The author was such a dunce to mess up an otherwise perfect program! I'm so disgusted at the whole thing. I emailed her, and I'll post her answer. It was interesting to find out she's a homeschool mom.
True. I just cannot see why someone would do that? I would for sure not use it for that one reason. Now that is just me and I am weird that way. Really? Well let us know what she says.
Here's what she said- Dear Mrs , Thanks for sharing your concern regarding the inclusion of ain't in the Adams-Gordon's Spelling Power Flow Word List. A great deal of care and concern for the growing needs of students went into the creation of the Flow Word List. This word list includes the 5,000 most-frequently-used and misspelled words. These words and their frequency of use were determined by studying the actual writing of over 36,000 children (in kindergarten through 8th grade). Additionally, words above about the top 2,000 words were determined using the writing of thousands upon thousands of high school students and adults. It represents the most up-to-date word list (created in 1989 and updated in 2004) used in currently available spelling programs. It is the only spelling word list created using writing samples by people of various ages. Virtually all other programs on the market use one of the word lists created in the early part of the last century (1919-1948). They are generally limited to the 1200 or so words most frequently appearing in books and other writings intended for children. As you can imagine, whether or not to include controversial words such as ain't, was carefully deliberated. The main reason ain't was kept on the Flow-Word-List is that it is often used in ethnic and regional dialog. (Think about how often ain't is used in "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" and other works by Mark Twain.) I made the assumption that most students will have been taught it is considered "poor English" to use ain't and therefore that its use is restricted to dialog by the time it is first introduced on Level F (roughly corresponding to words taught at about 6th grade level). What is more, since you (as her teacher) see the word before it is presented to her, you may elect to eliminate the word from her word study if you object to it. I hope my explanation will ease your concern as to why ain't is included on the Adams-Gordon's Spelling Power Flow Word List. If you have further questions or I may be of further help to you and your family please feel free to give me a call on the Free Spelling Power User-Helpline. The User-Helpline is available to Spelling Power owners Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday between 2:30 and 5:30 pm Pacific Standard Time (Washington State). Because I am still actively home educating my youngest I do not answer this line on days or at times not listed above. If there is no answer during the above times, I am away from my office (probably conducting a workshop or seminar at a convention). Please try your call in a day or two. There is no message machine on this number as I am unable to return calls. If you get a busy signal, try your call again in about 10 minutes (average call length). Each year, as my schedule changes, I post the days and hours this Free Service is available on the frequently Asked Questions page at www.spellingpower.com Respectfully Yours, Beverly L. Adams-Gordon Castlemoyle Books, publishers of Spelling Power
I wish she had 'elected' to leave this word out of this program. I wonder if we'd see ain't in a school spelling program? I'm thinking not.
NO. At least not around here. The local school districts made an intentional choice to allow "phonetic only" spelling for grades k-8 in an effort to not discourage kids from writing. They said kids were being constrained by spelling rules and therefore had too much to worry about when writing should be the focus... not the spelling of words that they could learn later in life. I wish I was kidding. By my neice is in 3rd grade and still spells words like "unkel" and "invitd" on the invitations to her birthday party. And her parents mass produced (photocopied) them that way because they are discouraged (by the teacher) from correcting her spelling.
My daughter got weekly spelling lists to study in grades 1 to 3. She was homeschooled after that, so I don't know when they discontinued them. But in grades 5, 6 and 7 they were given a list of words to study for the Spelling Bee. Oh... my daughter just informed me that the Spelling Bee was supposed to be optional, but her teacher thought it was a good idea to make everyone in her class do it. :lol:
Here they still do spelling but I say that with a heavy does of sarcasm. They don't correct spelling in general work at all. It usually depends on the class teacher though. I was horrified by how many of my kids assignments had no marking for spelling. The teachers would correct punctuation but not spelling. I found that mystifying. I remember a list that came home with two words on it spelt incorrectly, when my Dd pointed it out to her teacher, her teacher scolded her. (And I gave the teacher a piece of my mind)
Yes they still do spelling in PS! My son and daughter both do a spelling program. They are in 5th and 6th grade and not once have I seen a word like ain't on any of their list!
I taught English professionally on the secondary level for 5 years. I taught spelling, and, yes, I'd have been perfectly OK with teaching them the correct spelling of the word "ain't." I took 2 semesters of linguistics in college. The word "ain't" appears in books that are found on traditional reading lists, and it's very popularly used in both conversation and in journalism. Liking a word or not liking it isn't really an issue for me. The fact is that it IS a word, and it IS used often enough that a person should be just as familiar with spelling it as they are with spelling anything else. Frankly, I'd find that a far more useful word for my kids to know how to spell than one of the words we found ourselves spelling this previous week: rill. Seriously, I've never used that word in my life, nor can I honestly say I recall reading it anywhere. But the word "ain't"...that one, I've heard and seen often.
I'm wondering how many of the "for ain't" group are from Southern areas of the US, and the "anti- ain't" group are from the Northern areas. I really have enjoyed reading this thread.
