Learning to Spell

I memorized hundreds of spelling words as a child, to no effect. Until I began teaching phonics in 1994, I was a horrible speller, averaging 6 misspelled words per typewritten page. Learning the sound spelling patterns of English and the basic phonics rules and syllable division rules improved my spelling. Our online QuickTime spelling lessons are a good overview of all these spelling rules. Moreover, viewing them as a movie lets you hear and see the sound spelling correspondences.

I believe we learn by patterns, and spelling is no exception. A good spelling book that teaches these patterns is "Spelling Made Simple" by Stephen V. Ross. You can also see these patterns by studying Margaret Bishop’s book, “The ABC’s and All Their Tricks.”

For further improvement, write down all the words you misspell. Once you have at least 20 words on your list, group them and analyze them. You should find some common patterns and spelling rules that will help you remember these words in the future. This is much easier and also more useful than memorizing lists of random words with no rhyme or reason to them.

Here are some examples of grouped words:

- Words that have a schwa sound (say them in your head with a little bit of the sound of the letter instead.) separate, democracy, originally

- Words where the final e is dropped after a letter u or w: truly, awful

Read Spelling for Success for a few more tips and links.

Finally, once you’ve exhausted the sound spelling correspondences, there is another level of spelling: spelling based on etymology. You can find all kinds of information about this level of spelling at The Spelling Doctor.