Spelling Today

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Spelling Today

• It is assumed that
• if pupils learn to read they also learn to
  spell.
• if pupils are given enough opportunities to
  write
• they will eventually spell correctly without
  formal
• instruction.
• Memorization of word lists for dictations with no
  instruction is the most common way of dealing
  with spelling.

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SPELLING (from Teaching Spelling by R. Shemesh
Sh. Waller)

• If you give a man a fish, he eats it for a day,
  if you teach a man how to fish, he eats fish for
  a lifetime.

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Decoding and SpellingThe Differences

• In order to decode, a reader must translate
  symbols on a printed page to the spoken words
  they represent
• In order to spell, the speller must translate /
  produce spoken words into printed symbols
• Decoding and spelling are not inverse operations.
• Both processes require knowledge of sound-symbol
  correspondences but not only!!!!!!
• Spelling has its own unique characteristics and
  should be taught explicitly.

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Spelling

• Certain sounds are written in more than one way
  e.g. the sound K is written in 4 different ways
  k, c, ck, q.
• The sound of long a in rain, steak, eight,
  cake.
• Sometimes there are no rules . Pupils must learn
  how to spell the common and useful words, e.g.
  the sound of h in who and where.
• All the silent letters
• b/ c/ d / g / h / k / l / n / p / s / t / w /
  gh

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Spelling Development1

• Prephonetic Stage - still no awareness of the
  connection between print and speech sounds .
  Writing takes the form of drawing
• Alphabetic Stage children connect speech to
  print at the level of syllable. b for be
• Semiphonetic Stage children demonstrate
  awareness to left to right direction. They
  start using consonants for initial sounds but
  still use incomplete phonetic representation of
  words e.g. Are you deaf? RUDF?
• Phonetic Stage

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Spelling Development2

• Phonetic Stage Every sound in a word is
  represented but without knowledge of conventional
  spelling patterns.
• At this stage children develop a sensitivity to
  letter patterns . They might discover different
  spelling patterns by themselves.
• Now is the time to start teaching spelling
  explicitly

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Knowledge necessary for spelling

• Spelling is a complex linguistic skill.
• It demands in addition to
• sound-symbol correspondence
  knowledge and
• exact memory for letter patterns and
  words
• integration of the following
• 1.Phonological knowledge.
• 2.Orthographic knowledge
• Some knowledge of syllabification rules

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Syllabification Rules

• Every syllable has one vowel sound.
• The number of vowel sound in a word equals the
  number of syllables
• Handout

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Outline of Spelling Instruction

• Phonological awareness
• Sound dictation
• Word dictation

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Outline of Teaching a Spelling Rule (Inductive
Approach)

• Step 1 Elicit examples from pupils.
• e.g. Ask pupils to give examples of words
  ending with the ch sound as in watch.
• Step 2 Ask pupils what spelling pattern they
  see.
• Give the rule explain and give exception.
• Practice (exercises, dictations, tongue twisters,
  etc.)

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What is the rule? (1)

• puff, tell, doll, mess, staff, pass, hill,
• sudden, rabbit, mitten tennis, muffin,
• hopped, starring, beginning, reddish
• baking, solving, housing, completed
• tried, silliest, happiness, penniless,
• lunch,watch, witch, bunch, teach,ranch

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5 Major Spelling Rules

• Doubling the final consonant (FLOSS)
• Checkpoint one syllable, short vowel, final
  consonant f/i / s
• Exceptions bus, us, yes, has, gas, this, pal
• Doubling the medial consonant (RABBIT)
• Checkpoint two syllables, 1 medial consonant
  sound, short vowel sound in the first syllable
• The doubling rule
• Checkpoint one vowel in the final syllable, one
  consonant after that vowel, final syllable
  accented, a vowel suffix is being added.
• Exceptions 7 letters never or rarely double
  h,k,y,j,v,w,x
• The dropping rule
• Checkpoint final e, a vowel suffix that is
  being added
• The changing rule
• Checkpoint a consonant before a final y, final
  y, a suffix that doesnt begin with I (skiing)

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Spelling Rules/k/ Sound

• 'c' or 'k'?
• When we hear the sound /k/ at the beginning of a
  word write 'k' if it is followed by 'e' or 'i'
  and 'c' if followed by 'a', 'o', 'u' or a
  consonant(key/kid/candle/cup)
• 'ck' or 'k' at the end of the word
• We write 'ck at the end of a single-syllable word
  which has a short vowel sound. (black/clock)
• We write 'k' at the end of a single syllable
  word, when it is preceded by 'n,'s', 'r', or 'l'
  or by two vowel letters .(book,dark)
• We write '-c' when we hear the sound /ik/ at the
  end of a word that has two or more syllables
  (plastic/logic/clinic)
• qu
• When we hear the sound /kw/ in a word, we write
  qu. Q never stands alone it is always
  followed by uvowel.(quiet/kite, square/scare)

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Single Vowel Followers (1)

• One-syllable, one-vowel words -ll, -ss,
  -ff, -zz
• We write -ll or -ss at the end of a
  single- syllable word, preceded by one short
  vowel letter. (-all, -ell, -ess, -iss, -aff,
  -azz)
• Exaple pill-pile / feel-fell / seal-sell
• Exeptions bus/ us/ yes/ plus/ this/ pal / has/
  gas (sound of s is z)
• The rule doesnt apply to words that have more
  than one syllable.
• The rule doesnt apply to ful ending helpful.

