I've just been doing some workshops in Romania about Spelling Myths. If you were there, thank you for visiting The Spelling Blog. Please have a look around the Blog or you might be looking for the following pages:
The i before e rule:
http://thespellingblog.blogspot.com/2010/12/i-before-e-rule-stephen-fry-and-friends.html
-able or -ible:
http://thespellingblog.blogspot.com/2008/12/spelling-words-ending-in-able-and-ible.html
Another reason for the spelling of dove:
http://thespellingblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/reason-for-love-and-dove-above-done.html
lexical spelling (spelling by meaning)
http://thespellingblog.blogspot.com/2011/11/spelling-one-and-two-lexical-spelling.html
Homophones - how not to teach them
http://thespellingblog.blogspot.com/2009/09/homophones-how-not-to-teach-them.html
Look Say Cover Write and Check
http://thespellingblog.blogspot.com/2010/11/look-say-cover-write-check-template.html
Spelling Links
http://thespellingblog.blogspot.com/2011/10/websites-from-workshop.html
Word Shape generator
http://thespellingblog.blogspot.com/2009/06/word-shape-generator.html
And if you want to know more about my book:
http://thespellingblog.blogspot.com/p/book-teaching-spelling.html
Happy spelling!
Johanna
Saturday, 25 February 2012
Sunday, 1 January 2012
Improving spelling - never too late: the Jim Henry Story
Jim Henry's family didn't know he was illiterate and in his early 90's (yes, nineties!) he decided he wanted to learn to read and write. He not only achieved this dream but at 98 the lobster fisherman from Connecticut,USA has just written a book about his life. Read more here: http://m.smh.com.au/world/novel-approach-to-literacy-20111230-1pfiz.html
Wow! Pretty inspiring. And a story worth remembering when you think you're getting too old to sort something out.
Have you always felt that your spelling was not good enough? Is it time to do something about it? Try these tips:
1) Read what you enjoy and are comfortable with.
2) Write just a little bit each day. It doesn't have to be long but try to get it right by using a dictionary. Use a pen, but as you come across any words you're not 100% sure about, write these in pencil. Then check them. Or if you prefer to type, turn the Autocorrect off and type the words you're not sure about in a different colour.
3) Keep a notebook (paper or digital) of words you've looked up. Look through your notebooks sometimes and try to see patterns in spelling.
4) Try to learn why words are spelled as they are. Can you relate them to another word with similar meaning? Or look at http://www.etymonline.com/ to see where the word has come from.
5) Try to learn the spelling of words you need a lot or have big problems with. Use my Look Say Cover Write and Check chart: http://thespellingblog.blogspot.com/p/downloads.html or try this great program to help you: http://www.amblesideprimary.com/ambleweb/lookcover/lookcover.html
6) Explore and follow this blog.
7) Get help from a friend, family member or teacher. But make sure it's not someone who makes you feel bad about your spelling. Perhaps you can help them with something that they're not very good at in return - it makes for a more balanced relationship.
8) Remember if a man in his 90's can learn to read and write from scratch, there's no reason why you can't work on improving your spelling.
The tips above are very general. Much more throughout the blog.
Go for it!
Johanna
Wow! Pretty inspiring. And a story worth remembering when you think you're getting too old to sort something out.
Have you always felt that your spelling was not good enough? Is it time to do something about it? Try these tips:
1) Read what you enjoy and are comfortable with.
2) Write just a little bit each day. It doesn't have to be long but try to get it right by using a dictionary. Use a pen, but as you come across any words you're not 100% sure about, write these in pencil. Then check them. Or if you prefer to type, turn the Autocorrect off and type the words you're not sure about in a different colour.
3) Keep a notebook (paper or digital) of words you've looked up. Look through your notebooks sometimes and try to see patterns in spelling.
4) Try to learn why words are spelled as they are. Can you relate them to another word with similar meaning? Or look at http://www.etymonline.com/ to see where the word has come from.
5) Try to learn the spelling of words you need a lot or have big problems with. Use my Look Say Cover Write and Check chart: http://thespellingblog.blogspot.com/p/downloads.html or try this great program to help you: http://www.amblesideprimary.com/ambleweb/lookcover/lookcover.html
6) Explore and follow this blog.
