Camarena Library :: 5 Tips to Become a Better Speller

5 Tips to Become a Better Speller

Literacy Place: March 2018

Camarena Library Adult Literacy Services

1. Read:

It is almost impossible to become a good speller if you do not read. The two go hand in hand. The more you read, the more vocabulary you build and the more you will know how to spell different words.

2. Exposure:

Make sure to expose yourself to different types of texts. These include but are not limited to: newspapers, novels, blogs, magazines, books, etc. This way, your brain recognizes spelling patterns and is able to pick up on them more quickly.

3. Root Words:

Becoming familiar with root words is helpful since we tend to get confused with prefixes and suffixes, which makes spelling harder. Recognizing the roots of words will make spelling much easier.

4. Writing:

Writing frequently helps you spell more accurately. Usually, the more you write, the more you will be able to recognize which words “look right” and it will come naturally to you next time you spell that word. Having a dictionary at hand also helps to make sure it is correct.

5. Spelling Rules: Familiarize yourself with common rules:

• “i before e except after c”

• “The letter y preceded by a consonant changes to i before a suffix”

• “Most words drop the final silent e before a suffix beginning with a vowel”

• “When adding a suffix to a word that ends with a single consonant after a single vowel and stressing the last syllable in the pronunciation of the word, the final consonant is doubled.”

Adult Learner LINKS

Spelling

GameAquarium: spelling games

Interactive Spelling Bee: Grade 1-8 Grades 9-10 Grades 11-12

Spelling City: vocabulary and spelling

Spelling Worksheets: beginning & intermediate by subjects

Spelling Worksheets and Printables: by grade, topic; strategies, patterns

Burbank Library: Spelling Bee - April 25 2013

Burb's Eye View: Reading, writing and the literary spirit
Burbank Leader: 4.16.2013 by Bryan Mahoney

Helen Lopez could get the words out. However, when it came time to deliver a speech, the president of Burbank Kiwanis’ Aktion Club had trouble lifting them off the page.

That all changed this past December, when an appointment with the Burbank City Library’s literacy program began helping Lopez raise her reading level and her spirits.

“Now, I read all kinds of stuff,” said Lopez, 66. “(The program) has helped me read better, and I enjoy it.”

Lopez and more than 2,000 others have learned to read through the city’s literacy program. Since 1992, it has provided free one-on-one tutoring to adults who speak and understand English, but read and write below an eighth-grade level.

Next week, you have the opportunity to help them help people read. A spelling bee is replacing the program’s annual trivia bee. It will be where the bulk of the program’s annual budget for supplies and administration will be raised.

The event, coupled with a silent auction, will take place at 6:30 p.m. on April 25. in St. Leon Armenian Cathedral’s Ritz Banquet Hall, 3325 N. Glenoaks Blvd.

Tickets are $25 in advance at the library, $30 at the door. Teams of three can still register for $250 by calling the library’s literacy services at 818-238-5577. While most of the participants will probably be adults, students in the sixth grade and above can also enter.

This year’s keynote speech will be delivered by Lopez. She will represent not only one of the program’s success stories but the Aktion Club — a service group for adults with developmental disabilities. READ MORE !

86,800 Most Common Words

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6000 Most Frequently Used English Words

Word Frequency Lists and Dictionary: Corpus of Contemporary American English

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86,800 most frequently used English words