Our Spelling Program includes the following best practices for ELL (English Language Learners) to learn how to spell successfully.
Auditory: Phonemic/Phonetic Development
- Listen to the proper pronunciation of sounds and words
- Translate sounds to letters and break words up into syllables
- Split letters up so students can connect a particular sound with a particular letter or morpheme. For example, the word shut can be broken up into sh u t
- Play letter, word, and vocabulary games that combine auditory, visual, and kinesthetic modes of learning
Visual Development
- See how words are constructed with spelling patterns
- See how syllables join together to make words
- Learn a systematic way to put letters together to make words
Word Construction
- Understand the way vowels and consonants work together to make words
- Learn the 8 spelling patterns
- Learn the multiple sounds of vowel-vowel teams ea, oo, ou, ie, etc.
- Learn how to add suffixes and prefixes
Non-Linguistic Representation
- Use visual imagery
- Use physical or pictorial models
- Use kinesthetic activities to cement in the learning
- Focus on similarities and differences in words such as sorting by patterns and/or categories
