It has been well said that “interest is nine-tenths of education.” This is true in teaching spelling. Any means which will arouse interest in mastering words is likely to be effective. So far as our forefathers succeeded in securing results in this subject they did so by interest in the old-fashioned “spelling-bee.” Spelling matches of various sorts are desirable for creating interest. The review lists and special lists will be found admirable for this purpose. It should be remembered, however, that this is testing what is already learned and is not teaching something new.
Pupils’ Lists
Each pupil has his own difficulties in spelling. Teach him to make private lists of the words which he finds especially hard to spell and have him use extra effort to conquer these trouble-makers. These may be listed in the back of his textbook or in his individual note book. Occasional lessons may be devoted entirely to this kind of exercise and they should be individual and painstaking. Such words should be watched for in the other written work and misspelling prevented rather than corrected. Besides making the misspelled words the basis of a lesson they may well be correctly and carefully written on the board with the difficulty shown in colored crayon. If possible leave them in sight for several days.
Homophones
Words spelled differently but pronounced alike should be kept apart until the spelling of each has become fixed and the ability to use correctly in sentences reasonably sure. Then only may they safely be brought together for comparison. When this is done much care must be used that no confusion may exist in the child’s mind as to the proper use of each.
Order of Presentation
All children do not learn spelling equally well in the same way. Some are sense organ learners while others are largely motor organ learners. Most children are both. In all cases the order of seeing words, hearing them pronounced, pronouncing them, spelling them aloud, and then writing them, will be found to be most effective. Appeal is thus made successively to the eye, the ear, the memory, and the hand.
Enunciation
Poor enunciation is a common source of incorrect spelling. Occasionally test your pupils on sounding words. See to it that they learn to give the right value to the vowel sounds and do not omit any that should be sounded. Do not permit “in” for “ing,” final “ed” to be sounded like “t,” or “body” to be sounded “buddy.” Remember that “A word correctly pronounced is half spelled.”
Proper Names