Sounds and spelling

Vowel phonemes
(Literacy curriculum - Ww/E2.2 )
Thanks to Michelle who sent in this game link.
In this game there are a series of postcards each of which covers individual vowel phonemes. Students practise identifying the phonemes and picking the correct phoneme to spell words. I used this game in class with a group of adults and they really enjoyed going through the postcards and printing them out at the end. Don't forget to visit the Teachers' area.

Poetry that doesn't rhyme
(Literacy curriculum - Ww/L1.1)
Thanks to Susan F who sent in this idea.
To practise words that are spelled differently but pronounced the same, why not try writing poems? Pick the terminating words first for as much variety as possible. Try to make the theme as relevant as possible too, so that the experience and hopefully the words will be memorable. Doing the reverse of this may seem absurd but is perversely funny. Make a list of words that use the same vowels (and even consonant ending) but which sound as different as possible. Then write a poem which looks for all the world as if it ought to rhyme but fails dismally to achieve this. For these exercises you can use any meter pattern you happen to like, from limericks to hymns.

A poem
(Literacy curriculum - Ww/L1.1)
Thanks to Amaryllis M who sent in this idea.
This is a poem I came across whilst doing my degree. It's good for getting learners to think about spelling patterns and how you can't always rely on them!
"Beware of heard, a dreadful word, that looks like beard and sounds like bird, and dead: it's said like bed, not bead, for goodness sake, don't call it deed! Watch out for meat and great and threat, they rhyme with suite and straight and debt." Anon.

Spelling techniques for blind students
(Literacy curriculum - Ww/L1.1)
Thanks to Chris J who sent in this idea.
I have a blind 16 year old student I support on a mainstream programme. For spelling I have found it most helpful to teach him memory oriented techniques, like mnemonics and word families, especially for homophones which are very difficult for him to spell-check.

Poetry and 'silent' letters
(Literacy curriculum - Ww/L1.1)
Set a 'silent' letters poetry challenge. Pick a selection of words with 'silent' letters and get students to write a short poem containing some of the words. Visit the Arts poetry sub-site for some inspiration.

Finding the right words to help find the wrong ones
(Literacy curriculum - Wt/E3.4, Wt/L1.6)
(Thanks to R Innes who sent in this idea.)
When looking over a piece of work for spelling mistakes, it can sometimes help the confidence of learners to ask them to highlight the words they know for sure are spelled correctly rather than the ones they think are wrong. Learners will often feel more confident about this approach as it gets them off to an easy start and helps the tutor to spot gaps in the learner's knowledge.

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Recognising words

Difficult words
(Literacy curriculum - Rt/L1.1)
Thanks to Frances Girling for this idea.
Many students have difficulties hearing the difference between sounds in order to work out how to spell certain words in a piece of writing. Using plastic letters and flash cards, and lots of listening to the sounds first in isolation and then attached to consonants and then in CVC words, it's possible to break the word down so that the student understands its structure better and is able to write the word.

Word of the week
(Literacy curriculum - Ww/L1.1)
Thanks to Sandie S who sent in this idea.
My Level 1 and 2 students are thoroughly enjoying word of the week where I teach one word each week which people commonly find problematic. I use the Look, Say, Cover, Write and Check method. We have begun with exercise and separate.

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Plurals

Plurals and food pictures
(Literacy curriculum - Ww/L1.1)
On the Back to Basics area of the BBC Food site there are lists and images of ingredients. Print out the images and ask learners to tell you the correct spelling of their plurals - for example beef/beef, lemon/lemons or potato/potatoes.

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Word building

Origins of words
(Literacy curriculum - Rw/L1.1, Rw/L1.3, Ww/L1.1)
Thanks to Susan F for this idea.
To aid spelling, look up the etymological origins of words, and possibly even look up the same word a European foreign language. Doing this can help students to understand where the words come from and what elements they're made up of. This helps spelling because students increase their understanding of why some words are spelt as they are, and helps them learn spelling by splitting complex words up into more manageable chunks, helping them spell things more easily.

