If you are like most speakers of English, you’ve been taught to spell a word by “sounding it out.” But you probably also know that this strategy only works a small handful of times. Between silent letters, letters that can make more than one sound, and words that sound exactly the same but are spelled differently…..the number of obstacles in the way of “sounding out” words makes this strategy inefficient at best and frustrating at worst.

If rote memorization of lists of spelling words, copying sentences, and applying spelling “rules” that have dozens of exceptions just isn't working for your learner, it may be time for a different approach. Most spelling programs leave students with serious misunderstandings about how spelling really works. This course will reveal that English spelling is actually highly ordered and logical, once you have unlocked some of its secrets. Students will learn to break words apart into bases, prefixes, and suffixes, and use those parts to make informed decisions about how to spell and understand what words mean. Students will learn to think like “word scientists,” making a hypothesis about spelling patterns, testing their theories, and discovering rules of spelling that actually work. This class will boost not only their spelling skills, but expand their vocabulary as well. It’s an exploration of etymology and morphology that will transform the way they think about words and the way English spelling functions. 

Each class will begin with a lesson that will include information about the concept being presented and examples of what these ideas look like as applied to English spelling. Students will then have the chance to complete some practice words on their own with teacher guidance. Some homework may be assigned if we do not have time to complete practice work during class.  

If you are interested in reading more about the  Structured Word Inquiry approach to teaching spelling, this article is a good start:
https://psyarxiv.com/aktzw/

***I also offer a Self-Paced class version of this class, with pre-recorded videos your learner can watch on their own time. The content of the Self-Paced classes is mostly the same as the lessons in this class but is just 8 lessons rather than 12. The Self-Paced class can be found here:
https://outschool.com/classes/flex-introduction-to-structured-word-inquiry-xIijJB7W?usid=nD85Y1ms&signup=true&utm_campaign=share_activity_link


***I also offer a live, ongoing weekly class that be found here. The lesson content is different than this class and varies from week to week. This class is a great way to continue the learning of SWI, but you don't have to have taken the "Intro" class to take and get something out of the ongoing class:
https://outschool.com/classes/unlocking-the-mysteries-of-english-spelling-an-ongoing-spelling-class-DnUQSr9s?usid=nD85Y1ms&signup=true&utm_campaign=share_activity_link