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There are numerous ways to teach a student how to spell properly but to ensure they are learning the strategies properly, you need to give them word lists they can practice. And that is where Spelling Schemes come!

As a parent or a teacher, you may have heard about different spelling schemes (or used one or two). Spelling schemes are beneficial for children as they include suitable word lists for students of every level according to the national curriculum. In this article, we will learn about different spelling schemes for primary schools that are known to be the best for the students.

There are various types of schemes you will find online. Some of these spelling schemes are available for free. Others have different subscription packages you can choose from. Several schemes offer a free trial period to let you see the features before you decide to purchase anything. You can easily find spelling schemes that include punctuation and grammar lessons also.

Free Spelling Schemes

Shakespeare and More Spelling Scheme

‘Shakespeare and more’ is a free spelling scheme suitable for years 1 to 6. The scheme includes 32 lists of spelling words that get progressively harder each year to match the student’s level. Though the lists can be used flexibly, it is important to know which list will be appropriate for which year. The alignment is given below:

Year	Word List
1	1 – 6
2	7 – 12
3	13 – 18
4	19 – 24
5 and 6	24 – 32

 

The lists for every year contain words from previous years along with the new ones. This way, teachers don’t need to worry about students forgetting words as they can revise the words they previously learned. You can rearrange the words of the lists according to the phonetic or any other approach your school follow.

Features

• Guide to words, sounds and rules covered by the schemes
• Worksheets
• 32-word lists
• Guide for teachers

Trusted Education Solutions (TES)

The TES website provides spelling schemes for primary schools that follow the 2014 National curriculum. It runs from the EYFS or Early Years Foundation Stage through to year 5, teaching students all the spelling rules and patterns. The year 6 curriculum mainly works as a revision to all the lessons learned before.

Features

• Guide to spelling rules and patterns
• Revision materials.
• Guide for teachers and parents
• Strategies to apply in the class

Commercial Spelling Schemes

Pathways to Spell by the Literacy Company

Winner of Teach Primary Awards 2021 and finalist of bett Awards 2021, the pathways to spell program is a progressive and comprehensive spelling scheme for students from year 1 to 6. Their research-based teaching sequence comprises lessons with hypothesizing and experimenting that follows the national curriculum.

Features

• 6 weeks of detailed planning
• 4 sessions a week.
• Additional lessons for personal development of students’ spelling skills.
• Customizable word lists and PowerPoint presentations.
• Fun spelling games and activities
• Spelling journals, handbooks etc.

Training

The literacy company provide staff training that is available offline and online with training modules available to download.

Pricing

The price of this spelling scheme is £445, but for the exiting pathways schools, they offer a discounted price of £395.

Schofield and Sims Spelling

The Schofield and Sims Spelling scheme includes books for 6 pupils and 2 for the teachers. It is suitable for students who understand the basic letter-sound relationship. They also teach word structures to help students understand the spelling patterns and correct their own spelling mistakes.

Features

• Extensive practice materials for students based on phonic knowledge
• Strategies for commonly misspelt or tricky words
• Materials for revision
• Regular transcription practices

Teachers guide

The guidebooks for teachers include a systematic approach for teaching the spelling patterns, rules and strategies to ensure the students are progressing in spelling. They also contain:

• Spelling resources to use in the class
• Recommended ways for explaining concepts

Pricing

The guidebook for teachers costs £8.00, and the resource book costs £8.00. The pupil book costs £3.50 each.

Introduce funny spelling jokes into your spelling schemes to help your students learn spelling in a fun way!

 

Read Write Inc. Spelling

The Read Write Inc. spelling scheme is designed by the Oxford University Press to teach students from year 2 to 6. They are known for their ‘15 minutes a day spelling sessions that cover all the spelling requirements of the 2014 National Curriculum.

Features

• Extra practice Zone:
  This newly added feature includes more than 1000 activities for the whole class to practice. The activities cover the areas that are most commonly challenging to the students. They can also avail this facility at home.
• Writing practices
• Comprehensive training designed by the Ruth Miskin Training.

Pricing

They have different spelling schemes with a variety of features. The scheme with printed resources costs £650. There are also practice book packs with a price from £4 to £160. The online subscriptions vary in prices that are given below:

Package	Cost per year (£)
Spelling scheme year 2 to 6	130.00+ VAT
Spelling scheme year 3 and 4	60.00+ VAT
Spelling scheme year 5 and 6	60.00+ VAT
Spelling scheme year 2	35.00+ VAT

Want to about spelling bee hacks? Check out our full guide on this topic right now!

 

Spellzoo Spelling Schemes

Designed by a former teacher who is also the creator of several award-winning spelling lists, this spelling program strictly follows the guidelines of the New Primary Curriculum for English (2014) to provide age-specific lessons for students. The program focuses on phonics and phonemic awareness of students, along with spelling patterns and rules.

Features

• Spelling booklets arranged by years and terms
• Aid to handwriting
• Word puzzles based on weekly spelling lists
• Quick quizzes on Grammatical terms and punctuations
• Mark sheets for each class
• Dictionary definitions of words to help students understand the word properly
• The resources are downloadable and can be photocopied

Spelling words sets

The Spellzoo Spelling Scheme is organized into spelling words sets on a weekly basis. The resources in the sets support 3 primary objectives of the scheme:

1. Learning spellings using the ‘Look, say, cover, write and check’ method
2. Word activities to expand the vocabulary range of the students
3. Using dictation sentences to assess the progress

The spelling words include statuary spellings and patterns based on the national curriculum. The word activities can be used in class for group activities. You can also use them for homework. The dictation sentences include questions, commands etc., to help students understand the context. Though designed for spelling tests, these sentences can be used to teach proper punctuation in class.

Pricing

There are 3 packages for Primary, infant and junior schools. They charge for different materials separately so that you can choose what you need specifically instead of buying a package that might include unnecessary resources.

Spellzoo offers discounts for state primary schools that have less than 100 students.

How To Choose Proper Spelling Schemes?

Now that you have an idea about the available spelling schemes both online and offline, I hope you can choose programs suitable for your students. You can check their websites for detailed information on pricing and the latest available products. But before using these spelling schemes, some things need to be taken care of:

• Check if the spelling scheme offers customizable word lists so that you can rearrange them according to the school’s curriculum.
• You need to check if your pupils are comfortable with the methods used in those schemes and the pace they advance. You don’t want to put pressure on them to learn spellings quickly.
• Choose a flexible spelling scheme in case you have a student with learning difficulties such as dyslexia. You need to give them enough time to process the information they receive at once.
• Try to look for spelling schemes that offer a wide range of resources so that you can apply different approaches and enjoyable activities to teach spelling.

Final Thoughts

One more thing to remember is that just memorizing the spelling words is not enough; you need to assess it regularly to track your progress. With SpellQuiz Spelling Test, you can easily evaluate your progress. The test is divided into grades from 1 to 12 and over. You will hear a full sentence that is recorded by professional voice artists and spell every word. SpellQuiz also offers an Adaptive Spelling Program that let the students advance at their own pace. This way, they are never overwhelmed with too much information.

Competing in a Spelling Bee competition is a clever strategy as it gives you a sense of achievement and boosts your confidence. SpellQuiz Spelling Bee Online can help you with it. In this competition, students around the world compete against each other. No matter if you are a native speaker on an international ESL student, spelling bee online will help you show your potential to the world.

There is also SpellQuiz Vocabulary Test that will evaluate your skill level within just 10 minutes s that you have a clear idea about where to start from. They also offer printable word lists divided by levels, so you don’t need to look for suitable word lists for practice. And not just these, SpellQuiz has quizzes about word origins, commonly misspelt words and grammar too so that you can properly develop your language skill along with your spelling skill.

Happy Spelling!

Are you unsure if your students are learning spelling properly? Are you looking for some effective spelling homework ideas that will boost your kid’s spelling skill in no time? Then this article is just for you.

In the past, teachers gave a list of words to write at home and bring them back to class the next day. No wonder students got bored after a few classes. But nowadays, keeping students hooked to learning spelling is one of the top priorities which is why teachers (and parents) need interactive spelling activities instead of the traditional ones. And to help them, we have gathered a number of spelling homework ideas that will successfully do their job to grow your kid’s interest to learn spelling.

 

Spelling Homework Ideas for 1^st Grade

Let’s start with the beginners. Students in this level are naturally interested to learn new words as they are discovering a whole new world. That’s why choosing a spelling activity for them should be done carefully.

For beginners, most of spelling practice should be done at class. You can give a few words to practice at home to improve their skill further but make sure:

• Not to give too many words for homework
• Not to give a word that wasn’t practiced in the class

For 1^st graders, homework should consist of words that were already learned in class and given only to practice further so that students can understand and memorize the words properly.

Check out the spelling homework ideas for 1^st graders:

1. Write a word 5 times. Use a different color each time.
2. Write the words in alphabetical order, then write them again in reverse order.
3. Make word chain. Write a word, then write another word whose first letter is the last letter of the previous one.
4. Ask the students to find out the number of syllables in each spelling word. They need to write the word using different color for each syllable.

 

Sight words

It is a clever strategy to start teaching sight words. These words are frequently used so students would see them everywhere and would learn then faster. You can print them out from SpellQuiz Printable Sight Words List.  The words here are divided in grades so that you won’t have to worry about using words that are harder for students in a certain level.

 

Hands on Spelling Activities to improve the skill of beginner level students

Not just homework, you should give some spelling activities also to make the learning process enjoyable. Here are some hands-on spelling activities for your little learner:

 

Create the words

These activities don’t involve writing the spelling words. We will use different types of letter shapes to build or assemble the given words. Check the activities below:

1. Build the words with letter stickers.
2. Make words with letter blocks.
3. Create words with magnetic letter shapes.
4. Use scrabble letter tiles to build the given words.
5. Make words with alphabet stones.
6. Create words with alphabet pasta.
7. Use letter stamps to stamp your words into papers.
8. Use Lego bricks to create the words.
9. Make letters from play dough and build words with them
10. Write letters on papers or cards and place them on the floor. Ask your kid to spell a word aloud while jumping from one letter to another.
11. Use letter beads and thread them together to build the words.

