How to teach english spelling - The sound "i"/ ai /

SỞ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO THANH HOÁ 
TRƯỜNG THPT THẠCH THÀNH 3
SÁNG KIẾN KINH NGHIỆM
HOW TO TEACH ENGLISH SPELLING - THE SOUND "I"/AI/ 
Người thực hiện: Nguyễn Văn Mạnh
Chức vụ: Giáo viên - TPCM
Đơn vị công tác: Trường THPT Thạch Thành 3
SKKN thuộc lĩnh môn: Tiếng Anh
THANH HOÁ NĂM 2018
CONTENTS	Page
I. INTRODUCTION	2
1.1. Reasons for choosing the research	2
1.2. Aims of the research	2
1.3. Scope and object of the research	2
1.4. Researching method	2
1.5. New points 	2
II. MAIN CONTENT	3
2.1. Theoretical background	3
2.2. The status of the problem	3
2.3. Some useful suggested lessons of spelling	3
2.3.1. Lesson one: The sound “i - e” / ai /	3
	2.3. 2. Lesson two : The sound “y” /ai /	12
2.3. 3. Lesson three : The sound “ - igh”/ ai /	17
2.3. 4. Some useful tips	19
2. 4. Result after applying the research in teaching	19
III. CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION	20
3.1. Conclusion	20
3.2. Some suggestions	20
REFERENCE BOOKS AND QUOTATIONS	21
 I. INTRODUCTION
 1.1. Reasons for choosing the research: 
	I started to do this research for two reasons : desperation and guilt. I was desperate becuse My middle school and high school students repeated their spelling mistakes year after year. I felt guilty because, as an English teacher of non - native speakers, I had but few teaching remedies. When " spelling" was discussed in the staff meeting at my school, I focus on such questions as : " How much to correct?" and " How many marks should be deducted for poor spelling ?"
	It seemed that both teacher and students had succumbed, unknowingly, to two " nature - nurture" spelling myths: one saying that good spellers are born, not made; the other saying, give students enough reading and writing to do, and spelling will teach itself. If either of these statements were true for everyone, then why should we try to re-introduce spelling? One thing disturbed us: there seemed to be a fair number of students we considered " good readers" whose written work had many spelling errors.
	The spelling generalizations were unaccompanied by a detailed explanation, thus, some of us were confused! There were also no practice exercises for the students. No practice, no learning! Slowly, the teachers abandoned the new spelling programme, some more quickly than others - a fact many students didn't mind, since it had become a trifle boring.
	The long list of spelling patterns was shelved, until the monotony of students' spelling errors forced us to ask, once again:
+ Why can't they spell?
+ Which spelling patterns do we teach, and how do we organize them ?
+ What should the lesson plan include ?
+ What should be our criteria for the practice activities ?
+ What and how do we test ?
1.2. Aims of the research:
- To introduce some lesson plans to motivate students in spelling . 
1.3. Scope and object of the research: 
- Scope : Researching in the process of teaching English at Thach Thanh 3 high school.
- Object: This subject is concerned with ways of organizing spelling activities in the class. 
1.4. Researching method: 
Reading reference books , discussing with other teachers, applying in teaching, observing and drawing out experiences.
1.5. New points 
- In this research, improving the topic of the sound “i” / ai /.
II. MAIN CONTENT:
2.1. Theoretical background
All of us know that spelling is very difficult, especially for the beginner learning english. Therefore, to solve this problem and to make the learners more enthusiastic about learning english. I would like to mention some lessons to how to teach english spelling - the sound ‘i’ / ai /.
2.2. The status of the problem
From all the periods , I see that most of our students are still passive, not really interested in learning English. This consequence is partly because our students come from the rural regions, their knowledge of English is not rich, especially some know very little about English. When the teacher asks them to read or write, they mostly read or write incorrectly.
That is the reason why I think that I must design the really interesting activities for the spelling lesson to attract students’attention and make them more excited with the lessons.
2.3. Some useful suggested lessons of spelling
2.3.1. LESSON ONE: The sound “i - e” / ai /
	This unit deals with the different spelling patterns that have the sound / ai / as in time, sky , flight. The first lesson in this unit will concentrate on one-sylllable words that have the letter “i” in the middle and are followed by one consonant and then an “e”. This follow what is commonly known as the Magic - or Silent -“ E” pattern, which is the most common way of spelling the long / ai / sound when it is heard in the middle of a one-syllbale word.
