Spelling

Met the mother of Ewan's kindergarten classmate yesterday. She revealed that she and a group of parents have met with the new principal and asked for Spelling to be brought back to the curriculum (it was scraped beginning this year). She is worried that her kid would not be able to adapt to Primary One next year. The principal promised to look into their concerns but even if Spelling were to be reintroduced, it will be in the 3rd term, i.e. second half of the year, which this mother felt is "too late".

I don't miss Spelling at all. I don't think kids at this age (5 to 6 years old) will actually remember the spelling of the words after the spelling test is done, whether shortly after or long after. I remember coaching Ethan when he had his in the same kindergarten and I honestly cannot see the benefits of this exercise. Okay lah, maybe some benefits like... having weekly spelling test in Primary One wasn't a surprise to him?

I think this mother mentioned above reveals a common worry of parents here - that a child has to be fully prepared for Primary One. Schools here are not helping in that some even have a list of words that a child must know or master before entering P1. I don't think the goal of pre-schooling should be to produce kids ready for P1. It should be to produce kids who love to learn.

Every stage of growth has its goal and tasks. Let's not prematurely force our kids to learn spelling (not a WoW). Let them learn to enjoy books (or the beauty of written language) first (this is a WoW). Trust me, learning to spell follows naturally.

Two cents' worth.