 

Write the words

In these activities, the child needs to write the words, but not in the conventional way:

1. Paint the words with brush and colors. You can use watercolor or acrylic paints.
2. Write the words with crayon.
3. Write each word with a certain colored pencil. Cut each letter apart and mix them. Ask your child to assemble the similar colored letters to build the words.
4. Use chalk and board to write the words.
5. Use markers and write the words on a whiteboard or on your window. Make sure to use washable markers.
6. Ask your child to make letters with their body to spell a word.
7. Use cotton buds and dot-paint each letter to build a word.
8. Ask your child to type a word. You can use computer or a typewriter if you have one.
9. Type each word 10 times. Use a different font each time.
10. Use your finger and write each word on sand. You can also use salt. Just spread them on a tray and ask your child to write on them.
11. Ask your child to write letters with whipped cream on cookies and build words with them. If spelled correctly, they can eat all the cookies used to spell the word.
12. Write the words on the wall using a laser pointer.

Check out our guide on spelling schemes for primary schools, which will help you in determining the perfect spelling homework for your students.

 

Other activities

1. Play Hangman game with your child.
2. Assign a number to each word of the list. Make a spinner with the numbers. The student needs to spin to get a number and spell the assigned word.
3. Ask your child to spell a word. Then ask them to spell another word that rhymes with it. You can use it when you are teaching them spelling patterns. Ask them to spell as many words as they can with similar pattern.
4. Make spelling rhymes or spelling songs with your child. You must remember the spelling song for ‘Difficulty’ from movie ‘Matilda’. Try to make one for other words too. Here is one for the word ‘Mississippi’:
   M Mrs. I
   Mrs. S-S-I
   Mrs. S and S-I
   Mrs. P-P-I
   But make sure you’re not creating a rhyme for every word. It will be confusing.
5. Make acrostic poem with each word. You can ask your child to make one too.
6. Tell the students to draw a picture to describe the word they learned.
7. Write the listed words on one side of the paper and write its definition on the other side. Play a game where you ask the definition in one round and the word in the next one.

 

Spelling Bingo

Play spelling bingo with your students. Give the students an empty chart and draw one on the board. Point to an empty block and say a word from your list. The students need to spell the word correctly to be able to write it in the box. This game can also be played at home.

Learn spelling in a fun way with spelling jokes for adults now!

 

Spelling Homework Ideas for older students

Not just kids, even adults feel bored after a while with spelling lessons. That’s why we need to add some interesting spelling activities with traditional homework to keep the students engrossed.

Check out the spelling homework ideas given below. They are suitable for students of all levels and not just for students only. If you are an ESL student or just an individual willing to improve your spelling skill, these activities will help you learn and understand words faster.

1. Write a sentence with each word you learned. Try to use multiple words of the list in one sentence.

2. Write a story with the words you learned. If you are not sure what to write about, try some common themes such as:
Holidays, Travel, Movie, Fantasy, City/Town, Seasons etc.

3. Divide the listed words in two sets and play ‘memory game’ with a friend or family member.

4. Find definitions of each word from the dictionary. Sort them out for similar meaning or origin.

5. Write a word, now try to make a new word by adding a letter. For example,
To-> Toe-> Towel->Towels
Go-> God-> Good-> Goods-> Goodness

6. Make a greeting card and try to add as many spelling words you learned as possible.

7. Write a paragraph that contains the word you learned, its synonyms and antonyms. Bonus points if you can do it for multiple words in one paragraph.

 

Word Search

‘Word Search’ is a great spelling activity for all level of students. Just be careful that the words you are using are appropriate for their level. There are many ways this game can be played:

• Give them a time limit. The one who found the highest number of words wins.
• Tell them how many words they need to find. The one that completes the fastest wins.
• For younger students, give a list of words along with the grid.

You can use play this game outside of the class too. Find a word grid on the internet and try to solve it on your own. Track how much time you need to solve each set and try to break your own record.

 

Spelling homework ideas can help you accomplish a lot. Check out these spelling practice hacks that you can use as a homework for your students now!

 

Now that you learned about spelling homework ideas to improve the spelling skill of your child, you need to monitor if these methods are actually working by evaluating your child’s skill. And in this case, SpellQuiz is your best friend! You can easily assess your kid’s progress with SpellQuiz Spelling Test where tests are divided by grades. You can find vocabulary tests suitable from grade-1 to grade-12 and older. Also don’t forget to check SpellQuiz Spelling Bee Online competition for more fun spelling activities, tips and tricks for improving spelling skills and much more.

Happy Spelling!

Did I forget how to spell? Why is my spelling getting worse? What do I need to do? Adults often ask these questions after getting several red marks from the spellchecking software after checking their writing with it.

Nowadays, most people who use computers, mobile phones, or similar devices use spellcheckers for good writing. Employees check their documents with these programs to find any mistakes. And that is when they see how many spelling mistakes they usually make.

In this article, we will talk about the reason behind the adults’ spelling getting worse and find the solution to it.

 

Are The Spellcheckers Always Right?

Before panicking about spelling getting worse, let me tell you something- the spellcheckers are not always right!

There is no denial of the fact that English spelling can be confusing-, and not because of irregular spelling patterns or words borrowed from other languages only. Many words have different spellings depending on the region. You should know which one your spellchecker is using.

If you are a British who wrote ‘I love red because this is the colour of passion’ and ran it through a spellchecker using the US spelling system, what do you think the result will be? And this is not just one case! Here is a list of some words that have different spellings:

USA	Canada	UK	UK (Oxford Spelling)	Australia
Aluminum	Aluminum	Aluminium	Aluminium	Aluminium
Globalization	Globalization	Globalisation	Globalization	Globalisation
Program (Concert)	Program (Concert)	Programme (Concert)	Programmme (Concert)	Program (Concert)
Gray	Grey	Grey	Grey	Grey
Defense	Defence	Defence	Defence	Defence
Analyze	Analyze	Analyse	Analyse	Analyse
Center	Centre	Centre	Centre	Centre

 

Also, different regions use different words to express certain things. Your spellchecker might not suggest the appropriate word for your writing. For example, the definition of ‘biscuit’ is different in the USA and in the UK. Australians call it ‘Footpath’ what Americans call ‘Sidewalk’. So, evaluating your skill based on spellchecking software is not a good idea.

If you are still concerned about your spelling getting worse, let’s see what can be the reason for this.

 

Why Is My Spelling Getting Worse?

Even the best ones make mistakes. It is okay if you spell a word wrong accidentally. But if this keeps happening on a regular basis, then it is an alarming sign that your spelling skill might have gotten worse than you think.

Here are some reasons why our spelling gets worse:

 

Lack of Practice

The main reason behind the poor skill is just simply lack of practice. Think about mathematics. All of us learned to solve math problems in school without the help of the calculator. But now, it is a compulsory item for even simple calculations. How many of you calculate your monthly budget without a calculator? It is not like we forgot how to calculate; we just found a new tool for it.

The same thing happens with spelling skills. We have ‘autocorrect’, spellcheckers, etc., to correct our spelling mistakes, so we don’t need to think about it.

 

No More Monitoring

You must remember getting poor scores because of spelling mistakes in school; all of us do. Teachers often instructed us to revise our writing several times after finishing. The school has strict rules for students to be held responsible for the mistakes they make and might even be penalized for spelling.

But after leaving school, there is no need to be so serious about these mistakes. Naturally, people shift their focus to more important things.

How can I hack spelling in my classroom? Check out our full guide on this.

Picking Up Habits

It might sound absurd, but teachers often say that they have picked up the habit of a misspelling from their students. This is actually a great reason behind one’s spelling getting worse.

They have seen the same type of misspelling and mispronunciation so many times that sometimes they are confused about which word is correct.

And not just teachers, many ESL students also face this problem. As you might know, there are many English level tests available on the internet, and some of them give the task of choosing the right words from the wrong ones. If a student practices them again and again, even the misspelled words become familiar to them. As a result, they sometimes use misspelled words without realizing it.

Another fact that is affecting our spelling skills is the newly invented spelling words for texting. Even the school students face problems spelling some words correctly because they text the word differently. If you keep texting ‘r8 u r’, ‘c u’, ‘brb’ or ‘gtg’ continuously, it gets hard after a time to write ‘See you soon’ or ‘Be right back’.

 

Why Is My Vocabulary Getting Worse?

Are you trying to avoid certain words because you forgot the spelling? Is remembering the appropriate word getting harder for you? Let’s see what might be the reason for it:

Poor Spelling Skill

Spelling is connected to vocabulary. So, your spelling getting worse must have affected your vocabulary skill too. If one is struggling to remember the spelling of a complex word, they will avoid the word and forget it later.

 

No Need of Wide Vocabulary Range

Your profession or field of study has a huge impact on your vocabulary skill. You will use the words related to your field more than others. For example, an engineer will not remember medical terms as properly as a doctor. Similarly, a doctor might have little to no knowledge about terms used by lawyers.

Even though you learned a lot of words in your school, lack of usage eventually erases them from your memory. Unless you are a bookworm or passionate speller who still has their spelling notebook in their bag, it is hard to remember all those words. And this might be a good cause for your spelling getting worse.

Learn more from our guide on spelling homework ideas for 1st grade to understand how you can prevent your spelling from getting worse.

 

Being Multilingual

If you know languages other than English, it is pretty normal for you to struggle to find a perfect word to describe something. Here are some reasons behind spelling getting worse for being Multilingual:

1. If your first language is not English, you might have some English words or not appropriate enough or totally inappropriate to describe a concept that can be perfectly described with your mother tongue.

2. Even if you are a native English speaker, your vocabulary can be affected by other languages. If you are living in a non-English speaking country for a long time and learning their language, you might struggle to remember a specific word of a language you hardly speak now.

3. Even students who take foreign language courses sometimes face problems remembering a certain English word. Their English is not getting worse; it is just that their brain is now dealing with a new language, so it is sometimes hard to switch between two languages.

 

Why Is My English Getting Worse?

If you are struggling with your spelling skill and vocabulary, your English getting worse is a ripple effect of it. First, you forget the spelling, then you avoid complex words and limit your vocabulary; then, after a time, you realize that your language skill is also limited now. You struggle to find appropriate words, you forget the meaning of them, and so on.