1. ELICIT: 
	- Ask the students to suggest one syllable words that have the / ai / sound in the middle and are followed by the sound of a single consonant. Write the words on the board. Possible examples:
	- bike 	time 	ride 	nice 	while 	five
Note:
	If words such as light or right are suggested , it’s better to write them separately on the board, since they are words that do not folllow this spelling pattern but will be introduced later.
2. ASK:
	What spelling pattern can we reduce from this ? Note students’ suggestions.
3. WRITE ON THE BOARD:
When we hear “i” saying its name in the middle of a
one-syllable word followed by a single consonant
sound , our first choice is to write:
“i-e”
Adding a suffix:
	- You might like to point out that when adding a suffix that begins with a vowel ( “- ed” ; “-en” ; “-ing” ....) to an “i-e” word , then you must drop the “e” from the base of the word , for example:
	- write + ing = writing 
	- ripe 	 + en = ripen
	- smile + ed = smiled
	You might suggest that students add both the spelling pattern and the suffix rule to their notebooks.
Warm-up practice of “i-e” spelling pattern:
- Beginners and intermediates:
1. The purpose of this listening exercise is to strengthen the visual-aural perception of the long vowel / ai / sound.
	The table below can be written on the board for the students to copy into their notebooks, and then to fill in the missing consonants as you read out the following words:
	 Fine mile kite wine size like fire dive side life 
 1. i e
 2. i e
 3. i e
 4. i e
 5. i e
 6. i e
 7. i e
 8. i e
 9. i e
 10. i e
2. This listening exercise practises the differentiation between the short /i/ as in sit and long / ai / as in time.
	Write the following words on the board and as you read one word from each pair , students write the word they have heard . An additional challenge can be added by reading out the words at random.
bite - bit 	pine - pin 	sid -side
	tim - time 	pill - pile 	miss - mine 
	shine - shin 	quit - quite	lick - like 	pipe - pip
- Advanced:
Read out the following pairs of words and ask the students to write both words in the order they hear them.
pin - pine 	quite - quit	fill - file 	Mick - Mike
	lick - like	dim - dime	spine - spin 	pile - pill
	wit - white	while - will
For additional practice, students can work in pairs, read out five to six words for their partner to write down before exchanging roles.
A. Beginners:
1. Picture word cross:
 Below are pictures of words that follow the “i - e” spelling pattern.
Write the names of the pictures in the Word Cross squares according to their numbers. Do as many as you can in less than five minutes:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
1. 2. 3. 
5. 6. 7. 8. 
9 10. 11. 12. 
- Suggested answer:
1. pipe 2. five 3. fire 4. mice 5. dive 6. bike 7. kite 	
8. wine 9. time 10. bite 11. nine 12. hide
2. All “i - e”:
Solve the clues on the left and write the words in the boxes on the same line. Do at least eight:
1. A number half of ten.
i
e
2. A woman at her wedding. 
i
e
3. It has two wheels.
i
e
4. A colour.
i
e
5. Not hate.
i
e
6. A happy face.
i
e
7. The clock tells us this.
i
e
8. A reward.
i
e
9. Plural of “mouse”.
i
e
10. The police fight this.
i
e
11. Belong to me.
i
e
- Suggested answer:
1. five 2. bride 3. bike 4. white 5. like 6. smile 
7. time 8. prize 9. mice 10. crime 11. mine 
B. Intermediate
- Up, down , left and right:
a. The answer in the clues are all in the grid. You must start at the letter given ( in the grid it will have a dot in the corner of its square) and then move one square in any direction when necessary, in order to discover the words.
H
E
M
I
K
B
D
F
I
D
W
T
E
E
R
I
E
L
I
N
I
U
Q
V
Z
I
M
E
T
E
N
E
P
R
S
J
C
L
I
K
- Start at P : 
A reward = P R I Z E 
- Start at D
Go by car = ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
 - Start at H:
Take cover - don’t be found = ___ ___ ___ ___
- Start at N :
River in Egypt = ___ ___ ___ ___
- Start at S :
A happy face has this = ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
- Start at T : 
What a clock tells you = ___ ___ ___ ___
- Start at K: 
Fly this on a windy day = ___ ___ ___ ___
- Start at W :
Drink make from grapes = ___ ___ ___ ___
- Start at L :
Almost love = ___ ___ ___ ___
- Start at Q :
Very , almost = ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
- Start at F :
“ Ready , aim and .....” = ___ ___ ___ ___
b. Use some of the words you have found to complete these sentences:
