When you hear ‘syllables’, do you think about how a word appears in a dictionary? Or split across the lines in a book? Or do you think of syllable types?
In That Reading Thing we usually go with the descriptive syllable method with a slight tweak in favour of suffixes and prefixes. That means, in the first TRT lesson, a student can choose to say rob/in or r
o/bin and both are acceptable. Likewise in the second lesson with e/stab/lish or es/tab/lish. However, even if they prefer (as I do) to say in/ven/ted, we always nudge them towards /in/vent/ed so they understand the meaningful ‘ed’ ending.
Some of you will have seen my little videos of building and spelling the word, ‘hierarchy’. In both of those, the student said the syllables were hi/er/ar/chy and I used to be happy with that, even when she made the inevitable spelling error of <key> for the last syllable.
Stronger spellers with large vocabularies (like teachers and actors in spelling videos) can get away with splitting syllables almost any way they like, but struggling students need more support, not only for spelling but for grasping and remembering meaning.
For this reason, I ask teachers to nudge the syllables to make the meaning of the word as clear as possible – in this case, hi/er/arch/y. This will also support memory for spelling when it’s bundled with other <arch> words.
Conclusion? Students don’t need to know syllable types or rules and should stay right away from dictionary syllables. They do need to know how to pronounce words clearly and they might need a nudge to preserve root words and suffixes that will that aid memory.
Please remember that no one expects you to know all this. If you’re not sure how to split a root from a suffix, please don’t worry. That Spelling Thing is a jumping off point for accumulating knowledge about spelling. The TST lessons ensure you can make the most of limited memory.
If you’re working through the self-guided course, use the Word Help form if you get stuck. Our watch words are ‘cumulative and collaborative’. That goes for both teachers and students.