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How Spelling Keeps Kids From Learning
The Atlantic ^ | February 9 ,2015 | Luba Vangelova

Posted on 02/10/2015 6:30:03 AM PST by C19fan

Johnny in Topeka can’t read, but Janne in Helsinki is effortlessly finishing his storybooks. Such a disparity may be expected by now, but the reason might come as a surprise: It probably has much less to do with teaching style and quality than with language. Simply put, written English is great for puns but terrible for learning to read or write. It’s like making children from around the world complete an obstacle course to fully participate in society but requiring the English-speaking participants to wear blindfolds.

Adults who have already mastered written English tend to forget about its many quirks. But consider this: English has 205 ways to spell 44 sounds. And not only can the same sounds be represented in different ways, but the same letter or letter combinations can also correspond to different sounds. For example, "cat," "kangaroo," "chrome," and "queue" all start with the same sound, and "eight" and "ate" sound identical. Meanwhile, "it" doesn’t sound like the first syllable of "item," for instance, and "cough" doesn’t rhyme with either "enough," "through," "furlough" or "bough." Even some identically spelled words, such as "tear," can be pronounced differently and mean different things.

(Excerpt) Read more at theatlantic.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: english; finnish; spelling
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To: C19fan

it worked for generations... until now


21 posted on 02/10/2015 6:43:05 AM PST by Mr. K (Palin/Cruz 2016 (for 16 years of conservative bliss))
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To: C19fan

First the commie libs decided that kids didn’t need to know how to write, now they’ve decided that kids shouldn’t be able to spell either. That’s how bass turds like Obama get elected.


22 posted on 02/10/2015 6:43:31 AM PST by FlingWingFlyer (Look! Snowflakes! We're all gonna die!)
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To: C19fan
Imagine some of the first words learned, counting words.

Wun, Too, Three, For, Five, Six, Sevin, Ate, Nine, Ten

Besides looking ridiculous, you now have a problem with the complete elimination of homonyms.

Years ago, IBM had a commercial highlighting technology that would allow computers to transcribe spoken text. The sample sentence was,

Write a letter to Mr. Wright right now.

That would be rendered as:

Rite a letter to Mr. Rite rite now.
Ugh.
23 posted on 02/10/2015 6:45:31 AM PST by Dr. Sivana (There is no salvation in politics)
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To: C19fan

I’m using a phonics program based on this book with my daughter:

http://www.amazon.com/Uncovering-Logic-English-Common-Sense-Approach/dp/1936706210/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1423579564&sr=8-1&keywords=logic+of+english

Basically, 74 phonograms and 30 rules let you spell 98% of native English words. I’m using a simple first grade version but there’s one for older kids and struggling readers that would be an excellent resource for anyone who has spelling and reading issues. English isn’t nearly as confusing as it’s made out to be, it’s just that nobody lays it out properly.


24 posted on 02/10/2015 6:47:20 AM PST by JenB
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To: C19fan
These liberal belly button gazing articles are a waste of time and space.

Let liberals mull over the stupid and nuanced while the world is burning. Don't we have better things to think about?

Then again maybe Luba Vangelova can list some of those 'oh so superior countries' where kids read quickly - and list their accomplishments and Nobel prizes...

25 posted on 02/10/2015 6:47:56 AM PST by GOPJ (If you can't get on the high horse for men burned alive and children raped, what's the horse for?)
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To: C19fan

This is a load of hooey. I taught three kids to read, and it was no problem at all. At about the age of three to four I taught the alphabet, one letter at a time (there are only 26 of them) and their sound equivalents. I found that there’s something about the mind at that age which keeps them from realizing the connection between sounding the individual letters of a word, and the whole word itself. However, between the ages of five and six, something “clicks” and virtually overnight they begin reading, fluently and without stumbling, almost as if by magic. From that day forth they can begin applying their new-found skill to their further education, and entertainment, if it comes to that.

If English spelling is such an impediment to reading, why is it that past generations learned to read without experiencing any of the problems today’s generation is going through?


