Spelling Today

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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

7. Knowledge necessary for spelling • Spelling is a complex linguistic skill. It demands in addition to sound-symbol correspondence knowledgeand exactmemory for letter patternsand words integration of the following: 1.Phonological knowledge. 2.Orthographic knowledge ********Some knowledge of syllabification rules

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

9. Outline of Spelling Instruction • Phonological awareness • Sound dictation • Word dictation

10. 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.)

11. 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

12. 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 doesn’t begin with “I” (skiing)

13. 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 hastwo 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 ‘u’+vowel.(quiet/kite, square/scare)

14. 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 doesn’t apply to words that have more than one syllable. The rule doesn’t apply to “ful” ending – helpful.

15. (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.

16. 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 hear”I” 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)

17. 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”. It’s generally followed by “l” sail, “n” rain, “r” pair, “d” maid, “t” wait, and “se” praise / raise.

18. 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 wehear “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

19. 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”

20. 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 The “OO” Sound

21. 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

22. 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 sound”see” (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”.

23. “_tion” and “_sion” 1- When we hear the sound “sh’n” at the end of a word with two or more syllables, our first choice is to write”_tion”. 2-When we hear the sound “zh’n” 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/Egyiptian

24. -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”.

25. 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.