English Spelling(s): It is what it is.

Let’s be honest with ourselves and accept that English spelling is a mess. I look at the children I teach with a compassionate heart and ruthlessly hand then their new spellings list. Most of them have learning needs in one form or another–most of which I am at ease with. However, as an English teacher I have to teach spelling. And by teach, I mean on a weekly basis bludgeon my pupils with rules that are inconsistent at best, and make no sense.

Growing up, spelling came naturally to me. The combination of loving words and meaning while also lacking interest in pattern helped with this. I am interested in words. However, many of my pupils are not as enamoured.

Early in my career, I taught in a bilingual Spanish/English classroom. This was my only experience teaching Spanish spelling and I am wistful when I think about it. Basically–(and I am not fluent in Spanish) the way Spanish words sound is how they are spelt. Take afuera (outside). Teaching a child this word would simply mean identifying the sounds and writing them down. That is it.

English spelling, as you no doubt know, is not at all as reasonable. Just this week I gave a group the -igh pattern of spellings for the long i sound. The week before I’d given them the “Magic e” words. You see this Magic e when placed at the end of words tells all vowels to say their names. A boy in my class who is a native Italian speaker asked, quite reasonably, when given the -igh words: “Miss, but what about the Magic e?” I told him categorically that that he was silly for expecting so much from English. “It will never make sense, my dear,” I told him. “Just accept this and you will improve your English.” Well I didn’t actually tell him he was silly, but I did tell him to not think so much about English rules.

This harshness is a product of over 20 years teaching English in one for another. When I taught English as another language in 1996, I would actually attempt to explain my students’ questions about grammar. While this shows my knowledge (& love) of grammar–it did nothing to actually improve their English.

As babies we accept the world around us and use what we learn to get what we want. We learn by doing. My students need to read and write to get better at spelling. Too much explanation muddies their practise of it. I hope want them to conserve their energy putting it to good use. I’m sure Yoda would agree with me in this–“Do or not do. There is no try.” Trying to do English is not doing it at all. So instead of explaining the multiple patterns of long i sounds to my native Italian speaker I told him simply to read the words and spell them to me.

Here are some (non-definitive) guidelines about English spelling–

1. When you think you have a pattern, an exception is just around the corner.

2. Knowing English sounds help, but not really.

3.Use all your senses to help you remember words. Sing a spelling out so it will stay in your head. Tap out the rhythm of a word. Use play dough to spell them. Do what you must!

4. Read more.

I’ll stop there because I’ll end up saying something “I before e, except after c,” or some other nonsense.

Teaching Analytical Writing: a balance between structure and free expression.

Writing a literary essay is not something that comes naturally to many people. In fact, I’d go out on a limb and proclaim that no twelve year old has written an essay to analyse a work of art spontaneously simply for the joy of it. There, I’ve said it.

What comes natural to nearly all of us, however is having an opinion. New-born babies scream and cry to communicate their displeasure at the fact they haven’t had any milk in a while. Toddlers break down, writhing on the linoleum to let you know their opinions about the vegetables they are expected to eat. My own sons, aged eight and ten, are full of opinions about everything from having to share a room to what programmes to watch. This is what is called making a “point” if you’ve ever taught paragraphing according to the PEE method (point, evidence & explain). God I love a PEE paragraph–they really get me going. (More on that later.)

Making a point is easy to do.  My year 8s have been reading Macbeth and they are all alight with opinions about its characters — especially Lady Macbeth.  “Miss, she is evil,” one boy stated.  When I put forth the idea that Lady Macbeth would not have had a lot of power at that time Janie (name changed) confidently asserted, “Miss you can’t just go around murdering people–even if you don’t have power.”  Another boy in the class said that he thought Lady Macbeth bullied Macbeth into doing things he did not really want to do.  These are all valid points and to be honest, I love when the children I teach make such astute comments, it really makes all those early teacher mornings worth it.

So how do we get these lovely children with their clever points to be able to then back up their ideas with evidence and explanation?  If you are a primary teacher, you have probably used writing frames in your lessons.  These are structures designed by teachers to guide children with their writing to remember what to mention and know what features to use.  One of my favourite writing frames is a Point, Evidence, Explain “Burger” (see photo).  When I taught in a mainstream setting it gave a strong visual for my pupils practising paragraph writing.  The point is the top of the bun while the evidence is the burger and the explanation the base of the bun.  A beginning writer is guided when writing their ideas and can structure their paragraphs so that they are effective.  I’ve since adapted this for my pupils who use large print and braille.  Here’s an example:

Point–Lady Macbeth bullies Macbeth to do things he doesn’t want to do.

Evidence– In Act 1 Lady Macbeth says to Macbeth,  “Yet do I fear thy nature;
It is too full o’ th’ milk of human kindness.” Also, in act 3, scene 4 Lady Macbeth taunts him saying, “Are you a man?”

Explanation–Throughout the play, Lady Macbeth challenges her husband to act like a man and ignore his feelings.  She undermines his confidence in his own thoughts and opinions by declaring their weakness.  If he could only be a man, she contends he could be king.

To help my year 8s move on from their statements, I gave them a writing frame in which I supplied the quotes.  For some of them I also gave them the points since I wanted them to learn how to explain their points.  The more able children were given just the quotes and then they had to write their own points and explanations.  I had to decide what they needed to focus on and that is what they will write.  However, all of them have to follow this format so that they can learn how to back up their points in a structured and coherent manner.

Their writing frame consisted of the following:

Paragraph 1–Introduction–Write a summary of the play.  (I modelled how to write a good summary since this is a tricky thing to do for learners.  They have trouble knowing what to include and what to leave out.)

Paragraph 2–What is Lady Macbeth’s role in the play?

Paragraphs 3-5–PEE paragraphs featuring points about how Lady Macbeth manipulates her husband into murder.

Paragraph 6 — Conclusion

So far this week, the children have written their first three paragraphs and they writing frame is allowing them to concentrate on getting their thoughts organised and clear in their mind.  They are able to be successful in their writing and are picking up a structure from which they will be able to add to and change in future English essays and exams.  The children who are large print users tick off the sections they complete as they go, while the braillists simply use a piece of Blu-tac to to keep their place on the writing frame.

In the end, in teaching our pupils to write essays we ultimately want to teach them how to think.  This structured approach aids them to do this by freeing them up to think only about the aspects that they are working on at the moment (such as learning to explain what their evidence means).  It is terribly exciting to see them moving from stating their points about characters to really starting to look for evidence of what they’ve said.  Teaching writing is a balance of providing structure so that the pupils can learn to think and allowing them freedom to express their thoughts in their own way. Having used this structured approach my aim is that one day the children will cast the frame aside and write fluently.