ABSTRACT
Before the child grasps the principles of phonic synthesis at Stage Two, her attempts at spelling will probably be based on rudimentary phonic analysis. This may take one or more forms, for example;
- prominent consonants-wz (was), Bt (bought) - letter sounds-erpln (e-ruh-pl-en makes aeroplane) - letter names-Is (eyes), nrg (energy)
It becomes clear that, in order to prevent the development of spelling difficulties, children at these early stages need to be taught to spell the words they want to use in writing (see James at Stages One and Two above). They are unlikely to pick them up from their reading, or from copying under the teacher’s scribing of their dictated sentences. They need to be familiar with syllables and vowels, and to develop techniques for learning spellings. And it is important to remember that a child may be at Stage One or Two in spelling not only in the Infant Department, but at the age of nine or ten, having made satisfactory progress in reading. Games and activities for learning about syllables and vowels are to be found at the end of this chapter on page 148.
