by Joan Inong

Created on: November 12, 2009

All primary school students should be able to spell words correctly, and their teachers have the responsibility of ensuring that they do. However, learning how to spell correctly is usually an unexciting, often boring and tedious job. Fortunately, there are a few activities that you, as a teacher, can use to help your students get excited about spelling. The following article will describe a few of these activities, but they can be easily amended to fit any of your needs.

Spelling Game #1

For this spelling game, you will need to divide your class into groups. Generally, groups of 5-6 students work best, though if you can manage with only 3-4 groups (for a total of 4 groups), you may also do that.

Next, your students will choose a "representative" for each of their groups. So, if you are working with four groups, you should have four representatives. Each representative is responsible for talking to you. Now, ask the first question. The representative who raises his/her hand first will answer. If you ask a question such as, "What is the biggest state in the United States?" the representative who must answer will have to spell out the answer.

Award points as necessary. Then, ask your next question. If the representative does not get the answer right, or the spelling right, other representatives may answer. However, all of the students within each group must deliberate for their final answer. The representative cannot do all of the work.

Spelling Game #2

For this spelling game, you will again need to divide your students into groups. Having four to five students is best for this game. Then, you will need to create categories. The categories could be anything, but they should be able to include larger words. Some categories may be: state names, country names, foods, animals, etc.

Then, ask about one category at a time. Each group will have to try to come up with a list that includes all of the objects that fall under that particular category. So, if you ask about state names, they may have up to fifty objects.

Once everyone is finished writing down all of the objects that they can think of (give the groups at least 10 minutes or so to finish), each group will choose a representative to write down their list on the board. You will need to create five columns if you have five groups, and so forth. Then, when all of the groups have finished writing their lists on the board, you will compare the lists. Remember, spelling is the biggest factor. Even if a group has made a longer list, they may not get full points if they do not spell everything correctly.

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