Is spelling a lost art?

Posted by ellerbracke @ellerbracke, Oct 13, 2019

I notice so many times that there’s a “d” missing. It useD to be, it is supposeD to be...... not sure if whatever device’s spell check is supposeD to be picking this up, and yes, everybody gets casual sometimes. Not even touching there, their, they’re...... takes just a little time to get it right. I had to learn English mostly by reading books, and I have a little jolt every time I see spelling errors. But, in the greater scheme of things, ii is irritating, but not crucial.

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@becsbuddy

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

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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!

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@gingerw

@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

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You saw the possibilities and drew them out as the seers do. Thank you for making the world a better place Ginger

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@ellerbracke

@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.

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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

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@stuckonu

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!

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@stuckonu This made me smile!

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@becsbuddy

@stuckonu This made me smile!

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One of the things I’m most proud of is the ability to make people smile. So happy to oblige Becky.

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@stuckonu

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

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@stuckonu  This reminds me of my son.  He was not a great student, he had untreated ADHD, my husband was totally opposed to medication.  His teachers rarely saw that he was actually fairly intelligent but he had a winning personality.  He scraped through college and is now a VP of a staffing company, a business that benefits from his personality, his street-smarts, and heck, he's developed a lot of additional intelligence now too!  My husband and I always knew if we could pull, push, drag him through school he would be a success and he is.  
My daughter is the one with very high intelligence, my son has been known to introduce her as the smartest person he knows.  She has a great personality but not his charisma and drive.  She's doing fine too though.  She had/has ADD and it still affects her.  The typical girl with ADD is basically a dreamer and very distracted.  One of her college entrance essays was on having ADD. She said it's not that a person doesn't pay attention, it's that they pay attention to EVERYTHING, and I think she was right.  She writes well, is a professional business writer now. Another college essay that I wish she hadn't deleted off the computer was on nanotechnology.

@ellerbracke The town we live in is supposed to have an excellent school system but as far as I'm concerned my kids both fell through the cracks. They should have been recognized for their abilities but my daughter was extremely shy so teachers overlooked her. She is great now but it really did change the course of her life. Unfortunately at that time, I was shy also, so did not advocate for them as well as I should have.

I used to be a very good speller but as I've aged I find I am not as good as I was. Like you, I know when something doesn't look right though.
JK

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