A lot of people abuse the word AMBIVALENT. They think that it means "indifferent". That's not the case at all.
The word AMBIVALENT has two roots to it. The prefix AMBI- means both (like 'ambidextrous'). The core root VAL- (like its counterpart VOL-) means "will". We get other derivatives like VALOR and VALIANT (as well as VOLUNTEER and VOLITION).
So, AMBIVALENT actually means "having two wills". I like phrase it as "mentally torn" because you want two different options at the same time.
Often, if we're stuck with two equally good (or equally bad) options, then our AMBIVALENCE is the same as indifference. If it's a win-win scenario, then you want both but don't care which one you get. If it's a lose-lose scenario, then it's pretty much the same.
Vocab Teaching Tip #1:
Provide visuals! Here are some ways to do that...
project pictures on the board and ask questions
have students draw pictures
do a gallery walk of vocab visualizations
ask the artsy students in your class to make some posters of high frequency words
use TingoEd videos! ;)
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Word Analysis / Roots
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