Happy New Year! Did you know that you can adapt any word list on Spellzone? Each one can also be used in a variety of online and offline activities. Words ending in 'dle' Our spelling pattern for January is words ending in 'dle'. In these words, the /d l/ sound at the end of a word is usually spelled 'dle'. Practise this spelling pattern in Unit 26 - Word endings: -le, and exceptions e.g. -al, -el, -ol. Birds On the Vocabulary Lists tab we have over a hundred lists of words based around different subject areas. How many of these birdy words can you spell? Have you tried tran...
If you’re one of our regular readers you’ll be familiar with articles about idioms, but every now and then we like to share a recap for our new subscribers. Here are Spellzone we believe that one of the reasons English is such a difficult language to learn is because it’s full of idioms. Every few weeks we take a list of popular idioms and translate them for our second-language English speakers. An idiom is an expression which has a figurative meaning rather than a literal one. For example, when someone says ‘needle in a haystack’ they probably aren’t actually talking about a needle and a haystack, but about something that is as difficult to fi...
This week we’re looking at thirty more idioms about birds. Click here to learn the thirty idioms we looked at last week. night owl – someone who stays up late, someone who functions better at night pecking order – the social hierarchy rare bird – an unusual person sitting duck – an easy target, someone who is vulnerable to target spring chicken – a young person swan song – a final work/performance before retirement/death to chicken out – to opt out of doing something due to being frightened to clip someone’s wings – to limit someone’s control/freedom to count your chickens before they’re hatched &nd...
a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush – it is better to be content with what you have than to risk losing it in the attempt to seek more a little bird(y) told me – told by a secret informant albatross around your neck – something that makes you feel guilty or frustrated, something that prevents success as bald as a coot – completely bald as crazy as a loon – crazy as dead as a dodo – totally dead, extinct as free as a bird – totally free, carefree as mad as a wet hen – angry as scarce as hens’ teeth – non-existent as the crow flies – in a straight line bird brain – an insult meaning stupid ...
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One of the students has put in a huge amount of effort in completing Spellzone at least 3 times a week since his arrival with us in January. Looking at his scores after the latest GL testing, his standardised score has risen from 99 to 131. This is a truly phenomenal result. I just wanted to share the best result I have ever seen.
Terrie Penrose-Toms, Casterton College
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