adminCharles Dube
THERE is a time when I advocated for discarding harmful norms among communities. Why propagate what is harmful? Teachers work tirelessly teaching learners to use correct spellings in their writing. But of late there is a disturbing trend of displaying wrong spellings by people selling gadgets or food stuffs. I am worried that young learners will take these wrong spellings to school and their writing. A case in point is where feet the plural of foot has an additional “s” and reads “feets for sale.”
I do not know whether this is deliberate or is by design due to lack of knowledge as this is found in many homes and vending sites. For starters learners lose a lot of marks for wrong spellings in their writing. Let us avoid these harmful norms which will have a wrong influence to young learners. A number of learners have owned up to me that spellings are a big challenge to them. Learners can improve their spellings through wide reading. They should pick out all unfamiliar words from the texts they are reading and check their meanings from dictionaries.
Dictionaries are an important learning tool in languages. Reading widely helps boost the learners’ vocabulary base. It is through reading a lot that learners come across many new words. Diligent learners do not pass new words without verifying their meanings. Experts will tell you that no matter how hard you practise; there will always be some words that you struggle to spell correctly. Spelling mistakes are really obvious to the examiner so eliminate them by following suggested tips:
Keep a list of the words that you find tricky. Practise spelling them until you get them right every time. Use flashcards and write the spelling on the front, and put the meaning on the back. That way you can test the spelling as well as the meaning. Learn spelling rules — the “I” before “e” rule to help you remember how to spell words where “I” and “e” appear together. Examples — believe, and thief. Spell sensibly in the examination.
If you are quoting from source material in the examination, check your spelling against the given extract. The examiner will not be impressed if you misspell a word that you have been given. If you are struggling to spell a word — sound it out in your head. Work out how each syllable sounds and have a sensible go at spelling it. Write out troublesome words in rough to see whether they look right before you use them in your essay.
If you are still not sure how to spell a word, try to use a different word that means the same; that you definitely know how to spell. Even if you are not sure whether you have spelt a word correctly, stick to the spelling you have chosen. It is more obvious to the examiner that you have made a mistake if you spell the same word three different ways. Here is a list of suggested common examination words which come up in essays time and time again:
recommend, strengths, successful, weaknesses, whether, reference, interesting, receipt, definite, argument, independent, analyse, criticism, believe, writing, written, and many others.
English examiners are experts on spelling, so make sure you get it right in your writing or in the examination. You will need these words in English essays. Most of these words are technical terms that you will need to talk about in different types of writing: figurative — something that is not meant to be taken literally. Empathy — when someone understands what someone else is experiencing and feeling. Enjambment — when a sentence runs from one line of poetry onto the next one without pausing.
Foreshadowing — where the reader is given clues about what will happen later. Genre — the type of literature eg romantic, gothic. Irony — when the author says one thing that means the opposite. Imagery — descriptive language that creates a picture for the reader. Onomatopoeia — when a word sounds like what it means. For example, crash, buzz, fizz. Personification — when you talk about something non-human as if it is a person.
Make sure you learn these words properly, then you can unleash them in the examination and impress the examiner. Make sure you are able to identify them when used in sentences and learn to use them correctly. Learning words in isolation to using them is a waste of time and energy. For learners to write good English they need to master spelling as well as punctuation.
Last week I promised to discuss passage-based questions, but today I found myself having to discuss spellings due to a great need especially where we find people writing wrong spellings willy-nilly, ignorant of the negative effects on the learners. The discussion was on characterisation leading to passage-based questions. Learners will learn to respond to texts with insight and imagination, using quotations to back up their ideas.
During course work or in the examination learners may choose to answer a passage-based question. This means that the question refers to an extract found in the examination booklet. When answering this type of question you will need to know the whole text or play, but most of your answers should be focused on the given passage unless stated otherwise. When approaching a passage-based question: Read the question first.
Read the passage at least twice, thinking about the relationship between characters, how they behave and talk, relevant themes, any interesting language used, what happens before and after the passage. We will pick it up from here next week.
For views link with [email protected]/ or sms to 0772113207.
Online Reporter