[speaker001:] doing something else when I'm doing my own work.
[Simon:] Okay in the easter holidays
[John:] Okay now...
[Simon:] We have like twenty five a test and then these must be another test for another group.
[John:] Okay what do you think of these words?
[Simon:] Erm some are
[John:] Could you
[Simon:] quite easy
[John:] Okay so some are quite easy some of them you're not going to have much problem with at all. You
[Simon:] Mhm.
[John:] already know them or you could have a good guess at them. Erm it may be some will be not so easy need a bit more work and some of them'll be sort of in the middle.
[Simon:] Yeah.
[John:] In between. So which are they easy ones?
[Simon:] The easy ones are erm use puppy key desk kept use used. Yeah.
[John:] Okay so you could do all of those you don't even have to bother learning them. Erm what about things like ox and oxen?
[Simon:] I erm
[John:] Bit of an odd word isn't it?
[Simon:] Mm.
[John:] You don't have you seen an ox?
[Simon:] No.
[John:] No you don't you see
[Simon:] [LAUGHTER]
[John:] them in films about Africa or something or
[Simon:] I
[John:] You don't.
[Simon:] I've never heard of one.
[John:] It's like a big cow.
[Simon:] Oh.
[John:] An ox is just like a cow.
[Simon:] Oh.
[John:] Just a another name for a cow really.
[Simon:] Oh.
[John:] So once you know what it means it helps a little bit and can you think of a word that ends the same as that?...
[Simon:] Erm no.
[John:] What would you keep things in?
[Simon:] Box.
[John:] Okay. Can you spell box?
[Simon:] Mhm.
[John:] You can spell box, you can spell ox. Yeah? No problem it's just g it's a bit funny if there's more than one of them if you get two or three you don't say two ox if you had two or three boxes fine but with ox it's one of these silly words you just have to remember it's oxen.... I don't I mean you're not going to write about oxen very often are you?
[Simon:] No.
[John:] No so just try and try and learn them.
[Simon:] one of those
[John:] Well like a cow
[Simon:] Oh.
[John:] ox is a cow oxen two cows two
[Simon:] Oh.
[John:] oxes if you like only you say oxen.
[Simon:] Mm.
[John:] Okay? So just learn that to and er [LAUGHTER] keep them happy.
[Simon:] Right.
[John:] [LAUGHTER] You won't use it very often. Some of these words you're much more likely to use aren't you.
[Simon:] Yeah sale.
[John:] Can you spell sale?... Is there another way you can spell sale?...
[Simon:] Like sail on a boat or
[John:] Right and how do you spell that?...
[Simon:] [LAUGHTER] Erm...
[John:] Well have a go at the first letter.
[Simon:] S.
[John:] Right okay. And then it's not spelt the same way as this when it's on a boat
[Simon:] Mm.
[John:] is it?... Do you know how to spell tail? How do you spell that?
[Simon:] T A... E L.
[John:] See there's T A L E
[Simon:] Oh.
[John:] like telling a tale.
[Simon:] Mm.
[John:] And what would a dog's tail how would that be spelt?...
[Simon:] [phonic] T A E L T A E L?
[John:] T A I L.
[Simon:] Oh I L.
[John:] Erm do you know how to spell snail?
[Simon:] Mm S N A... E L.
[John:] Right okay it's not actually E L it's I L
[Simon:] I L
[John:] but
[Simon:] the same as
[John:] You're getting in a lot of them you're you're tending to think that a lot of them end in
[Simon:] Mm.
[John:] A E L. Now that ail sound that A sound it's usually either it'll be A L E or it'll be A I L. So you've only got a choice of two there. It's not spelling's a bit messy isn't it. It's
[Simon:] Mm.
[John:] there doesn't seem to be any sense to it really but you can try and make a bit of sense... out of some of it... not all of it but some of it you can make a bit of sense out of it yes.... Whoops. Let's see how many words you can think of that have an ail sound in them....
[Simon:] A ail like sail
[John:] Sail okay so we've got sail that's on a boat and this sale like your mum's going to go to the sales and see if
[Simon:] Mhm.
[John:] they've got any good bargains.
[Simon:] Mm.
[John:] Yeah erm any others? What was the one that we had that the dog would have?
[Simon:] Mm tail.
[John:] Tail.... It's a bit ridiculous really having the two ways of spelling
[Simon:] Mm.
[John:] That's a tale for someone who tells tales....
[Simon:] Seal.
[John:] Seal that doesn't make an A sound that's making an
[Simon:] Oh no.
[John:] E sound isn't it
[Simon:] Yeah it's an E.
[John:] so that's a different sound but that's a good one. We had snail earlier how did you spell that?
[Simon:] S N A...
[John:] I L
[Simon:] I L yes
[John:] okay.
[Simon:] I thought it was.
[John:] I don't think there are any that are a that are A E L. We've got the E A L ones like seal which you said
[Simon:] Mm.
[John:] squeal plea. Erm so that's snail now what o what else could we have what letters could we start with? Erm... fail.
[Simon:] Mm.
[John:] Okay have a guess at that I'm going to put under this column so have guess
[Simon:] How to spell it?
[John:] Yeah.
[Simon:] A F A
[John:] Right F A...
[Simon:] E or I L.
[John:] I that's it I L fail. Okay erm do you know a nursery rhyme about Jack and Jill?
[Simon:] No.
[John:] No went up the hill
[Simon:] Where Jack and Jill fell off the hill to
[John:] To fetch a
[Simon:] pail of water.
[John:] How do you spell pail?
[Simon:] P A I L.
[John:] That's it P A I L when it means a bucket.
[Simon:] Mm.
[John:] They went to get a bucket of water or if I said, Ooh you're not looking
[Simon:] Too pale.
[John:] You're looking yeah how would you spell that? I'm going to put it under
[Simon:] P
[John:] this column....
[Simon:] A
[John:] Yeah....
[Simon:] L E.
[John:] That's it brilliant. So you're spotting that pattern. So there is some pattern in this spelling it's awkward it's not as trouble is English is mixed up with bits of all sort of other languages over hundreds of thousands of years. And they've all taken words from different languages and they all spell them different ways. But some of them have got patterns to them and you work them out. Pale erm... what else can you think of?...
[Simon:] [cough]
[John:] How about what's the American word for post they don't say oh we'll put it in the post they say we'll put it in the?...
[Simon:] Mail.
[John:] In the mail. And that's... M A I L.... Are you male or female?
[Simon:] [LAUGHTER] male.
