‘Illiterate’ Nanny Ranting About Literacy/Spelling

A popular half hour show on TV has bugged me a great deal last week. The issue of poor spelling among young Aussies was brought up again and of course TEACHERS were to be blamed again. What infuriated me most was that the show has used the same case study of a father and son time and time again.

In the short segment about the father and son, the show highlighted the father’s frustration when he found out that the child’s teacher had not corrected his spelling mistakes in what looked like to me, an exercise book for creative writing. I really can’t stand parents who seem to think that they know it all because they have managed to produce little human beings. So instead of finding out why the mistakes were not corrected and read up on today’s literacy education, he jumped to complain to the media first.

Anyone who has seen a child develop from being a newborn to an active toddler would have realised that a baby that has just learned to sit up unaided is not going to step up in the next minute to hop to the toilet. There are other skills in between for the child to master first. There are different stages too in Language Development. In speech development, interested people are often at awe at how a toddler masters his mother tongue without signing up to a formal language course. In reading and writing however, the child must be shown keys so as to gradually apply them to unlock the mysteries of reading and writing. This can be a speedy process for some children and a slower process for others. Do not be fooled into believing that a preppy will learn all he needs to be a reader/author in the first year of school.

When a child enters the first year of school, he brings with him an extensive and well developed vocabulary. At school, his teacher will offer him the keys (like learning the alphabet and their sounds) to learn to read and write in a well-designed language rich classroom. It is in such a secure environment, (hopefully) free from unnecessary interventions and judgements, that a child experiments for himself, trying out the keys (he has learned so far) to write for the very first time and then to read simple text. This is when inventive spelling starts to appear in the child’s work. For example, the child may write ‘cum’ for the word ‘come’ or ‘egs’ for the word ‘eggs’. This is the stage when the child is trying to write phonetically. Read the misspelt words and you will find that they are pronounced the same as the original words. This shows that the child is intelligent and resourceful in trying to apply some of the sounds he has learnt into his own writing. Parents should be happy to see that their child is inquisitive enough to want to experiment in different ways. Gradually over years (shorter, in some instances), the child will master the entire set of 44 (or 45, depending on where in the world you are) sounds of English and then begin to learn alternate spellings for sounds they have learnt earlier. (English is a non-phonetic language. There is a combination of skills to learn to be able to read and write properly.) This is when the child will start to show accurate spellings. Instead of writing ‘plai’, he may now be able to write it properly – ‘play’. Continued exposure to book language through read-alouds and shared-reading enhances spelling accuracies as well.

Most teachers are discouraged from correcting the young author’s spelling mistakes. This is partly because teachers do not wish to discourage the child’s new found interest in writing. By being a picky parent, judging the child’s every mistake, he runs the risk of putting the child off writing. Visualize a child too worried of failing to even want to try. I believe that Cathy Freeman as a 6 year old didn’t run as fast as she did at the Sydney Olympics in 2000. Everyone should be patient and allow each child the time to blossom naturally.

The little boy featured in the TV show was 6. His state of origin was not mentioned. He could have been a preppy or in Grade 1. From the footage no one can be sure if his teacher never records his mistakes into her own folder. Respectful teachers do not mark out a child’s beautiful piece of writing. (Which La La Land is this nanny from?) That’s like tagging a beautiful public structure. Dedicated teachers are likely to record the child’s mistakes in a separate folder. From there, the teacher may invite the child for an individual or small group (with children sharing the similar mistakes) discussion. If not, the teacher may create a mini lesson to be presented to the whole class. No shaming is necessary and the child/children who made the mistake/s are never mentioned. The teacher may include examples she created herself. No one can be sure if the boy’s teacher ever carried out what I mentioned above. (Why would the show’s producer want to give her a chance to speak up? She is only a teacher.) Facing a dad who was on a mission of picking errors from the child’s work, the boy is likely to just back down and accept what is dished out. As a nanny, I have seen children who are so tired at the end of the day, they just agree with what is ‘thrown’ at them from their parents. This is quite a funny sight because children are known to be troublemakers and not the parents.

I love this blog. I get to speak my mind even though I am just a nanny. Readers may not agree with what I have to say but I get to say it anyway. If you totally disagree with this nanny, please drop me a comment.