Contextualization

Conjunctions are fundamental in constructing a discourse and texts. These are responsible for setting up relationships of sense between sentences, making communication more fluid, cohesive, coherent, and more natural. Conjunctions are elements that connect, link, or associate ideas or other elements. They are the “glue that sticks our ideas together” and allow us express more complex and elaborate ideas.

There are two main kinds of conjunctions, coordinating conjunctions, and subordinating conjunctions. Coordinating conjunctions connect sentences that have the same syntactic value, in other words, they can perfectly function independently from each other. Subordinating conjunctions, on the other hand, link a main sentence with a subordinated sentence, which depends on the first to make complete sense.

The study of conjunctions is extremely important due to our communication and comprehension of the world around us. The appropriate use of conjunctions allows for the creation of stronger arguments, expressing emotions and sentiment, explain events and situations, and much more. At the same time, the comprehension of these lets us correctly interpret text and speech, transforming us into more active and critic readers/listeners.

Conjunctions also hold immense importance in a variety of areas. In marketing, conjunctions are powerful instruments to persuade the public; In journalism they serve as tools to build up news stories and reports; and, in literature they contribute to the construction and building of stories, characters and settings. Conjunctions can even be found in other disciplines such as mathematics, as symbolic elements of language, like “and” represented as ∩ within set theory.

We highly suggest Portuguese Language Resources, 8th Grade, and Portuguese Grammar , available in the website Only Portuguese (Só Português) for consultation and in-depth study. Additionally the YouTube channel Professor Noslen, features a variety of videos that can assist in learning.

Hands-on Activity - “Conjunctions in Action“

Objectives

The purpose of the following activity is to give students the opportunity to delve into the application, recognition and use of conjuctions in text construction, this in an entertaining, practical and collaborative way. This will also promote integration between History, Science and Language classes, encouraging inter-disciplinary learning.

Project Step-by-step

Students are to be split into group of three to five people, with each group developing their own scientific-historical comic that depicts a noteworthy event from the history of humankind or even a relevant scientific phenomena. The groups will utilize the conjunctions they’ve acquired to build the storyline.

Necessary Materials

• A3 paper, or digital comic-making software (we recommend free resources like Canva)
• Pencils, erasers and colorful pens (should the students choose the physical format)
• History, Science, and Grammar books as reference materials
• Devices with Internet access for research

Activity step-by-step

1. Students are to split into their respective groups. 2 Each group selects a historical event, or scientific phenomena from a topic of their choosing to feature on their comics. 3 Conduct research regarding the event/phenomena, identifying key points, relevance and importance. 4 Using their research findings, students can now draft a storyboard, ensuring the correct use and placement of conjunctions, which will help build relationships between the sentences 5 Begin producing the comic either by drawing it or digitally. 6 The comic is presented to class and each group explains how and why they used certain conjunctions.

Project's submission.

After finishing and displaying the comics, students must work together and create a written report containing: 1. Introduction - Describe the chosen event/phenomena and its significance. State the importance of understanding and applying conjunctions.

2 Development - Explain conjunctions, theory, and applications. Give a detailed account on how the comic book was made (methodology). Explain the function of conjunctions in the comics, reflect on teamwork and managing time.

3. Conclusions - Revisit the main topics studied, the learning outcomes, challenges faced during the project, and thoughts on the importance and role of conjunctions in text construction.
4. Bibliography- List all sources used (books, website, video etc.) consulted throughout the duration of this project.

This document should be a collaborative effort, prioritizing contributions from all group members. This report allows the students to showcase both their technical learning (understanding of conjunctions), and their socioemotional learning (teamwork and time management skills).