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(2)

• -tch or ch ?
• ch comes after a consonant lunch
• Exceptions such/much/rich/which
• tch comes at the end of a one-syllable,
  one-vowel word catch/witch/watch.

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The i Sound

• Three different spelling patterns for the long
  i sound. As in time/sky/flight.
• 1- When you hear i saying its name in a
  one-syllable word followed by a single consonant
  sound, the first choice is to write i-e.(five)
• 2- When we hear I saying its name at the end of
  a word, the first choice is to write y. English
  words can not end with the letter I
• (fly/ try/cry)(Exceptions
  guy,buy,tie,die,lie,eye,dye)
• 3- When we hear the sound i followed by the
  sound t, our second choice will be to write
  igh.(sight/bright/night)
• Exceptions bite/kite/white
• 4- When we hearI saying its name in the middle
  of a one-syllable word followed by a single
  consonant sound, our first choice is to write
  i_e.(ride/ bike/nice)

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The a Sound

• 1- When we hear a saying its name in the middle
  of a one-syllable word followed by a single
  consonant sound, our first choice is to write
  a_e.(name/game)
• Exceptions eight, weight, reign, break,
  steak
• 2- When we hear a saying its name at the end of
  a word, our first choice is to write
  _ay(play/say/way).
• Exceptions grey, prey, they, survey, weigh,
  sleigh, hey)
• 3- When we hear a saying its name in the middle
  of a one-syllable word, our second choice is to
  write ai. Its generally followed by l sail,
  n rain, r pair, d maid, t wait, and se
  praise / raise.

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The sound O

• 1-Whe we hear o saying its name in the middle
  of a one-syllable word followed by a single
  consonant sound, our first choice is to write
  o_e( bone/stone/home).
• Exceptions folk, yolk, boat, goat
• 2- When we hear o saying its name in the middle
  of a one syllable word, our second choice is to
  write oa e.g. boat, road, coach.
• 3- When we hear o saying its name at the end of
  a word, our first choice is to write ow
  (yellow/snow/tomorrow) Exceptions go, hero,
  although, though, dough, sew

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The U (ju) Sound

• 1- When we hear u saying its name in a word,
  followed by a single consonant sound, our first
  choice is to write u_e(cube/huge/rule).
• 2- When we hear the sound u saying its name at
  the end of a word, our first choice is to write
  _ue( true, blue, glue, rescue).
• (Exceptions do, two, canoe, shoe, through,
  ewe, to, you
• 3- When we hear the u saying its name at the
  end of a word our second choice is to write
  _ew( new, nephew, grew).
• 4-When we hear u saying its name in the middle
  of a word, our second choice will be to write
  oo

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The OO Sound

• Long sound
• food, shoot, cool, roof, choose, too, spoon,
  soon, moon, school, noon, boot, loose,
• room, root

• Short sound
• took, good, foot, book, look, shook, stood, wood,
  hook, wool

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The e Sound

• 1- When we hear e saying its name in the middle
  of a one-syllable word, followed by a single
  consonant sound, we often write
  ee(green/cheese)
• Exceptions scheme/ scene/here/these)
• 2- Another common way of spelling the sound e
  when it says its name in the middle of
  one-syllable
• word is ea(read/dream/please).
• 3- When we hear e saying its name at the end of
  a word that has two or more syllables, we write
  _y(carry/family/happy)
• 4- When we hear e saying its name in the middle
  of a word our third choice will be to write ie
  (believe/thief/piece), except if it follows c,
  and then we write ei (receive/ceiling/ .
• Exceptions protein, seize, weird, coffeine,
  codeine

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Soft and Hard Sounds

• 1- We sometimes write c when we hear the sound
  s before the letters i, e, and y .
• 2- We usually write ce when we hear the sound
  s at the end of a one-syllable word in the
  singular (prince/face).
• 3- We usually write cy at the end of a
  multy-syllable word when we hear the soundsee
  (cynical/bicycle).
• 4- We usually write g when we hear the sound
  j before the letters I, e and y ().
• 5- We write ge when we hear the sound j at
  the end of a word.
• (age/orange/large)
• 6- When we hear the sound g before i or e, we
  often write gu.

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_tion and _sion

• 1- When we hear the sound shn at the end of a
  word with two or more syllables, our first choice
  is to write_tion.
• 2-When we hear the sound zhn at the end of a
  word with two or more syllables, our first choice
  is to write _sion.
• -TION
• -sion
• -cian, -tian, -sian, -shion
• Attention/musician/cushion/Russian/profession/Egyi
  ptian

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-le, -al and -el

• When we hear the sound l at the end of a word
  with two or one syllables
• 1- our first choice for a word which is a noun or
  a verb is to write -le.
• 2- our first choice for a word which is an
  adjective is to write -al.
• 3- some words end in -el.

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Some points to remember

• The letter l has a special effect on a, the
  sound is like in ball.
• The letter j never comes at the end of an
  English word. The sound of j at the end of the
  word will be _ge, such as in cage/age/stage..
• To alleviate confusion homophones should not be
  introduced in pairs, plane/plain and should
  always come in context.