YOU MIGHT THINK IT IS JUST SPELLING DO YOU KNOW HOW WORDS WORK?

 

You might think it is just Spelling

 Do you know how words work?

 Do you think that Spelling does not matter? After all there are spell checks and predictive texts. BUT…consider, how spelling affects all aspects of literacy, not only writing but including, pronunciation, reading and what is a ‘killer’, a child/person’s self-esteem.

 Can you imagine standing at a desk and an inquirer asks you  to fill in an unfamiliar questionnaire which requires a good grasp of the written English language. The phone is in the car where spell-check is out of reach. How embarrassing the recipient cannot spell that xxx word or even that xxx simple word.

 Let’s consider a child/person’s self-esteem.  

 The questionnaire asks, “Have you found your niche in life”. The recipient does not know the meaning of this word, ‘niche’, therefore he finds it difficult to spell. He has to write the word; he spells it ‘nesh’. Yes! This is the sound of the word but not the correct spelling. Have you ever had a health issue? The  recipient wants to write 'asthma'  and spells it as 'asma'. Writing a note, a female student writes, “My conchense (conscience) won’t let me do that becos it is wrong.

Not learning about words can cause problems ‘opine’ is written in the article you are reading. What does it mean? It is related to opinion but does the reader know that? Has the idea of connections ever been made in the reader’s learning? Lets delve further. Opine is related to opinion. The middle vowel in 'opine' is the long'i' as in the word pine. 'Opinion' is spelt with the short vowel, 'i'. Could it be the silent 'e' at the end of 'opine' that demnds the long 'i'?

 How English has developed has a lot to do with irregular words. Hence the necessity to learn the idiosyncrasies associated with spelling. Yes! Even the best speller has times when the spelling of a word confuses them. But generally they can laugh it off… with an “Oh Dear”.

 

 Help all spellers by reading my book … You might think it is just spelling Do you know how words work?

Cheers, Liz

I am offering copies of my complete book, not bound, but in loose leaf form to be sent via e-mail to you. To request copies of my book, Email me: 

liz.simon@laspedagogy.com

 

You need to forward your email address so I can forward all the pages of the complete book. 

As well, but not obligatory, send X amount of money to a charity (can be of your choosing). Three I suggest are:

The smithfamily

https://www.thesmithfamily.com.au/child/donations

 

Unicef Australia

unicef.org.au 

Donate to  Autism Spectrum Australia (Aspect)

www.aspect.org.au