That jolly yellow thing in the sky is still here. Any longer and it might qualify for the Yorkshire Cricket Team. I understand it’s called The Sun. A simple name yet so confusing for kids like our Son. Is it a Sun or is it a Son.

So on to this weeks spelling test. Ok campers your simple words this week are

Alliteration, Onomatopoeia, Simile, Metaphor, Slang, Rhetorically, Personification, Emotive, Language, Imagery, Verb, Adjective, Adverb.

See I predicted it was only a matter of time before the poor kids had to try and spell complex dinosaur names. The Onomatopoeia was always my favourite flying dinosaur…..

I think school probably thinks that the spellings are getting too easy so they have now added a twist. Previously the teacher would say the actual word to be spelt and the kids tried to write it down. This week the teacher won’t say the word. Instead she will read out a definition and the kids have to decide which word it describes – then spell it. Easy with Onomatopoeia as it will be the only dinosaur….. if only.

So the kids will have to work out which of the above words fits with what the teacher definitions are and then try to spell it. From definitions like these

This is a word that imitates or suggests the source of the sound that it describes

This is when something is said to be something else

A describing word. Sometimes there are three together to make it more effective

A word describing how something is done

This is the repetition of letter sound at the start of a word

What chance has a dyslexic kid got when he struggles to spell and as a result has never really understood the technicalities of the English Language. But what do I know. A simple parent compared to the might and intellectual magnificence of the current government education regime. As our PM’s Dad publicly stated when he stood in for his Son in an interview.

Spelling “Pinocchio? That requires a degree of literacy, which I think the great British public doesn’t necessarily have.”

Its hard being a PM so he only handpicks a few interviews these days. Better to send his Dad. But the message is clear. The great unwashed didn’t go to Eton and Oxford. They are basically illiterate. They need to be force fed things like spelling.

I am one of the great unwashed. An illiterate who went to a poor sinkhole Comprehensive School and only to the clearly unworthy Warwick University. Maybe we are illiterate for a reason. The dreadful state of our crumbling education system. An education system that lets down so many kids. Which discriminates against those who don’t fit the mould. Money allows you to buy a better education. The money which the PMs Dad easily forked out to send his Son to Eton. But in the real world the majority struggle on. Dealing with an education system which has been systematically screwed by those with a view of the world so like that of PM and his Dad.

I might not be able to spell Pinocchio but at least I know my pterodactyls from my Onomatopoeias.

64 thoughts on “Onomatopoeia”

  4. Correct or incorrect spelling is NOT an indicator of intelligence. My stepdad and my Older Daughter are both very intelligent and horrible spellers.

    Before autocorrect, my daughter would choose simpler words because of her spelling. She knew ‘bigger’ words and their meanings but couldn’t spell them correctly. And she’s not dyslexic.

    Priorities are all messed up. With everything electronic now, spelling should be a low level concern😡.
    💌

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    1. Beg to differ, KBG. But not viciously. Spelling is a necessity to good communication, especially in the English language, as is good grammar. Trying to read a teenager’s text message is nearly impossible to a fuddy duddy, but that is one intention of using slang in the first place.

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      6. I agree, Gary, but people have stopped caring about correct spelling in all walks of life. No thanks to spelling and grammar programs that dominate the internet, they generally make things worse than better. I know a lot of people have trouble spelling, but lazy people who know how to spell but don’t care make me upset. There isno excuse.

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  9. Gary, it might help to remind your son’s teacher that he has difficulty with this ambiguous approach to spellings because of his autism diagnosis, although it defies belief that you should have to do this! He could sit out this exercise and better spend the time engaged in a task which he takes responsibility for planning himself, which will develop his problem solving skills, his ability to become a self-directed learner and set him up for life long learning. Then gently remind teacher there are 100’s of ‘text to speech’ apps which take the pain out of spellings such as ‘Live Transcribe’ which your son can use to support his learning instead. Le grà, Marie

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      1. We didn’t really get that far – Bob thinks we should go to her Enlish teacher next year and raise it as an issue. She spells phonetically. “Sents” is since “evry” is every “difrent” is different. I would have thought a teacher would have brought it up by now – but twofold here – cate’s a pain. Big energy, impulsive, emotional. I have always thought teachers just want to get through the year with her and be done with her. Second, I think since most of their work is done on ipad’s now there must be a lot of spell checking going on to fix her issues. But my word – give her a pen and paper and then try to figure out what she is trying to say. And at 12, she should have some basic words down by now.

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  12. Oh heavens. In America, we never had spelling words like those! My daughter would have been crushed to bits… they say confidence is more of a determinant of success than abilities. At 23, I am still trying to help instill confidence in my son. Onomatopoeia in school would have taken even more out…

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  13. I truly love words, collecting them finding the “perfect” word to describe what I want to describe, etc. but come on. I would not be able to spell Onomatopoeia if you paid me (okay, maybe after a lot of studying I might be able to). Oh and by the way I had to copy and paste that word. Ugh! This is beyond the ridiculous. I really despise the arrogance of some “intellectuals”. Apparently they’re not smart enough to figure out that a student with dyslexia would be horribly challenged by spelling in and of itself, never mind choosing words that are three feet long. (yes, I know that’s a gross exaggeration, but they may as well be that long if you are dyslexic.) This totally enrages me. You must be some kind of saint to rise above this idiocy and stupidity.

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      1. It really is ridiculous. It makes no sense whatsoever. I cannot even begin to imagine the levels of frustration you must have to deal with. And your poor son. I really feel for him. The only silver lining is that eventually he will be done with it all, but omg the daily experiences at school must be awful for him.

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  14. When testing student there needs to be a clear metric as to what is being evaluated. In this case is it spelling or word definitions?
    So what’s the call if the child puts the wrong word with the definition given but spells the word correctly.
    It’s like playing a convoluted games in which as many students as possible are made to feel like dolts.
    Very confusing metrics when recording such a test and even more confused will be the already struggling students.

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      1. I would have learned to spell one of the words and then put that as the answer to each definition. My score would have been 50% plus one. A passing grade doing only 10% of the work. No rule saying you can’t put the same answer down more than once. 😉

        Liked by 2 people

  15. LOL.
    Is cursive writing still taught in UK schools? It apparently fell out of favor here and I enjoying feeling like all us “over a certain age” can read/write in a “code” that youngsters can’t decipher. Sure, some letters are still clear but they’ll never guess a capital Q!!

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  16. My son had a teacher who had the kids write down the definitions of the words to help them remember what they meant. My son kept getting marked down and we couldn’t figure out why. At the conference, the teacher explained that while his definitions were correct, they weren’t the ones given out by the teacher. So much for actually looking things up.

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