Is spelling a lost art?

@stuckonu Oh, how very sad. That must have been so hard for you. But she lives on through you and your success

@stuckonu As a teenager, I started doing one-on-one tutoring of elementary school children, in reading. Way back then it was not really recognized to define reading or comprehension issues, or behavioral concerns. One little girl was the #2 child of 4, and was often forgotten in the family. She also had a learning disability which put her behind younger siblings. With her willingness and excitement to learn, over the course of a year of one-on-one teaching, she improved three grades. She really wanted/needed to feel she had someone to focus on her, not be "one of the four". Another young man had ADHD and was on strong medications. Once again, his learning disorder needed focusing, and he was fine. By thinking about the end result, we accomplished alot, my young students and I. Now, I have taught reading to adults who either have English as a second language, or who never really learned to read. It is rewarding work, and made me realize how difficult the English language is. Kudos to you for your strength of character.
Ginger

@gingerw : Your comments show that an individualized approach can make all the difference in someone’s success. I thought it interesting that you mentioned the difficulty of the English language. I’d have to say yes, and no. My husband had a very successful Swiss co-worker whose vocabulary probably never exceeded 300 basic words in English, but he ended up quite wealthy even though he was in the sales field. So I think the bare necessity to get by in every day life is fairly easy. On the other hand, I find English much more nuanced compared to my native German language. There’s an incredibly large vocabulary to learn, and I still come across unfamiliar words. I had 2 years of English at the junior high level, then did not use this for several years. To speed up the recovery of lost knowledge, I read a lot of books, without using a dictionary. Over time I learned what words mean in context (and how to use them in context), and now I am seldom stumped. And as a bonus, after thousands of books, I seem to have developed an internal spell check. I may not know 100% of the correct spelling, but I can sense when something seems off. Sort of like I can’t hold a tune, but can tell when something is off-key.

Ya know Becky how some teachers live on in many ways on many levels and many dimensions. She believed in me and I believe in her. I believe in miracles now because I met one!

@stuckonu This made me smile!

I managed to get through school with a combination of charm and flim flam. It didn’t matter in the early years to be “ book smart “ because I was street smart. While in the Army I started reading books that seemed interesting to me and some that I heard mentioned by people I valued.
A group of Berkley students were discussing a required reading book and although I was festinated by the conversation I could join in because I had no reference point. I got the book and read it but when I finished I wondered what the heck it all meant. So I read it again and again until I felt as if I could discuss it. The book was Steppenwolf by Herman Hesse. Lots of Germans over the years seemed puzzled by the American interest in THAT BOOK.
I never figured out the reason one culture loved that book and another culture couldn’t understand it. Talk about lost in translation