 

What To Do?

Don’t panic! You were good once, you still are; just a bit of strategic approach is all you need to regain your skill.

Before claiming that your language skill is getting worse, you need to know exactly which section of your language skill is lacking. Are you struggling only with spelling words? Is your listening skill okay? Do you have trouble pronouncing certain words?

If spelling is the only section, you are facing trouble, and other skills are still satisfactory, then no need to worry at all. You can regain your expertise by following the suggestion given below:

Try reading our guide on spelling scheme Year 3 to better your spelling skills now.

 

Practice, Practice, and Practice

Sadly, there is no alternative to this, at least not effective ones. You should read more materials, look for your old spelling notebook if they are still there. Don’t try to learn every word at once.

But first, you need to determine your current level and then practice new words to improve your skill. And in this case, SpellQuiz is your best friend! Just register and practice. You don’t need to buy anything at first. SpellQuiz offers a 14-days free trial to let you see available features before you decide to purchase.

Take SpellQuiz Vocabulary Test to determine your English level in just 10 minutes! You would be given an estimation of how many words you know and a suitable grade from where you can start your spelling practice.

 

Use Sight Words

It is a good strategy to start practicing with the sight words. Check the SpellQuiz Printable Sight Word list, to begin with. They are divided based on grades so choose the list appropriate for you. Learn a few words a day and take time to properly memorize them.  No need to rush- SpellQuiz offers Adaptive Spelling that lets you advance at your own pace.

You can also use Spelling Bee Online competitions to hone your spelling to perfection by competing in real-time.

But practicing won’t bring a good result if we don’t monitor our progress regularly. Try SpellQuiz Spelling Test to evaluate your skill. The tests are divided by grades so that you don’t have to look much for a suitable test.

 

It is natural to forget something without regular practice, be it singing, playing, or spelling. All you need to do is go back to practice. Make a little time in your daily life to practice spelling, and you will be a pro again in no time.

Good luck!

Are you or your child struggling with English spelling?

Are your students complaining about how confusing the spelling of the words is?

If yes, then you are definitely looking for an effective way to improve your spelling skills, and we’re here to help you.

It is true that English spelling is confusing even for native speakers. Many of the English words are originated from other languages such as Latin, French, Greek, etc. For example, ‘Catalogue,’ which is a French word, or ‘Ketchup’ which is a Chinese word.

Words from a different language are often spelled according to the rules of those languages, which can perplex a speller easily. This article will talk about different activities and methods that will help your student avoid these confusions by improving their spelling skills. It will help you learn how to improve spelling skills in an efficient way.

 

Why Is It Important to Have a Good Spelling Skill?

Is a good spelling skill really necessary? Nowadays, we have online spell checkers; are they not enough? What will be the use of this skill after completing school?

Questions like these are quite common as people often fail to realize the necessity of good command over spelling. Here are some reasons why spelling skill is still an important factor:

1. Spelling skill is connected to reading skill. When students are learning to spell, they also learn a lot about the meaning, origin, synonyms, etc., of the word. Thus, their vocabulary range widens and makes it easy for them to read new stories.

2. Good spelling skill is a must for writers. People often tend to avoid the words they find difficult to spell and use a similar one. This might affect the quality of their writing as, though synonymous, some words fail to express the concept properly as other words.

3. People are now writing more than ever before! Due to the rise of the internet and social media, a big portion of today’s communication depends on non-verbal ways. Think about the emails you receive every day, how many times you update your status on social media or text your friends and family. Though it is possible to use spellcheckers as all of these are done online, there are numerous cases where spellcheckers fail to indicate a mistake or even suggest the wrong spelling.

An Example

For example, the British spell ‘Colour’ and the Americans spell ‘Color.’ If a student is applying to a British University or a candidate is applying to a British company, it is natural that they would write ‘Colour’ not ‘Color.’ But spellcheckers, which most of the time follow the American rule, indicates ‘Colour’ as a spelling mistake which confuses the writer.

Also, think about the writing competitions or tests. Even in online tests, spellcheckers are inactive, so students must depend on their spelling skills. If they spend their valuable time remembering the spelling of a necessary word, how will they complete their test?

4. Spelling mistakes or typos are not tolerated in any formal environment. A recent study on Human Resource Managers shows that around 85% of the employees reject a candidate before interviewing them if any spelling mistake is found in their resume. They say that if a person is not sensible enough to make an application mistake-free, how can they be trusted with serious responsibilities?

Considering the above factor, it is clear that good spelling skill helps a person throughout his life. That is why we should give importance to building our spelling skills.

 

Ways to Improve Spelling Skills

If you are a kindergarten teacher or a parent, you must be wondering how to improve spelling skills of a child and what methods would be appropriate for their age. It is vital to improving the spelling skills of the students from the beginning so that they don’t face any problems in the future while reading long texts.

ESL students also face many difficulties improving their skills and looking for methods to learn to spell faster. Here are some methods that would be appropriate for students of all ages:

How can I improve my spelling quickly? Check out our full guide on this.

 

Mnemonics

Mnemonic is a device for improving memory. It helps us remember information by connecting it with information we already know. This is a great tool to learn to spell faster, especially the irregularly spelled words.

The best thing about mnemonics is that you can build your own mnemonics to remember words. This way, you study and understand the word more, which will help you learn the spelling faster. There are also plenty of mnemonics available on the internet.

Here are some helpful mnemonics devices for developing your spelling skill:

 

Rhymes

Mrs. D, Mrs. I

Mrs. F-F-I

Mrs. C, Mrs. U

Mrs. L-T-Y

If you have watched the movie ‘Matilda’, you must remember this iconic rhyme to remember the spelling of ‘Difficulty’. There is also a similar rhyme for ‘Mississippi’:

Mrs. M, Mrs. I

Mrs. S-S-I

Mrs. S and S-I

Mrs. P-P-I

Rhyming is a great tool to remember complex word spellings. The information is stored by acoustic encoding in the brain, which makes it easier to remember the word.

Not just spelling, you can make a rhyme about spelling rules, patterns, similar words, etc. For example:

Q and U

Stick like a glue

When -ing came to play

E ran away

Or

The cat and the bat

Are friends with a rat

Today they sat

On a yellow mat

You can develop your own rhymes for a word you find hard to remember, or you can search for them online. But remember, making too many rhymes might backfire and confuse you in a time of need.

Hands-on spelling activities can benefit your students of all age to improve their spelling much faster. Check out our thorough guide on it now.

 

Acronym

What is the meaning of LOL? Or BRB?

We write these words daily when texting. They are called acronyms. And this method can help us a lot to improve our spelling skills. How? Here is the trick:

Take each letter of a word and assign them another word. Now build a sentence with those words. Here is an example:

Ocean: Only Cats’ Eyes Are Narrow

Below are some popular mnemonics for you:

On You Luck Duck (Could, Should, Would)

Silly Aunts In Dresses (Said)

Can’t Open My Eyes (Come)

Laugh And You Get Happy (Laugh) (This is a clever trick to assign the main word to the first letter)

 

There is also another strategy for making a mnemonic. You can use a sentence to explain the difficult part of a word. For example:

An island is land surrounded by water.

See how the word is divided into two words? There are plenty of other sentences like this:

There is always a rat in separate

I saw an ad of a dress at this address

You hear with your ear.

Try this method when you find a certain part of a word confusing. But again, don’t overdo it!

Without proper guideline and practice sessions your spelling might get worse. If you are asking this question – why is my spelling getting worse? Then check out our guide on it now!

 

Spelling Rules

Instead of making a mnemonic for every single word you struggle to remember, try to find patterns among them or research if there is a spelling rule for such words. Of course, there are a plethora of irregularly spelled words, but spelling rules will help you spell thousands of words without even memorizing them, which leaves a lot of time for you to remember the irregular ones.

Start with some basic rules such as

‘Every syllable has a vowel’,

‘U always follows Q’,

‘S never follows X’ etc.

If you are a parent or a teacher, don’t try to teach too many rules at once. Make sure you are giving the kids enough time to understand a rule and give them lots of examples while introducing a new rule.

 

Speak It Out Loud

Using the sound of a word to teach spelling is considered appropriate only for beginner-level students, which is not true at all. Adults also can use this method to differentiate between similar sounding words.

For example, ‘blink’ and ‘blank’ often sound similar, especially to someone whose first language is not English. If you are an ESL student, speak the two words aloud until you catch the difference between them. In addition, it would teach you the proper pronunciation of the word.

 

Misspelled Words

There are several words that are often misspelled even by native speakers. Knowing these words is beneficial for your spelling skills. It is a good strategy to make a list of the words if there is no rule or pattern available for these words and teach them separately. Some commonly misspelled words are:

Beginning, across, believe, interrupt, weird, accommodate, indispensable, mischievous, playwright, omission, etc.

Before teaching, you should divide these words by grades so that students aren’t burdened with words too complicated for their level.

Students should also list down words they struggle to spell and practice them more to master the spelling.

 

Sight word

Sight words are frequently used in our daily life and found in books or other reading materials. They are easy to remember as they are always before our eyes. Students should first start learning spelling with these words to quickly improve their vocabulary before dealing with complex and unseen words.

If you are looking for a list of sight words, SpellQuiz’s Printable Sight Words List is a must for you. SpellQuiz has an enormous collection of vocabulary test and fry sight words divided by grades to improve the spelling skill of your kids. You can print them to use in class and for homeschooling. There are also special sight words lists for Spelling Bee Online Competition to make the preparation easier for your little learner.

SpellQuiz also has the Adaptive Spelling feature that allows the students to advance at their own pace without overwhelming them with tasks. It is beneficial for improving their spelling skill as they can master the words properly before moving to the Spelling Test.

 

The methods mentioned above will teach you lots of new words that will help you later in your life, no matter which profession you choose. Use them to improve your spelling skills and revise the words you have already learned once in a while.

 

Happy spelling!

Parents and teachers often struggle to keep their children hooked to learning spelling. Can you blame them though? It is hard to be interested in memorizing words from a list, to be honest. So, are students going to stop learning spelling after a while? No way, Spelling Fun Games are here to save the day!

