Preparation

Decide whether you like the words provided or not. Make up your list of difficult-to-spell words if you want to.
Copy handout or prepare overhead.
Look over the five words and be sure you know how to pronounce them (which you do at the end of the activity).
Prepare to have an activity or break after step three.

STEP-BY-STEP PROCESS

1. Introduce this activity as a spelling exercise designed to make tutors think about how they approach spelling.
2. Hand out or show on the overhead the list of words that are difficult to spell. Do not pronounce the words or say them out loud. Do not give tutors the meaning of the words. This is because pronunciation and meaning are both tools for learning to spell.
3. Remind tutors that this is not a test. Give them one or two minutes to try to learn these words using whatever techniques they would like to use. During this time, make mental notes of what they do and what they say.
4. Tell them to put away the handout. Do another activity for five or more minutes. This might be a good time for a coffee break or an alternate spelling activity. If you insert this activity into Activity D, finish the discussion about English spelling.
5. After the break, ask tutors to write the words. Say the words aloud and out of order. Pronounce them as indicated and read the definitions. Note that the underlined vowels are long vowels. (These five words come from Mary Norton’s 990 book, Preparing Literacy Tutors.)
   • pteridophyte: (ter-id-o-fit) fern or fern-like plant with no seeds
   • quidnunc: (kwid-nunc) an inquisitive person or busybody (from the Latin, “what now?”)
   • elegiacal: (el-ij-i-kl) a type of lyric poetry; mournful or sad
   • irreplaceable: (ir-re-plac-a-bul) cannot be replaced
   • sacrilegious: (sac-re-lij-us) disrespectful to things held sacred (from sacred and legere – to take).
6. Ask tutors to take out the handout or show the overhead, Five Words. Have them look it over and ask them to write down the correct spelling beside their spelling. Ask them to keep this list.
7. Ask what they did to learn the words. Note down the responses on the flip chart. Also add your comments on what you observed. For example, some tutors may have written down the word several times or tried to say it out loud or wondered what it meant. Title the list “Spelling Approaches.” Point out that we approach spelling in a variety of ways.
8. Ask them what you could have done that would have helped them to learn the spellings. Add these responses to the list.
9. End by saying that the rest of the spelling unit will add to this list, so they will be able to help their learners in a variety of ways.