Evening star., 1935-12-12
Helping the
Student With
His Spelling
Should Be NeatlyWrit-
ten Exercise, Slowly
Executed.
RY ANGELO PATRI.

THE school program does not, as q
l. usual thing, allow much time
for spelling. The teachers are hard
pressed to get each child to master
the grade list. They use many devices
to overcome the spelling peculiarltleS
of the pupils and still stay within the
time limits of a crowded program. One
of the most common is having the
class write each word number OF
times for homework, for busy work,
for drill, for punishment, for any rea-
son. This practice is not helpful.
= Spelling is a written exercise. One
learns to spell so that one may write.
Oral spelling does very little to help
children write words correctly. Accu-
rate vision, hearing and memory
backed up by good control Of the
hands, are largely concerned with
good spelling. All children who
make mistakes in spelling should be
examined to discover, if possible, the
cause of their difficulty. Eye tests,
ear tests, memory tests, muscular CO.
ordination should be tested by experts
in an effort to find remedy for the
difficulty. But repeated writing OF
the same word is not to be empha-
sized.
In studying spelling the poor Speller
should be instructed to write his spell
ing list twice, saying each letter aloud
as he shapes it. He does this slowly.
Then some one dictates the list and
he writes them once. He correctS his
work by reference to the printed list.
Now the helper takes his paper and
checks the corrections to make GER
tain that the child has seen his work
correctly. It is not easy to see ones
own mistake, and the child Is quite
certain that he has spelled the word
correctly. The next step is to write
each misspelled word twice as in the
beginning. Then write them once
from dictation and correct the list,
submit the correction for checking
and write, once, the final mistakes.
Nothing more is to be done about it
at this time. Next morning the helper
goes over the misspelled list with the
child, standing by while he writes
Just once each word that bothered
him.
Writing a word more than twice is
a waste of time and energy. The chill
dren do not see, they do not heed the
form Of the word accurately from that
point on, and their inaccuracies pile
up the longer they dwell on the word.
Their writing degenerates into Scrib-
BILE; they become fatigued in body and
mind. They feel a hatred toward
spelling that is difficult to overcome.
Much harm and little good comes OF
this business.
I believe that all children should
learn to spell correctly. I know there
are some wise people who say that
spelling is unimportant. "You know
1 mean house even if I do leave of
the e. It's just convention" 1t Is
more than a convention, to my mind.
It is matter of form, Of knowing the
accepted standard and maintaining it
in ones own right. I always suspect
the sincerity of people who scoH at
such ordinary routine matters as
spelling and correct speech and rules
for dancing classes and good form for
sports. They are either too lazy to
work for good form and style and per-
lection or they have not the power
to achieve any degree of perfection.
But the point is: Don't make chill
dren lose what form and what taste
for form they have by the killing proc
ess Of endless rewriting.
(Copyrisht. 1850