I start with just words containing a,b,c,d and t. In other words, bab, bac, bad, bat, cab, cac, cad, cat, dab, dac, dad, dat, tab, tac, tad and tat. Then, I add e and a few more consonants the next lesson. Later, I start teaching phonics rules, such as, vowel+vowel => the first vowel is long (e.g. “beat”, “boat”) and vowel+consonant+vowel => the first vowel is long (e.g. “note”, “rate”). Eventually, I teach all the letters and quite a few more spelling rules. However, I try to make sure they master each spelling exercise before moving on. It can get a little tiring going over the same simple thing again and again, but I don’t think moving on before they get is a good idea.

Good luck!

So how do you do it–is it your own method or is there a special trick?

thanks for any advice.

danielle homeschool mom of three

As far as comprehension of “brake” vs “break” and similar words is concerned, that’s where extensive reading is great. It’s amazing how much the students’ vocabulary retention improves when they read 40 pages of English a week… even if it’s a relatively “easy” 40 pages.

I’ve had to explain to dozens of parents, that the main value of these oral spelling drills is an improved ear for the sounds and improved pronunciation. These OSDs may help the students on spelling tests, but with all the exceptions in English, they sure won’t be enough to guarantee perfect scores.

I agree that style of teaching is great for preschoolers, but when they get to learning how to spell English (and for your kids that will be their native language, a much easier task than Mark’s kids are facing) I’m not sure there’s another way to do it.

For instance, “break” and “brake,” which ones means what? You and I know because at some point in our lives we memorized that one is spelled one way and one is spelled the other. It is, for most people, pretty easy because the input is non-stop in their native language, but it still required some memorization.

I think spelling is one of the few areas of language learning where rote memorization has merits, though even then it should be supplemented with phonics and other such systems.

Listening carefully to the English words spoken by a native speaker is a very good drill for children to develop their listening comprehension. I really envy today’s young learners of foreign languages their improved environments for studying.

When I was a student many years ago, regrettably the most part of studying English was memorizing words and sentences. There was no foreign teacher at schools, and even the time for listening to English with a tape-recorder was not enough in class.

Moreover, what was worse, my ears did not become sensitive to the sounds of English because I had been long exposed only to Japanese, which sounds are simple, when I was a child. If I were a student in your class, I would be the worst one in it.