[John:] Male how do you spell that one? Goes in this
[Simon:] Oh
[John:] column.
[Simon:] M A... L E.
[John:] That's it M A L E so it's perhaps not a bad idea that we spell it differently cos you can tell which one you're talking about then. Whether you're talking about the mail the Royal Mail the post or whether you're
[Simon:] Mm.
[John:] talking about somebody being a man or a boy or something okay. Any other that have got ail in them? How about Ale?... Hello.
[speaker001:] Hiya, sorry about that, just feeding
[John:] Oh that's alright
[Simon:] the baby.
[John:] Yeah I'm
[Simon:] did you get your books out to show you what what he's been using.
[John:] Y yes we're just we're just having a look at the the spellings at the moment trying to make some sense of them.
[speaker001:] Oh right Oh is that your homework for the holidays right.
[John:] But we're not all the homework we're just trying to find some pattern in the spelling.
[speaker001:] Okay then.
[John:] And see how we get on that. I'm sorry I was late getting but I got held up by another lesson.
[speaker001:] Oh right.
[John:] Very hectic at the moment it's should've normally been dropping off quite a lot this time but
[speaker001:] Oh right.
[John:] everybody wants extra lessons for some [LAUGHTER] reason [].
[speaker001:] Oh right I I was just thinking of sort of trying to you know cos he's in his second year now for the
[John:] Mhm.
[speaker001:] next two years trying to sort of get him to bring himself up a bit you know
[John:] Mm.
[speaker001:] possibly for going into another school. They automatically go into S F X but apparently there's two different streams there
[John:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] and I mean I'd love the Bluecoat but I mean you've got to be pretty clever for that. But you never you never know.
[John:] Well he'll have to work very he'll have to do... a lot of work
[speaker001:] Mm.
[John:] erm if you want to get into the Bluecoat.
[speaker001:] Mm.
[John:] Erm... it's up to you how much whether
[speaker001:] But there's a few good schools isn't there.
[John:] you can get interested in it.
[speaker001:] Mm.
[John:] Mm there are there are quite a few good schools actually around.
[speaker001:] Right.
[John:] Erm
[speaker001:] Saint Edward's is good or was wasn't it.
[John:] Well I'm I'm a bit biased cos I went there so [LAUGHTER]
[speaker001:] Oh did you? [LAUGHTER]
[John:] But it is t it is erm very good they've got a very long waiting list I was helping helping someone with an entrance exam for there and it's very very stiff competition
[speaker001:] Is it yeah.
[John:] Their exam is more or less G C S E for eleven year olds you know
[speaker001:] Really?
[John:] they have to be very good just to get in yeah.
[speaker001:] So oh well we'll have to wait and see. Do you recognize any of those books are they the sort of normal
[John:] Yes there all sort of fairly standard that they're using
[speaker001:] Mm.
[John:] but it's erm not so much what's in the books as sort of how Simon looks at them. And because if you're just looking at every word separately everything lo you've got to learn so many things haven't you if you can pot the patterns and then you can start having a a guess at what it might be and getting it right most of the time and then you gradually learn them as you go along. You can't you can't be expected to learn everything all at once can you?
[speaker001:] Mm.
[John:] You've got to people tend to forget that erm things you find easy... before you knew how to do them you found them quite hard
[speaker001:] Yeah of course.
[John:] and you were probably quite confused and didn't
[speaker001:] Mm.
[John:] know what was going on until you got it sorted out.
[speaker001:] Right.
[John:] And got yourself a system and started building on it.
[speaker001:] This is it yeah.
[John:] until it just seems as if it's an impossible task
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[John:] there's just too much to learn. So you've
[speaker001:] Mm.
[John:] got to break it down into little steps and do a bit at a time
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[John:] and get a a gradual improvement.
[speaker001:] And another I noticed erm Simon's been bringing a few of his friends home from school and erm I mean he's in a class of thirty eight
[John:] Right.
[speaker001:] I mean which is the norm now more or less isn't it but he's I think the third youngest in his class too most of his friends that he brings home are all nine already.
[John:] Right
[speaker001:] He's actually not nine till August so he's one of the young ones in the class
[John:] Mhm.
[speaker001:] I mean that can have that can sort of
[John:] Yeah so...
[speaker001:] You know contribute isn't it yeah.
[John:] Yeah it's more difficult to keep up with others if they if they're older and they've been learning this stuff for a lot longer
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[John:] But erm I think he he'll do it alright he'll be able to sort this out.
[speaker001:] Shall I make you a drink would you like a tea or coffee?
[John:] Erm er black coffee please
[speaker001:] Black coffee.
[John:] no no milk no sugar. That'd be wonderful.
[speaker001:] Right. Do you want some er juice Simon?
[Simon:] Er n no thank you.
[John:] No juice do you know how to spell juice?
[Simon:] Mm... J... double O
[John:] Sounds as if it should be double O it's it's J U I C E
[Simon:] Oh.
[John:] actually. One way you can... is that a juice bottle over there?
[Simon:] Well yeah [LAUGHTER] but I mean I've like you know ones and two and that into it.
[John:] Mhm.
[Simon:] And I add them to me colle collection of ones and twos.
[John:] Okay but you can learn quite a bit you could check... any of the food or the drinks that you've got in the house you could at those to see how you spell them can't you. So you could look on the juice bottle and juice there you think, Oh that's how you spell it. Do watch out cos sometimes they put silly spellings on which doesn't help. [LAUGHTER] []. Okay what else can you think of any more on that erm
[Simon:] Erm no
[John:] well we could do female couldn't we.
[Simon:] Yeah....
[John:] Have a go at that.
[Simon:] Female? Oh that's just the same with on.
[John:] F E and it's just the same.
[Simon:] Yeah
[John:] M that's it just F E on the front male. So that's female quite a quite a good word to be able to spell isn't it. Especially at your age.
[Simon:] Mm.
[John:] Erm how about erm when it's... great big little lumps of ice falling down what do you call that ends in ail?
[Simon:] Erm... erm erm
[John:] Have you heard of hail stones.
[Simon:] Oh yeah erm when it hurts your legs.
[John:] When it's hail. Right hail how do you spell hail?
[Simon:] H A
[John:] Right.
[Simon:] I L.
[John:] That's it hail. Okay so there's quite quite a few of these that you're getting to know.
[Simon:] Mm.
[John:] Mm. That's hail.
[speaker001:] [whispering] []
[John:] That's lovely okay. Now any any others that you can think of?
[Simon:] Pail yeah we've done that one.
