Suggestions-for-teaching-spelling-step-2

Many tutors have identified that their learners need additional help to progress with their spelling skills. The suggestions here follow the steps in the spelling progression. Some have been adapted from material available at http://www.dfes.gov.uk/ curriculum_literacy/

Learners at the 2nd step

Learners need to extend the bank of words they can spell automatically. They also need to have some reliable strategies to help them spell everyday words with fluency and accuracy. They need to be aware of how accurate their spelling is and use basic dictionaries.

Suggested activities

• The learners can begin by completing basic forms that require personal details.
• They can enter the names of their family and friends into a cellphone, using correct spelling and upper- and lower-case letters.
• Learners can practise linking sound and spelling patterns by generating families of rhyming ‘consonant vowel consonant’ patterns (CVC) (for example, fat, hat, mat). The learners can use these words to compose rap songs or comic poems with you or in groups (for example, “Slim Jim, he’s so thin, the doctor’s told him to drink more gin”).
• Give learners tapes of rhyming CVC words in short sentences. They can listen for and write down the sound patterns they hear.
• Learners work in pairs or groups to make up a sentence composed of words that begin with the same sound patterns (for example, Greet green grocers and grab gross groceries – then say it as quickly as possible).
• Learners can identify a list of nouns from their own reading and writing and write down the plural form of each noun beside the appropriate word.