Spelling Is Easy (1947)

[Music] first I put a little soda in then I put some vinegar in [Music] then I put the cork on tightly that completes our procedure now watch the bottle closely see how it's fizzing and bubbling you aren't hurt are you Helen oh no Miss Phillips well I think the school paper would print a report of our experiment I would like to write it Thomas Stafford do you think you can do it oh yes Miss Phillips tomorrow morning is the deadline so you better stay after school a while to write your report what's the matter Tom having trouble writing the report no don't look for me Tom you can't see me but I can see you a lot of us can see you you seem to be worried what's the matter I don't know how to spell procedure and the school paper won't accept anything if there's even one word misspelled oh that's bad let's see what you've done so far on Tuesday the 5th grade had an experiment with blowing the cork off the top of a bottle Agnes Jackson prepared It Agnes went to the cabinet and got some soda and vinegar she put some soda in the bottle and then she put in a little vinegar that's why I'm stuck that's the word I can't spell I'm afraid that's not the only word you can't spell take a look at that paper look at prepare cabinet vinegar more vinegar I'm afraid you'd never see that report in the newspaper and there's no need for it Tom spelling is easy easy for you maybe easy for you for anybody here look over at the Blackboard there's nothing on it oh no hey that's a pretty good trick not half so good a trick as using the rules to improve your spelling what are they look and see we'll take them one at a time first hear the word hear it correctly pronounced for that often tells you how to spell it now what what's your first misspelled word prepare try saying it more care prepare prepare prepare say it's prepare not prepare now look at the second misspelled word cabinet cabinet well look that's right when you're pronouncing a word to learn how to spell it it helps to divide it into syllables or pronounceable parts cabinet cabinet cabinet oh I see it's cabinet when you're not sure how to pronounce a word get someone else to pronounce it for you your teacher cabinet your parent cabinet one of the older children cabinet all right now the next word vinegar vinegar that's the way Miss philli says it vinegar yes but we can't always tell by pronunciation that's why we need more than one rule here's the second rule see the word look at it closely make a a picture of it in your mind uh-uh no Tom not there look where you'll see the word spelled correctly well where would you expect to see vinegar spelled correctly oh I see it's spelled v i n e g a r all right ready for the third rule three repeat the word repeat it clearly vinegar vinegar vinegar I've got to remember it's really AR when it sounds like e to help you remember there's a fourth rule write the word try it over there on the Blackboard no Tom take the bottle with you you'll see why in a minute now for the final rule five check the word compare your copy with the original that's to make sure you've copied it correctly and to plant the correct spelling in your mind I think I've got it good then let's put the vinegar away and get back to your paper all right vinegar now the other one vinegar if I say it much more I'll begin to taste it maybe we should be writing about ice cream yeah chocolate uh chocolate anyway that brings us down to procedure all right let's work it out with our five rules first hear the word procedure you're wrong Tom now think where have you heard the word pronounced correctly I know Miss Phillips she was standing right there all right then let's bring her back a minute that completes our procedure oh I get it procedure now where can you take the Second Step look at the word gosh I don't know well there's one place you can be sure to find the correct spelling of any word the dictionary oh sure here it is here's procedure repeat it to yourself procedure procedure that's it rule number four write the word finally check it against the original look all right it's perfect now I've got your procedure s that's that's good well now hadn't we better get back and finish the report yeah that's right I've nearly finished anyway Wait a Minute Tom what's the matter the word blue it's what we call a homonym a what we'd better get that dictionary over here and look it up h o m o n y m any two or more words of the same sound but different in meaning and often in spelling well we've got some charts about them let's look at them good idea idea this chart doesn't help us let's look at another oh sure what I wrote is the color I should have written b l e w quite a difference and now don't tell me I know first you write the word and then you check it good you'll be all right now but I do have one final suggestion for you what's that ever notice Dick Harris and Agnes Jackson doing their spelling lesson what about them let's imagine for a minute they're back at their desk I'll show you whenever they run up against words that give trouble Agnes copies the word into a personal dictionary she made it herself dick does the same thing with a personal dictionary like this you can always be sure of a handy place to look at a word if it gives you any more trouble that's all we need them for but it seems to me I know you think it would be a good idea if I made a personal dictionary I'll start it with blue vinegar and procedure you don't need me anymore so I'll just uh-oh the Blackboard we'd better erase the rules somebody might wonder how they got there yeah somebody might well goodbye Tom and good luck with your report thanks thanks a whole lot [Music] that was very interesting David and very well done yes what is it Thomas may I write up Dave's experiment for the paper why certainly after the fine report to made of Agnes's experiment last week first thing you know you'll be our official reporter oh thank you Miss Phillips although frankly Thomas I'm still surprised at the sudden Improvement in your spelling