I'm not "for ain't", but I do think there's nothing wrong with learning to spell it correctly. And I'm a Yank, through and through.
Yes, ain't is taught in the Scott Foresman 8th grade book and the Merrill Spelling program's 7th grade book. It is also listed in the Miriam Webster Intermediate Dictionary. Also, Ms. Adams-Gordon specifically encourages that you make the basic word list useful for your child. That includes taking away words you deem inapropriate and adding words that are high frequency for your child. This is discussed in detail in the teacher's manual, but not in the Quick Start section. You have to read the section on "testing Words." Finally, yes Ms. Adams-Gordon is a Christian home school mom. She wrote the program for her middle daughter who was in 6th grade when they started home schooling and only spelling on the second grade level. She left her teaching job at a private Montessori elementary school to home school. I believe Ms. Adams-Gordon has a Masters in Education with Specific Language Disabilities as an emphasis. I have a dyslexic child and I have spent time on the phone with her. She is really knowledgeable and very interested in helping parents and kids succeed at home schooling. Becky, perhaps you should have waited for Ms. Adams-Gordon to answer your concern before you called her a dunce. Because you disagree with her decision does not mean she is a dunce or that she is even wrong. It only means you disagree with her and a number of people on the board. Name calling isn't supposed to be used here, we are a Christain group afterall. Palousemama of six
I'm not American and I don't recall ever using the word ain't, but I do come across the word a lot in literature. Especially American literature, like Twain. (I'm pretty sure Scout, Jem or Dill use the word in To Kill a Mockingbird also.Probably Scout and Jem more than Dill.) Whilst I have no problem with the word appearing in a spelling list, I probably wouldn't include it in one for my kids purely because it's not a word widely used here.
I'm in the "for ain't" camp, but I'm Canadian and it's not widely used in my circles. I can't remember the last time I encountered the word outside of literature. That said, I'd still teach it. 1. Because it IS found in Twain and Dickens, and more. 2. Because it's easy to misspell, and exactly the kind of misspelling that jumps off the page. And 3. Because reading this thread has actually activated my "censorship is bad" reflex, even though I know this is not exactly the same thing. I prefer meeting sticky issues head on and using them as "teachable moments", rather than pretending they don't exist. The classic one for us was when my daughter - who had been determinedly reading through my vast collection of very old children's books - looked up from the Burgess Animal Book and said to me, "It's queer, but I'm feeling quite gay today." Oh boy, did we have a chat! All about language, and how it changes, and how some words just don't mean what they used to mean. Oh, and also, "Sometimes a man loves a man in that very special way..." :lol: What I did NOT do was pack away every book I had that was written before 1900. Language is a joyful, living thing. It dances, it plays, it turns itself around and becomes magically new every time you blink. I love language, all of it, even slang (the unruly, noisy, disobedient child of the language family). I want to pass my love onto my children. "Sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never hurt me..."
Beautifully stated. I never thought of ain't as a hard to spell word. Or maybe it's just some glitch in my kids DNA that make them perfectly able to spell a nonsensical word, a contraction and every word they shouldn't know , yet every day words they botch in the most spectacular of ways??? :roll: How on earth did you have that chat with your daughter and keep a straight face? Can I ask what book the special man love is in? That just cracked me up.
I didn't even try to keep a straight face. I just had myself a good laugh first and then I sat down to talk to her. The Burgess Animal Book (and the Burgess Flower Book, and the Burgess Seashore Book, etc...) all use the word "gay" and "queer" quite frequently. And I wouldn't be surprised to see "ain't" in there as well, since the animal characters talk in dialect. "Gay" and "queer" (especially "queer"!) are also in my older "Fairy Books" ("The Blue Fairy Book", "The Red Fairy Book", etc., by Andrew Lang). I can't be sure about the rest, but basically any book written around the turn of the century is going to have some unusual language. I have a children's book written in 1884 called "The Beautiful, The Wonderful and the Wise." It's a collection of short stories, amusing anecdotes, and "factual" writing. What on earth would a child today make of this passage from an article titled "A Universe System at Last"? For the record - my daughter thought it was all hilarious and kept reading it aloud, bellowing "NE PLUS ULTRA!" as loud as she could. It was as much fun as Gandalf's "You shall not pass!" from the Lord of the Rings movies.
This isn't a Christian board, Palousemama. I also specified I have no problem with anyone who uses Ain't in conversation. My point is, it does not belong in a spelling program. And I'm sorry- I think any program is wrong to teach how to spell it.
yeah... I grew partly in Canada and thought it wasn't used much I was told "Aint aint a word" lol we had fun with it but I was taught that using it would make you sound less educated and or ignorant. So we opt for not using it, perhaps I am a word snob? lol
Shelley -- In the song "America" there's the phrase "I love thy rocks and rills, thy woods and templed hills" -- that's the ONLY place I've ever seen it!