Spelling games are innovative ways to teach kids spelling. They apply multi-sensory interactive methods where students learn spelling while playing fun games. Many games have points and ranking system to reward the students for their efforts.

Now, are the games only useful for children? Of course not, there are thousand types of games suitable for students of any level and age; and many of them are available online. Offline games are also useful for class and home-school.

Most of the modern games are designed considering students with dyslexia and other learning disabilities. They also let the student learn at their own pace.

In this article, we will know about different types of spelling fun games to help your children learn spelling with fun.

Spelling Fun Games for Kids

Most of the teachers now apply interactive activities to teach spelling rather than the traditional memorizing technique. Kids, especially the ones beginning to learn spelling, will be more interested in games than lectures.

When teaching spelling, letter blocks or shapes are exceptionally useful as the students focus on the shape of a letter and use their visual memory a lot to spell correctly. Most of the games mentioned below involve letter shapes. You can also write letters on papers or cards to use them.

Spelling Stairs

This game is immensely effective for memorizing spellings. Give your child a word, tell him to add one letter at a time to make a stair. For example,
T
TA
TAB
TABL
TABLE

Spelling Scramble

There are different levels of this game.

• In the beginning, take the letters of a word and scramble them. Tell your kid to arrange them accurately to make a word.
• After mastering previous level, take some additional letters along with the letters of the word. Tell the child to find correct letters and arrange them.
• In the advance level, the student should be able to find the letters from the whole alphabet.
• You can also increase the length of the word with each level.

Spelling Train

Along with teaching spelling, this game can also evaluate your vocabulary range.

• Write a word on a paper.
• Tell your kid to write a new word with the last letter of the word, and then another new word with the last letter of the previous one.
• You can also compete with your child in writing new words and build a word chain.

Here is one example of word chain for you:
One
Eat
Two
Oats
Sand
Dog etc.

 

You can also add rules such as only words of same length would be used. For example:
Cat
Toe
Egg
Gem
Man etc.

Why is my vocabulary getting worse? Can spelling fun games help me learn it better? We have answers to all your questions, so check out our guide on it now!

Spelling Games for Adults

There is a misconception that spelling games are only for kids and adults should only depend on memorization which is not true at all. Plenty of multi-sensory spelling fun games are designed for the adults so that they can also have fun while learning spelling.

Scrabble

There is hardly anything that can beat Scrabble when it comes to spelling. It is an age-old family game that has evidently enriched vocabulary and spelling skill of many people. If you don’t have enough time to sit with the traditional board, try the online version and play it with your friends and family on your way to your work!

Crossword Puzzles

Meaning, spelling, synonyms- all 3 can be learned from just one game, Crossword puzzles! They are available in your newspaper; you can buy puzzle books from any newspaper stand or departmental store. There are also numerous apps you can install in your device to play them in your free time.

Spelling Games for the Classroom

The spelling fun games mentioned above can be easily applied in classroom, but not all of them are suitable for group activities. Here are some group-based spelling fun games for your class.

Step On the Lily Pads

• Cut boards or thick papers in the shape of large Lily Pads. Make 26 of them.
• Write a letter of the English alphabet on each pad.
• Place them on the floor of your classroom.
• Pair your students.
• One student will speak a word, other must step on pads to spell the word.

Spelling Tic-Tac-Toe

• Write words on cards.
• Pair your students.
• Place a tic-tac-toe board in the middle or draw one on the board.
• Call two groups to compete against each other.
• A student from one group should draw a card and speak the word aloud.
• The other student of the group needs to spell it correctly. If they can, then they will be able to draw a ‘x’ or ‘o’ on the board.
• The group to get tic-tac-toe first win.

Roll the Dice

• Make a list of spelling words.
• Divide your students into groups and give them a notebook.
• Give them a dice and ask them to roll.
• The group that rolls the biggest number wins the round. They can copy as many letters into their notebook as they rolled within a given time.
• The group that completes copying all the words wins.

But the game doesn’t end here.

• Next day, make the same group and roll the dice.
• The group that rolled the lowest number in a round needs to spell as many letters as they rolled within the given time.
• If they fail to spell correctly, they will not have the chance to participate in the next round.
• The group that completes spelling all the words correctly wins.

Want to improve your spelling skills faster? Check out our guide on how to improve spelling skills right now!

Spelling Games Online

Online spelling fun games are convenient for everyone as you can easily access with your phone. All the traditional spelling games now have online versions and many new spelling games are being invented.

There are several websites that offers different types of spelling games online. Students can earn points, badges, and other rewards by spelling words correctly. There are also global spelling competitions offered in many websites which will help your child build sportsman spirit.

Below are some of the top spelling games website:

Spelling City

Starting in 2008 when online education was just a concept, Spelling City has become one of the biggest websites for spelling on the internet. They have more than 40 types of spelling fun games for students from kindergarten to grade-12. You can also customize the word lists of these games which will help the teachers to teach the students according to the school curriculum.

Check Spelling City Review for more information.

ABCmouse

ABCmouse is immensely useful for beginners as it offers more than 10,000 learning activities with 800 lesson plans for students from age two to eight. It is the most downloaded learning programs for kids in iOS and android.

They use animated videos so that kids have fun and learn a lot of things without realizing it. For example, in one game, Prospector Paul and his mule Trauss find letter combinations together. From this activity, students learn a lot about letter combinations while enjoying the journey of Paul and Trauss.

Make sure to check ABCmouse Review for more information.

Spelling Master

As the name implies, this game will help you master spelling with it’s multilevel spelling games. The levels ensure you have enough knowledge to advance to learn new words. You can also correct your mistakes in spelling with the spelling quizzes. In addition, the listen-and-spell feature teaches you proper pronunciation of the word.

SpellQuiz

SpellQuiz is your most trusted spelling program to teach your kid. It has spelling tests divided by grades so that all school students can evaluate their skills. Also, there are quizzes for adults so that ESL students can also benefit from the website. In the beginning, you can assess your vocabulary range with vocabulary test to determine from which level you should start taking quizzes.
One of the most unique feature of SpellQuiz is that it offers adaptive spelling program where students can advance at their own pace, allowing them enough time to memorize what they already learnt. If your child loves competition, they will enjoy Spelling Bee Online where students around the world compete against each other. 

Concluding Thoughts

Now that you have a better idea about spelling fun games than before, you need to know about some other things before playing spelling fun games with the students:

• Don’t use too many words at once for spelling games. If necessary, continue the same game for a few classes.
• Instead of dedicating a whole class for games, make these games a part of your lesson plan. That way you can assure constant learning and practicing.
• You can try different types of games for different types of words. You can divide them based on the patterns of the words or the length.
• When using props such as letter shapes or other stationary items, make sure students use them under your supervision so that no hazardous situation rises.
• If your child has learning difficulties, you can repeat same game a few times. You can also teach the same word using different games to understand which process work better for them.
• Use the spelling games to assess your kid’s skill instead of traditional exams.
• Even if these are games that children enjoy, it takes a lot of energy. Give them a break after a few rounds to recharge themselves.

If you are looking for more fun activities for your class, check SpellQuiz Blogs for innovative and interactive activities to learn spelling.

There are a number of spelling programs available in the internet for the young learners. Parents or teachers often finds it hard to pick a suitable spelling program for the kids because of the huge number of options and lack of reviews about them.

Spelling Shed is one of the most popular spelling programs, frequently used by the teachers and parents, especially in the UK and the USA. Kids get easily hooked with the program because of its user-friendly interface and attractive spelling games. You can also compete against others!

In this Article we will review in detail about Spelling Shed. This article is not sponsored by Spelling shed or any other. There are certain aspects we will talk about such as:

• Features of Spelling Shed
• Subscription packages
• Popularity
• Scopes of improvement etc.

What is Spelling Shed?

Spelling Shed is an online platform that helps students learn English. Furthermore, it combines different online games with offline activities and worksheets- creating a hybrid model to help students learn English Spelling.

The program is designed by teachers and the developers are from the UK. But teachers from the USA, Australia or Ireland can easily use it. More so, the curriculum is fully customizable to fit into any learning spelling approaches of any school.

Spelling Shed is a platform under EdTech dedicated to spelling. As a result, you might be wondering what EdTech is. EdTech, or Education Technology is a technology-based systematic approach to education that mainly involves the internet and other web tools to teach the young learners. There are many platforms other than Spelling Shed under it such as Maths Shed or the Literacy Shed.

Features

Spelling Games

The spelling games are designed for children to have fun while learning. In reality, there are three types of games students can play:

Practice

This game helps students with their home-works or assignments. This is the most featured game in Spelling Shed. This game can include word lists set by the teachers or the ones available on Spelling Shed.

After clicking the ‘Play game’ button, you would be shown this page:

Choose Spelling Shed and you will go to the spelling game page. There are different stages for the game:

After selecting a game, you would be given two options:

The bonus game is called Bee Keeper game.

 

Bee Keeper

Ever played Hangman? Bee Keeper is a modified version of it. In this game, you have to choose the correct letters before you lose all your bees. The less error you make, the more bees you save.

The interface looks like this:

Missing word

Missing word is a fill in the gaps game where two options are given to student- one with the correct spelling, another is wrong. Student needs to choose the right one to advance.

Buzz Word

Buzz word is a spelling game with time limit. Furthermore, the student is given a random selection of letter and they need to spell as many words as they can within the given time.

Spelling programs are a great way to improve your spelling skills. Learn more from our guide on how to improve spelling skills of a child right now!

Difficulty Level

Each game has 4 difficulty levels. You need to choose the level before starting the game.

Easy

• The word is shown on the screen
• The student can hear the word
• The student will be given only the letters that are needed to spell the word

Medium

• The student will be given only the letters that are needed to spell the word
• The audio clip will be played but the word won’t be shown

Hard

• Audio clip will be played
• Necessary letters along with some random letters will be given.

Extreme

• Full keyboard will be shown. The student needs to spell the word from the sound.
• The word should be properly capitalized.

Avatar

Each user will be assigned an avatar right after signing in. More so, you can change the skin, facial features, clothes, background etc. In fact, most of the features can be purchased using the ‘Honeypots’ students win from the spelling games.