1. I want to take your photo, so .................................... please!
2. With the wind there is today, we can fly our .................................... .
3. Always becareful when you light a ....................................
4. Did you know that .................................... is made from the grapes ?
5. I won a .................................... in the contest when I came in second.
6. What’s the .................................... ? I think it must be after seven o’clock.
- Suggested answer:
a. prize - drive - hide - Nile - smile - time - kite - wine - like - quite - fire
b. 1. smile 2. kite 3. fire 4. wine 5. prize 6. time
C. Advanced:
1. Short and long:
On the left of each sentence are two words: one with a short “i” sound , as in sit and one with a long “i” sound as in time. Complete the sentences , using each of the two words in the correct spaces. 
Use your dictionary to help you . Try to do as many as you can.
1. rid - ride Get ................... of your gum when you .............on the bus.
2. pin - pine I found a small ................... under the ................... tree.
3. spit - spite In .................. of himself, he had to ................... out the truth.
4. slim - slime There was a ................... trial of ................... left by the snail.
5. trip - tripe If you want to buy ................... take a .................. to the shop.
6. fin - fine That fish has a ................... ................... !
7. strip - stripe You can’t ................... the ...................s from a zebra’s back.
8. din - dine Don’t ................... in that restaurant : the ................... is
 so loud!
9. still - stile He stood ................... on the ................... before going into 
 the field.
10. win - wine I’ll give you a bottle of ................. if you ................. the race. 
- Suggested answer:
1. rid - ride 2. pin - pine 3. spite - spit 4. slim - slime 5. tripe - trip
6. fine - fin 7. strip - stripes 8. dine - din 9. still - stile 10. wine - win
2. word match:
Work in pairs and match the words from the box to the meanings below. Use your dictionary to help you . Try to do as many as you can.
spuire twice stride knife
 scribe crime tribe
thrice bride shrine prize
 chive pride stripe sprite
1. T w i c e Two times.
2. ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ One of 13 on the American flag.
3. ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ Looks like grass, tastes like onion.
4. ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ A type of fairy.
5. ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ An illegal act.
6. ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ A long step.
7. ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ The woman on her wedding day.
8. ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ Three times.
9. ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ A clan or group of people.
10. ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ A writer of document.
11. ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ A sharp cutting tool.
12. ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ A place of workshop.
13. ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ A reward.
14. ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ A gentleman landowner, once.
15. ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ A good feeling, after success.
- Suggested answer:
1. twice 2. stripe 3. chive 4. sprite 5. crime 6. stride 7. bride 8. thrice
 9. tribe 10. scribe 11. knife 12. shrine 13. prize 14. squire 15. Pride
3. Building blocks:
Complete the building blocks by solving the clues. Use the same lettters plus one more each time as you go down to the middle ( seven - letter ) word. Rearrange letters each time to form your new words. Remove one letter and rearrange the remaining letters as you go down from the middle word to the bottom. The first word ( which has been done for you ) is the same as the last.
1. Anger. 
I
R
E
2. Do it on a bike, or a bus.
3. After work, you may be
4. A long step.
5. Like a zebra.
6. A kind of fairy.
7. Unless; a kind of meat.
8. Ready for eating.
9. Anger
I
R
E
- Suggested answer:
 2. ride 3. tired 4. stride 5. striped 6. sprite 7. tripe 8. ripe 
Suggested words for spelling test:
1. Beginners:
These words follow the “i - e” spelling pattern only.
	smile 	ride	write 	bike 	prize
	fire 	nice	fine 	drive	life
2. Intermediate:
These words contain the sound / i / as in sit and / ai / as in time .
Some of the /i/ words follow spelling patterns learnt 
	kit 	smiling	crime 	pride 	trick
	bill 	kite 	quite	rich	bridge
	quit	bride	wife	vine	writing
3. Advanced:
These words contain the sound /i/ as in sit and as in time. Some of the /i/ words follow spelling patterns learnt. In addition there are compound words and words with suffixes:
	sunrise	abridge	besides	hitch-hike 	inspiring
	likely 	admire	profile	judgement	define
	ripen	sliding 	strike	hiding	twice
2.3.2 LESSON TWO : The sound “y” / ai /
Note:
	Although most one - sylable words with the sound / ai / are spelled “i-e”as time, there are two other common spelling patterns for this sound . In this lesson we are going to look at the sound / ai / at the end of the of , which is most commonly spelled “ - y ” as in sky. Since English words cannot end in the letter “i” , it is replaced with “y”, which then becomes a vowel. The group of words which have a “ -y” ending are few in number , therefore the following exercises will include both “i-e” and “y” words.
