The spelling performance of pupils at the end of elementary school has been declining for thirty-four years, according to a recent study by the Ministry of Education.
The Christmas holidays that are starting are then an opportunity to train with the family.
Revise with
Bled
, play online games, practice dictation with the family… Multiple tools exist to help children progress, whether they are in primary, middle or high school.
Teachers tear their eyes out over copies.
According to a survey by the Statistics Agency of the Ministry of Education (Depp) on spelling, published last week and conducted four times since 1987 with the same dictation for CM2 pupils, the average number of errors increased steadily, rising in thirty-four years from 10.7 to 19.4.
It is the grammatical spelling (rules of agreement between the subject and the verb, agreements in the nominal group, agreements of the past participle) which concentrates most of the difficulties of the pupils.
What if the Christmas holidays that are starting were an opportunity for them to improve?
Because the holidays are also the time when we manage to free up time to revise the fundamentals that are not well acquired.
And this, whether you are in primary, middle or high school.
"You have to buy a
Bescherelle
and a
Bled
"
According to Romain Vignest, president of the Association of Arts Teachers, if student performance is down, "it's because a student arriving in second has taken as many hours of French as a student in 4th grade. in the 1970s ".
The teacher also believes that “dictations are less frequent than twenty or thirty years ago in elementary school.
And they are often prepared, which makes them memorization exercises, but not learning spelling and grammatical logic”.
While opinions differ on the origins of this decline in skills, there is consensus on the importance of improving.
Because from college, students accumulating spelling or grammatical errors are deducted points from their copies.
And although teachers do a lot in this regard, parents can also contribute to helping their children progress.
To do this, many tools exist.
Romain Vignest recommends very classic, but very effective ones.
“You have to buy a
Bescherelle
and a
Bled
, even in old used editions.
Making sure to take the level of Bled that corresponds to that of the child.
Reading the lesson and doing the exercises afterwards helps memorize the rules well,” says the teacher.
For high school students, the
Bled
Higher
Spelling Course
is recommended.
Question rhythm, the ideal is to explore several chapters per week during the holidays.
Family games
Spelling revisions can also be done in a more playful way.
Jean Maillet, author of works* on the French language, recommends several games to play with his children: “Etymology helps to know how to write words and to avoid confusion about their meaning.
You can have fun with your child looking for the origin of a word.
For example: finger comes from the Latin digitus.
Knowing this helps memorize its spelling.
» Other game ideas: « Find the prefix and the suffix of a word, or find the gender of certain words such as apogee, species, armistice.
»
For those who prefer screen games, there are plenty of them.
The Mistress Adeline account on TikTok and Instagram
is to follow.
This school teacher posts very instructive photos and videos to refine her fundamentals in spelling and grammar.
Another account to follow: that of the Voltaire Project, the online spelling training service, which offers quizzes, dictations, explanatory videos.
The francaisfacile.com site also offers exercises with rules reminders.
"It should be fun"
Reading can also be a time for revision.
“Children can write down all the words they don't know or can't write, find their definition and write it down to memorize it,” advises Romain Vignest.
And why not make dictation a moment of family sharing?
“It must be presented not as a pensum, but as a way of exploring the language.
Putting adults and children around the table for 10 minutes to do the same dictation during the holidays can be joyful,” says Jean Maillet.
"Doing the exercises with the child shows him the pleasure we have, as an adult, in exploring the language", abounds Romain Vignest.
And so that these moments of revisions are not seen as chores, he adds another piece of advice: the time for exercises "must be separate from the time slots when the child does his homework".
Whether these efforts will bear fruit remains to be seen.
“The ideal is to question your child a few days after he has reviewed a concept to check that he has assimilated it well”, recommends Romain Vignest.
“If you exercise regularly, you can make rapid progress,” says Jean Maillet.
And be a little proud of yourself!
Company
Voltaire Project: "There are many ways to progress in spelling and at any age"
Company
Who are the champions and dunces of spelling?
*5 minutes a day no more! to stop making mistakes
, Jean Maillet, Student editions, 10.90 euros.
Company
Christmas
Spelling
Education