English is too hard to read for children

Level 2 Intermediate

1 Key words

Fill the gaps in the sentences using these key words from the text.

surplus tricky resistant hinders literacy

dyslexia uniform simplify reform problematic

1. If something is ____________________, it causes problems.

2. If you ____________________ something, you make it easier.

3. If something is ____________________, it is the same in all cases.

4. If something is ____________________, it is extra and more than you need.

5. A ____________________ problem is one that is very difficult to solve.

6. If you ____________________ a system, you change it to make it better.

7. ____________________ is the ability to read and write.

8. If something ____________________ a process it makes it more difficult or slow.

9. ____________________ is a difficulty some people have with reading and spelling.

10. If you are ____________________ to something, you fight against it.

2 Find the information

Look in the text and find the answers to these questions as quickly as possible.

1. When did the Turks change their alphabet from Arabic to Latin?

2. When did the Germans reform their spelling system?

3. When did the Portuguese make changes to their spelling system?

4. How many difficult words do British children meet by the age of 11?

5. How many basic words could be simplified just by dropping surplus letters?

6. How long does it take British children to reach a basic level of reading competence?
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English is too hard to read for children
Level 2 Intermediate
English is too hard to read for children
Baffling spelling system is blamed as literacy falls
short of level in other European nations
Anushka Asthana, education correspondent
June 8, 2008
1 The English spelling system is ‘absolutely awful’.
That is the conclusion of new research that has
found that children meet 800 words by the age of
11 that hinder their reading because of the way
they are spelt.
2 Monkey, asparagus, spinach, caterpillar, dwarf,
banana, handkerchief, soldiers, stomach and
telescope have all been included on the long
list of words that confuse children because
they contain letter combinations that are more
commonly pronounced in a different way.
3 The words have all been identified as
problematic for reading, as opposed to writing,
because of their ‘phonic unreliability’, according
to the study The Most Costly English Spellings.
Masha Bell, who did the research, argued that
there were 200 words on the list that could be
improved just by dropping ‘surplus letters’ such
as the i in friend or the u in shoulder.
4 “English is the worst of all the alphabetical
languages,” said Bell. “It is unique in that there
are not just spelling problems but reading
problems. They do not exist anywhere else.”
5 Bell argued that the spelling system cost schools
money and was the reason for poor literacy
results in the UK compared with the rest of
Europe. In Finland, where words are usually
pronounced as they look, children learn to read
fluently within three months, she said. In the
UK, academics have found that it takes three
years for a child to reach a basic level of reading
competence. The tricky spellings make English
particularly difficult for children with dyslexia and
children from poorer families, whose parents may
not read to them very regularly.
6 In the research Bell gives examples of words that
have the same pronunciation but different letter
combinations. Examples include to and two;
© Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2008
NEWS LESSONS / English is too hard to read for children / Intermediate
clean and gene; same and aim; day and grey;
kite and light; and stole and coal. Then there are
those that look similar but sound different with
the combinations of ‘ea’, ‘ee’ and the letter ‘o’
causing most trouble. Among the words in this
category are eight and height, break and dreamt,
and move and post. The letters ‘ough’ can also
be pronounced in a number of different ways.
7 Simplifying the system would improve literacy,
according to Bell, but she said people were
resistant to change. “People feel that they have
suffered so much at the hands of English spelling
that they don’t want to look at it,” she said. But
other countries have made changes. Last month
the parliament in Portugal, where the spelling
system is also thought to be complicated, voted
to reform and simplify it.
8 “In 1928 the Turks changed their whole alphabet
from Arabic to Latin,” said John Wells, professor
of phonetics at University College London and
president of the Spelling Society. “It happened
in the Soviet Union.” In Germany there were
changes made in the 1990s to make the writing
system more regular. English has also developed
with words such as olde and worlde dropping
the e.
9 Wells wants to see things change again and
says there are two possible approaches. The first
would be to simplify the way in which words are
spelt and then allow people to choose whether
to use the new or old system, while the second
approach would involve a complete change.
“The Spelling Society is in favour of the first
approach,” he said.
10 Chris Davis, spokesman for the National Primary
Headteachers’ Association, said the spelling
system had a major effect on children’s literacy
progress: “It definitely slows English children
down. In international comparisons, languages
that are phonetically uniform always come top.”
But he said that teachers would be unwilling
to see things change. “It would be such a big
change that people would find it very difficult to
even consider it,” he said.
11 “There are already problems because of the
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English is too hard to read for children
Level 2 Intermediate
different spelling system in America, but people
would also be against using American spelling.
I think it is a question of ownership, that it is our
language.” Davis argued that people felt spelling
was linked to the origin of words.

© Guardian News & Media 2008

First published in The Observer, 08/06/08

3 Comprehension check

Are these statements True (T) or False (F) according to the text?

1. The words in the list are problematic for reading.

2. The letter e in friend and the o in shoulder are ‘surplus letters’.

3. English children take longer to learn to read than Finnish children.

4. Teachers want English spelling to be simplified.

5. Some English words contain combinations of letters that are usually pronounced in a different way and this is
confusing for children.

6. English is more difficult to learn than any other language.

4 Find the word

Look in the text and find the following words and expressions. The paragraph numbers are given to
help you.

1. Two foods apart from banana. (para 2)

2. A noun meaning a small hairy creature with a lot of legs which eats leaves. (para 2)

3. A noun meaning a person who is much smaller than the normal size. (para 2)

4. An adjective meaning relating to the alphabet. (para 4)

5. An adverb meaning easily and accurately. (para 5)

6. A noun meaning the ability or skill to do something. (para 5)

7. A three-word expression meaning in agreement with. (para 9)

8. An adjective meaning very large or significant. (para 10)

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NEWS LESSONS / English is too hard to read for children / Intermediate

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English is too hard to read for children
Level 2 Intermediate

5 Verb + noun collocations

Match the adjectives with the nouns. There is more than one possibility so check your answers in the text.

1. make a. money
2. reform b. a word
3. pronounce c. research
4. do d. changes
5. give e. an effect
6. cause f. an example
7. have g. trouble
8. cost h. a system

6 Word building

Complete the table using words from the text.

verb noun
1 conclude
2 combine
3 compare
4 own
5 hindrance
6 pronounce
7 confusion
8 approach

7 Discussion

Do you think English spelling is difficult? Would you like English spelling to be simplified? Think of some
difficult English words to spell. What would they look like with simpler spelling?
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NEWS LESSONS / English is too hard to read for children / Intermediate

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English is too hard to read for children
Level 2 Intermediate

KEY

1 Key words 4 Find the word

1. problematic 1. asparagus, spinach

2. simplify 2. caterpillar
3. uniform 3. dwarf
4. surplus 4. alphabetical
5. tricky 5. fluently
6. reform 6. competence
7. literacy 7. in favour of
8. hinders 8. major
9. dyslexia
10. resistant
5 Verb + noun collocations

2 Find the information 1. d

2. h
1. 1928 3. b
2. In the 1990s 4. c
3. last month 5. f
4. 800 6. g
5. 200 7. e
6. Three years 8. a

3 Comprehension check 6 Word building

1. T 1. conclusion
2. F 2. combination
3. T 3. comparison
4. F 4. ownership
5. T 5. hinder
6. F 6. pronunciation
7. confuse
8. approach
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NEWS LESSONS / English is too hard to read for children / Intermediate

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