How can I help 12 yo improve spelling

[Quitelikely]

My 12 year old has very poor spelling. Dh thinks the answer to improve it is reading more.

I'm not so sure what the solution is. Can any teachers give me some advice as to what would be most useful?

Thanks!

I'm not a teacher, but since you are not getting any replies I figure I might as well.

My daughter has also had poor spelling (and grammar) particularly in primary school, although I'm not sure it was any worse than other kids. Standards are very low these days, and the teachers rarely mark spelling or grammar errors in the work as they did in the "olden days", which helped us. They also don't seem to do lists of spelling words and tests these days. I realise I'm starting to sound like an old codger but it is a worry that the kids are not developing decent spelling or grammar. ( I have also found this a big problem at work, with graduates coming through who cannot write in a way that others can comprehend.)

In primary school I tried going over her written homework and making corrections to spelling and grammar like the teachers should, but she doesn't buy into the idea of spelling and grammar needing to be correct, because the teachers don't mind, and would just end up trying to hide her homework.

I never really found a solution, but she has improved significantly anyway since the age of about 11 (she is now 13) and I'm guessing this is from reading. Certainly, people who read a lot tend to write better. She reads every day for about an hour before bed, which she is fairly happy to do (although she would often just stay on her gadgets in preference if allowed).

If you think you can get your son/daughter to read regularly, this seems like a reasonable way to deal with the problem, and probably better than trying to give him or her spelling lists and so on. It needs to be at a reasonable level, for example more like Percy Jackson type books rather than Wimpy Kid (although the latter type would presumably be better than nothing). I'm not sure if you have a son or daughter, but I've read in various places that boys often like non-fiction/hobby related reading so that might be something to try.

Dd (10) is eak in her spelling too and reading more is always what we imagined the solution to be.

She now reads on a kindle as this also allows her to expland her vocabulary by letting her look up words and make a list of the words she has looked up so she can go back over them.

agree with SG29

I am "making" DS (12) read every day for at least 30 minutes.

It has to be a "proper" book, it has now become a habit. He often exceeds the 30 mins as engrossed in his book. He loves the Horowitz books, they are quiet well written IMO, if quite scary!

I also go through his school work with him, and practise any words he got wrong (mean mum).

Little and often is all I can think of doing

Your DH is right.

How would you spell psychology or science if you had not read them first?

Doesn't always work though - DD is an obsessive reader (really obsessive), and has never been strong at spelling.

She's not so bad now (yr 8), but basically she has to have learnt a word & know the phonetic rules in order to be able to spell it. A good example is when she writes Harry Potter based stories - on the whole the spelling is fine, but any words that are specific to the stories ('apparate' for example) are most likely spelt wrong.

I agree with Takver - it doesn't always work and different people have different ability to retain words they read.

My tact (DD1 is 12 years old) is to start teaching her proof reading skills:

so re-reading her work

checking new words (especially if from assignment) against what was written in instructions/ in textbook

if in doubt - check - use on-line dictionary/ ye olde fashioned hard-back dictionary/ etc...

take the time to get it right - notice if you spell something 3 different ways in the space of a paragraph - or when sounding it out there's a letter missing.

I can't say things are perfect - or even much better - but things are gradually improving.

HTH

My DD's spelling was weak, her English teacher in (IIRC) yr 8 recommended one of those little spellcheck gadgets. Easier to use than a paper dictionary (esp if they aren't sure how a word starts!) and can be used in the classroom. I'm afraid I've forgotten what make it was now. Perhaps you could ask your DC's teacher if they think that might help and if so whether they have a recommendation?

She was going through some yr9 notes re-writing them for GCSE mocks revision recently, and was tutting at herself for her errors back then, so don't be too despondant at this stage, there's still a good deal of time for improvement. I'm not sure exactly why she's improved tbh - obviously has read more over the years, and has had to do more writing (including coursework on a computer with spellcheck - she gets me to proofread it still, it's mostly typos rather than errors nowadays). And perhaps also it helps that become aware of the GCSE schemes, how many marks can be lost for SPAG errors (spelling, punctuation and grammar) so she knows that it does matter.

Reading definitely won't hurt. I'm dyslexic (diagnosed at 13) but read an incredible amount as a child so my ability to recognise the right spelling by sight helped.

If she doesn't find it too childish the going over phonics will help. You can get Jolly Phonics books on amazon pretty cheap (I use these with my low ability students but you can use any brand- it's all the same stuff)

Lots of kids don't instinctively realise the /k/ sound can be written with a c (cat), k(kit) ch(chameleon), ck (duck), q (bouquet) and que (plaque) and need to be shown.

<a class="break-all" href="https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&ei=EzfKVL_tEMPR7QaW6YCACw&url=www.phonicsinternational.com/unit1_pdfs/The%2520English%2520Alphabetic%2520Code%2520-%2520complete%2520picture%2520chart.pdf&ved=0CDYQFjAJ&usg=AFQjCNES90ZEVMEBOIpLf_N8Q920wPgDNQ&sig2=7fgFNzJWml2V5n8fw-A2xQ" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">This is a good start.