Question s vs c

瑜珈

I really need some insight! I have a problem with confusing the "s" sound with the softening "c..e". Does anyone have a way to teach kids the difference them, other than memorizing them? Thank you !
Andrea

瑜珈

Dear Andrea,


You have a great question on how to teach which consonant for the sound /s/. We have two single letter phonograms that can make the same sound. The spelling challenge is remembering whether to use C or S.


When we dictate new words, we always clarify which one to use. We do not expect the student to automatically know. In this way the student learns to write that word correctly the first time, using all the learning avenues in the mind simultaneously with sight being last. That is the most direct way to teach these types of words. We implant into all areas of the brain the correct response.


With many words our think to spell tip adds power to this image. For example, think to spell can reinforce the difference between the vowel used in -ance and -ence. If it is -ance, we exaggerate the muted vowel to /a/. If it is -ence, we exaggerate the muted vowel to /e/.



Think to spell, however, does not help us when we are comparing c before e, i, or y and s before e, i, or y. The sound is the same in both cases. (Both "site" and "cite" sound like "sight." In such cases does this program give any other helps in remembering which to use when? Yes!


In hard to remember places we can consider frequency of rules or phonogram sounds, derivatives, and word etymology.


1. Silent final E words. In type one we could use either C or S (vice/ vise). We have to learn which to use for which meaning. However, we have an aid with type 3 and type 5 words. More words are type 3 (dance) than are type 5 (horse) where S may be followed by an odd job E to keep the S from being confused as a suffix.


2. Phonogram sounds. The C most commonly says k but may say /s/. The S most commonly says /s/ but may say /z/. Our students are trained to pay special attention to the less frequent examples.


3. Root word to derivative. Machelle illustrated this well with the examples: converse/conversation; immerse/ immersive; expense/ expensive.


4. Word etymology. The phonogram that is selected often traces back to the word origin. The word "bounce" traces back before 1225 to "boucin" and it influenced the spelling of later addition, sound alike "flounce." The word "mince" comes from OF (mincier). The words "fence" and "force" varied between -s and -c. In regard to "fence" my dictionary says, "The spelling varied from c to s in Middle English but became fixed in the later 1500's. Likewise the word "force" was probably "fors" before 1300 but before 1325 became "force" borrow from Old French.


Consider words where we might confuse the S and C. The word "sent" comes from an Old English word that started with an S and traces from a germanic language. The sound-alike word "cent" comes from an Old French word that traces back to Latin. The word "cite" comes from Old French (citen). The word "site" comes from L "situs." The word "sight" comes from the OE "gesiht." The word "cereal" comes from F (cereale) while the word "serial" comes from L "series."


I studied French in high school and German in college. This has helped me see the link between today's English spelling and the history of the word. The classical idea of teaching children Latin has great value.


Little children do not need to know the actual OF or OE origin of specific words. We can simply tell them that when we have more than one way to spell a word, the one selected usually traces back to where the word came from before it became adapted into an English word. We see this with many of our phonograms. For example we have two phonograms that say /f/. If the word comes from Greek we spell /f/ with the ph. If not, we use the f. As students mature, you can teach them to use the dictionary to trace the word etymology.


Language is a fascinating subject. We give students a simple base for learning to master words with our phonograms and rules. We teach them how to strengthen memory by saying, hearing, writing, and reading words and then analyze them. We do this with a large pool of mostly high frequency words so that they learn to then do this automatically as they expand their vocabulary the rest of their life.


Happy teaching,


Wanda Sanseri

瑜珈

Wanda 说的好复杂，这位的回答简明扼要。


The 29 rules that are taught in SWR are there because there are very few exceptions to those rules. There are also plenty of situations in spelling where there is not a rule that tells us which phonogram to use when there is more than one option, and we can go looking for patterns, but usually the rules we make up this way end up having lots of exceptions and causing more confusion. (Check out the files for Wanda's answers to these sort of questions.) For those words where there is no rule to tell us which phonogram to use, we need to memorize which phonogram is used in this word. Of course the student doesn't know which one to use when we are first dictating the word, so when you finger-spell the word, you clarify whatever sound is not specified by the rules. If I dictate "lace," then I will finger-spell it and touch the finger representing "c" and say, "Use /k,s/."

Hope that helps!
Brooke

bailechen

感谢前辈提供的资讯，受益良多。谢谢