[John:] Pail good we've got that. Thanks very much.
[speaker001:] there you go son...
[John:] Er where do you go if you go to court and they find you guilty?... and they lock you up.
[Simon:] Oh jail.
[John:] How do you spell that?
[Simon:] Erm J
[John:] Okay.
[Simon:] A... I L.
[John:] That's it. So quite a lot of these you know don't you.... Erm... what do trains run on?...
[Simon:] Railway lines.
[John:] Railway lines okay how do you spell rail?
[speaker001:] I'll leave you two with them if you need me
[John:] Right okay.
[speaker001:] I'm just in the next room.
[John:] Right.
[Simon:] R... R A I L.
[John:] That's it. R A I L. So there's quite a few of these that you know as long as you can forget about this thing of wanting to put A E L.
[Simon:] Mm.
[John:] I mean it sounds like maybe it should be that way but we don't spell it like we have the I A L or... A L E. Male... and sale and sail. I think that's enough of those. Now how many have we got there? Quite a lot. Do you think you could learn all of those?...
[Simon:] Probably.
[John:] Probably... no I think definitely. I think let's say you could learn... Which ones couldn't you learn then do you think?
[Simon:] Mm
[John:] I think you could learn all of those couldn't you it's just that there's quite a lot of words to learn so they give you some funny ones like ox because it's got a funny plural and there's two or three of them you say oxen you don't say oxes. So apart from that you don't need to know about ox do you. You're not going to be walking down that road and say look there's an ox or
[Simon:] No.
[John:] No. But some of these they're a bit more important. Er now here's another A sound. Playing stayed. Erm how do you spell play?
[Simon:] Play?
[John:] Mm.
[Simon:] P L... A Y.
[John:] Okay how about say?
[Simon:] S... A... Y.
[John:] And stay.
[Simon:] S T A Y.
[John:] Well I think your spelling's pretty good actually isn't it. What's this what have we got here oh a cat okay. Erm and what about what do you do in church?
[Simon:] Sit and talk.
[John:] Do you
[Simon:] Poems and
[John:] That ends in ay?...
[Simon:] Pray.
[John:] Pray how do you spell pray?
[Simon:] P R... A... Y.
[John:] Okay and how about day?
[Simon:] Oh D A Y.
[John:] Right so you know a lot of these so there's another way of making an A sound isn't it there's this A I... sail and mail and snail and things like that. And this A L E like female. How would you spell erm another another word for beer that ends in A e has an A sound in it. Very short word.
[Simon:] Erm...
[John:] Can you spell ale?...
[Simon:] Mm.
[John:] How do you spell that?
[Simon:] A I L.
[John:] I'll put it in this side....
[Simon:] A... A
[John:] See it's going in this column
[Simon:] I L
[John:] Going in this column.
[Simon:] Mm.
[John:] with sale S A L E so have a guess....
[Simon:] A I L.
[John:] Try A L E okay
[Simon:] Oh.
[John:] Okay you won't need to know that for a long time yet anyway will you. Okay erm so going back to these we've got day s say stay play pray. Erm... any others?... What about erm thing that they make pots out of. For modelling ends in ay.
[Simon:] Erm...
[John:] Starts with c.
[Simon:] C erm... clay.
[John:] Clay do you know how to spell that?
[Simon:] K L oh C L
[John:] Good good C L
[Simon:] A... Y.
[John:] Okay great. And how about that cat is that your cat?...
[Simon:] Yeah.
[John:] Yeah it's not a stray cat is it. How do you spell stray?
[Simon:] S T... A
[John:] Str str.
[Simon:] Oh R
[John:] S T R
[Simon:] A... Y.
[John:] That's it stray.... Now how about if the cat if your cat had strayed how would you spell that?
[Simon:] S T R... A... D E.
[John:] That'd be a good way of spelling it that would be a sensible way S T R A D E but they don't spell it that way unfortunately. All they do is they just have stray... and then they put... ed E D on the end
[Simon:] Mm.
[John:] strayed. Erm do you know how to spell played?
[Simon:] It's on there.
[John:] I know right okay do you know how to spell played?
[Simon:] It's got E D on the end of play.
[John:] That's it. P L A Y and put E D on the end. Erm how about stayed if so if your friend stayed overnight.
[Simon:] Put E D on the end of stay.
[John:] So that's
[Simon:] S T... A... Y... E D.
[John:] Okay stayed. And how about if they prayed?
[Simon:] Put E D on the end of pray.
[John:] Okay so what's that's going to be?
[Simon:] P R
[John:] Right.
[Simon:] A Y E D.
[John:] Right okay. Couldn't really say someone had clayed. How about if someone... said something?
[Simon:] Oh sayed
[John:] Sayed it should be sayed really but we don't say sayed. What do we say?
[Simon:] Said.
[John:] Said.
[Simon:] Erm S A
[John:] Right.
[Simon:] Y [LAUGHTER]
[John:] It's S A I
[Simon:] Oh.
[John:] D which is ridiculous really I mean if you pronounce it said it should be something like S E D
[Simon:] Mhm
[John:] shouldn't it.
[Simon:] Yeah.
[John:] Or if you're going to do it the same as we've done these it should be S A Y E D so said is a funny one. One that you'll just have to learn.
[Simon:] Right.
[John:] Okay
[Simon:] So
[John:] but the others easy you worked out the pattern just put E D on the end.
[Simon:] Mm.
[John:] So for most of them strayed prayed stayed played you can just put E D. This one say said you just have to learn that one cos it's a bit awkward.... That's a lot of words.... Will you have any trouble with any of those learning any of those?
[Simon:] Yeah erm.
[John:] What about these what was the hardest w thing about clay.
[Simon:] Oh it sounds as if it's got like a K on it
[John:] It sounds as if it should have a K usually most words if you're not sure and they start with a c sound put a C.
[Simon:] It's normally a C yeah.
[John:] There aren't many that start with a K. There are some can you think of one. That your mum would use for heating the water up
[Simon:] Coffee.
[John:] to make heating the water up to make a coffee what would she boil that water in?...
[Simon:] Kettle.
[John:] A kettle okay.
[Simon:] That's a C.
[John:] That's a and that's one with a K. Kettle
[Simon:] Is it?
[John:] kettle is
[Simon:] Is
[John:] a K.
[Simon:] Is it? Oh.
[John:] Yeah. Erm... If they've got a... letter E in the s for the s for the next letter then usually they'll have a K....
[Simon:] Key key
[John:] Key yeah that's a good one key.... Right.
