The English language comes with many spelling rules that are made all the more difficult because the rules are full of exceptions. Learning the rules and their exceptions helps students become better spellers. Students should know that “i” comes before “e” except after “c,” but should also memorize words -- such as protein -- that do not follow this rule. When trying to sound out a word, recall the popular saying “the silent ‘e’ helps a vowel say its name.” Students should also memorizes rules for pluralizing words, such as when to add an “s” or “es” and how to add “ing” by dropping the “e” on the end of many verbs.
Before a student takes a spelling test in school, he should perform one or more pre-tests at home with the aid of a parent or tutor. Use the pre-tests to isolate the words that the seventh grader has a difficult time with. To work on misspelled words, he pronounces them out loud while staring at the word. Next, the student closes his eyes, visualizes the word and tries to spell it out loud. Finally, he looks at the word once more, covers it up, and writes it out correctly. Repeat these steps until the student spells each word correctly.
Invent memory tricks to help students remember how to write out difficult words. For example, tell desert and dessert apart by remembering that dessert is rich so it has two s’s. Or when spelling “Mississippi” remember that it only uses four letters, one m’s four i’s four s’s and two p’s. Teachers and parents can help students make up these memory tricks or have the kids come up with the tricks themselves, then share them with the rest of their seventh-grade class.
Instead of trying to memorize how to spell an entire word, break the word up. Students can do this by dividing a word according to syllables such as “dis-ap-pear-ing” and memorizing the word in parts. This works especially well for long words. Some words can be broken up into smaller words, such as turning the word “together” into the phrase “to get her.”