[etni] spelling and stuff
- From: Bari Nirenberg <bnirenberg@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: etni <etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 14 Jun 2005 23:36:04 +0200
Since several of you have mentioned spelling as one of the most
problematic issues among our students, I thought I'd mention an
interesting phenomenon that I've come across while checking Bagrut
exams this year. In fact, in the majority of cases, spelling has not
been a problem in the writing assignment. In fact, I've marked
compositions that were almost impossible to understand, yet every
single word in them was spelled correctly. Sure, I've occasionally
come across some really atrocious spelling, but more often, I've come
across compositions written by kids who don't understand the topic or
who can't seem to stay on topic (they start out ok, but then they just
kind of wander off into something completely unrelated). And I've
seen quite a few cases of kids who have no idea how to actually write
a composition (introduction, body, conclusion -- in paragraphs).
One of my biggest pet peeves is when students assume that the reader
knows what the topic is. I should be able to read a composition
without reading the topic and understand exactly what the student is
saying. Yet I've seen numerous compositions that start off something
like this: "I think this is a really good idea." In fact, I've seen
compositions that start off like that and continue to mention the
"idea", but never actually state what the idea is!
In the age of word processors, spelling isn't that big of a deal.=20
Plus, if you teach a kid how to use a dictionary, he can normally
correct his own spelling (we're talking about 5-pointers). I suggest
we stop worrying so much about spelling and devote more time to
teaching our kids to properly read and understand instructions (or the
topic of a writing assignment) and to write a composition that
introduces a topic, gets to the point (including details and/or
examples) and then sums up the topic/opinion/whatever (IN
PARAGRAPHS!!!) and that stands on its own (i.e. does not require the
reader to know what the assignment was in order to understand what the
composition is saying).
To conclude, I can't resist just one more short blooper, mainly
because I thought it was so cute. This one took me a while to
understand (it shouldn't have -- I'm just tired). I don't remember
the exact sentence, but the gist of it was that students can improve
their "word-treasure" in English. Note that although the phrase is
wrong, the student didn't actually translate word for word (it would
have come out "treasure words") -- he applied two rules of English
grammar to his unique translation. That kind of reminds me of one of
my own students who once asked me if she should "numberize" something.
Bari
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