There is a popular belief among parents that schools are no longer interested in spelling. No school Ihave taught in has ever ignored spelling or considered it unimportant as a basic skill. Thereare, however,vastly different ideas about how to teach it, or how much priority it must be given over general language development and writing ability. The problem is, how to encourrage a child to express himself freely and on confidently in writing without holding him back with the complexities of spelling.
　　If spelling becomes the only focal point of his teacher's interest, clearly a bright child will be likely to “play safe” . He will tend to write only words within his spelling range, choosing to avoid adventurous language.That's why teachers often encunrage the early use of dictionaries and pay attention to content rather than technical ability.
　　I was once shocked to read on the bottom of a sensitive piece of writing about a personal expenience:“This work is terrible! There are far too many spelling errors and your writing is illegible（难以辨认的）.”It may have been a sharp citicism of the pupil' s technical ablities in writing, but it was also a sad reflection on the teacher who had omitted to read the essay , which contained some beautiful expressions of the child' s deep feelings. The teacher was not wrong to draw attention to the errors, but if his priorities had centred on the child's idea, an expression of his disappointment with the presentation would have given the pupil more motivation to seek improvement.