Scoring, Competition and Certification

Scores in Spelling Shed games depend on certain things:

• Correct answer
• Speed
• Number of correct words in a row

There are certain terms you need to know about to properly understand your score:

• Shed Score: Shed score is the total score you earn for 7 consecutive days.
• League Rank: League rank use Shed score to show performance of a student. However, there is a chance that a student can become quite competitive with league rank
• Group League: Group league shows the total score of a group. They are also ranked in World League. The chart shows top 100 groups of Spelling Shed around the world. They also show total and highest scores.

Spelling Shed also gives E-Certificates upon completing certain tasks or achieving certain level to keep the students motivated. They apply reward-based approach to teach students to ensure they give their full effort. The certificates are given on the categories below:

• Speller of the Week
• Spelling Award
• Super Speller
• Top Marks

Honey Pots

Students are awarded with additional honey pots along with their scores by spelling words correctly and consecutively. More so, Honey pots can be used to upgrade your avatar by buying clothes, accessorize, backgrounds etc.

Want to check out more games like this? Check out our full guide on spelling games online that will help your child to learn spelling the fun way!

Phonics Shed

Phonics shed is a part of Spelling Shed that focuses on improving students’ phonics skill. This is best for beginner level students who are still learning to spell from the sound.

Along with digital games, it also includes a set of additional tools to teach phonics. The program includes pre-reading environmental sounds to improve students’ phonetic awareness. It also provides a phonics-based word list for the students.

Hive Spelling Game

Hive game is an interactive online spelling competition that is played among students around the world! It is played ‘Live’ where participants spell the same word at the same time. Pupils can create their own hive game too to compete against each other.

In addition, Hive games can be used as an assessment tool to see the improvement of the children. As a teacher, you can control the game from central EdShed site. You’ll be shown a league table between the rounds. Also, if you are confident on your students’ capability, you can join spelling league for higher spelling scores and compete against the world to rank in top scorer list.

One thing you must remember that as a ‘Live’ game, if a student is late to join, they will miss the first parts of the game and won’t be able to recover their lost points. Make sure all the participants are online before starting the competition.

Benefits for Teachers

There are a number of benefits Spelling Shed offer for the teachers such as:

• Printable work schemes
• Weekly lesson plans, worksheets with answer sheets, slides
• Data tracking options for parents and teachers to monitor progress
• Opportunity to set assignments, targets for your students. There is an ‘Assignment Rank’ for students which indicates difficulty and accuracy.

Spelling Lists

Spelling Shed has a humungous collection of spelling words and built-in word lists.

But teachers, as well as the pupils, can add their own lists if necessary. A teacher can mark a list as favourite so that students can find them easily and referring the list other teachers will help them out.

Grammar Lessons

In addition to spelling activities and resources, Spelling Shed offers grammar curriculum based on English National Curriculum. It includes lessons on Sentence Making, Punctuation etc.

Helpful for Students with Learning Difficulties

Spelling Shed has a special font named ‘Open Dyslexic’ for dyslexic students to help them learn comfortably. Therefore, you can use this facility while playing games or giving assignments.

Easy to use

The program is available both on iOS and Android platform. A student just needs a functional device and an internet connection. Furthermore, the user-friendly interface is suitable for even kindergarten students to use without any difficulty.

They also provide start guides and videos for the users. There are also materials provided for offline use.

Why is my English getting worse? Can spelling programs help in improving my English skills? Check out our guide on it now!

Subscription Packages

The 14-days free trial scheme lets you have a good insight about the program before you purchase anything. There are different packages for parents, teachers and schools. If you are a parent, you can subscribe monthly package for £4.99 or yearly package for £29.99. For teachers and schools, only yearly packages are available.

Packages for parents includes licenses for up to 5 children. For teachers, it includes up to 36 pupils at a price of £36.00. For school package, the cost varies depending on the number of students. In reality, it is possible to have more than 2000 licenses for students in a yearly school package where the cost per student is only £0.65. It also includes unlimited teacher licences.

All the packages include:

• Unlimited list of spelling words
• Access to spelling games and Phonics Shade
• Access to Hive Game
• Progress monitoring
• 15% discount if bought together with Maths Shed

Access to spelling schemes differ depending on if the subscriber is a parent, teacher or a school:

• Schemes for home use for parents
• Schemes for personal use for teachers
• Resources for school use for schools

Popularity

Studies show students who use Spelling Shed has achieved 50% better score in the standardized test. Thus, it is one of the most popular programs in the UK. The users gave it 4.2 starts on average.

Scopes of Improvements

Variety in games

There’s only 3 types of games for the students in this program. Having variety in games and applying different methods in teaching spelling is essential to keep students interested in learning spelling.

Suitability for students

Spelling Shed is useful for 5-11 years old students but students older than that, especially ESL Students might find the exercise too easy.

Subscription Plan

There is only one package for the teachers in Spelling Shed which is a yearly subscription with a fixed number of student license. In this case, the package might be inconvenient for private tutors or teachers with bigger of smaller class.

Alternatives to Spelling Shed

Spelling City

Considered a ‘Pioneer’ in online spelling practice platforms, Spelling city started their journey in 2008 with an aim to enhance the vocabulary of students. More so, they have about 40 different types of word game that will help your children learn newer words quickly and with fun. Furthermore, they have a wide collection of words that are suitable for students of all level-from kindergarten to grade-12. You should definitely check the Spelling City review for detailed information.

ABCmouse

Containing more than 10,000 learning activities and over 800 lesson plans- ABCmouse is one of the biggest online educational platforms dedicated to teach children from age two to eight. Therefore, it’s not just spelling activities, you can find lessons on all the core subjects such as math, science, social science etc. And not just that, ABCmouse offers art and music based activities too.

You can find more from the detailed review of ABCmouse.

Spellzone

You definitely have heard about this platform while searching for a proper spelling program for your kid. Spellzone’ s biggest advantage is that they group the word based on their spelling patterns which makes it easier for students to learn a wide range of word within a short time. Students, especially ESL students can greatly benefit from their course curriculum and multi-sensory activities.

Comparison between Spelling Shed and SpellQuiz

Suitable for students of all level

In SpellQuiz, the spelling tests are divided by grades. It has tests and word lists suitable for grade 1- 12 students and over. It also provides Printable List of Sight Words which are divided by grades. For teaching older students, you can find an impressive list of Idioms with explanation and image for students to understand the idioms better in a fun way.

Vocabulary

The SpellQuiz vocabulary test is useful for students to estimate their vocabulary range along with spelling capacity. The test can assess your current level in minutes! Also, the SpellQuiz spelling test is a great way to learn spelling for every grade.

Love spelling bee competitions? Then try out SpellQuiz Spelling Bee Online competition where students can compete against other players in real time. What can be a greater way to sharpening those spelling skills, right?

Flexible Subscription plan

Teachers can have both monthly and yearly packages in SpellQuiz which generally includes 25 licenses. You can add more licenses at a very low price. There is also a package for only 2 licenses which are pretty convenient for private tutors. You can find more about the pricing from the SpellQuiz Website.

Did you struggle to learn spelling in school? Are your students or children struggling now? Sadly, learning spelling has never been easy… until now! Spelling Mastery Program is offering a solution for the long, boring process of memorizing thousands of words.

Reason of struggling to spell

According to study, despite having a very flexible requirement, kids often face difficulty to reach even the minimum standard for their level, especially in spelling. For example, it’s very common to find students in grade 3 fail to correctly spell basic words such as ‘was’, ‘but’ etc.

There are a number of reasons behind this problem:

Negligence

Often in classes, learning spelling is hardly given importance. Teachers keep the spelling section for homework and parents also tend to neglect the mistakes their kids are making while writing. You must instruct your students to spell properly and give necessary lessons about it.

Also, if you don’t apply engaging activities in your spelling lesson and just give a list of words to memorize, students will lose interest after some time. Because of this, the whole process slows down and eventually ends without giving a good output.

Commercial Approaches

Parents, and sometimes the teachers, are likely to apply methods and programs highlighted in the media to teach spelling. In reality, many of those programs involve spelling rules and patterns that aren’t dependable and complicates the process of learning spelling.

Just because a program got a good review, doesn’t mean it would be suitable for your kids. You need to understand the individual needs of each student and plan your lesson accordingly.

Texting Language

Because of the rise of texting language such as ‘I m8 b l8 2dy, sry’ or ‘gd n8’, people often argue if learning correct spelling is needed anymore. Well, it will always be important and students should learn it from the beginning to improve their reading and writing skills.

And to be honest, it might be convenient for texting, but no one would like to read a novel like that! If you don’t believe me, check out reviews about poorly written stories. The spelling and word selection are 10 times more likely to be criticized than the plot!

Learning to spell can be easier when you find the right educational platform for your students. Check out our spelling shed review to learn more about it.

What is Spelling Mastery

Spelling Mastery Program is the 6-level Direct-Instruction based program that is supported by Australian Council of Educational Research (ACER). It is widely used in Australia as well as in other countries. Each consists of 60-120 short lessons that teaches student using the approaches below:

1. Phonemic Approach

Teaching students the relationship between letters and the spoken sound and applying them to learn spelling.

2. Morphemic Approach

An approach for advanced students involving suffix, prefix, and word bases combined with spelling rules and patterns.

3. Whole-Word Approach

Explaining students the meaning and root of a word to show how these affect the spelling. This approach is often used for irregularly spelled words or when spelling is different than the word sound.

In the Spelling Mastery program, all 3 approaches are applied according to the skill improvement of the student. More so, it consists of direct instruction based lesson plans to teach necessary spelling skills and cumulative practice to master those skills.

Features

• Placement Test: This initial test evaluates students’ skill and determines which level in the curriculum would be appropriate for them. This is the first step to spelling mastery, therefore, mandatory for every student.
• Short-length, straight forward lesson plans to reduce pressure on students.
• Key information and instructions.
• Strategies, patterns and rules to help students memorize words without actually memorizing them.
• An enormous collection of spelling words.
• Bonus activities and regular evaluation.
• Suitable for all levels of students including ESL and also for the students with learning difficulties, for both personal use and for class.
• The program includes guides for teachers, workbooks and necessary softwares.