[Simon:] There's a name Keith.
[John:] Keith and one that was in here
[Simon:] Yeah.
[John:] Erm are you going to keep that? Yes I
[Simon:] Am.
[John:] kept it I kept it.... So they've got a K in
[Simon:] Mm.
[John:] keep and kept. Erm but
[Simon:] In in school when I'm copying off the board words with like K in the front but... like... they start with a C but I usually put a K and then the teachers go over them and say like this is a C sort of you know careless and all that. I just keep on forgetting that.
[John:] Yeah it's not really careless is it it's a question of do you know it or don't I mean
[Simon:] Mhm.
[John:] you're not going to put the wrong one down if you know the right one are you?
[Simon:] No.
[John:] So it's learning the right one. and then finding someway what they've said on there is try to make some sentences that use it so that you can remember what it looks like. Erm perhaps you can think of daft things like think of someone kicking the kettle. Do you know how to spell kick?
[Simon:] Kick er K I C K.
[John:] Right kick. And think of someone kicking the kettle.
[Simon:] If you a football easier with that kick.
[John:] Right. And if you think of that and of the kettle that'll rem that'll remind you that it's a K for kettle same as a K for kick. Erm this is a daft one. What what's that on the carpet there?
[Simon:] Cat kicking the cat.
[John:] And how do you spell that?
[Simon:] Erm C A T.
[John:] Right now if the cat has kittens how do you spell that?...
[Simon:] C I double T E N S.
[John:] Very good the only the only there's only one letter wrong in that have a guess which one it was.
[Simon:] Double T erm
[John:] It was the it's a K.
[Simon:] Oh.
[John:] And it's ridiculous C for cat so you'd think it's going to be C for kitten wouldn't you. No it's K for kitten.... Now how can you think of remembering that one?... Maybe the kittens might sit in the kettle or something.
[Simon:] Mm kid.
[John:] But the cat wouldn't
[Simon:] [LAUGHTER]
[John:] Whichever wa it doesn't matter if it's really daft if you can think of some way yourself to remember it to remember that kitten has got a K and cat has got a starts with a C. Most of them most of them start with a C. If you're not sure if you can't remember try C because it's more likely to be right so you're going to get more marks Oh he's got this right and they won't be putting careless on it they'll say Oh he knows what he's doing here.
[Simon:] Mm.
[John:] Erm... so if you just remember try and remember the ones that have got a K. It's no good trying to remember every word that starts with a C cos there are lots of them. Just remember the ones that start with a K. And if it's not one of the ones you've remembered you think well it's probably a C.
[Simon:] Mm.
[John:] Try it with a C it's an easier way of doing it isn't it.
[Simon:] Mm.
[John:] Erm... you like football.
[Simon:] Yeah.
[John:] Er how would you spell keeper.
[Simon:] Keeper C E
[John:] How do you spell keep and how do you spell kept?
[Simon:] Kept is K E P T that's on there.
[John:] Good good that's on there and keep?
[Simon:] K... double E P.
[John:] K double E P is keep so have a go at keeper.
[Simon:] K double E... P erm E R.
[John:] That's it.
[Simon:] They write E A R at the end don't they some words.
[John:] Some of them but not very many. They usually make a sort of ear sound if they've got I mean
[Simon:] Yeah.
[John:] if you have E A R... E A R that's ear so how would you spell hear?
[Simon:] H
[John:] as say in I
[Simon:] H at the front of ear
[John:] That's it I hear with my ear. Hear when you hear with your ear it's spelt like that. And when it's what's the what's this over here.... That way how do you spell... I say is it over here and you say no it's over there. How would you spell there.
[Simon:] There T H... E R E.
[John:] Right so here and there
[Simon:] You just put a T at the front.
[John:] Just a T at the front they're almost the same. So that's
[Simon:] Mhm.
[John:] one way of remembering those two. How it's here and there and the other the other sort of hear you hear with your ear and it's got an ear inside it. So if you can think of things like this top remember it helps. If you're just trying to remember them all and you've got all these words and letters floating round in your head it's quite awkward isn't it trying to sort them out which is which cos there are you know millions of words.
[Simon:] Mhm.
[John:] And you'll just think Oh I'll give up. So you've got to get a system where you can something that'll help you so you can make sense of it and and learn. You're not going to learn all the words in the dictionary overnight are you?
[Simon:] No.
[John:] No you can all you can do is just learn a few each day or learn some patterns so that you can get quite a few words in one go and sort of learn some tricks like guessing well we'll we'll try with a C. If it starts with a C sound we'll try a C if it's not one of those that I've remembered starting with a K then it's probably a C. Erm how do you spell coat?
[Simon:] K O A
[John:] Are you sure it's a
[Simon:] Oh C.
[John:] C so go for a C first unless you're sure
[Simon:] Yeah if you're not sure you should go for the C then yeah
[John:] Because most of them start with a C. So how do you spell coat?
[Simon:] C O A T.
[John:] That's it C O A T bit like cat with a with an O in it coat. And can you think of any others that start with K? There aren't many....
[Simon:] Kit like a football kit.
[John:] Kit that's a good one. Kit and kitten so that's maybe one way of remembering kitten.
[Simon:] Mm.
[John:] Right that you know how to spell you know how to spell kit like a football kit or your gym kit. So... kitten just put ten on the end of kit.
[Simon:] Mm.
[John:] Okay that was a good one kit. Erm I can't I don't think there are many more. So each time you come across one have you got a notebook to write things in.
[Simon:] upstairs.
[John:] Yeah if... keep keep it sort o erm alphabetically okay so you've got the As then the Bs the the Cs depending on which letter the word starts with. And in your Ks whenever you come across a word that starts with a K make sure you put it in your book and have a look at those occasionally so that you're pretty sure you know all these K words and then if it isn't you say well okay got to be a C.
[Simon:] Mm.
[John:] Erm what other words can you think of that start with a c sound?...
[Simon:] Oh cup.
[John:] Cup okay and so have a guess at that one. Do you know how to spell it or do you need to guess.
[Simon:] C U P.
[John:] Mhm and what sort of a c is it?
[Simon:] Oh.
[John:] C or a K.
[Simon:] K... is it?
[John:] What did we decide?
[Simon:] Oh C.
[John:] Right always have a always g if you're not sure go for the C first so there's cup... okay. Erm and what would you wear on your head for going to school sounds a bit like cup?
[Simon:] Cap.
[John:] How would you spell that?
[Simon:] Erm... C
[John:] Good.