1. ELICIT:
	Ask students to suggest one able - syllable words that have the /ai/ sound at the end. Write the words on the board. Possible examples:
	By fly cry try why 
Common exceptions:
	If buy ; gy or die ; tie ; lie or eye ; dye are suggested, you could write them separately on the board, since these are words that do not follow this spelling pattern but have to be learnt globally, as “sight words”. 
	If high or sigh are suggested, tell the students that this spelling pattern will be introduced later.
2. ASK:
	What spelling rule can we deduce from this? Note students’ suggestions.
3. WRITE ON THE BOARD:
When we hear “i” saying its name at the end of a word, our first choikce is to write:
“ -y ”
Adding a suffix:
	You might like to point out the following:
1. Plural or third person singular in the Present Simple of words that end in consonant + “y”, change the “y” to “i” and add “es”, for example:
	try - tries spy - spies
2. When you need to add “ed” ( for the Simple Past ) to word that end in consonant, change the “y” to “i” and add “d”, for example: 
	try - tried spy - spied
	You might suggest that students add both the spelling pattern and the suffix rule to their notebooks, with examples and a separate note for exeptions.
Warm -up practice of “ -y” spelling pattern:
- Beginners:
The purpose of this listening exercise is to strengthen the aural-visual awareness of two spelling patterns which are related to the sound /ai/ : “i - e”, where it is in the middle of the word and “ -y”, where the sound /ai/ is at the end of the word. Draw the table below on the board , numbering it one to ten. Start by telling the students to copy the table into their notebooks:
i-e
-y
1. 
2.
3.
4.
Read out the following words, explaining that students don’t have to write down the words they hear, but only tick the appropriate collumn.
	Sky wine try fly kite my mine bite dive cry
- Intermediate and advanced:
	Let your students copy down the table from the previous exercise, then explain that they should write out in full the words that they hear in the appropriate column. Read out the following words:
	tribe spy mice why bride prize fry sky while shy
A. Beginners:
Where’s the logic ?
 In each sentence , the underline word does not make sense.
Replace it with one of the words from the box to make a logical sentence. Rewrite each sentence with the correct word. Do at least seven.
1. When you are sad you smile. .........................................................
2. I want to play an airplane. .........................................................
3. You drink time in a glass. .........................................................
4. I walked in the rain so I wasn’t red. .........................................................
5. If you win the race you will get a tree. .........................................................
6. Tell me white you don’t like me ? .........................................................
7. The sun is shining in the cat. .........................................................
8. You have to black more , then you will get better. .........................................
9. My dog has two wheels. .........................................................
10. Don’t phone , just eat a letter. .........................................................
dry write wine sky drive my fly prize bike ride
white time nine like try why five cry bite by
- Suggested answer:
1. cry 2. fly 3. wine 4. dry 5. prize / bike 
6. why 7. sky 8. try 9. bike 10. write
B. Intermediate:
1. y to i:
Answer the following questions with full sentences. Your answers should contain a word that ends in either “-ies” or “-ied” and is based on a “ -y” word. Answer at least five questions:
1. What does a hairdrier do ?
 - .................................................................................................
2. What does a man do if he want to see if a new shirt fits ?
- .................................................................................................
3. What is another word for “ answered” ?
- .................................................................................................
4. What are chipped and fried popatoes called in the USA ?
- .................................................................................................
5. What are secret agents also known as ?
- .................................................................................................
6. What is another name for point - scores in the game of rugby ?
- .................................................................................................
7. What insects are unwanted around food on a hot day ?
- .................................................................................................
8. If someone regretted something small that had happened and couldn’t be put right , what could we say that he did ?
- .................................................................................................
- Suggested answer:
Students could answer the questions as follows:
1. A hairdrier dries your hair.
2. He tries it on.
3. Another word for “answered” is “replied”.
4. Chipped potatoes are called French fries in the USA.
5. Secret agents are also known as spies.
6. Point-scores in the game of rugby are tries.
7. Flies are unwanted insects around food on a hot day.
8. We could say he “cried over spilt milk”.
2. Tell me “y”: