Although I’m well past school age, I still feel I need to make time to do spelling practice. I come from a family of writers, so you’d think I’d be great at spelling, but the truth is that I’m not brilliant at it. Don’t get me wrong; I’m not hopeless at spelling words but my mind seems to go blank sometimes, particularly when it’s a hard or uncommon word. But sometimes even the simple words catch me out too; I’m sure that happens to most of us occasionally.
Of course, now we have word processors with their spelling checkers to do it for us, but I find these aren’t always totally accurate. Anyhow, I believe that even if the words you type end up with those wavy red lines underneath, it’s still best to figure out the correct spelling yourself. This is in itself a form of spelling practice.
What I tend to do for spelling practice is take a mental note of words as I’m reading, to try and get them stored in my brain for future use. I like to do crosswords, which is a great activity, not only for spelling practice but for helping to keep your brain active.
My daughter will soon be starting school, so the time will come when she has to practice spelling, along with my help. I can see that being beneficial to both of us. I do hope that she grows up with a better command of spelling than I do. I intend to make it easier for her, not only by helping her with her spelling practice homework, but by giving her the tools that will help. There is so much now for kids to help them learn basic spelling rules, like software, dvds, phonetic spelling toys and so on. And if she doesn’t learn from these, there is always the trusty dictionary to fall back on! |