[Simon:] A P.
[John:] Good was that a guess?
[Simon:] didn't know whether to use
[John:] Yeah so you went for the C and you got it right it's a good one
[Simon:] Yeah.
[John:] to go for go for the C each time cos there aren't many that start with a K. And if you can just when you come across the odd ones that do start with K just learn those and then instead of learning about a hundred thousand or something
[Simon:] [LAUGHTER]
[John:] that start with a C you learn maybe about ten or twenty that start with a K and you say well if it's not one of these I don't know I'm gonna s try it with a C. And nearly all the time you'll get it right. Occasionally you'll come across some new odd ones and the teacher'll say Oh actually this is a K should be a K and you think Right
[Simon:] Mm.
[John:] I'll put that in my little notebook.
[Simon:] [LAUGHTER]
[John:] And so that you keep on top of it so you know that you've got all the ones that start with K. Okay. Erm any other c sounds?...
[Simon:] Computer.
[John:] Good.
[Simon:] That's a C one.
[John:] That's a C you know that one okay how do you spell it?
[Simon:] Oh erm C O M
[John:] Com yeah.
[Simon:] P P U T E R.
[John:] Brilliant. That's quite a long one computer.
[Simon:] Mm.
[John:] Okay....
[Simon:] Curtains.
[John:] Curtains that's a hard one let's have a go.
[Simon:] Erm
[John:] Right what are you gonna do you know whether it's a K or a C?
[Simon:] No C
[John:] So what you gonna guess. Guess the C good good guess C
[Simon:] I
[John:] It's C
[Simon:] Mm.
[John:] U R...
[Simon:] T
[John:] T
[Simon:] O
[John:] and then it's A I N S which is ridiculous, curtains.
[Simon:] Oh oh curtain
[John:] Curtain.
[Simon:] curtains.
[John:] You don't say curtain.
[Simon:] I know.
[John:] you say curtain [LAUGHTER] but it's spelt curtain which is ridiculous really.
[Simon:] Curtain.
[John:] Do you know how to spell mountain?...
[Simon:] M O U T
[John:] Moun.
[Simon:] Oh N
[John:] Yeah.
[Simon:] T... A I N.
[John:] Brilliant.
[Simon:] Yeah.
[John:] Yes. So curtains and mountains should really be saying curtains and mountains.
[Simon:] [LAUGHTER] mountains.
[John:] Mountains I'm going to the mountains. Oh take the curtains with you when you go.
[Simon:] [LAUGHTER]
[John:] Okay so sometimes it helps if when you see a word you pronounce it to yourself. Don't pronounce it the way they normally do but just say Oh mountain they went to the mountain.
[Simon:] Or write or write it on the table and the table
[John:] Or write it
[Simon:] and scrub it off again with you've finished school.
[John:] Write it on write it on a bit of paper?
[Simon:] [LAUGHTER]
[John:] Write it in your notebook well keep a piece of paper with you.
[Simon:] Write it on the table
[John:] and then you can That was very good mountain that's a good one to know how to spell curtains the same. Erm
[Simon:] More K.
[John:] Or C more C more likely to be a C.
[Simon:] Mm mm.
[John:] Erm at school they usually have one teacher for each
[Simon:] Class.
[John:] How do you spell that?
[Simon:] C
[John:] Good go on.
[Simon:] C A L...
[John:] Cl cl cl
[Simon:] Class
[John:] C
[Simon:] L
[John:] Good.
[Simon:] A double S.
[John:] Good class. How do you think you'd spell classic?
[Simon:] I C on the end.
[John:] That's it. And how do you think you'd spell classical like do you like classical music?... Don't worry about it cos these are getting quite awkward words
[Simon:] A L on the end.
[John:] C L A S classic and then A L on the end yes brilliant. Class classic classicism
[Simon:] always adding two words
[John:] Just making it
[Simon:] two
[John:] That's it making it a bit
[Simon:] letters.
[John:] longer each time and making another word out of it.
[Simon:] Like
[John:] Yeah just like. So if you learn the words this way thinking well do I know a word that's a bit like it and could I add a bit onto the end that's another way another good way of learning cos you don't have to learn class and classical and classic you just sort of learn one of them. You can you can work it out. Let's have a look at the ones that they've given you. Which ones are you going to have trouble with. Well there's kept we've go keep and we'll put kept on there as well as
[Simon:] Mm.
[John:] as one of these K words.
[Simon:] Put that in me little note pad and all.
[John:] Yes have we got any other K on there? No. Any words that start
[Simon:] Key.
[John:] with C. Key good so we'll put that right up at the top. the key to learning it all key. How do you think you'd spell keyhole? Put a key in the keyhole.
[Simon:] So K E Y key and H H O L E
[John:] That's it. Okay so another another K word key well you wo could have guessed that if key has got a K then keyhole pretty certainly have a
[Simon:] Mm.
[John:] K won't it.... What have we got here. Oh would and could you're going to use those quite a bit in writing
[Simon:] Mm.
[John:] aren't you. Would could and should they're going to come in quite a bit.
[Simon:] Cross you might like Yesterday I crossed the road to go
[John:] Right so cross
[Simon:] to the field.
[John:] Yes cross is a 'd be a good one to learn there. Erm let's see which one of these you think you you're pretty sure about. Erm okay I'll just ask you and you see which ones you do. How about pound?
[Simon:] Pound.
[John:] Yeah.
[Simon:] Pound P O U N D.
[John:] Good. Kept you know that.
[Simon:] Mm.
[John:] Use?
[Simon:] Use... U S E.
[John:] Yeah. Sound?
[Simon:] S O U N D.
[John:] Bound....
[Simon:] Same only a B in front.
[John:] Yeah same only a B in the front. So you know quite a few of these. You know kept you know key do you know desk?...
[Simon:] Desk?
[John:] Desk.
[Simon:] D E...
[John:] Go on.
[Simon:] S... C.
[John:] Now this when when it comes at the end of a word
[Simon:] Oh yeah.
[John:] and makes a c sound then it's usually a K.
[Simon:] Oh.
[John:] So if it starts the word and you're not sure go for a C.
[Simon:] C and the end
[John:] But if it's end it's nearly always nearly always a C and a K. How do you spell back?
[Simon:] Back?
[John:] He was a full back. How would you spell back?
[Simon:] Mm. Oh quarterback
[John:] Quarterback.
[Simon:] position in a
[John:] Yeah half back.
