![\"Misspelled](\"https:\/\/wordpress-157077-2960416.cloudwaysapps.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Misspelled-Words-of-the-Day-Day-4-Every-and-Family.png\")
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Reminder: The purpose of Misspelled Word of the Day is not to try to make everyone a perfect speller, the purpose is to learn from misspellings and then teach the student the misspelled word of the day while instilling an understanding of written language in general. The intention is not to teach students to spell every word in the English language, of which there are more than one million, the intention is to teach the student to think about words differently and learn to question, and understand word structure.<\/p>\n
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So, drum roll please\u2026.this week\u2019s misspelled words of the day are: <*evry> and <*famly>. I love these mistakes because they are so easy to explain and once properly understood, they help the child deeply understand the difference between spoken syllables and written syllables.<\/p>\n
The fact is our spoken syllables often do not match our written syllables. English is not a syllabic language, it is a stress-timed, morphophonemic language. The reason people have trouble spelling these words is because they have been erroneously taught to listen for the sounds in the words. English orthography doesn\u2019t work that way. We are all guilty of trying to get around this by over-enunciating these words to the point where they don\u2019t even resemble the original word. But this is not teaching them how to spell (or read) these words.<\/p>\n
Instead we should be teaching them to understand<\/i> the spelling. Let\u2019s start with <every>. Ask the student what <every> means or have them use it in a sentence. Then point out to them that the base is <ever> and point out the connection between the meaning of <ever> and <every>. The rest is simple, show the student the word sum ever + y \u00e0 every. Pronunciation changes but spelling does not \u2013 this is an integral concept.<\/p>\n
Next up, the troublesome word \u00a0<family>. Talk with the student about what <family> means. Are you <familiar> with your <family>? Aha! That is why the <i> is there. Both words are part of the word family with the bound base <famil>.<\/p>\n
famil + y<\/p>\n
famil +i +\u00a0 ar \u2013 now we know why that <i> is there.<\/p>\n
famil + i + ar +ity<\/p>\n
un + famil + i + ar<\/p>\n
| \n un<\/p>\n<\/td>\n | \n <famil><\/p>\n<\/td>\n | \n y<\/p>\n<\/td>\n | \n es<\/p>\n<\/td>\n | <\/td>\n | <\/td>\n | <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| \n i<\/p>\n<\/td>\n | \n ar<\/p>\n<\/td>\n | \n ity<\/p>\n ize<\/p>\n<\/td>\n | \n ed<\/p>\n ate<\/p>\n<\/td>\n | \n ion<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | ||
| <\/td>\n | <\/td>\n | <\/td>\n | <\/td>\n | <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | ||
| <\/td>\n | <\/td>\n | <\/td>\n | <\/td>\n | <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n <\/p>\n So, stop over-enunciating, it\u2019s not helping and it\u2019s certainly not going to help the student understand the spelling. Instead talk about word\u2019s meaning first, then identity the word parts and study the pronunciation shifts while also noting that the spelling doesn\u2019t change. Here are some more words to try out on your own: <different> and <bakery>.<\/p>\n Homework: If you have a student that misspells these words, do this exercise with them and report back!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n |