26 posted on 02/10/2015 6:48:21 AM PST by Mr Ramsbotham (Laws against sodomy are honored in the breech.)
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To: C19fan

I was going to read the article but I had already read it.

;-)


27 posted on 02/10/2015 6:48:59 AM PST by cuban leaf (The US will not survive the obama presidency. The world may not either.)
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To: C19fan

Isn’t this article nothing more than another front in the war against western civilization?


28 posted on 02/10/2015 6:50:04 AM PST by reasonisfaith ("...because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved." (2 Thessalonians))
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To: C19fan

Yeah. English is a dying language. Hardly anyone in the world uses it any more...


29 posted on 02/10/2015 6:51:21 AM PST by WayneS (Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos.)
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To: C19fan

Somewhere in this post we must link to Weird Al’s Word Crimes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Gv0H-vPoDc

That should do it!


30 posted on 02/10/2015 6:51:46 AM PST by BBB333 (Q: Which is grammatically correct? Joe Biden IS or Joe Biden ARE an idiot?)
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To: C19fan

Good grief. Not this SHIT again. My youngest, 21 year old twins, suffered through what our school district called “creative spelling”. Spelling was deemed not as important as the thoughts the children were trying to express. It took years for them to recover from this nonsense.


31 posted on 02/10/2015 6:52:49 AM PST by LeonardFMason (LanceyHoward would AGREE)
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To: Dr. Sivana

Don’t forget “anxious”.

“Anxious” and “eager” do NOT have the same meaning.


32 posted on 02/10/2015 6:53:31 AM PST by WayneS (Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos.)
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To: FlingWingFlyer

During an open house back in 1994, I raised my hand to complain to my sixth grade daughter’s teacher that the spelling errors on her assignments were not being addressed. He said to me that with the age of computers, spelling was not an issue, what was important was the child’s ability to express themselves. They also are no longer taught long division or cursive. I went to work as an aide at the school, but left after one year. Could not stand the social engineering. Now, I homeschool my daughter’s son. You can bet he will learn how to spell, divide and handwrite.


33 posted on 02/10/2015 6:53:45 AM PST by coloradomomba (Lord God...please use me.)
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To: C19fan

Simple languages are for simple thoughts.


34 posted on 02/10/2015 6:54:05 AM PST by WayneS (Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos.)
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To: C19fan

What a bunch of naval gazing.... ;)


35 posted on 02/10/2015 6:54:53 AM PST by Tijeras_Slim
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To: 9YearLurker

It was a simple means of deciding which word to use, of same sounding words, in a sentence.

Stop looking for a boogey man.

Of more concern is today’s “texting generation” that’s totally massacring language, spelling and context.


36 posted on 02/10/2015 6:57:19 AM PST by headstamp 2
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To: MrB

If we don’t teach kids to spell we may as well use hieroglyphics because without spelling the alphabet is useless.


37 posted on 02/10/2015 6:58:23 AM PST by cripplecreek ("For by wise guidance you can wage your war")
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To: C19fan

For the last seven years youngsters with surnames from the Indian subcontinent have won the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bees. Why? Because they work at it.

French, Italian and Spanish have genders for nouns that people have to learn so that the equivalent of “the” is correctly matched by gender.

German has case endings for nouns and adjectives as well as gender that all have to be learned.

Luckily English no longer has either.


38 posted on 02/10/2015 6:59:12 AM PST by finnsheep
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To: reasonisfaith
If reading and writing English is such an obstacle to learning, why didn’t anyone notice it before?

They didn't learn any better...

39 posted on 02/10/2015 6:59:45 AM PST by null and void (Our goal is language that is gender-, ethnic- and age-neutral, while celebrating our diversity!)
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To: C19fan
The communist government in China imposed a "Simplified Chinese" writing system ... which rendered most older texts completely unintelligible to those educated only in the new form.

Funny how tyrants are all alike.

40 posted on 02/10/2015 7:00:08 AM PST by NorthMountain
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