Direct Instruction

You might be wondering what direct instruction means. The system is a proven way to teach students spelling which based on the works of Siegfried Engelmann that involve-

• Sequenced Curriculum:
  • It involves gradual development to ensure thorough development of necessary skills. You can easily track your child’s improvement and the speed of improvement
• Grouping:
  • The grouping process of students should have flexibility (to some extent) so that they can find their rightful place in the curriculum.
• Mastering:
  • Think about swimming or martial arts classes. Do students advance just after learning a move? No, they need to master the move to go to the next level. Just like that, students would go to the next stage of spelling after mastering the rules or other lessons they received in their current level.

SRA Spelling Mastery

The SRA Spelling is the most well-known version of the spelling mastery program. It is a research-based spelling program for students that focuses more on spelling patterns and rules rather than simple memorization. More so, it enables students to spell words without memorizing each of them. It teaches:

• Phonemic skills
• Graphemes
• Morphographs
• Familiar and unfamiliar words
• Spelling patterns and rules
• Proofreading skills

Activities

The program also includes a range of activities to keep the students hooked to the learning process:

• Phonics
• Learning spelling patterns and sorting
• Meaning of words (useful for irregularly spelled words)
• Word building
• Writing

Features

• The program is based on the latest research on learning spelling
• Less focus on traditional memorization, more on recognizing patterns
• Lessons are short, easy to follow and efficient. Therefore, they can be easily included in your everyday lesson plan.
• There is a special edition for teachers that includes resource books, strategies, guidance etc. There is also a Cardinal Edition available for Parochial schools.

What better way to teach your students to learn spelling than to use spelling games to make the experience enjoyable? Learn from out spelling games for the classroom guide now!

Spelling through Morphographs

Morphograph is a logical fragment of a word i.e. prefix, suffix, word base, roots of words etc. ‘-ing’, ‘ly’, ‘dis-‘, ‘en-‘and many other fragments like these are frequently found in English vocabulary. Teaching Morphographs along with spelling rules will help a student spell hundreds of words without memorizing each of them.

Spelling through Morphographs is a one year program for level 4 spelling mastery students or older. The program teaches students about spelling rules combined with Morphographs and offers intensive practice materials for mastering the instructions. Furthermore, instead of a long list of words that will probably take weeks to memorize, if not more, students learn to use certain strategies to spell new words while remembering familiar words too.

There are more than 750 morphographs that are used to spell around 15,000 words including commonly misspelled words in schools. Furthermore, the program teaches all the common spelling rules and also the lesser known ones to minimize the amount of words that needs to be memorized. Students, upon completing the program, will be able to decode words with multiple syllables based on their structure.

As a part of the Spelling Mastery Program, Spelling through Morphographs puts great importance to writing and proofreading for students to be skilled writers and readers. This program is suitable for ESL students and the ones with dyslexia and other spelling difficulties.

Spelling mastery is a great way to help children to learn spelling. Learn more about improving spelling skills from our thorough guide now!

Is Spelling Mastery Program Right for My Child?

The program is based on the latest research on learning and spelling and is backed by experts. It has been distributed by ACER to help beginner level students learn spelling correctly and quickly.

The program, by nature, requires the teacher to observe the student’s response to the instruction, the way it is taught and then change accordingly if the student is not comfortable. It prioritizes the comfort of the student so every child will benefit from the program.

If you are still in doubt, you can use SpellQuiz Spelling Test to check your kid’s progress. You can track their progress using the dashboard to see if a certain spelling method is helping your child or not. You can also use SpellQuiz Quizzes and Vocabulary test to make the learning process more fun and creative.

Tips and Tricks

Also, keep in mind- no matter which approach you take, a student will still need a long time before mastering spelling. There are certain things you need to take care of, such as:

• Make sure you are giving them enough time to process the lessons. Let them advance at their own pace.
• Do your research before choosing a spelling program or activity.
• Don’t try to combine multiple lessons in one. Though the lesson plans are only around 15 minutes long, they still include enough components.
• There are multiple versions of each program. Choose only one. It’s not intelligent to buy multiple versions.
• Don’t try to combine different programs. Choose one and follow accordingly. Each program has its own way and pace. Changing or combining them will only hamper your kid’s progress.
• Instead of focusing on how quickly your kid is going to the next level, check if they are comfortable using the program. A child needs time to adjust with a method. Unless you are really convinced that a program is not suitable for your child, don’t change a program.
• Use a spelling bee online test to assess the student’s ability and expertise.
• For students with learning disabilities, break down the lesson plan or repeat the same lesson for a couple of times to prevent overwhelming.
• Provide your students enough practice materials and exercise to master the instructions.
• Don’t leave things for homework. Cover as much as you can in your class.
• Don’t forget to review once in a while.

 Now that you have a clear knowledge about the spelling mastery program, you can easily identify the appropriate one for your little learner.

Happy Spelling!

To, too or two? Principal or principle?

There’s no doubt that learning English spelling can be frustrating for students; either it’s a child who is learning to read and write or an adult who is trying to learn English as a second language. And for someone who is already dealing with spelling difficulties or other learning disorders, the situation can be far worse.

Causes of Spelling Difficulties

Learning to spell is a complex process that involves many skills such as auditory, visual, memory etc. Any shortcoming in using one of those skills causes difficulties in spelling.

It is important to first identify what the kid is particularly struggling with and then approach in a way that doesn’t make them uncomfortable or pressured. Some students can be exceptionally smart but still be troubled with spelling. So, figuring out the problem can be complicated.

Dyslexia

The most common type of dyslexia hampers a student’s ability to break down a word to its component sound. Not just hampering spelling and reading skills, dyslexia can affect processing skills too. A dyslexic person often struggles to remember things and takes a long time to memorize them, only to forget them again.

You’ll often find the spelling of a student with dyslexia inconsistent- the letters will be reversed; the same word will be spelled differently each time (and all of them might be wrong). The student finds it harder to memorize an abstract word that cannot be visualized. They also confuse letters or words that sound alike. Vowels and silent words are always tricky.

ADHD

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) both make the kid process information differently. The child has difficulty focusing on a task or being attentive for long which leads to spelling difficulties. They also face problems remembering the spellings of complex words or the spelling rules due to short-time memory issues.

More so, they often miss noticing the spelling mistakes they are making, repeating the same mistake over and over. They will skip some letters, or use the right letters but in the wrong order.

Children with dyslexia or ADHD both find prepositions particularly confusing as in most cases they are just for memorizing. Articles and conjunctions also fall in this category.

Dysgraphia and Dyspraxia

Dysgraphia and dyspraxia particularly affect writing skill. The student might find it painful to just hold a pen properly for a long time. Writing in a straight line, staying within the margin or writing at a sufficient speed is a huge challenge for them.

In some cases, the student struggles to express themselves through writing. They find it hard to write down the right word.

Spelling Mastery can greatly help with spelling difficulties. Check out our guide on SRA Spelling Mastery now!

English as Second Language

Sometimes, the spelling difficulties in adults or any other students might be because English is a new language for them.

Languages like German or Spanish has specific correspondence to each sound. So it’s easy to spell after hearing a word. But in the case of English, there are multiple spellings of the same sound or multiple sounds or meanings for the same spelling.

There are numerous spelling rules and exceptions to those rules. It’s hard for a student who is taking English as a Second Language to remember all the exceptions or identify the spelling differences.

Other causes

People with hearing impairment struggle to develop phonemic awareness. It is one of the main reasons why people with Down syndrome suffer from language delay.

Students who have problems processing visual information fail to make sense of what they are seeing. It is particularly hard for them to memorise spelling from a list of a word as that process is mainly dependent on visual memory.

Spelling Problems and solutions

Falling behind peers can be pretty overwhelming for students. It affects their confidence and social skill. They tend to be reluctant when it comes to joining group activities which may trouble their overall performance in school. Students with spelling difficulties might avoid using words they find hard to spell which hampers their writing skills.

That is why we need to find non-traditional ways to teach spelling that serves each student’s special need!

Strategies to deal with Dyslexia

Teaching the dyslexic students about the phonic rules will help them connect letter symbols to its sound. Focus on the structure of the word when teaching them

If you’re teaching spelling instructions, try to use methods that involve more than one sense such as sight, sound, touch etc.

You can take oral spelling tests of your students to make them more familiar with the sounds.

Strategies to deal with ADHD

Try to involve focus techniques when memorizing spellings, like tapping fingers or pencil with each letter.

Teach them to slow down during tests or when they are doing their home-works. Allow some break time during study sessions and let your students move around to refresh their minds and relieve stress.

Encourage them to plan, revise and proofread their writing multiple times. Also, give them a list of tasks they need to do before starting to write and submit their work.

Strategies for Dysgraphia

Oral spelling tests can benefit the students with Dysgraphia too. Also, as they struggle with fine motor skill, try using pencil grips or slant board for neater writing.

Teach your students to use graphic organizers to help them write down their thoughts properly.

How to help a child with Spelling Difficulties

Modern-day teaching use methods that involve multiple senses of a student. This way, they can remember the spelling in more than one way and avoid mistakes. A vocabulary test can also come in handy.

If a student faces a problem using a certain sense or skill, find a method that involves that particular skill-less and focus more on the others.

Introducing fun games for a child with spelling difficulties can help them learn spelling in a much simpler way. Check out our guide on fun spelling games to now!

Multi-sensory approaches

Draw the word in the air

As someone with Dysgraphia will be frustrated just by holding a pen, making them write the spelling on paper won’t be too fruitful. Ask them to write the word with their fingers on sand or dirt, or maybe on air! Tell them to speak the word aloud while writing it.

Use beads

Give your students a box of multicolour beads and tell them to make letters with them, and then make words with those letters. Tell them to make each letter with beads with a specific colour.

This method is useful for teaching letter shape too. You can use beans, stone chips, small wooden beads or even paper beads.

Stamps and Ink

Kids will love rubber stamps! Use inks of different colours (same as beads) and tell the kids to spell a word. This method also avoids writing and all the children with or without spelling difficulties will enjoy this activity.

People with spelling difficulties can learn a lot faster with interactive and creative spelling games! Check out the spelling shed review where interactive games make learning a fun activity.

