Can 't anyone spell these days?

Mollygo, so much to agree with in your post.

I was teaching spelling to the Y7 & Y8 'strugglers' in secondary school using phonics/phonetic knowledge as the basis of what I did. Many of them had never been taught that there was any sort of correlation between the letters in words and the sounds they represented (this was from 2000 onwards, before the introduction of mandated phonics instruction, so they's mostly been taught to memorise meaningless letter strings.

They definitely found it something of a revelation to find that the letters they wrote to spell a word had a purpose, but old habits died very hard. Spelling is highly dependent on kinaesthetic memory and if you've been spelling a word wrong for 6 years the old 'memory takes over once you stop concentrating. Kinaesthetic memory works really well with handwritten words but the increased use of computers means that children aren't handwriting as much and the only people who develop kinaesthetic memory when wring with a key board are highly trained touch typists. For children it's mostly 'hunt and peck' so they're back to having to memorise letter strings again😥

I agree that extensive reading is helpful especially when one has learnt to 'decode' words via phonics, because that's what all the brain research points to, skilled readers 'decode' a word in a matter of milliseconds and can immediately pick out a wrongly spelled word because it 'sounds' wrong.

All in all, despite the phonics mandate, I think a great deal militates against children being really secure with their spelling skills.

Of course, the people whose spelling is being criticised on here will be adults who have probably never really been taught the proper basics of spelling. Even the post 2012 L & S educated children will only be in their late teens now.

There’s a multitude of reasons for poor spelling and it isn’t a new phenomenon. I’ve seen spelling mistakes all my working life.

It isn’t just young people either, there are plenty of repeat spelling mistakes on Gransnet too.

If I repeatedly made a mistake I personally would want to be corrected, although it isn’t the done thing generally.

Primary schools do teach spelling, with endless attention to the different ways a sound can be made e.g. ay, ai, a, a_e (what we used to call magic e) eigh, aigh, ey, and the words that contain them.
They are taught to see, hear and spell words using simpler sounds e.g. trying to avoid the cuh-a-tuh when spelling cat.

In 2007 the government introduced
Letters and Sounds, a six-phase teaching programme designed to help practitioners and teachers teach children how the alphabet works for reading and spelling

From 2013, all LEA primary schools in England had a statutory requirement to teach synthetic phonics in years one and two continuing with more complex words and spellings as they move through the school.

They have spelling homework and spelling tests like we used to do, though I don’t recall my parents going into school and complaining that “Molly doesn’t have time to learn these words” or berating the teacher because “Molly only got 7 out of 10”

No matter how well spelling is taught,
I think it’s partly to do with what
mum2ofthree says when she wrote that they
don't see them written down
Reading is the best way to support spelling memory, whether it’s comics, magazines, books/kindles etc.
Children can be good spellers without reading a lot, but reading expands your vocabulary and helps you to remember e.g. where there, they’re and their are correctly used.

I do wonder why this happens. It's as though people hear the words but don't see them written down. Don't children write essays any more, or is this laxity a reflection of poor teaching?

I don’t think they actually teach it anymore. Certainly not the way we were taught. Same applies to the times tables. I have to admit that I do tend to think people are uneducated if they make a lot of spelling mistakes but then I always was an intellectual snob.

It's reliance on spellcheck software: I was a qualified proof-reader for a firm of solicitors but computer spell-checking soon made me redundant - well, I wanted paying y'see!

Software can do spelling, grammar, punctuation BUT for some reason it cannot do context.

I think we can all spell, its just autocorect that cant.

kittylester

Er, why is this under webchats?

Becaus were chatting on a website?

pascal30

I did find stalagmite g for ground and stalactite C for ceiling really useful

We always said that tites (tights) go down to remind us which was which!

Oh, thank you for the 'one collar, two sleeves' to remember necessary. It's one of my bugbears. That and occasionally (I spelled it wrong again and it was autocorrected).

I also think that the younger generation just doesn't do enough writing, and relies heavily on spell check. I think when we had to lug out our dictionary and look up words they tended to stick with us a bit better.

Ooh. Quite shocking.

Perhaps some are just not well educated.

Quote shocking in this day and age, and it's hardly fair to compare those who have been privately educated and find them "more clever" than those who haven't.

The thing that really stands out is the poor spelling and grammar in posts from patriots wanting their country back. There, their, they're. To, too, two. The new favourite seems to be are instead of our. Added to this is the complete lack of punctuation and the inability to use upper case correctly. If one comments on it one is reminded that they might be dyslexic - but surely not all of them?

Or even, chesterdraws..

One collar, two sleeves for 'necessary'

The trouble with mnemonics is that children don't always remember them. I worked with children with reading and spelling difficulties and the number of children who told me that 'because' was 'big elephants can always use small elephants', but still spelled it wrong was unbelievable...

If you’re not an avid reader, you probably can’t spell…..

Just look at how many Chest of Draws are for sale on Facebook.

I did find stalagmite g for ground and stalactite C for ceiling really useful

kittylester

Er, why is this under webchats?

Because we’re on the web and we’re chatting??? 😜😜

MissAdventure

The best part is when people make mistakes on these threads

Like me, constantly!

Constantly begging for an “edit” button!

😂😂😂😂😜😜😜😜

Oh yes! Thanks for the one corset and two suspenders memory hack with regards to spelling necessary correctly.
I shall never spell it wronngglly wrong againl! 🤭

Chocolatelovinggran

Oh Celieanne, I thought that the 'necessary' reminder was " one corset and two suspenders"...

Hahaha 😂😂😂

I was at a catholic convent school taught by nuns and somehow I don’t think your version would have been approved but I love it thank you for the laugh 😂😂😂

Er, why is this under webchats?

The best part is when people make mistakes on these threads

petra

This thread could be a goer. Nothing GransNetters like more than a bad spelling thread.😂

Oh Celieanne, I thought that the 'necessary' reminder was " one corset and two suspenders"...