BECOMING A GOOD SPELLER
Poor spelling is largely a matter of inattention. Continual inattention becomes a habit and the child soon finds himself decidedly handicapped by his inability to spell correctly. This is largely caused by uncertainty. He has no definite knowledge to resort to, the result being doubt as to whether the word is properly spelled, and therefore uncertainty as to what change to make. To read a word carefully and to study the letters as they appear in the proper sequence will usually be sufficient to fix the word in mind.
When you find that certain letters, or combinations, are bothersome, use the principle of exaggeration. Have the child write the word and exaggerate the letters that are causing trouble, making them three or four times larger than the rest of the letters of the word. For example, the word PRIVILEGE, often incorrectly spelled PRIVELEGE. Write the word correctly and enlarge the "I," making it several times the size of the other letters; now have him form the visual picture of the word spelled in his way:
In writing the word hereafter you will find that the visual picture of the word with the exaggerated letter will come back to his mind and give the correct spelling.
In cases where it is a question of a single, or double consonant, for example, the word "fulfil" write it "full" and mark a large X through the second "L."
This will impress upon his mind that one "L" is correct.
Rules in spelling as a general thing, are not as helpful as a little care, observation and commonsense. The most troublesome is the "I"-"E," and this one rule should be clearly fixed in mind:
"I" always comes before "E," except when following "C," or when sounded as "A," as in "Neighbor" and "Weigh."
Notice the word "Alice." Keeping this one word in mind will serve largely to overcome this difficulty. "I" follows all letters except "C," which is followed by "E" as it is in "Alice." To fix in mind the "E" following "C" it will be helpful to show the child the similarity of motion and appearance in writing "C" and "E." Many examples could be given of this "I"-"E" rule. It will serve very largely to fix it in mind, however, if you will have the child hunt out these examples for himself and make a list of them.