Evening star., 1955-05-26

enough of a problem to. bring
Johnny up to par with his read
ing. so why try to make crack
speller out of him at the same
time?
Yes, that's the common atti-
tude. Reading and spelling are
considered two different sub
tects." To learn reading, you
do this; to learn spelling, you
do that.
It is one Of the main points
of this book that that attitude
is all wrong. Reading and SPELL
ing are two sides of the same
thing. and the trouble starts as
soon as you separate the two.
The only way to teach reading
is by teachig spelling at the
same time.
With a phonetic alphabet and
the phonetic method it's simply
question of overcoming llllt-
eracy and learning which letter
stands for which sound. Once
you know that you can read
and spell.
But we don't teach reading
by way of phonics any more. So
how do today's American chill
dren learn to spell? Even after
] found out about the whole
word method of teaching read
ing and was about halfway
through the research for this
book, I still believed that when
1t comes to spelling, our chill
dren finally get some phonics.
I simply couldn't imagine that
anyone can learn to spell ct all
without learning the pronun-
citation of the letters.
How It's Done
Well, I learned different. We
have reached the point where
phonics has been driven out
even of the teaching of spelling.
Then how can you teach child
that princess is spelled p-r-i-n-
e-s-s? Like this Il am quot
ing from the latest edition of
the official manual for elemen-
tary-school teachers, published
by the Education Department of
the State of New York;:
Following are proposals for
conducting a spelling program.
81. Lead the children to feel .
that spelling is important. =.
"2. Combine spelling with vo-
cabulary and dictionary work
arouSing the children's in
terest in individual words and
IN language in general. =.
"3. When teaching the cor
rect spelling of word to chill
dren, do five things:
"a. Pronounce and enunciate
the word clearly yourself while
the children watch your lips
"b. Use the word in a sentence
;. to be sure that the children
will understand one meaning of
the word.
&c. Pronounce the word a sec
ond time, writing it on the
blackboard as you say it so the
children can see it. Have them
pronounce the word.
ID. Be sure the children can
pronounce the word correctly. 49,.
sc. Urge the children to notice
carefully the way the word looks
before they try to reproduce it
on paper.
"a. Use the word in context
both before and after the correct
spelling is presented. This deep
ems understanding on the part of
the children as to what the word
means
IS. Emphasize the syllabication
of words
IS. Provide at frequent inter-
vaS for each child to review his
own list of words that are hard
for him
AS you can see from this, the
currently accepted teaching of
spelling land surely New York
State is typical of the Nation in
this matter consists in teaching
first the meaning of the word
which hasn't a thing to do with
the spelling-and secondly, its
pronunciation.
Now the pronunciation, of
course. is help in spelling, but
only if you know how to tram
scribe the sounds into letters.
This the children in the State of
New York-and in the other At
States-are not taught.
Errors Are Result
And what's the result of this :
modern method of teaching :
spelling? Look into any college
handbook of English and you'll :
find a long list of common spell :
ing errors college students are :
apt to make. Here are some cur
rent campus favOrites:
accerate tfor accurate)
Britain for Britain
business for business)
calvary tfor cavalry
constable for considerably
definate (for definite)
differnt (for differently
dispite for despite)
docter for DOCTOR
FEBRUARY (for February
fourty Cfor forty
grammer for grammar
irrevelant (for irrelevanD
libary tfor library
medicine for medicine)
miricle tfor miracle
OCCASION for occaSion)
preparation for preparation
privalege (for privilege
professor for profesSor)
reconize for recognize) II
seprate (for separate)
(#x ,o,,,,,