My English teaching abilities are wonderful. I am helping the young folk of this generation to master the difficult art of communication… to express themselves in written, oral and technological ways to ensure that they will be happy, productive members of society. My job is unequalled in importance and I take it seriously.
Today I had an impromtu spelling bee with my year 9s. Apparently the words “afrade”, “chiken”, “similiar” and karrot” are difficult to spell.
Relax! The next generation are obviously safe with me.
Dancing With Frogs 
I have never been a strong speller, but have always had a big vocab. I was better at the more difficult words, than the ordinary ones, but these mistakes are pretty shocking.
Frogdancer, is “text speak” changing the general playing field – are kids in general getting worse?
oh dear . . .
What about ‘impromptu’? Difficult as well, or was that a test for us?
Melanie, I think you’re the only one to have caught it!
A lot of kids don’t see the importance of correct spelling, until they write resumes and find they don’t get the jobs they’re after because they seem semi illiterate.
I sense a post in this for me…..
As for the art of communicating, I didn’t think I was very good at this, but I’ve just listened to myself on a radio interview I did and I don’t sound too bad at all.
Be afrade…be ferry afrade… 😛
my froglet is a shocking speller, if she does her work slowly and checks herself she isnt quite so bad, but has always had trouble with were to put her le or el she always gets me to check her work even after spell check as it doesnt check grammer lol
My favorite misspell was a sixth grade boy in the local spelling bee who got the word canoe and said “K-N-E-W.”
In a third year Uni writing class we were given an impromptu test of the most commonly mis-spelled words.
Feeling quite smug as spelling has always been a strong point I wrote down all my answers and was mortified to find I had several wrong. Ever since have taken extra care over ‘occasion’ & ‘accommodation’. Obviously emotionally distressed by this test and have blocked the others from my memory.
Ah, surprise spelling bees. They’re far more for my amusement than anything else.
I usually throw in “CUP” at least once because I am easily amused and I have the sophisticated sense of humor found in nine year old boys.
I once gave a candy-bar prize to the best armpit fart in class and I’ve been known to encourage belching contests on rare occasions.
Normally, spelling is no problem; family and friends even call me when they can’t get spell check to correct a word. However, writing on the board? There is something about having the words be vertical that flummoxes me every time.
And once, years ago, I was volunteering in a 4th grade class, correcting spelling tests. One girl, who had flunked, took her test, went back to her desk, erased all the wrong answers, rewrote them correctly, and then tried to tell the teacher that I had gotten them all wrong. That still makes me laugh!
Yes, I’m that good too.
My Year 9 is not a good speller either. She has just been moved to the gifted and talented classes this term. Whilst not a speller she is talented at turning up, listening in class and actually doing some work. (Unlike most of the kids in her previous classes.)
Don’t know how you do it. Teaching these days is a difficult job. Very often when she hands work up she is the only one who has done it. Must be demoralising to be a teacher!
I need you to come and teach Too. She spends every (year 11) class making notes of all the spelling and grammatical mistakes her teacher makes.
*sigh*
I linked you in my post.
You should perhaps split your efforts and do some spelling teaching in primary school.
Spelling is both rote learning and knowing the combinations of vowels and consonants, after all, and should be a continuous process.
The world needs you everywhere, it seems.
I wondered whether your improm(p)tu was a
typo or a ‘spot the deliberate mistake’ and hesitated to mention it.
One of my husband’s grandsons is dyslexic and his parents now agree that he should definitely have been made to memorise spelling – would have caused him much less grief. He was not diagnosed until he got to secondary school, although there were obviously severe difficulties.
I still remember the little darling who wrote that if they had done something good they would be given a special ‘stifficat’ at the end of the week. I think we should officially change the spelling to this.