Most kids learn how to spell English words as well as the rules of spelling at school in the first and second grades.
Also at this stage, they learn how to read and write.
While a child’s ability to spell or a lack thereof may not directly be connected to their intelligence, it is an important skill that they need to master.
The reason why learning to spell is clear – poor spelling skills could become a part of the student as they move from one grade to a higher grade and their vocabulary develops.
When words are misspelled, it can be frustrating for teachers who are trying to correct assignments, and it can also lead to embarrassment in the future for adults who are stuck with spelling mistakes in professional communication.
In some cases, when a child seems to struggle consistently with spelling, it could be as a result of a learning disorder such as dyslexia.
Teaching a child to master spelling will aid their communication, especially in languages like English where there are multiple words that sound alike.
Teaching spelling words can be challenging for both teacher and student, but there are several ways by which both parents and teachers can teach a child to spell words by making it enjoyable and fun.
Get creative
Encourage creativity in the learning process.
You can get the students to use objects like papers and markers so that they create a collage of letters.
You can have the student cut out letters to make posters containing different words.
The key here is to help the children achieve higher cognitive attention to the task, this will ultimately make the words easier to remember.
Writing words by hand
Getting kids to memorize words can be quite boring and they may struggle, but they can make a lot of progress by focusing on form.
You can have the kids copy a word or a set of words multiple times– this practice has proven to be very helpful.
However, if you have a dyslexic student who struggles with handwriting, it may help to get them to type the words on a computer.
Encourage reading
Having a child read more will expose them to words that are spelled correctly.
The more a child learning to spell sees words spelled correctly, the better they are able to transfer the knowledge into long-term memory.
Provide your child or student with stories that they like, especially ones that have repeated examples of words that are on the spelling list.
You can have the students underline words that they are familiar with or that are on the spelling list.
Spell the words out loud
When teaching kids to spell words, say the words out loud and spell them out loud as well. Doing this will encourage the kids to do the same.
Allow them to spell out loud will help them to internalize and memorize the order of the letters by using both their eyes and ears.
Children with learning difficulties can benefit from this practice.
Display words
Have as many words as possible on display in the classroom.
These words will eventually be transferred into a child’s memory as passive input, which then becomes active knowledge later on.
Spelling games
Another method of teaching spelling words is by introducing games such as crossword puzzles and worksheets.
Also, getting the entire class involved in games like hangman is more beneficial.
This gets the students motivated to spell words correctly in order to win.