There is a saying “Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man how to fish, and he can feed himself for a lifetime.” I believe that the same is true for spelling. A good speller has mastered many words, but a truly good speller has learnt much more than the correct spelling of a specific word list. A good speller knows the spelling rules and knows when to use them. A good speller knows how to spell.

A good speller knows:

• how to use the alphabet
• how to apply the spelling rules
• how to predict spelling rule exceptions
• how to apply this knowledge to spell new words.

A truly good speller knows:

why the plurals for tomatoes and ponchos follow different rules
why some root words double their final consonant when adding a suffix (e.g. forget/forgetting) but why only some suffixes have this effect (forget/forgetful)
why some root words drop their silent ‘e’ when adding a suffix (e.g. hope/hoping) but why only some suffixes have this effect (hope/hopeful)
why some root words are never effected by the addition of a suffix (sulk/sulking; soak/soaking)
why there appears so many rule exceptions (e.g. good spellers know why not to use a rule such as the “i before e except after c” rule to spell vacancies)

I believe too, that learning to spell should be fun and adhere to the proven learning theory that learners should “see it, hear it and do it!”

Learning is a lifetime matter. We are never too old to learn. Phonics Alive! 3 –The Speller is a fun-filled interactive computer program that will enhance the spelling skills of any learner, aged between 8 and 108!

Enjoy!


Judith Hall M.A. (Hons), M.Ed. (Hons), B.Ed.,Grad.Dip.Ed.Stud.(Spec. Ed.), Dip.Teach.