Typing

Some might find it inconvenient to use a keyboard, but typing can help students learn to spell faster. They will need to differentiate similar-looking keys by the letters on them, which will help them memorize the letter shapes. They’ll also see the words they are typing on the screen, and after typing multiple times, their muscle memory will stop them from making a mistake.

Make sure the spellcheckers on your computer are disabled beforehand. It is recommended not to let students use spellcheckers before fifth grade.

Also, in some cases, students with dysgraphia might struggle even with typing. In those cases, start with writing the words with fingertips and then typing or writing.

Other

• If there is a student with spelling difficulty in your class, make them sit in the front of the class and away from windows. It will help them focus more on the class, preventing distractions.
• Prepare one-to-one test in a quiet room, use headphones if needed. You can use SpellQuiz Spelling Tests to assess your students. It’s an online test so students won’t have to worry about writing. They just need to hear the words and type. The words are recorded by professional voice artists for clear pronunciation.
• If you’re giving them a list of words to spell, try to have enough space between words as a densely written list might make them anxious.
• Provide written instructions for your students and explain them multiple times in the class. If possible, hang a chart on your classroom wall with spelling rules or instructions.
• If you feel the student is being overwhelmed, tell them to take a break for a few minutes or let them do some other activities. Then, ask them to continue from where they left.

Make Spelling Fun!

There are many fun and engaging spelling activities you can apply in your class to keep your students hooked. Make sure to check which activities are more suitable for your students’ age and performance.

Also, don’t forget to review the words they have already learned once in a while. You should also check if they remember the spelling rules. That way, they won’t be worried if there is a new word in a test or they suddenly don’t remember the spelling.

One thing you have to keep in mind is that it will still take a long time for the student to master the spelling. It might be frustrating even for teachers or parents to cope with the slow pace. But with patience, proper guidelines and consistent practice, it is possible to defeat spelling difficulties. You can also check out Spelling Bee Online tests to fully determine the expertise level of your child.

Parents often worry if their child is struggling or falling behind in class if they make a mistake spelling a word correctly. But what they need to understand is that the process of mastering spelling takes time. There are multiple stages of spelling development, and a student needs to develop a number of skills before being able to spell a word correctly.

In this article, I will explain the Spelling development process so that you can understand your child’s level and help them accordingly to advance.

Emergent and Invented Spelling

Before we start with the stages, I need to tell you about something first!

There are two types of spelling methods the students attempt while going through the stages of spelling development. In most cases, these attempts are made when they hardly have any knowledge about spelling rules.

Nevertheless, they are positive indications that their understanding and interest in learning spelling are growing. As a teacher or parent, you should praise and encourage them for taking more attempts while teaching them a few rules or other skills.

Emergent Spelling

Has your child ever shown you scribbles on a page and explained what they ‘Wrote’?

Normally when children are 3-5 years old, right before going to school, they start to distinguish between drawing and writing. They realize that writing is a way to express their ideas or a method of communication.

Obviously, they don’t have any knowledge about the alphabet or how a letter sounds. Some might argue if it can be considered ‘Spelling’ as there might not be a single letter on the page (which is the reality in most cases), but children in this stage start to grasp the meaning of spelling.

Not long after, they start to go to school, learn about the alphabet and its corresponding sound. They still might not understand uppercase or lowercase letters and spacing between words or the direction of writing.

At the end of this stage, children have pretty good knowledge about the above criteria and are ready to start learning to spell.

Invented Spelling

After learning the alphabet and its sounds, children try to arrange those letters according to their sounds to form words. This is called invented spelling because children are ‘inventing’ spellings as they have no prior knowledge about spelling rules or patterns. They are simply arranging the letters according to their best judgement.

Children mainly focus on their phonetic spelling skills in this method and analyze the relationship between speech sounds and their visual representation. For simple words such as ‘Bat’, ‘Lid’, ‘Go’, ‘Pin’, etc., this method might work, but spelling complex words would be a disaster.

If the student is attempting to invent spelling, this is an indication that they have profound knowledge of letter sounds now. You should start teaching them spelling rules so that they can successfully spell complex words.

Stages of Spelling Development

There are 5 stages of spelling development, and the transition from one stage to another is gradual. You can’t take a spelling test or make a checklist to see if your child is ready to go to the next stage.

Instead, you can provide related spelling activities to your kid for that stage so that they can understand the concepts faster and move on to the next stage.

Precommunicative Stage

In the first stage, the student might have mastered the alphabet but to match them to their sounds is yet to achieve. But this is also the stage when they are the most excited to learn to spell. They’ll show you their ‘Writing’, which consists of random letter clusters with no meaning.

Though their scribbling may seem meaningless to us, they will explain to you what they wrote enthusiastically. Try to listen to their explanation carefully and give suggestions about how to better their work.

Spelling Activities for this stage

• Play games that involve learning letters and the sound of those letters with your kids. Alphabet puzzles are one of the games that grow the children’s interest in learning letters.
• Give them letter blocks or magnetic letter shapes. Make a sound and ask them to find the letter that matches the sound or vice versa.
• Alphabet songs are also a great way to teach your students.
• Students at this stage are most likely to be kids. Provide them multicolor crayons when they write to color the letter they are learning.

Spelling difficulties can lead to more spelling problems. Understand the top spelling problems and solutions now!

Semiphonetic Stage

Phonetic learning starts in this stage. Children learn to match letters to letter sounds.

If they start to write in this stage, you’ll notice some significant tendencies-

• They will confuse similar sounding letters. So, they might express a syllable consisting of several letters with just one.
• They avoid vowels and use constants only.

For example, ‘The eye of Sauron’ might look like ‘D I op Srn’. Though the latter is the norm of texting nowadays, learning the proper spelling is heavily recommended for kids.

Spelling Activities for this stage

• The activities for the previous stage would be beneficial in this stage too.
• Students at this stage should focus more on the letter-sound correspondence. So, try to play games that focus more on learning the sound of each letter than just the letter.

It’s best to always include a fun way of learning spelling. There are many online programs for that. Check out our honest review of spelling shed to get an idea about this program now!

Phonetic Stage

After children have fully comprehended the letter-sound correspondence, CVC or consonant-vowel-consonant words would be easy to spell for them. The phonetic stage of spelling development is very important for children. They may start identifying word families such as -ly, en-, -ing, etc.

However, irregularly spelled words, especially the ones with double consonants or vowels or silent letters are still inappropriate for the students. They may write ‘Small Talk’ as ‘Smol tak’ or ‘Swiss Cheese’ as ‘Suis Chij’. Your child can also try out an adaptive spelling test.

Spelling Activities for this stage

• Phonic games are easy to find- they’re tons of them available on the internet! Find a few that are suitable for your child.
• Rhyming games will improve their phonics spelling skills. You can tell them to find a rhyming word or the one that doesn’t rhyme. In each case, ask them to spell the word they found verbally.

Transitional Stage

When children are in the transitional stage of spelling development, their phonetic skills are fairly strong, so they may start memorizing words without sounding them out.

It is time for them to focus more on learning spelling visually. You can add some traditional methods of teaching spelling in your lesson plan.

There might still be a bit problem with similar-sounding complex words such as ‘Exceed’ and ‘Accede’, ‘Affect’ and ‘Effect’, ‘Mousse’ and ‘Moose’ etc.

There are various stages in spelling development. It’s a great practice to use spelling mastery program for making it a fun process.

Spelling Activities for this stage

• Sight word games are perfect for this stage. You can use the SpellQuiz Sight Word List for free to teach your students. Just make sure you are not using too many words in one sitting.
• Host a spelling bee competition! The words should match your students’ level. To add more excitement, tell your students that they’ll get an extra chance every time they spell a word correctly. They can use those chances when they can’t spell a word correctly the first time.
• Give them a word with two different spellings and ask them to find the wrong one. You can either write them down on cards or spell both spellings verbally. Instead of points, they’ll be rewarded with crayons that they can use later to color the words.

Correct Stage

The final stage of spelling development is the Correct stage. Students in this stage are well-aware of basic spelling rules and patterns. There will be less struggle with spelling new words as they now can handle silent letters, irregular spelling, and other tricky spelling cases. They will be able to recognize their mistakes in most cases and correct it according to their knowledge.

More so, they can read a book suitable for their reading level on their own, and their vocabulary range would be considerably large. They can also take a vocabulary test to determine their level of expertise.

Spelling Activities for this stage

• Students at this stage are definitely up for more challenging games. Traditional spelling games should be introduced, and scrabbles are a must! Hangman or Boggle are also options that could be played pretty regularly.

After completing the final stage, your child is qualified to join a Spelling Bee competition. You can help them with SpellQuiz Spelling Bee Online Competition, where they will compete against students around the world. You can track their progress via a dedicated dashboard.

Nurturing the stages of Spelling Development

In addition to the special tasks for spelling stages, you need to add other activities in your lesson plan that will help them to understand the art of spelling better.

• Teach the students at precommunicative stage about the left-to-right direction of writing.
• In addition, to improve their phonic skill, teach them about spelling patterns and word families.
• It might turn boring after a while to just write down the words. Instead, ask your students to make lists, stories, or poems with the words they learned. There might be a problem with grammar, though, in the case of story writing. But instead of expecting absolute correctness, ask if they need help when writing the story and tell them to keep it as simple as possible.
• Try to link learning spelling to creative writing rather than simple instructions and memorization. Practical applications will keep the students hooked to learn new words.
• You may teach them some basic synonyms so that if they are struggling to remember a particular word, they may use another similar one instead.

Now that you have understood the spelling development process and how to support it, I hope you won’t ever be worried about your kid’s progress. Keep patience and give them proper guidance to ensure constant improvement of their skills.

Happy Spelling!

Spelling means forming a word with letters according to established rules. Normally, what we understand by spelling is to know which letters to use and in which pattern while writing a word. But phonetic spelling serves us a bit more than that. It teaches us how to pronounce a word!

For a person who’s learning a new language, or struggling with name pronunciation, Phonetic spelling is invaluable. In this article, you’ll find out more about how to use this method to improve not only your spelling skill, but your speaking and listening skill too.

