Helping Your Students With Spelling
The Simplified Spelling Society’s call for a more straightforward and uncomplicated approach to spelling words may be gaining ground, but until the day comes when “fon” becomes the acceptable spelling of “phone”, your students still have to master the standard spelling of English words.
Here are some tips you can use to help you guide your students with their spelling:
Let them master the basics1
There are basic guidelines that make spelling English words a little easier (e.g. “i” always comes before the letter “e” except after “c” and when it sounds like “a”).
Visit this web site for a helpful list of basic spelling rules:
http://www.mc3.edu/aa/lal/workshops/wksp_spelling/spellingrules.html.
Make practicing how to spell words more interesting.2
As the US national spelling bee champion said, “spelling is just a bunch of memorization”, and memorization, as everyone knows, is neither fun nor exciting. So to encourage your students to really master the spelling of words, why not organize fun games and spelling bees of your own to encourage them to learn? To make things more interesting, offer prizes to the winner (e.g. plus points on the next quiz for the winner, a nice certificate, etc.).
Samples of spelling games can be found on Education World’s web site:
http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/lesson/lesson314.shtml
Encourage them to read. 3
According to studies, the principles behind learning how to read and spell are very similar. The two skills “build and rely on the same mental representation of a word. Knowing the spelling of a word makes the representation of it sturdy and accessible for fluent reading” and vice versa.
Encourage writing. 4
Practice makes perfect they say, and writing, whether it be poems, journals, short stories or book reports, is one of the best way your students can practice their spelling skills. Plus, having them submit written work allows you to better monitor your students’ skills and the progress they’re making.
Teach them mnemonics. 5
Mnemonics are devices used to help one remember things. The World Wide Web is full of mnemonics you can teach your students to help them remember the spelling of things better.
You can find spelling and grammar mnemonics at:
http://www.netnaut.com/mnemonics/spelling.html
Sources:
n.a. (n.d.) Basic Spelling Rules. Retrieved July 14, 2007 from
http://www.mc3.edu/aa/lal/workshops/wksp_spelling/spellingrules.html - 1
n.a. (n.d.) Should we simplify spelling? Retrieved July 14, 2007 from
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/6250184.stm - 2
Moats, Louisa. (2006) How Spelling Supports Reading. Retrieved July 14, 2007 from
http://www.ldonline.org/article/8845 - 3
Vuko, Evelyn. (January 4, 2005). Teacher Says: Read and Spell Better. Retrieved July 14, 2007 from http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A33360-2004Dec29?language=printer – 4
Hargis, Amanda. (n.d.) Spelling and Grammar. Retrieved July 14, 2007 from
http://www.netnaut.com/mnemonics/spelling.html - 5
