LL-L "Orthography" 2003.09.20 (10) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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L O W L A N D S - L * 20.SEP.2003 (10) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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From: jannie.lawn <jannie.lawn at ntlworld.com>
Subject: LL-L "Orthography" 2003.09.19 (08) [E]

First Sent: Friday, September 19, 2003 11:47 PM
Subject: LL-L "Orthography" 2003.09.19 (08) [E]

Beste Lowlanders

John Duckworth wrote: I don't recall having heard of studies that consider
the possibility that children learn words as pictorial blocks, similar to
Chinese characters.
Actually, as an Early Years teacher, I have come across this idea that (at
least some) children, when they begin to read, recognise words as a whole.
I have even seen teaching cards where the outline of a word was included
(including ascenders and descenders) to help visual recognition.  Changing
letters around might therefore confuse these children.
As usual in education, opinions come and go about which method to teach (in
this case: reading) is best.  Many people, including myself, complement
whole-word recognition with word-building skills, where children begin to
build up words from phonemes.  We also teach them to deduct unfamiliar words
from the surrounding text or illustrations.

Next quote:
Here in the UK people's spelling is often atrocious, and I have noticed that
this often holds true for teachers as well as present and former pupils.
(Should I feel offended, or should my excuse be that I am a Dutch teacher in
an English school?  I have recently stated in an emailed response to a job
advert, where they wanted a 'native English speaker' that foreigners often
speak better English than native English speakers...)
But seriously, I haven't noticed it, and I have worked in English schools
for many years now.  One thing I do know, and that is that British teachers,
even when they instinctively speak correct English, sometimes don't know the
rules and 'reasons why'.  I asked two of my colleagues once what the
difference is between 'small' and 'little', and they couldn't tell me.

Groeten, Jannie Lawn-Zijlstra

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