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.
Use Visualization
Teach the child to visualize the words which he studies each day in his spelling lesson. You may not be able to visualize them yourself, but if you have started early in training him, he will have little difficulty in doing so. Exaggeration should be used as an aid in spelling. It will be easier to see the words printed in letters from three to six feet high on the wall of the room, than to see them in pica type on the paper. If your child has difficulty in visualizing the words in the spelling lesson have him exaggerate and color them in his mind's eye picture.
Have the child take a piece of scratch paper and colored crayons and print the difficult words in large letters, using two colors, one for consonants and the other for vowels. If the child has difficulty in learning the sequence of "ie" and "ei" have him follow the plan of using two strong colors, such as red and blue for the two vowels. Have him print all the words with which he has difficulty, using red for the "e" and blue for the "i." This color impression combined with the enlarged letter, will overcome the difficulty.
Spelling Exercise
In order to help the child to become sure of himself write a list of words spelled incorrectly. Have him go over them and correct them, or tell what the error is.
Spelling rules should be learned by making visual pictures of the word to which the rule applies, and not by simply learning a group of words, the meaning of which sometimes is not fully appreciated.
An Example
Rule—Final "y," when preceded by a consonant, is changed to "i" before any suffix not beginning with "i."
To learn this rule have the child print out a few examples, as follows, enlarging and striking out the important letters:
Rule—Final "y" preceded by a vowel is not changed to "i" before any suffix beginning with a vowel.
plAy-ed delAy-ed
Have the child print these examples and enlarge them. All rules should be illustrated in graphic form.
The Spelling Cards
For younger children the brightly colored A, B, C, blocks and picture books have always been helpful in teaching the alphabet and simple words. These spelling cards have the advantage of self-instruction with no possibility of mistake, so that the child teaches himself accurately and uses the visual sense in doing so.
These spelling cards consist of a series of simple pictures on cardboard with irregularly shaped holes cut beneath, a hole for each letter in the name of the object in the picture.
The needed letters of the alphabet can be made from cardboard, each on a card of separate shape, so that it will not fit into any hole except where it belongs to properly spell the word illustrated. The holes in the picture will correspond to the shape of the cards which spell the name. In this way there can be no error. The child can take the picture cards and find the proper letter cards to fit the holes under the picture and thus learn to spell the name. These Spelling cards can be made by pasting pictures of common objects on cards about 4×6 inches. Then cut the odd shaped pieces for the principal letters of the alphabet, using the same shape for the same letters, mark the proper shapes for the letters spelling the name of the object on the card, and cut them out with a sharp knife.
The shapes for the letter cards can be similar to those suggested in the Game of Matching Cards in Book One.
Suggested objects for the picture cards:
Cat, Rat, Boat, Apple, Boy, Girl, Fan, Pig, Car, Dog, Bird, Rose, Bee, Egg, Spoon, Horn, Frog, Man, Cow, Ball, Baby, Chair, Watch, Saw, Hammer, Nail, Coat, etc.
The Game of Word Making
This game was at one time quite popular and should be revived and used often. It teaches spelling and increases the vocabulary.
The only equipment is a series of cards of any size larger than an inch square. On these print letters of the alphabet or cut large black letters from the headlines of the newspapers and paste them on. There should be about six of each of the vowels, two of all the consonants, and three or four more of those most used.
Turn all the cards face down on the table and mix them thoroughly. The first player picks up a card and lays it face up in the center of the table, the next player does the same, and so on. The first child to make a word of the letters turned up speaks the word, selects the letters to properly spell it and lays them side by side, spelling the word. If it is properly spelled he gets one point, but if he has not spelled it correctly he loses one point, and the letters go back into the draw pile.
Each properly spelled word counts a point for the child first calling it. A limit of points can be set and the first one reaching that score wins. If older persons wish to play the game a limit may be set on the size of the words spelled, as no word of less than 6, 8 or 10 letters, whichever figure is decided upon.
The Game of Salvaging Words
Pick a large word to pieces and see how many smaller ones can be made from the letters contained in it. This is a good exercise for persons of any age and is often played at parties.
Give each player a paper and pencil, select some long word and let each write it at the top of his paper. Determine on a time limit usually five minutes, and see who will make the most words from the letters of the larger word.
After the time is up the one having the longest list wins. It will be interesting and helpful to have the long list read, each checking the words on their list. Then let each one read the words which they made and which no one else has read. It will be surprising how many different words there will be. Use words like:
| Conflagration | Washington | Imperceptibility |
| Consternation | Gubernatorial | Permeability |
| Understanding | Examination | Responsiveness |
| International | Immovability | Stenographer |
The Game "The Camels Are Coming"
This game should never be allowed to grow old. It is "lots of fun" at parties and helpful in vocabulary building, because it requires an effort, and every time you induce yourself, or your child, to make an effort good is accomplished.
Have the group sit around the room and then begin by selecting a letter and a suffix, as B-ing. The one starting says to the one on his left "The camels are coming." He replies "How are they coming?" The beginner must then reply using one word beginning with B and ending with "ing". For example: Buzzing—Bleating—Braying—Blushing—. Each player must think of a word to give as his answer. All must remember the words that have been given and must answer inside the limit of ten seconds after the other has said, "How are they coming?" Any word that is in the dictionary can be used. If a player cannot answer in ten seconds he must sit on the floor of the room and pay a forfeit to the timekeeper.
This game can be varied in a great many ways, the words can begin with any letter and end with any suffix or begin with any prefix.
Learning Synonyms
To help the child remember synonyms and to increase his vocabulary write a list of words and have him write opposite them as many words of similar meaning as he can. For example:
HOUSE—residence—building—dwelling—abode.
TRAVEL—journey—trip—tour.