Exploding suffixes
(Literacy curriculum - Ww/E2.2, Ww/E3.2, Rw/E3.5, Ww/L1.1, Rw/L1.3, Ww/L2.1)
Thanks to Rose from Peterborough for this idea.
For root words, suffixes and prefixes I use a variation of the game 'Pass the Bomb'. 'Pass the Bomb' uses a little timer in the shape of a 'bomb' with a fuse; after an undetermined amount of time it 'explodes'. Print the root, suffix or prefix on cards or paper, turn one over and start the 'bomb'. Either everyone in turn has to think of a word using what's on the card, or students can give themselves a point for each word they can think of and add up points at the end. Root words, prefixes and suffixes can be chosen to suit the level of the students, and new ones added as they become more confident.

Recognise the letters of the alphabet
(Literacy curriculum - Rw/E1.3)
Thanks to Jo T for this idea.
I start students looking at the letters of the alphabet by learning those which make up their name first. Combine sight reading (recognising his/her name) and letter recognition/letter formation work. Then move on to surname. Then one or two other words that are important to the individual e.g. maybe the city he/she lives in or the name of his/her country. Then by the time you actually start to look at the whole alphabet, the student will be delighted to find they already know half the letters! I think presenting the alphabet first is a bit daunting - 26 letters (52 if you consider that they have to learn upper and lower case) seems like a lot to learn, but starting with personal words breaks it down and makes it relevant.

Introducing vowels
(Literacy curriculum - Ww/E2.2)
Thanks to Hilary S for this idea.
Give students pairs of consonants with a gap in between them and ask them to try and make as many words as possible by trying out different vowels. At Entry 2 you could just give them the 5 short vowels to try with a few pairs of consonants. Higher levels could try long vowel combinations. Differentiate by providing less experienced students with a list to choose from of vowels that actually make words with that combination. More experienced students would have to think of their own combinations and possibly use the space in front of the two consonants or after them. For instance, if you use the combination 'm' and 'n', Entry 2s will try to get 'man' and 'men'; Entry 3s: 'mean', 'main', etc. and Level 1 students might come up with 'menu' and 'amen'. I've also known this activity to 'get' to some students who go home determined to find more words - usually the more competitive men!

Deciphering code
(Literacy curriculum - Rw/E2.3)
Visit the Walking with cavemen site and take the language evolutionary challenge. Crack the coded message and follow the hunting instructions. This caveman's version of hangman helps students develop their skills to decode words.

Countdown
(Literacy curriculum - Ww/E2.2)
Thanks to a tutor who sent in this idea.
I often use the TV spelling game, Countdown, in class. Students quickly learn to recognise vowels and consonants. You can introduce all sorts of spelling patterns and rules through it. Anyone can play, especially if you give less able learners their own set of the letters so that they can move them around to help make words. It encourages people to use dictionaries and everyone loves it!

Build a word
(Literacy curriculum - Ww/E3.2)
Thanks to Susan F who sent in this idea.
This is a good game for building words. Start with a letter, vowels are easier such as A, I or O. Then each person takes it in turn to add a letter before or after the current word to try and make another one. You can adopt the tactic of trying to block other people or be co-operative and try to get as long a final word as possible.
E.g. A, TA, TAR, STAR, STARE, STARED.

Building words
(Literacy curriculum - Ww/E3.2)
Thanks to Susan F for this idea.
For this activity you need some baby sets of letter blocks. See how many words one can make with one or two sets of letters. Students can explore common spelling patterns for vowel phonemes.

Spot the suffix
(Literacy curriculum - Ww/L1.1)
From the News site print off a story that is full of suffixes. In class get students to highlight suffixes such as –al, -sion, -ness which can start a discussion on spelling suffixes.

Word game
(Literacy curriculum - Ww/L1.1)
Thanks to Susan F for this idea.
In class ask a student to say a word out loud. Each student then takes it in turn to come up with a word which begins with the end letter of the previous word. This can be made even harder by having to use the last 2 or 3 letters in order in the next word.

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Spelling rules

Unfamiliar words
(Literacy curriculum - Ww/L1.1)
Listen to the latest news stories at the News site. In class discuss how some of the unfamiliar words might be spelt using spelling strategies.

The use of 'ie' and 'ei'.
(Literacy curriculum - Ww/L2.1)
Thanks to Chris J who sent in this idea.
I personally don't teach ei/ie through rules, as they are rather difficult and have many exceptions. I usually take a phonic approach. "I" before "e" except after "c" can help someone remember "receive" and "deceive" but not much more. I try a word by word approach according to what words the student needs to know and use worksheets or quizzes to reinforce the learning and introduce new words.

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