Phonetic Spelling Definition

Let’s start with the basics. What is Phonetic Spelling? It is a device for pronunciation that requires writing out words according to how each syllable is spoken. In simple terms, phonetic spelling is a way to spell a word the way it sounds.

In phonetic spelling method, each sound is assigned at least one letter or a combination of letters. But there are cases where a letter or a combination of letters sounds differently or same sound is spelled differently. Phonetic spelling comes handy in these cases.

Consider the word ‘Paper’. The letter ‘P’ is assigned the sound /p/. But if ‘P’ is paired with ‘H’, for example in ‘Photo’, ‘ph’ sounds like /f/.

Similarly, ‘T’ in ‘Table’ is assigned the sound /t/. But when pairing with h, such as in ‘This’, it creates a new sound. But again, ‘th’ in ‘this’ and ‘th’ in ‘thin’ makes different sound. It is difficult to know about the difference if you’re learning the word by reading.

Now, think about the word ‘Potato’. You might be considering to pronounce it as ‘po-ta-to’ but the word is actually pronounced ‘puh-tei-tow’.

Similarly, according to phonetic spelling, ‘banana’ should be ‘buh-nAn-uh’. This spelling tells you to emphasize on the A in the middle of the word which couldn’t be known from traditional spelling.

How is Phonetic Spelling Useful?

English is not an easy language. There are many rules and patterns of spelling and the same amount of exceptions of those rules. A common problem we all face is that the spelling of a word is often different from how it sounds which makes both speaking and writing complicated.

But How does Phonetic Spelling Help in This Situation?

Here are some cases for you to understand better:

• In cases of public speaking, such as giving speeches, news reading, announcing names at graduation ceremonies or sports events, phonetic spelling is of great help.
• It is a sound-based guide for pronunciation that is especially helpful for uncommon terms such as medical or engineering terminology, culinary terms etc.
• The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) provides symbols for different sounds that are common for all languages. So if you are learning a new language beside your native one, it would help you in many extent.
• Phonetic spelling is easy to use for all levels of learners.
  • Kindergarten students find it easy to spell words with phonetic spelling. For example: ‘Bat’ sounds exactly how it’s spelled.
  • ESL students can break down the words into their sounds to learn the words.
  • If you are a native speaker or in an advance level, try this method to improve your fluency and vocabulary.
• Along with learning to pronounce better, you get a clearer idea about the speaking style of a language. That way, you can improve your speaking skill while learning a new language.
• Phonetic spelling helps you with your listening skill too. You would have a better idea about accents and will be able to understand speeches better. This particular skill comes handy in listening tests.
  For example, let’s consider you are using SpellQuiz Spelling Test to test your spelling skill. In this test, you have to spell the words you are hearing. So if you know how the word sounds and which accent the speaker is using, you’ll have no problem answering and will level up in no time!

The phonetic stage of spelling development is a very important stage for any new learner. Check out our additional article on the topic!

Phonetic Spelling Alphabet

The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is a system where each sound in English language is assigned a symbol. You can learn how to pronounce a certain word in English appropriately using this method.

Here are some examples of the alphabets:

Short Vowels

IPA Symbol	Word examples
e	Bent, gentlemen, ten, better.
æ	Cat, and, cap, fat, have.
ʌ	Run, love, honey, one, come, gone
ʊ	Put, Book, could, nook, would, mood, boot
ɒ	Cob, pop, match, squat, sausage.
ə	Alive, again, mother.

Long Vowels

IPA Symbol	Word examples
i:	Free, neat, beam, team
ɜ:	Curse, heard, bird, burn.
ɔ:	Talk, paw, bored, dawn, jaw.
u:	Few, boot, lose, gloomy, fruit, chew.
ɑ:	Fast, car, hard, bath.

Diphthong Vowels

IPA Symbol	Word examples
ɪə	Near, ear, clear, tear, beer, fear
eə	Hair, there, care, stairs, pear
eɪ	Face, space, rain , case, eight
ɔɪ	Joy, employ, toy, coil, oyster.
aɪ	My, sight, pride, kind, flight
əʊ	No, don’t, stones, alone, hole
aʊ	Mouth, house, brown, cow, out

Fricative Consonants

IPA Symbol	Word examples
f	Full, Friday, fish, knife.
v	Vest, village, view, cave.
θ	Thought, think, Bath.
ð	There, those, brothers, others.
	Zoo, crazy, lazy, zigzag, nose.
ʃ	Shirt, rush, shop, cash.
ʒ	Television, delusion, casual
h	High, help, hello.

Plosive Consonants

IPA Symbol	Word examples
p	Pin, cap, purpose, pause.
b	Bag, bubble, build, robe.
t	Time, train, tow, late.
d	Door, day, drive, down, feed.
k	Cash, quick, cricket, sock.
g	Girl, green, grass, flag.

Affricate Consonants

IPA Symbol	Word examples
ʈʃ	Choose, cheese, church, watch.
dʒ	Joy, juggle, juice, stage.

Nasal Consonants

IPA Symbol	Word examples
m	Room, mother, mad, more.
n	Now, nobody, knew, turn.
ŋ	King, thing, song, swimming.

 

Approximant Consonants

IPA Symbol	Word examples
r	Road, roses, river, ring, ride.
j	Yellow, usual, tune, yesterday, yard.
w	Wall, walk, wine, world.
l and ɫ	Law, lots, leap, long, pill, cold, chill, melt.

Many adults deal with difficulties related to spelling. Learn more about spelling difficulties in adults now!

Phonetic Spelling Chart

Phonetic spelling charts are immensely helpful for teaching and personal use. You can make your own using these simple steps:

• Find out the sounds in your language. For example, British English Speech has 44 sounds.
• Find out the IPA symbols of those sound.
• Write them in one column and exemplary words in another.
• You can hang this chart in your class to teach the student or near your desk for quick reference.

Below you can find the list of phonetic symbols used for sounds in English Language. There are also words as example included. They are divided based on vowel and consonant.

Phonetic Spelling Chart: Consonant

Phonetic Symbol for Consonant Sound	Sounds Like	IPA Symbol
B	bone, bulb	/b/
Ch	chicken, picture	/tʃ/
D	dodge, forbid	/d/
Dh	author, then	/ð/
F	feather, tough, ruffle	/f/
G	green, beg, egg	/ɡ/
H	hint, redhead	/h/
J	jam, gentle, ledger	/dʒ/
K	cot, kettle, skip, pickle	/h/
Kh	loch, Hanukah	/x/

Phonetic Spelling Chart: Vowel

Phonetic Symbol for Vowel Sound	Sounds Like	IPA Symbol
A	Cap, slap	/æ/
ah or aa	mother, father	/ɑː/
Air	spare, pair	/ɛər/
ay or ai	cape, bait	/eɪ/
e or eh	nest, blessings	/ɛ/
ee	Fleet, plead	/i/
eer	Pear, beer	/ɪər/

Phonetic Spelling Dictionary

You might be wondering about how to use the phonetic symbols to learn words. Have you ever tried to google how to pronounce a word, or meaning of a word? They use the IPA symbols to teach the pronunciation.

There are dictionaries such as Oxford Learner’s Dictionary for Academic English or Oxford Advance Learners Dictionary which include the phonetic spelling of the word along with the traditional spelling and definition.

You may check out tophonetics which is a website that converts any text word given into the IPA phonetic transcription.

Also, easypronunciation gives you option to choose from American English and British English and offers phonetic spelling in both. This is a useful tool for you to understand the accents better. Macmillandictionary is an online dictionary that offers the same service.

Here are some examples of phonetic spelling for you to understand the use of phonetic symbols found in the phonetic spelling dictionaries:

Vowels

iː	see	/siː/
i	happy	/ˈhæpi/
ɪ	sit	/sɪt/
e	bed	/bed/
æ	cat	/kæt/
ɑː	father	/ˈfɑːðə(r)/
ɒ	got	/ɡɒt/
ɔː	saw	/sɔː/
ʊ	put	/pʊt/
u	actual	/ˈæktʃuəl/
uː	too	/tuː/
ʌ	cup	/kʌp/
ɜː	fur	/fɜː(r)/
ə	about	/əˈbaʊt/
eɪ	say	/seɪ/
əʊ	go	/ɡəʊ/
aɪ	my	/maɪ/
ɔɪ	boy	/bɔɪ/
aʊ	now	/naʊ/
ɪə	near	/nɪə(r)/
eə	hair	/heə(r)/
ʊə	pure	/pjʊə(r)/

There are also other ways a student can learn the pronunciation of every words. Check out our spelling through morphographs guide to learn more about it.

Consonants

p	pen	/pen/
b	bad	/bæd/
t	tea	/tiː/
d	did	/dɪd/
k	cat	/kæt/
ɡ	get	/ɡet/
tʃ	chain	/tʃeɪn/
dʒ	jam	/dʒæm/
f	fall	/fɔːl/
v	van	/væn/
θ	thin	/θɪn/
ð	this	/ðɪs/
s	see	/siː/
z	zoo	/zuː/
ʃ	shoe	/ʃuː/
ʒ	vision	/ˈvɪʒn/
h	hat	/hæt/
m	man	/mæn/
n	now	/naʊ/
ŋ	sing	/sɪŋ/
l	leg	/leɡ/
r	red	/red/
j	yes	/jes/
w	wet	/wet/

More Examples

apple	Ap-uhl	/ˈæp.əl/
bottle	bOt-l	/ˈbɒ.təl/
diner	dIn-uhr	/ˈdɪnɚ/
eaten	EEt-n	/ˈitn̩/
fence	fEnts	/ˈfɛnts/
Hannah	HAN-uh	/hˈanə/
John	Jon	/d‍ʒˈɒn/
puppy	PUH·pee	/ˈpʌpi/
Sarah	sehr-uh	/sˈɑːɹə/

Now that you have got a basic idea about how phonetic spelling works and how it might be useful to you, explore it more to strengthen your pronunciation skill. Don’t forget to maintain a notebook for what you have learn and review them once in a while. Check SpellQuiz Vocabulary test to assess your vocabulary range. You can also check out SpellQuiz’s Spelling Bee Online (SBO) test to check out your true spelling potential. Good Luck!