Spelling Lists Deemed Too Distressing For Kids 20
A British school has gotten rid of spelling homework because students find it too "distressing" to learn lists. Headmistress Debbie Marklove says, "We have taken the decision to stop spelling as homework as it is felt that although children may learn them perfectly at home they are often unable to use them in their daily written work. Also many children find this activity unnecessarily distressing." If kids were able to get more words right at home with the parents than in the class room, it could lead to a sense of failure, she said. I wish this kind of thinking would extend into the workplace. I for one, find starting work at 8 a.m. too distressing and would like to start a few hours later but still leave at the same time.
maybe not a bad thing... (Score:1)
1st: English, unlike many other modern language, has not had a reset. most modern languages fix their spell to speak every now and then. But, English has not. This make English very hard to learn. I learn in one semester to spell better in Japanese then in 6 years of English.
2st: I think that the spelling list should be fully done away with. In the US we stop learning to spell after 6 years at 5 and 6 letter words. After that there is no class to learn to spell. I think that the 1st 6 years of spell class s
Re: (Score:2)
as a former ESL teacher, i can say with a fair amount of authority that you are being a douche.
language is about communication. if you understand the idea the other party is trying to express, they have done well enough.
English spelling is extremely hard to pick up. i know many people who are able to make conversation with ease, yet when you ask them to write out a word, they are lost.
some easy examples: c, g.
circle. is it "sir-kle", "sir-sle", "kir-klr", or "kir-sle"
giga: is it gi-ga, or ji-ga, ji-ja? g
Re: (Score:1)
Folk who learn other languages bust their nuts on noun gender and verb forms. English is pretty easy in that respect, at least at beginner level. So yeah, spelling it can be a little problematic, but given its other advantages I would say most ESL learners should count themselves lucky.
Native English speakers are also remarkably tolerant of bad spelling, esp when you tell them you're learning. At work (an American+British firm) people email with abominable spelling all the time (including senior folk) and n
Re: (Score:2)
There are many languages (Non-European mostly) that don't have noun gender and verb forms to worry about. Indonesian and Chinese (in fact, most Asian languages) come to mind.
Re: (Score:1)
I accept your point, although "Asian" includes several Indo-European languages, most of whom are gender-inflected (or did you mean "Asian" in the US sense, i.e., East Asian?).
In any case, learning Mandarin as a 2nd language to avoid the rigours of English orthography seems ... misguided [pinyin.info], because you've only traded one set of problems for a another, bigger set of problems.
Re: (Score:1)
Ive allways atribyutid fonix to my suksess in spelling.
Yu just haff to lern the eksepshuns (of which there are many).
Seriously, I did find phonics to be an incredibly valuable source of my ability to spell things correctly, but I don't know if it actually helped the average person. Growing up, I had an amazing ability to spell words based on what I knew about sounding them out, but I have a feeling that I was able t
Re: (Score:2)
English, unlike many other modern language, has not had a reset.
Actually, that's incorrect. Look at the differences between the way some words are spelled in Britain and America: we spell it "color", the Brits spell t "colour". We say "humor" where the Brits spell it "humour". We call the place in the back of the car where the tire and tools go a "trunk", while they call it a "boot" (and God only knows why they call it a "boot").
What makes English hard is that it is a bastardization of about every other lan
Re: (Score:2)
In the US we stop learning to spell after 6 years at 5 and 6 letter words.
You apparently didn't learn grammar and literate composition, either.
Anyway, one of the words on my 4th graders' current spelling list is opportunities. Significantly longer than 6 letters.
This is pathetic... (Score:3, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
But, surely, this will better prepare the children for the workplace, eh? I mean, when you get into the work force..and you find the work for little pay distressing, you just can complain, and have them pay your more for less and....errr......
Well, sure, why not? (Score:1)
We've already proven that intelligence, reading, literacy, comprehension, competency, et al are not requirements for high office. Why bother with them for any lower office either? And let us all remind ourselves of Sam Clemens (Mark Twain's) gentle attempt to revise the art of spelling and grammar:
Re: (Score:2)
Twain was a smart man, smarter than you it seems, as you don't seem to realise that he was NOT SERIOUS in that essay.
Have you ever read Huckleberry Finn? [virginia.edu] In it, he uses southern dialect in the narrative, as it's written in the first person, told by Huck, a simple country boy. But the characters' words are spelled and grammar used as the speaker speaks them.
Re: (Score:1)
Of course he wasn't, you dolt. Sam Clemens was a very funny man.
Sheesh.
Lets... (Score:1)
Let's get rid of math next, it's so distressing for the kids to learn it.
Maybe go after history and geography after that, I'll be damned if I didn't have a hard time learning those.
/sarcasm
The point of education is not to try to make the kids feel good, it is to give them the knowledge and skills to not only to survive in a modern world, also to make them able to contribute to the society and the humanity.
Guess what, if you aspire to a job behind a desktop, you're going to need spelling, even if you didn't