help with spelling?

[Septie]

So, my five year old likes to write...For instance, he creates books - where every page contains a drawing and a sentence, with the different pages stapled together under one theme - could be "How birds live", or "flying a kite" etc. Really cute! But his spelling is horrendous still, and I am wondering how to gently improve it without destroying the joy (he has been reading for over a year and a half, in English for about a year). Perhaps create weekly spelling lists to practice totally separate from his hobby?
I should note that he is trilingual, and the same sounds are written in 3 different ways, and all the the rules are different, so I am sure confusion is adding a bit to the spelling adventures we notice. But would still like some fun exercises to improve his spelling.

 

[tommyg]

I think for writing it might be better to concentrate on one language first, which ever one he is using in school. Once he has a good grasp of it start learning to read and write in the others.

3 languages with 3 sets of sounds and spelling rules at the same time if bound to cause confusion. While it is far to early to say but their could be a dyslexia issue too. But it is more likely that its a language confusion issue.

 

[Septie]

Thanks. Yes perhaps it's a bit much. Still wouldn't know how to make spelling fun even in one language...We can read/understand quite well what he is writing - so an incentive to make others understand isn't really there. Ideas?
I am quite sure it's not dyslexia. He is reading quite well in all 3 languages. But if one thinks that "au" or "eu" is pronounced in 3 different ways, it must be confusing creating your own text.
He's not in school right now.

 

[emyandpotato]

The best way to get better at spelling is to read more and write more so learning to recognise words. When he writes, get him to mark his work. Go over all the fantastic parts and then ask him which words he might have spelled wrong and figure out together how to fix those words. Spelling tests aren't that effective for fourteen year olds so not sure if they'd work well for a little one.

 

[hattiehippo]

I would focus on writing in one language initially to help him learn the sound-letter correspondences for that one...but English in that case is probably not the best to start with due to the complexity of the way sounds are written using lots of different letter combinations.

I'm not a massive fan of spelling tests and certainly when I was teaching 5 and 6 yr olds, it was more important that they wanted to write and were writing using the sounds they knew rather than how accurate their spelling was. I wouldn't expect an average child reading and writing in English to be able spell many common words (said, went, was, they, then, are etc) consistently in a piece of writing until around 7. My DS is just 5 and has been in school for a term - this week he wrote 'pwi dvf' for penguins dive and I was over the moon - he'd used the sounds he knows and picked out the obvious sounds in both words.

You could get a simple picture dictionary and teach him how to look up words and to compare his spelling with the actual way to write the word. But if in English it is really helpful to be able to explain why letters are making that sound in that word - like in baby, jolly, happy etc the y is making the ee sound but in read and bead, it is an ea making the same sound. Jolly Phonics is a good starting point for teaching English phonics.

Hope that's helpful!

 

[Septie]

Thanks! He does know phonics and doesn't have much trouble anymore distinguishing sounds when reading the languages. It's just when he is writing his little "books" by himself, he'll spell fairly poorly. And if I read his "books", I can ask, oh, but here, how do you spell the sound ... in German, he'll realize his mistake. But it's really good to know that not all that much is expected at this stage.
And yes, I agree, above all, I want him to enjoy to use sentences to annotate his drawings.

 

[OmarsMum]

I love the idea of books, very creative!

As for spelling, Omar is bilingual, Arabic letters ard totally different than English. I'm leaving Arabic to school as I have no clue how to teach it. As for English he reads well and he can write a word phonically (his handwriting is so bad loool), at school they started with the magic words, he can read all 100 words, I revise them with him at home and at school his teacher is working on teaching him the spelling of the words, she doesnt expect him to write the letters properly as long as he can spell the words. At home we have flash cards for those words, we also use flash cards for words he struggles to read

I'm honestly not really concetrating on writing at this age, he will get there when he is ready, he is more into science those days and he loves to learn new stuff like things about the environment, volcanoes, vehicles, body systems, solar system and so on.

 

[SarahBear]

He's 5 and trilingual. Honestly, I wouldn't do anything at this age other than encourage him to continue what he's doing. Kids this age aren't expected to have good spelling. They're expected to begin recognizing letter sounds. If anything, I'd play games that require correct spelling such as hangman (although I'd play a version where you don't hang men). Through the games, he can gain the idea that there are specific ways to spell things and with time, he may begin to ask you how to spell things. At that point, you can teach him based on his interests. It maintains his confidence and follows his lead with learning. Child-led learning is much more meaningful to kids than parent or teacher imposed spelling lists.

 

[SarahBear]

Thanks. Yes perhaps it's a bit much. Still wouldn't know how to make spelling fun even in one language...We can read/understand quite well what he is writing - so an incentive to make others understand isn't really there. Ideas?
I am quite sure it's not dyslexia. He is reading quite well in all 3 languages. But if one thinks that "au" or "eu" is pronounced in 3 different ways, it must be confusing creating your own text.
He's not in school right now.

It's not dyslexia. A 5 year old who can read in 3 languages and write as well, is not dyslexic. As for incentive for others to understand him, the kid is writing in an understandable way, that's really good!!! And also very impressive given the addition of 2 other languages to be working with.