7) Get help from a friend, family member or teacher. But make sure it's not someone who makes you feel bad about your spelling. Perhaps you can help them with something that they're not very good at in return - it makes for a more balanced relationship.
8) Remember if a man in his 90's can learn to read and write from scratch, there's no reason why you can't work on improving your spelling.
The tips above are very general. Much more throughout the blog.
Go for it!
Johanna
Friday, 11 November 2011
Spelling 'one' and 'two' - lexical spelling
I write this on a once-in-a-century day! The date is 11/11/11 - the only day in a hundred years when all those numbers are the same - lots of lovely ONEs. To celebrate and honour the number one, let's look at its spelling.
Learners have asked me "Why do you spell one without a w although you pronounce a w in it? And then why does two have a w when you don't pronounce it?" Great questions!
So why? The simple answer is that these two words are not phonetically spelled. Their spelling shows lexical or semantic links with other words - we are spelling by meaning not sound. All of the words below contain the letters o-n. Can you see how each of them relates to the idea of one?
And how about two? (I'll deal with that now as I may not still be blogging on 22/2/22!) Where did that w come from? Again - it's about meaning not sound. What's the link with the number 2 in these words containing tw?
Johanna
Learners have asked me "Why do you spell one without a w although you pronounce a w in it? And then why does two have a w when you don't pronounce it?" Great questions!
So why? The simple answer is that these two words are not phonetically spelled. Their spelling shows lexical or semantic links with other words - we are spelling by meaning not sound. All of the words below contain the letters o-n. Can you see how each of them relates to the idea of one?
one, alone, only, lonely, once, none
And how about two? (I'll deal with that now as I may not still be blogging on 22/2/22!) Where did that w come from? Again - it's about meaning not sound. What's the link with the number 2 in these words containing tw?
two, twenty, twice, twelve, twin, between
Pointing this pattern out to learners can help prevent them writing *tow*, instead of two, and mixing the homophones. It also helps them to see there is some logic and that you shouldn't rely too much on sound when spelling.
Some questions for you:
- Can you think of any more words related to the number one that include the letters on (together)?
- And any more tw words related to the number two?
- Do you know other sets of words in which the spelling can be learned by linking meanings rather than sound? (There are more in my book.)
Johanna
Tuesday, 25 October 2011
Websites from workshop
Here are a few websites related to spelling that I'm mentioning in workshops I'm doing at the moment. So for anyone who didn't have time to write them down:
Writing for an audience - students make Glogs (digital posters - see www.glogster.com) about their home cities and share them with others around the world: Greetings from the World
This site is great for Look Say Cover Write and Check:
Spelling City - about the best website for learning spelling that I've ever come across:
Also if you're interested in the following Cambridge English books:
English Unlimited http://www.cambridge.org/gb/elt/catalogue/subject/project/item5629547/
Teaching English Spelling (this is not my book, that's below) by Shemesh and Waller
All of these are available at your local ELT bookshop. If you're in Romania:
CENTRUL DE CARTE STRAINA SITKA
23,DACIA BOULEVARD
010403 BUCHAREST
ROMANIA
TEL/FAX 0040 21 2104010
0040 21 2103030
0040 722375477
office@cartestraina.ro
www.cartestraina.ro
23,DACIA BOULEVARD
010403 BUCHAREST
ROMANIA
TEL/FAX 0040 21 2104010
0040 21 2103030
0040 722375477
office@cartestraina.ro
www.cartestraina.ro
And then of course there's my own book Teaching Spelling to English Language Learners which you can order
- from a book shop
- from www.lulu.com (20% discount until the end of October 2011) http://bit.ly/TSTELL
- directly from me (payment by PayPal) - johanna.stirling@gmail.com
- from Amazon http://bit.ly/mztrMs (co.uk) or http://bit.ly/k6qR5w (.com)
Finally, if you want to come to the beautiful city of Norwich for a teacher development course (eligible for Comenius funding), I hope to see you at NILE (Norwich Institute for Language Education) sometime: www.nile-elt.com
And don't forget to explore this blog.
Johanna