Teaching spelling words with an unstressed vowel is fundamentally the hardest topic in elementary school. And this, despite the fact that scientists, methodologists, teachers for decades have been trying to find the best ways to solve the problem. For children, it would seem, a simple question about how to check the word "water" may be unsolvable.
To achieve a positive result in the work on the formation of spelling literacy of children, we need, first of all, a systematic approach to learning. This requirement is relevant in any version of the school curriculum. Concrete ways of forming a skill can be very different.
Familiarity with the concept of stress
One of the requirements of the Russian language program in the first grade is familiarity with the concept of "stress". Pupils learn practical ways to define it in words. In addition, children learn that the stress in the Russian language is mobile, it can only be in the vowel.
At first glance, the material seems simple and not very significant. But this is not at all true. The poorly formed skill of the ability to determine the percussive sound in a word will become an obstacle in learning the spelling of an unstressed vowel in the root of the word.
Therefore, during the literacy period after introducing the concept of "stress", it is necessary to give children daily exercises to determine the stressed vowel in words. Language material can be the most diverse: on a specific topic, scattered, perceived orally or in writing, offered to the whole class, group of students or individually.
In order to propaedeutics of the Russian language course already at this period of mastering the topic, you can offer a chain of cognate words. For example, take the word "water". The teacher says that he will call him "relatives", and the children should determine the place of the stressed syllable (sound, letter). A number of words may look like this: "water, voditsa, vodka, vodnik, vodovoz, vortex, pond", etc. Do not forget to pay attention to the lexical meaning of the words.
Stress mobility
In further work, considering, for example, words with the root -water-,-garden-, -forest, it is necessary to develop not only the skill of determining the stressed syllable, but also give the opportunity to observe such a phenomenon as stress mobility. It can be on the first, last syllable or in the middle of a word.
The teacher offers a task in which it is required to select the cognate word for the word "water" (the concept operates with the teacher, without requiring this from the children). During the discussion, for example, the following entry appears on the board: "water, water pump, diver, water, watery".
Continuing to observe and compare, the children notice that the stress moves from one syllable to another, but the unstressed vowels in the word remain unchanged. And one more observation, which will lead to an important conclusion, must be done with the children. Pupils should note that the pronunciation of a word does not match its spelling. This "discovery" usually amazes young connoisseurs of the Russian language.
Unstressed vowels
The next important stage in the work on the spelling is the development of the students' ability to see an unstressed vowel. Before learning the morphemic composition of a word, children should emphasize the stressed and all unstressed vowels, regardless of the part of the word.
Again, we give students the task of picking up the cognate word for the word "water." In the resulting chain: "water, water meter, watering hole, anhydrous" - students graphically denote stressed and unstressed vowels. At the initial stage, you can give a couple of words that differ in the form of the number: "water - water", "winter - winter", "forest - forests", etc.
It is very important right now to make it possible for children to understand that an inattentive attitude towards an unstressed vowel can cause letters to mix when spelling a word, which leads to a serious mistake.
Verifiable and verifiable words
In the second year of teaching the language, children are already ready to perceive the theme of "One-root words." For them, tasks of this type are not new: how to choose the cognate word for the word "water", "earth", "flowers", "fox". They have information that there are groups of “relatives” among the words, and their symptoms are well known to children.
The concept of "root" and its graphic designation are introduced. Children are once again convinced of the uniform spelling of the root in related words, regardless of the position of the stress.
Through observation and comparison, students come to the conclusion that any group of related words can be divided into two parts: put verification words in one and verified words in the other. After such a “discovery”, the teacher’s question about which test word for the word “water” can be chosen will not cause surprise or misunderstanding among children.
Vowels and letters
In order for the child to develop a stable skill of correctly writing an unstressed vowel in the root, and he can choose a test word for the word "water" or any other that has the indicated spelling, the teacher needs to regularly pay attention of students to the inadmissibility of mixing letters. Different letters in Russian can be used to denote the same sound.
Exercises where you need to replace one letter in words and then observe what happened to the word will be very useful. The material for the assignment is selected in accordance with the level of development of the children ("house - smoke", "sang - saw", "forest - fox", etc.). When working on individual words and groups of related words, you should constantly offer tasks where you need to make the choice of the right letter, denoting an unstressed vowel sound.
How to check a word. Memo
At the final stage of work on the topic, a memo will appear in the classroom, which will tell you at any time how, for example, to check the word "water" and write it without error. The memo should be "live", demanded by children.
If the teacher sees that the students do not use the spelling algorithm, this may mean that the memo is difficult to understand or it was offered to children in a ready-made form. The scheme drawn up by the students themselves is always of interest, since children understand the significance of each of its elements.
The duration of the use of the scheme that reveals the secrets of writing an unstressed vowel at the root of the word depends on the level of development of the students in the class. For some, the need for its use will disappear after a few lessons, while other children can use it for more than one year. The teacher should encourage those who, thanks to the memo, get rid of spelling mistakes in independent work and dictations.
Training exercises
Given the complexity of the topic, the teacher must remember that without training, constant repetition of the basic concepts, it is impossible to formulate the spelling skills of unstressed vowels.
In this regard, in the Russian language lessons it is necessary to use several types of exercises:
- Accented training. Here, auditory exercises for cheating, of a creative nature, will help.
- Exercises on the formation of the skill of highlighting an unstressed vowel in the root. We offer tasks, for example, of this nature: “Write down related words, put an accent, underline an unstressed vowel, select a test word for the word“ water ”.”
- Tasks for the formation of the ability to select test words from a group of cognates. For example, the teacher asks to prove that the words presented are cognate: "algae, water supply, underwater, flood" - and pick up a test word for the word "water".
- The exercises are aimed at developing the ability to independently find a test word. Children should write off the text, find words with unstressed vowels that need checking. Using your vocabulary, pick up the test word for the word "water" or another given by the teacher.
Error handling
There are no unified requirements for working on errors in primary grades. There are many disputes among teachers about the forms of its conduct, but the benefits of such work in terms of improving the literacy of children have long been proven and not discussed.
The teacher needs to remember that most often work on mistakes has to be done by children who have learning difficulties. This imposes an additional responsibility on teachers in the selection of tasks, the use of visual aids, and special teaching methods.
Systematic work on mistakes helps to develop spelling vigilance of students, and this leads to increased literacy.
The practice of teaching in elementary grades allows you to verify the effectiveness of the application of various forms, techniques that the teacher uses to achieve the learning objectives. Types of practical activities of students are also of great importance in the process of learning the secrets of the language.