John Bald/language and literacy

Jim

I am currently working with a ten-year-old, whom we shall call, for the sake of cheek, Jim. Jim has been pronouced as dyslexic by an educational psychologist on the basis of extremely low reading, spelling and psychometric scores, although there was no evidence whatever that these difficulties were related to dyslexia. They are in fact rooted in very limited early language development, coupled with an environment in which so many shortcuts are taken in speech that it was difficult for Jim to make the transition to reading and writing, where attention to detail and discrimination in using symbols (letters and figures) are the key to communication.

I explained to Jim how English spelling worked, using the techniques described elsewhere in this weblog and set out in my books, and then apply these in a book on a subject he likes. As Jim likes animals, we picked 101 Dalmations - the original version, which does not stint on vocabulary, and which I have found popular with children since I first used it in Stepney Green School in the mid-seventies.

The first paragraphs were very hard work, as I explained and worked on the patterns behind every single word that Jim misread or hesitated over. After about eight lessons on 101 Dalmatians, we are making good progress, and Jim continues to enjoy the story, helped by the presence of Jasper, our own aging Dalmatian, who adopted us partly because he knew we'd read the book and were likely to understand him. Jasper, like Pongo, sleeps on the best sofa, and is kind to his pets. He has brown spots.

Jim is also learning to spell and is working on his tables, as until he is sure of them he can't do his maths work. Jim's school teaches tables, but has been working on high numbers, which confused him as he did not know his 2s. It took Jim several weeks before he understood the need to practise until he could remember items from 2 and 3 times tables, and he then moved quickly to 4s and 6 and 7s.  

We started with addition number bonds, on which he made quite rapid progress. In Labour's world, a levelling world disguised as equal opportunities, whether Jim makes progress, so that he can read, write and do maths to his full intellectual capacity, or not, is not the key issue. It would prefer that he learned, but what really matters is that he is not treated less favourably than anyone else. Dyslexia is respectable, speech and language difficulties less so.  So, Jim's primary school, which produces a small but steady stream of people unable to learn to read by the methods it uses, discouraged  him from coming to see me. I might be interfering with the work done by their teaching assistant. Did Jim find any benefit from coming to see me on a Saturday morning?  "Yes," said Jim, emphatically.

(Another child I'm working with has been taught to count in multiples instead of learning tables. This is common practice in schools, despite national curriculum requirements. I should not have to teach the 2 times table to children aged 10 to 14 just because the school doesn't want to. This child's parents told me the school believes tables should not be taught until secondary school.)

A note on these lessons - while my courses on dyslexia and other reading difficulties have been attended by many leading public schools, I do not charge for lessons. Most people whose children have literacy problems can't afford the true cost of private teaching and assessment. Instead, I encourage people to contribute to A Book of My Own, a charity that provides books for children in local authority care. A parent sits in on each lesson, so that they can see exactly what I do and reinforce it. Jim's mother and father have contributed to the charity. They are pleased with Jim's progress and agree with me that there is no evidence to link his difficulties with dyslexia. 

If you know someone who needs help, please get in touch. After an initial lesson, I can now teach via videophone. I can, of course, also offer the training course in your school. 

Grow, Story, Grow - Val Thornber

Val's new website is here.  Lots of interactive stories, at levels that will suit Y2 upwards, in the style of Little Tails, but with more scope. Highly recommended, especially at its current price (free).

Slimmed Down Spelling versus the (Labour) government version

The government's latest publications on spelling make some sensible points, particularly on the historical origins of English spelling, but are loaded with jargon and cumbersome. This is typical of government documents - I put the point to the second director of the National Literacy Strategy that they needed to learn to write for an audience of teachers, and above all to take the time, in Bernard Shaw's phrase, to write a short letter rather than a wrong one. He agreed, but it made no difference. 

This alternative, Slimmed Down Spelling, is the outcome of practical work with people learning to spell. I have been working on it since about 1996, as a development from the approach to reading that appeard in The Literacy File.

 It uses plain English instead of jargon (a phoneme, for example, is nothing more or less than a sound) and has the following key points:

 English spelling is an example of fuzzy logic, in which items do not necessarily share all the characteristics of a group to which they belong. In English, roughly three-quarters of letters represent sounds. But sometimes letters work in groups, some words have an extra letter, and occasionally we do not need the letter we think we do – these cases are awkward. To learn to spell, we need to understand both the theme – the sounds – and these variations.

 Here’s how:

 1. If we hear a sound when we say a word carefully -   without taking any shortcuts - we need at least one letter for it. We use a letter to represent a sound because we hear it. This covers roughly three-quarters of spelling.

 2. Sometimes letters work in groups –eg, station has one sound per letter for the first three letter then the group tion.  We use a group when we’ve learned we need it – this way, we don’t guess at what group we might need.

 3. Some words have an extra letter, eg made, chaos.  We use an extra letter when we’ve learned we need it. Sometimes there is a function for the extra letter – eg plague where the u stops the e from softening the g, as it would in page.

 4. Sometimes, because of shortcuts in speech, or changes in the way people speak, the letter we need is not the one we think we need. These letters are awkward, and we only use them when we’ve learned we need them.  The easiest example is probably was rather than woz.  Once again, we use an awkward letter only when we’ve learned we need it.

 Once we’ve learned to spell a word – and we never copy – we find at least one other that is like it. This helps us build up our understanding of patterns, and is especially useful to people who do not find learning to spell straightforward.

 It usually takes children and adults six weeks to three months to learn to apply these principles. They work. But they are designed to teach people to spell and not to promote a political agenda. Slimmed Down Spelling has been published in The Times Educational Supplement, and is in my book, Using Phonics to Teach Reading and Spelling. I've presented it at courses at the London Institute of Education and for the Lighthouse organisation. It works.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fabulous French Puppets - Stephen Novy

Before tonight's tube strike bit, I saw ten minutes of Stephen Novy's puppet show at CILT's London regional network. It was enough to recommend Stephen's work without reservation to schools doing French who wish to give their staff and pupils a special treat. Stephen's art combines excellent French with excellent puppetry and first rate teaching skills - he managed to put lip synch into the first five minutes - and I hated tearing myself away - I would have been stranded otherwise, the strike having started 90 minutes early. Stephen's website is www.pekkospuppets.co.uk, and his day or half-day package includes workshops for teachers as well as a puppet show. Enjoy - and thanks to CILT for putting this on.

A note from Katharine Wheatley

Thanks John for the pointer to Stephen Novy
I had him last week for two of my schools and they loved what he did, particularly the younger ones.

Mrs K Wheatley
Primary Languages Coordinator
Dame Alice Owen's School
Potters Bar