[Simon:] B A C K or
[John:] That that's it B A C K and that's the first one to guess really C K that's the most likely one. Erm desk is a bit of a funny one because it's just got the K. If it's got another consonant do you know what a consonant is?
[Simon:] No.
[John:] Ah do you know what a vowel is?
[Simon:] A vowel... No I've heard it a few times
[John:] No yeah
[Simon:] but
[John:] A E I O U and sometimes people count Y but A E I O and U. It's hard to make a word without them. You can say pat pit pot put if you put a a vowel in.
[Simon:] Mm.
[John:] Well the other letters that are not vowels all the rest of them are called consonants. Erm and if you've got see if you've got a vowel and then a c sound so if we said Let's have a look at some vowels and then a c sound. So we've done back. Which is B A C K
[Simon:] draw a line of vowels and see if I mate a make a word or something.
[John:] Right that's what we'll do okay. Erm what else could you put in front of ack? There's another vowel A.
[Simon:] Ack.
[John:] To make a word.
[Simon:] Act.
[John:] Erm put something in front of that so this ends it. You had back....
[Simon:] Erm...
[John:] If you were going on holiday before you went you'd probably have to. [LAUGHTER] Very good. You'd have to put things in your suitcase
[Simon:] Yeah.
[John:] you'd have to what would you say I'll have to... I'll have to something my suitcase?
[Simon:] Mm. Lock erm shut.
[John:] Pack.
[Simon:] Pack it yeah.
[John:] But lock was a good one. Okay pack we'll put lock down then. down here.... Lock ends in c
[Simon:] Mm.
[John:] c sound and it's got a vowel it's got this A I O or U right in front of it so we go best guess is C K. It's one nearly always right is that. So lock erm how would you spell sock?
[Simon:] [LAUGHTER] smelly er smelly
[John:] How would you smell sock then?
[Simon:] S H O... S H O
[John:] Good.
[Simon:] K.
[John:] Don't forget if it's at the end... it's the end of the word the best guess is usually
[Simon:] a K... oh a C K.
[John:] C K right.
[Simon:] C K
[John:] Right so what you said I said how do you spell sock S O C K but what you said was S H O C K. What does that spell? shock right. So that's another word you've got there lock... sock shock
[Simon:] Shock.
[John:] Oh that gave me a shock Erm
[Simon:] [LAUGHTER] The ghost.
[John:] And how would you sp show would you spell
[Simon:] [LAUGHTER] Under the table.
[John:] How would you spell mock?
[Simon:] [LAUGHTER] Mm. [LAUGHTER]
[John:] It's the witch. [LAUGHTER]
[Simon:] for Halloween.
[John:] How would you spell mock?
[Simon:] Mock?
[John:] Have a guess what's it going to start with?
[Simon:] M
[John:] M, okay.
[Simon:] O
[John:] O
[Simon:] C K.
[John:] That's it.
[Simon:] Yeah.
[John:] C K is a almost almost certainty for the ending it if it's at the end of the word and it makes a c sound go for C K if it's got a vowel just in front of it. Erm mock okay.... Have a go at frock.
[Simon:] Erm o F R O C K.
[John:] Brilliant. It's easy this isn't it.
[Simon:] Yeah.
[John:] Once you've got a sy once you've got a method you can you can get it right nearly every time. if you haven't if you're just trying to remember every word there is in the dictionary you'd be there all your life and you'd still never remember them all.
[Simon:] Mm.
[John:] Because you'd you couldn't hold that much in your head so you have to try and break them down into little patterns of Oh it's one of that lot or it's one of this lot.
[Simon:] probably working them out and all.
[John:] Ah okay well we'll car we'll do a little bit more we'll find out some more of these words ending in K and when we've finished off those erm we'll have a little look at some maths.
[Simon:] Okay.
[John:] Okay. So... how would you spell sack?
[Simon:] S... A C K.
[John:] That's it.... If it's at the end it's almost certainly going to end in C K. Erm how about track?
[Simon:] T R A C K.
[John:] That's it. So just with that trick there are a lot of words now that you'll be getting right yeah.
[Simon:] I'm going to school dead brainy and everyone's going
[John:] [LAUGHTER] Good good. Track erm... how how would you spell lick?
[Simon:] Lick L I... C K.
[John:] Good did you know that or were you just guessing?
[Simon:] In a way I knew it in a way I had to
[John:] Yeah C K C K is definitely a
[Simon:] Mm.
[John:] favourite that's the one to go for.
[Simon:] So if I'm not sure I should always go for... C K.
[John:] If it's at the end. If you're not sure at the end of the word go for C K. And even you'll probably get one or two of them wrong occasionally but most of them'll be right and when you get one or two of them wrong the teacher'll say Oh not C K like desk for example not C K on the end of desk because it's got this letter S in it as well. Erm... you've got lock and we could put lack in here
[Simon:] Lack?
[John:] as well. How would you spell that?
[Simon:] L A... C K.
[John:] That's it you've got track erm... how would you spell luck someone had a lot of good luck?
[Simon:] Luck?
[John:] Luck.
[Simon:] L U C K.
[John:] That's it.
[Simon:] [LAUGHTER]
[John:] Did you know. How would you spell lucky?
[Simon:] Lucky... L U... C K
[John:] Lucky
[Simon:] E Y.
[John:] Just just Y.
[Simon:] Oh.
[John:] Just put a Y on it lucky.
[Simon:] Okay.
[John:] Mm. And I think you're getting th the idea of this putting C K on the end of a word haven't you.
[Simon:] Mm.
[John:] Mm. Erm... How would you spell truck?
[Simon:] Truck? T R... U C K.
[John:] That's it. [tape ends]
[Simon:] Erm if I get something wrong and the the teacher's going [moan]
[John:] Have the the teachers telling you a way of learning something like I've been saying put C K if it's on the end of the word.
[Simon:] Mm.
[John:] Erm why do you think well why do you think I was telling you that?...
[Simon:] So I could get more used to them so
[John:] Yeah do you think I was doing to make it harder for you?
[Simon:] [LAUGHTER] No. []
[John:] Right well what was I doing it for?
[Simon:] Making it easier for me.
[John:] So you could see the pattern yourself and make it easier and a lot of the time at school when the teacher's telling you, Why don't you do it this way? they're not trying to make it harder for you. You might think, Ooh it's hard that way.
[Simon:] [LAUGHTER]
[John:] They know from cos they've had years of experience
[Simon:] Mm.
[John:] teaching people how to learn that most people will find it easier if they
[Simon:] We've got
[John:] learn it that way.
