Description
The purpose of this book is to help you share the amazing logic and order of English spelling.
For the past decade, the author has been helping students to see that English spelling makes sense. By learning to investigate the structures and meaning of words in individual morphological families, students begin to unlock the secrets of the entire spelling system. They start to ask questions about why words are spelled the way they are.
Why is there an a in the middle of excavate, for example, or an e in pandemonium?
If “long O” is spelled oa in the middle of a word and ow at the end, why should they write ow in the middle of rowed?
Why is there an h in exhort but not in exorbitant?
Why do rhyming words like maze and days not end with the same spelling?
As they investigate, students gain confidence that the writing system holds answers to their questions. They see that they are capable of finding those answers through research. What a relief!
If you are doing this kind of work and want ideas that will help you share your enthusiasm with others, Backpocket Words was written for you. And if you are new to these concepts –a teacher, a tutor, a parent, or simply someone who is fascinated or frustrated by English spelling–you, too, will find entertaining and illuminating stories here.
Join the foot doctor at the wedding banquet as she looks inside the word “podiatrist,” the Apple tech support guy posing a spelling question he remembers from childhood, the young student understanding why he can’t spell “closet” with a z. Or sit with the author as she finally learns how to spell “chrysanthemum.”
The best way to communicate about spelling is to have a juicy word in your back pocket to talk about and a great story to tell. The 53 entries in this book contain some of the author’s favorites. Choose one and see where it leads.
Gail Venable is a speech-language pathologist and Orton-Gillingham-trained reading tutor. It was only in her 35th year of practice that she began to understand and share the beautiful coherence of English spelling.
