How to learn spelling effectively

Parents whose children are in primary school often voice their concerns with difficulties in getting their children learn the spelling words given by the school weekly. Often we hear the phrase, "Learn today but tomorrow forget". This is a common difficulty faced by many children, let alone children with learning difficulties. Here, I will share with you some of the methods that work for my students in my classes:

Dolch Words

50-75% of what children read in the early readers consists of Dolch Words, which are also known as Sight Words. Therefore, in order to give the children a better head start to reading and spelling, learning of sight words should be introduced first, ideally at the preschool level. Once a child has mastered the recognition and spelling of sight words, he/she will then have more time to focus on and/ finds it easier to learn more complex words.

In my phonics classes, at the preschool level, children will master all of the sight words recognition and spelling from the entire Dolch lists before they enter Primary One. Children learn these words with ease as different techniques are used to help them remember.

Spelling by Sounds

The key to spelling is to practise phonics. A child can learn to spell a word by breaking up the word into its individual sound and associate the letter sound to the alphabet (e.g. flap: /f/l/a/p/). For children to be able to apply these skills, the pre-literacy skill of being able to identify the beginning-middle-ending sound is required. Constant practice with spelling by sounds will help a child go a long way.

Apply Spelling Rules

Knowing the spelling rules can help children improve in their spelling. While there are few exceptions in some of the spelling rules (i.e. the rules do not necessarily apply to some words), it is still important to master these basic spelling rules (as they apply generally).

4 of the most important spelling rules are:

1. FLOSS rule

2. 1-1-1 doubling rule

3. Drop-e rule

4. Change y to i rule

I will be covering these rules in my next post.

Colour Coding

Colour coding is a popular way to learn spelling quickly. There are multiple ways in using colour coding:

1. Breaking a word into individual sound (i.e. colour code the parts of each spelling word (vowels, single consonants, consonant blends, vowel teams etc.)

2. Onset-Rime/ Syllable Division (e.g. /cl/ (onset) /imb/ (rime))

3. Making use of prefix(es) / suffix(es) (e.g. re/con/struc/tion)

4. Looking out for proper word in multisyllabic word (e.g. ve/ge/table)

Use Nursery-Rhymes/ tune to spell

These easy-to-remember tunes are not just catchy but make spelling easier (E.g. using the B-I-N-G-O tune, a child will be able to spell L-I-TT-L-E with ease). Preschoolers love it; try it!

Make use of Mnemonics

Some complex words pose greater challenges for many children and it is helpful to those who face difficulties with certain spelling strategies. Children can unleash their creativity by coming up with their own mnemonics to help them remember the spelling of longer words. The easiest way to start off will be the use of Wordplay.

Some interesting Mnemonics are:

BECAUSE: Big Elephants Can Always Understand Small Elephants

PEOPLE: Purple Eagle Obeys Pink Little Eagle

NECESSARY: Never Eat Cakes, Eat Salmon, Salads And Rasberry Yoghurt

Using Pictures to Associate a Word

This method is especially effective for younger learners and for learning simpler words as children can easily form visual representation to associate a word.

In my lessons, children enjoy decorating their own word to form their own representation. This way, they will be able to recognise and spell new words quickly with their own 'masterpieces'.

Multisensory approach to spelling

One of the most effective ways to learning a new spelling word is through the use of multiple senses.

"Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check" method is widely used to instill independence in a child to learn up his/her own spelling.

("Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check" method video. This is a simple template, one can design your own template. Here, the child sings to the tune to spell 'ambulance'. To enhance the experience, instead of tracing in the sky, the child can trace on a rough surface/ use his/her finger to paint the words. )

This is especially useful for children with dyslexia/ any learning differences as it involves the use of multiple senses. Not only are they able to sound out the letters in a word (receptive, expressive & auditory), they get to visualise the word and trace (tactile) / write down.

Lastly, to make spelling enjoyable, parents can always play spelling games with the children! As children generally dislike the idea of spelling, I spend much time creating my own games to 'trick' the children into spelling words in relation to my lesson plan that day. The children love it! Win-win situation, right? 😉

Do try out some of these methods and feel free to let me know which method works best!