[Simon:] we've got the oldest teacher in school.
[John:] Oh.
[Simon:] Fifty erm birthday
[John:] Is it a he or a she?
[Simon:] She. All she's.
[John:] Mm.
[Simon:] Apart from the headmaster.
[John:] Do you get on all right with the teachers?
[Simon:] Sometimes, sometimes I get a bit told off.
[John:] What do you get what do you get told off for?
[Simon:] really stupid things erm
[John:] Why do you do stupid things?
[Simon:] Don't know well sometimes I playing like and this girl, Oh that's stupid doing all this and, you know and she just like
[John:] Mm okay. Do you play sometimes cos you can't be bothered doing the work cos you can't see any sense in it?
[Simon:] No I always sit down and do me work but sometimes people just distract me all the time.
[John:] Mm.
[Simon:] Dead distracted easily.
[John:] Okay so if you can learn to concentrate on looking for the patterns and looking for, Oh well what sort of word is this, is it going to end in a K end in c sound so it'll be C K. Does is start with a c sound. So what would be what would you try first if it started with a c sound?
[Simon:] C probably a C.
[John:] Right good. And if it ended with a c sound what would you want
[Simon:] Probably C K.
[John:] That's it.
[Simon:] Or K.
[John:] C C K most of the time there aren't many that end in just a K. Desk is one of them erm have you got any disks on your computer?
[Simon:] Yeah I've got a Amiga so I've got
[John:] Okay and how do you spell disk?
[Simon:] Disk D I S K.
[John:] That's it like a desk that's really that that was the American way of spelling it but we spell it that way now. That's another problem with spelling is the Americans spell things a bit differently.
[Simon:] In America in American world you're doing all this and... they'll be going, Oh no you don't
[John:] That's not right. Yeah they're spellings are a little bit easier than ours cos they change some of them some of the awkward ones.
[Simon:] So theirs is like the way I think.
[John:] Yeah.
[Simon:] Oh.
[John:] And other people other people think spelling should be changed but it's not going to be and they're still going to mark it one the exam if you don't get it right. So we'll have a look have a look at your
[Simon:] I'll get
[John:] Er let's let's have a look. Right and you're joining up you writing nicely there.
[Simon:] Mm.... Reading book, pattern book,...
[John:] What's your writing like?
[Simon:] Not too bad.
[John:] Okay.
[Simon:] Me double isn't all that good.
[John:] No the only way to get your writing better is to practise it. look at this she's given you lots of C C K to do together because
[Simon:] Mm.
[John:] very often
[Simon:] You've got to do C K at the of the word.
[John:] at the end of the world it's going to be C K at the end. So she's given you those to practise not just a C and then a K but show both as one making sort of one sound like in back and lock
[Simon:] And me me
[John:] and flock
[Simon:] Me best word when
[John:] So you're good at hey that's good because some people can't go their F goes all over the place. Yeah that's good good keep it up. I would think your Ks are probably pretty good if you can do a good letter F.
[Simon:] Yeah
[John:] Yeah good that looks good that's very good. Okay which are the hardest letter for you to do?
[Simon:] Hardest that would be
[John:] In the joined up writing.
[Simon:] erm oh... erm... like Is all the I-s
[John:] Ah.
[Simon:] look like Es
[John:] Ah. Okay.
[Simon:] You know when you do the I-s like that.
[John:] Right so when you do when you do the letter I try to keep it we'll do a letter I here. Try to come down nice and straight... my K isn't very good I bet you could do a better one than that.
[Simon:] Mm.
[John:] Okay like erm...
[Simon:] K is [LAUGHTER]
[John:] but if you're doing... the letter E... it goes up there and comes down okay? And the other thing about the I-s is if you make sure you put a dot on them on the top then if it looks a bit like if you people can't tell that you've done an E or an I, if you'd a dot on top it's got to be an I.
[Simon:] Mm.
[John:] Okay so that's that's that's a thing that would help. Okay some maths hey? Okay. Let's have a quick look in your folder see what you've got. Tricky ones.... Do you know your tables? Which ones Which ones do you know?
[Simon:] Oh that's just a how to make your circle. Tables?
[John:] Mhm.
[Simon:] Mhm ones [LAUGHTER].
[John:] Ones what's the easiest tables?
[Simon:] The easiest probably tens.
[John:] Tens erm although are the ones very hard?
[Simon:] [LAUGHTER] No.
[John:] Even easier than the tens yeah?
[Simon:] Yeah.
[John:] And what about your nought times table?
[Simon:] They're other spellings.
[John:] More spellings okay. Okay. So you you might know some of these.
[Simon:] Yeah.
[John:] Er how about inside and outside?
[Simon:] Inside and outside. Inside is I N I N S I D E.
[John:] Okay and outside?
[Simon:] O U T... S I D E.
[John:] Yeah so if you can
[Simon:] Yeah I
[John:] spell side you can spell inside and you can
[Simon:] Mm.
[John:] spell outside as well. Good well done.
[Simon:] How I remember outside is like the end of a erm O U T spells out.
[John:] Right.
[Simon:] And that's how I remember it O U T spells
[John:] Right good. Any any way that means something to you that's a good way. If anyone says to you, Oh you don't want to remember it that way. as long as it works for you
[Simon:] Mm.
[John:] that's fine.
[Simon:] It something that you use.
[John:] Mm looking a little bit a little bit like a
[Simon:] E isn't it.
[John:] an E but if you put a dot on it
[Simon:] Mm they'll know.
[John:] you won't have people calling you Semon then. Oh hello Semon.
[Simon:] [LAUGHTER] [LAUGHTER] Semon. []
[John:] Semon if it's an I put a dot on it. Okay erm can you spell with?
[Simon:] With?
[John:] Yeah.
[Simon:] Oh erm T I mean T W H I T H.
[John:] It's just W I T H.
[Simon:] Oh.
[John:] So it's not as hard as you thought W I T H with. How about without?
[Simon:] Oh W I T H O U T spells out.
[John:] T spells out [LAUGHTER] okay so there's some connection between a lot of the words isn't there and if you can spell one you can have a very good guess at another one that's got that word in as part of it. Erm can you spell walk?
[Simon:] W I mean
[John:] Yeah
[Simon:] L
[John:] W
[Simon:] Is it?
[John:] Yeah.
[Simon:] Erm W A C K.
[John:] W A L
[Simon:] Oh yeah W A L K
[John:] Walk walk.
[Simon:] Walk.
[John:] Can you spell talk?
[Simon:] T A L K.
