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Original poster

Teachers of English?

26 replies

gillybeanz · 02/10/2017 22:01

I was reading an end of year English test for KS3 so Y9 that dd had attempted Sad
It said that spellings would be marked, which has shocked me as they didn't used to be marked when older dc did GCSE's.

My dd is dyslexic and wants to improve her spellings.
She asked me to find some lists and I don't know where to start.
I can't ask school as they are doing so much other stuff with her and she wants to do it at home. She is trying so hard to make it to the higher paper rather than foundation, but obviously going right back to the beginning will take more time than she has.

Suggestions, please.

OP posts:
Rose0 · 02/10/2017 23:24

SPaG (spelling and grammar) is 5% of the marks I believe for English lit/RE/history/geography and maybe some others. I don't think it is for English language though. It's been the case since before my DD took her GCSEs (in 2015), I don't know when it was introduced but teachers will be experienced with dealing with it (and as it is only 5% I think they tend to focus on improving other areas).

I'd say if she wants to improve her spelling, sit down together for a period of time each week and work out different spelling patterns and look at word roots, so that she can at least have a good shot at a word even if she's unsure. I'd say try and get her to avoid autocorrect as well so she gets used to having to try and spell words right and from her own deduction.

Also - if her dyslexia is really bad and she is potentially borderline 3/4 or 4/5 then maybe look at asking the school about a scribe for subjects where SPaG marks are awarded? And if she already gets a laptop then she could also try and practise memorising some more difficult words that she may want to use (generic words such as "subseqently" or "incidental") through typing them repeatedly, so she remembers the motion as well as the spelling. Grammar is also 33% of the SPaG marks, so make sure she's able to structure sentences well! But generally, unless the spelling and grammar really are horrendous and incoherent no student will lose all 5% , so I wouldn't let it worry you. As long as she can form a grammatically correct sentence and spell basic key words right, she absolutely doesn't need to lose any sleep over it.