Chapter 18 - Thinking Straight: Spelling, Grammar, Reading, and Writing / 第18章 - 思维清晰：拼写、语法、阅读和写作

Writing . . . isn't a special特殊的/ˈspɛʃəl/ language语言/ˈlæŋɡwɪdʒ/ that belongs to English teachers and a few other sensitive敏感的/ˈsɛnsɪtɪv/ souls who have a "gift for words." Writing is thinking on paper. Anyone who thinks clearly should be able to write clearly. —William Zinsser, Writing to Learn

SUBJECT: Spelling拼写/ˈspɛlɪŋ/, grammar语法/ˈɡræmər/, reading, and writing, grades 5–8 TIME REQUIRED: 5 to 10 hours5到10小时/aʊərz/ per week

In the grammar years, your child孩子/tʃaɪld/ learned to spell, to name the parts of speech and assemble组装/əˈsɛmbəl/ them into properly punctuated标点符号的/ˈpʌŋktʃueɪtɪd/ sentences, to gather information信息/ˌɪnfərˈmeɪʃən/ through reading, and to write simple compositions作文/ˌkɑmpəˈzɪʃənz/—summaries, narratives, descriptions. She absorbed the basic rules and skills of language use.

Now, in grades 5 through 8, she will shift focus. Acquiring获得/əˈkwaɪərɪŋ/ information is still important, but instead of simply absorbing吸收/əbˈzɔrbɪŋ/ facts about language use, the middle-grade student will learn to analyze分析/ˈænəlaɪz/ language. Now that she knows the basic rules that govern language use, she'll dig deeper into how and why language works.

She'll diagram图解/ˈdaɪəɡræm/ the structure of English sentences, find out why they succeed (or fail), investigate调查/ɪnˈvɛstɪɡeɪt/ the organization of written compositions to discover why they convey—or fail to convey—clear meaning. And when she's finished, she'll be prepared to use language with precision精确/prɪˈsɪʒən/ and eloquence雄辩/ˈɛləkwəns/. She'll be ready for rhetoric.

Grammar-stage language study was organized around four subjects: spelling, grammar, reading, and writing. In the logic stage, the student will make the transition过渡/trænˈzɪʃən/ from spelling (learning how words are put together) to word study (discovering why words are formed the way they are). She's already studied the names and qualities of parts of speech; now she'll concentrate专注/ˈkɑnsənˌtreɪt/ on how those parts of speech are connected into sentences.

She'll begin to look at her reading assignments with a more critical批判的/ˈkrɪtɪkəl/ eye: Why did this character act the way he did? How did the writer construct构建/kənˈstrʌkt/ this particular plot? Is the argument论证/ˈɑrɡjəmənt/ in this essay sound? And in writing, she'll begin to construct longer compositions—well-reasoned arguments, logical descriptions.

Like the elementary小学的/ˌɛləˈmɛntəri/ student, the middle-grade student will spend a good part of her study time working with the English language. Plan on a minimum最少/ˈmɪnəməm/ of an hour per day, with extra time allotted分配/əˈlɑtɪd/ for writing at least twice a week (often this writing will overlap重叠/ˌoʊvərˈlæp/ with history or science work) and a separate time for imaginative想象的/ɪˈmædʒənətɪv/ reading.

As in the grammar stage, we suggest that you keep the student's work organized using three-ringed notebooks笔记本/ˈnoʊtbʊks/. For middle-grade students, label标记/ˈleɪbəl/ one notebook "Writing" and a second notebook "Literature." Divide分割/dɪˈvaɪd/ the Writing notebook into four sections: Spelling, Word Study, Grammar, and Compositions.

(The first three sections will act as reference参考/ˈrɛfərəns/ tools, the last as a way to organize组织/ˈɔrɡəˌnaɪz/ the student's writing.) Divide the Literature notebook into two sections: Reading and Memory Work.

Generally, spelling remains part of the middle-school curriculum课程/kəˈrɪkjələm/ in fifth and sixth grades, but then begins to transition过渡/trænˈzɪʃən/ to word study in seventh and eighth grades.

The fifth grader should already be familiar熟悉的/fəˈmɪljər/ with the basic rules of spelling and the common exceptions例外/ɪkˈsɛpʃənz/. In the logic stage, she'll begin to study more words that are unusual不寻常的/ʌnˈjuʒuəl/ because they come from outside the English spelling system—they're derived派生的/dɪˈraɪvd/ from other languages. Spelling these words correctly requires an understanding of their meaning and origin起源/ˈɔrɪdʒɪn/.