Lifehacks* are terrific ways of remembering tricky stuff! So without the benefit of one of the those snazzy You Tube vids (I am not up to that level of tech just yet) here are five spelling lifehacks for English!
* You will also see 'life hack' written as two words.
SPELLING HACK #1
POETRY: I learnt to spell difficulty with the very same poem represented here in the wonderful film adaptation of Roald Dahl's book 'Matilda'. You can use Mr. just as well as Mrs. - the rhythm is the same.
'I before E except after C.' Is another rhyme that is taught, but there are so many exceptions how do you remember them? I love this meme, even though it doesn't cover all the exceptions:
SPELLING HACK #2
ACROSTICS: Make up silly sentences from the letters of words that you always spell incorrectly.
Look At Ugly Goat's Hair! (laugh) ( Taken from Jolly Phonics books bought from ELC.)
Could Old Ursula Love David? (could)
Would Otters Undo Locker Doors? (would)
SPELLING HACK #3
PATTERNS WITHIN WORDS: Look for motifs within the word you want to remember.
Never remember the order of ght in words like light, night, fight, bright, taught, fraught, daughter? These letters are in the same order they come in the alphabet: ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST...
SPELLING HACK #4
MNEMONICS (Memory triggers): These are often mental images.
Is it friend of freind? ie or ei? Simple:
Friend ends with end.
Can I have a piece of pie?
Never remember how many Cs or Ss in necessary? Think of a businessman getting ready for work; it is necessary for him to have one collar and two socks, so one C and two Ss.
Desperately want to write bizness? Simply remember: Businessmen catch the bus to work.*
Or separet? There's a rat in separate* (*Adapted from Study Skills for Students with Dyslexia)
This also works for homonyms: words that sound the same but have different meanings. How do you remember which ones the right one.
Wear and Where? The one that describes place has the word here in it.
Hear and here? Hear is what you do with you ears and here is there.
SPELLING HACK #5
BACK TO BASICS: Break words down into parts.
WORDS: Never remember how many Rs in earring? It's two words, ear + ring= earring
PREFIXES AND SUFFIXES: This is especially true of adverbs and words whose prefix ends with the same letter the word begins with.
Real + ly = really
un + necessary = unnecessary
SYLLABLES: Re + com + mend = recommend
I hope you enjoyed these hacks and find them helpful. Be sure to follow my blog for more fun and games learning English!
* You will also see 'life hack' written as two words.
SPELLING HACK #1
POETRY: I learnt to spell difficulty with the very same poem represented here in the wonderful film adaptation of Roald Dahl's book 'Matilda'. You can use Mr. just as well as Mrs. - the rhythm is the same.
'I before E except after C.' Is another rhyme that is taught, but there are so many exceptions how do you remember them? I love this meme, even though it doesn't cover all the exceptions:
Or 'When two vowels go walking, the first does the talking.' Meaning that the first vowel in the pair is the sound that's pronounced. In words with a double vowel that makes one sound, this is usually the case.
boat, goat, maintain,SPELLING HACK #2
ACROSTICS: Make up silly sentences from the letters of words that you always spell incorrectly.
Look At Ugly Goat's Hair! (laugh) ( Taken from Jolly Phonics books bought from ELC.)
Could Old Ursula Love David? (could)
Would Otters Undo Locker Doors? (would)
SPELLING HACK #3
PATTERNS WITHIN WORDS: Look for motifs within the word you want to remember.
Never remember the order of ght in words like light, night, fight, bright, taught, fraught, daughter? These letters are in the same order they come in the alphabet: ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST...
SPELLING HACK #4
MNEMONICS (Memory triggers): These are often mental images.
Is it friend of freind? ie or ei? Simple:
Friend ends with end.
Can I have a piece of pie?
Never remember how many Cs or Ss in necessary? Think of a businessman getting ready for work; it is necessary for him to have one collar and two socks, so one C and two Ss.
Desperately want to write bizness? Simply remember: Businessmen catch the bus to work.*
Or separet? There's a rat in separate* (*Adapted from Study Skills for Students with Dyslexia)
This also works for homonyms: words that sound the same but have different meanings. How do you remember which ones the right one.
Wear and Where? The one that describes place has the word here in it.
Hear and here? Hear is what you do with you ears and here is there.
SPELLING HACK #5
BACK TO BASICS: Break words down into parts.
WORDS: Never remember how many Rs in earring? It's two words, ear + ring= earring
PREFIXES AND SUFFIXES: This is especially true of adverbs and words whose prefix ends with the same letter the word begins with.
Real + ly = really
un + necessary = unnecessary
SYLLABLES: Re + com + mend = recommend
I hope you enjoyed these hacks and find them helpful. Be sure to follow my blog for more fun and games learning English!
