation is the best praise to the teacher, as well as thanks to the parents of the student.