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Ways to Tackle Tricky Spellings: A Recap

Over the last few weeks we’ve been sharing different methods which we hope will help make learning to spell a little easier and a bit more fun. Here is a recap of our posts – which ones did you find most helpful? In our blog post about why English spelling is so difficult, we discussed heterographs, homonyms, and heteronyms. These groups of words make it difficult to solely rely on the ‘sound’ of a word in order to figure out its spelling. The word heterograph refers to words that sound the same, but have different spellings and meanings. Hetero- comes from the Greek heteros which means ‘other’ or ‘different’, whilst -graph comes ...

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A Word for Wednesday: Mac

Come rain or come shine, you need a Mac. This week’s word for Wednesday is an interesting example of both strong brand identities and of diachronic language change. Mac. To most people over the age of 60, Mac refers to a type of rubberized waterproof raincoat first sold in 1824. The coat is named after its fabric invented by the Scotsman Charles Mackintosh. Mac is also used as slang for a Scottish person, such that irrespective of their first and second names, outside Scotland, a Scotsman might be nicknamed Mac. In contemporary use, the word Mac refers to the Apple Macintosh computer. This usage has superseded both of the uses above, even in the rainy Scottish climate wh...

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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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