Thursday, 23 August 2012

The intricate part of making children learn spellings through tutoring

Every child has a gift within themselves and spelling keywords properly is also a gift which can be learned with proper guidance and training. In this blog I have discussed various ways through which children can be taught spellings through tutoring.



I have discussed a lot of different methods of teaching innovatively for English in my previous blog titled “Determining a breakthrough teaching mechanism for English online tutors”. You can read about the different innovative methods that can be applied while teaching English to children by copying and pasting the link given above to a separate browser. Now you might be wondering what is so different about this blog anyways because I have already discussed about different innovative methods in English language in my previous write-up. But today this write-up is on a different subject. I will speak about a very difficult scenario for tutors especially when it comes to teaching those children who are not very good at learning spellings for English language. Now I know that you might be wondering that there are so many blogs on the same topic available on the net and what is so different in this blog. I will explain that in a minute or so but first of all let me tell you that spelling skills cannot be learned in a day or two and need to be practiced for a longer time to make the child expert in spelling keywords correctly. Children usually lose their focus and mix up different letters while spelling them or they find it difficult to spell the word correctly despite lot of effort and concentration on their part. But the good news is that with practice and hard work proficiency can be developed in this area that can help children spell even difficult words with ease.

Now let me enumerate different ways that can help you make children learn spellings through tutoring:

  • Ask the child to repeat the spelling of the keyword several times: I now recall my childhood days and remember that whenever I had some problems in any subject during my secondary education I used to go to my father and ask him to help me out with that subject. The only thing he used to tell me was to repeat the questions and answers several times, retaining a significant line in between and then asking them questions based on the line. In the end I had to tell him that I have understood everything and used to work on the subject myself.
In similar way, ask the child to repeat the spelling of the keyword several times loudly; and then try to write it about 10 times without looking at the reference book. This way the child will increase their grasping power, and retain the spelling for a longer period of time.

  • Develop sentences based on the keyword and use sentences from that word: Now this strategy is quite useful when there are two words which are pronounced the same way like: seen and scene. Here the word “C” is silent in scene, hence; it is very important to make the child understand the difference between the two words by explaining that seen means to perceive with the eyes; while scene is a place, with the people, objects, and events in it, regarded as having a particular character or making a particular impression. After making the child understand the difference; form sentences based on the keyword. Like for example; today I have seen a scene from a play on Julius Caesar in theatre. This way the child will try to recognize the difference between the two words. This activity is particularly important to clear confusion from the minds of the child. Always try to use different examples for similar keywords for example; there, their, they’re and explain the meaning of each of these keywords properly so that the child is not confused while spelling these words.
  • Do a mock spelling test:  For similar pronunciations of different words, say the word loudly in front of the child and then give them hints about the association of the keyword with different parts of speech for example; adjective, noun, verb, adverb etc. Then use the keyword in a sentence; and ask them to repeat the sentence loudly by repeating the keyword. This is particularly useful for children who find it difficult to write or read. This method can also eliminate the test anxiety amongst children.
If you find that the child has progressed a lot while taking their test; praise them, and always encourage them to do better. Increase their self-confidence by giving them incentives; whenever they spell a particular keyword properly. This way they will be encouraged to give their best; and it will be more like a playtime for them. Also maintain a scorecard and show it to them regularly; so that they can get positive vibes from it. They can then approach the next spell test with confidence.
If you wish to contribute further and post your comments and feedback on different ways through which children can be taught to learn spellings through tutoring; follow us at: http://www.facebook.com/PracTutor, http://hardik.practutor.com

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