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Break and Make

That's what kids love. Don't they? Experimentation starts with them. Churning a hole in the eraser, cutting craft papers, tearing old papers, gluing up...that's the way to their novel creations. 

At the start of class two of my daughter, I took upon some inquests to build a couple of tools to learn spellings (English). Strawberry cards, Tweety spin wheel and Kitty mini book. Artful they were, but fit for one time use. To practice spellings I had to go beyond.After a lull period in between, thanks to the interim Dictations that commenced in the online sessions, urgency set in and my mind was forced to think some way to help Zeel learn and practice the spellings. Something that was SUSTAINABLE. 

Now, we all know that to face a problem at hand, we are taught to break it into smaller issues. So, the first step I did was to BREAK the word into more-than-one words. A conventional, useful approach followed by many parents. So, let's consider that there are ten English words of a chapter. As a parent, you break the word and write it in the notebook. Spell the broken word and ask your child to repeat. And then, let the child spell and write all the words in this way for 7 to 10 times.

Is it too much to write for the child? Does the child get bored? If these are the questions sprouting up in your minds, relax and read through. 

As a practice, I pick up maximum ten words to learn at a time, in one session. While breaking up, try to add some humor. E.g. for a recent dictation of EVS subject, we had the word "VEGETARIAN" to learn.
We broke it to "VEGE-TA-RIAN". As Zeel and I were repeating orally, an idea sprang up. Break it to "VEGETA-RIAN". "VEGETA" is the name of a girl and "RIAN", name of a boy. And with this combination, came out giggles and laughter. The idea stuck in her head. Here are few more examples of breaking the words.

CHAPPATIS

 CH-APPA-TIS

 In South India people call father "APPA"

FRIENDS

 FRI-END-S

"FRI" in Friday, "END" is when movie ends

SHARK

 SH-ARK

Sound of "SH", Noah's large boat "ARK"

SPICY

 SP-ICY

Sound of "SP", "ICY" - covered with ice

PERSONAL

 PER-SON-AL

"SON" of a father

TWICE

TW-ICE

Sound of "TW", "ICE" - water freezes

This technique was handy with long words. DIFFE-RENCE, REGU-LAR-LY, IM-POR-TANT, HAND-KER-CH-IEF, VEGE-TABLE-S, IN-FEC-TION, CA-SH-EW-NUTS, EVE-RY-DAY etc.

The first session sums up as above. As you see, both, the child and the parent participate in this. 

The next task for the parent is to design a worksheet in notebook or blank paper (I chose first one) with following sections:
1) Match the broken words and Make(write)
2) Make and Match the word with short sentences/synonyms
3) Make(write/complete) the broken words by selecting the parts of the word from the helpbox. Keep the first part of the word as blank for the child to fill from the help box.
4)  Pick up the sentences from the chapter to create "Fill in the blanks" section, where the child has to write the memorized word in the blank. 

For clarity in understanding, have a look at the snapshots and a practice template at the end.

Session 2 stops here.

Your last session - number 3, with the child will be simply, to run a Dictation. Just like the Teacher does. Result? The memorized spellings will unfold in BREAK AND MAKE way on the paper!

I have used this method six times now with English and EVS words. Most often, Zeel is able to remember and recreate the words correctly. For those that turn out incorrect, make the child write those 7 to 10 times.  

Is this technique SUSTAINABLE? Yes indeed, pretty much a modus operandi now. With frequent Dictations in school, I know I can come up with a worksheet quickly for preparation. There is a FUN element too, which is of  great importance to my daughter.  It has demonstrably proved to be a cogent approach, which she also enjoys doing, instead of  writing the same word in columns every day. And I continue to add elements of fun with drawing and colouring.

Try the enclosed template with your child, make more for new words and share your experience in the comments section. If you want to teach your child short words, you can visit the Repspell post on my blog.

I would love to know and try other methods that you have found useful on this topic. Please oblige by sharing those too!

Let every raindrop,
Shower joy non stop.:)

Have a nice day.

 # Attachments #
Template pack for spelling practice

Break and Make-Spelling Practice Template.pdf







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Comments

  1. kiramsJuly 20, 2021 at 10:41 PM

    Very nice satya and zeal. 👍
    Kiran and amruta

    ReplyDelete
  2. Komal MachindarJuly 21, 2021 at 10:06 AM

    Wonderful Satya… this is so simple yet innovative

    ReplyDelete
  3. UnknownJuly 22, 2021 at 2:04 PM

    So nice to see the innovative way .. Simple yet advance to get into phonetics into play way. :) great Job didi !!

    ReplyDelete

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