[John:] That's it. Talk so can you spell walking and talking?
[Simon:] Walking and talking. W A L K I N G
[John:] That's it.
[Simon:] and talking is talk with I N G on the end.
[John:] Well it'll just be the same That's it. Okay so you could spell walked and talked.
[Simon:] Mm.
[John:] Erm what about talked?
[Simon:] Talked T A L K
[John:] Yeah.
[Simon:] E D.
[John:] That's it. And walked would just be the same. Now how
[Simon:] Mm.
[John:] about asked?
[Simon:] A S K E D.
[John:] That's it now that how do you spell ask?
[Simon:] Ask... A S K.
[John:] Yeah A S K so that's a one a bit like desk.... It doesn't it's not like back where you've got C K at the end because there's the S in front of it as well it's ask. If it says so a sk sound usually just S K desk ask disk frisk.
[Simon:] Okay.
[John:] okay it'll be that so you can eventually you can build up... a few tricks that'll help you sort out a lot of the spelling. And I'm pretty sure you'll be getting a lot of spellings right soon. I don't suppose you could spell football could you?
[Simon:] Yeah F double O T B A double L.
[John:] And match?
[Simon:] Match football match M A T C H.
[John:] Very good. Excellent. Can you spell you can spell play cos we've done that can you spell ground?
[Simon:] G R O U N D.
[John:] Good so could you spell playground?
[Simon:] Yeah P L A Y G R O U N D.
[John:] I think you're very good at spelling actually. I mean seriously. You're not having a lot of trouble with these are you?... I think it's just one or two odd things that you get wrong sometimes like when you should be using a C or a K or a C K or
[Simon:] And me D and Cs get mixed up
[John:] Ah.
[Simon:] Like for ball I do dall and all
[John:] Ah well okay. They look they look pretty much the same don't they?
[Simon:] Mm.
[John:] So you've just got to work out some way that'll make sense to you for remembering which way round they go and probably one good way is just write them out quite a few times think of a lot of words beginning with D.
[Simon:] Mm or
[John:] Check it somewhere that you're writing it the right way
[Simon:] Or picture them in your mind and
[John:] Yeah picture them in your mind and then just draw them just write the letter D dog door
[Simon:] Mm.
[John:] and things like that. Some D words and some B words so that you can sort it out cos the only way you the only the only person really who can make sure it works is you. Your teachers can say, Oh why don't you do this. and I can help you say, Try this way. but you're the only one who can make it work by practising it and by trying it. It might be a bit awkward when you start off but once you've done it a bit it gets easier. Like say playing football. Never have you ever seen little kids trying to play football?
[Simon:] Yeah.
[John:] And they go up to it and they f as soon as they pick one foot up to kick the ball they fall over.
[Simon:] Mhm.
[John:] [LAUGHTER] They can't stand [] on one leg and then they're waggling their foot about and missing the ball all together and you think anyone can kick a ball but they can't but then they get better at it.
[Simon:] Erm you can like say there's the ball and like and like up here you can go [moan] can't you. they go say they're standing.
[John:] Yeah or they go and put their foot on it and trip over.
[Simon:] I know mm.
[John:] But eventually they s they soon learn cos they keep trying.
[Simon:] Mm.
[John:] But if you imagine when you were about this high and someone gives you a ball to kick and you you fall over and you, Right I'm not trying that again.
[Simon:] Mm.
[John:] Right I can't do it I give up.
[Simon:] And never give up.
[John:] And you just never you never you never play football you never enjoy having a game and things like that so. So if you
[Simon:] You should never give up or
[John:] You need to have another go maybe sometimes think well what am I doing wrong. Oh well maybe I have to practise first without a ball just standing on one leg and waving the other leg about and trying not to fall over.
[Simon:] And then do it with the other leg.
[John:] Exactly yeah and then when you can do that when you can balance on one leg now we try it with the ball and see if we can kick it and then kick it harder and make it go exactly where you want to. Things like that. So it's building it up in stages. Sometimes people expect you to do everything overnight don't they. They say, You know right go on you've seen it done once now I want you
[Simon:] Erm dreaming and
[John:] Yeah.
[Simon:] dreaming you're the best football player in the world and
[John:] Yes that's good dreaming that you can do it. Okay well what's so terrible about this folder then?
[Simon:] Everything.
[John:] What's all this? You're doing this.
[Simon:] Oh erm.
[John:] This poem is an excellent choice for older boys and girls. Is it?
[Simon:] Mm and
[John:] Do you like it?
[Simon:] This is me best one we done this this [reading] Daddy where's the gentleman's clothings? Is he feeling too hot? When I am a man may I walk up the street in my nothings? [] and then all the other people shout [reading] Certainly not. []
[John:] [reading] Certainly not. [] That was the Emperor's New Clothes.
[Simon:] [LAUGHTER]
[John:] Right... Okay which so you like that one. And what did you think of that first one then? funny words in it.
[Simon:] We haven't done that one yet
[John:] [reading] []
[Simon:] I wasn't in I wasn't in... in that song but I went to watch the play
[John:] Mm.
[Simon:] and then when I got this sheet when I joined choir went, Oh yeah I remember
[John:] Right okay.
[Simon:] But I really like that one
[John:] Well that's oh that'll be good.
[Simon:] And we came second out of all the schools.
[John:] Did you. Well that's brilliant isn't it. That's brilliant okay. So maths.
[Simon:] Mm.
[John:] Cos when you're sitting down for ages
[Simon:] You get pins and needles
[John:] you get your legs get stiff you get pins and needles and things like that. Erm we'll just have a look at what we've got. [reading] The words are mixed up. You have many toes how? [] What's that all about?
[Simon:] You... you have how many toes?
[John:] It's got a question mark on the end so it's a question good. How many toes have you? We would normally say how many what would you say would you go up to someone and say, How many toes have you? what would say?
[Simon:] Or... or you have how many toes on your foot or
[John:] Yeah you'd say, How many toes have you got? probably wouldn't you.
[Simon:] Mm.
[John:] you wouldn't say how many toes have you? [reading] Is the third year what month of the of? [] [LAUGHTER]
[Simon:] [LAUGHTER]
[John:] What do you make of that?
[Simon:] Erm...
[John:] What do questions normally start with what sort of words do they start with?
[Simon:] Erm
[John:] Can you see any word in there that might start a question.
[Simon:] The. Oh what.
[John:] What okay so what
[Simon:] What month of... the year is third... month oh no [LAUGHTER]
[John:] Now then what is the third
[Simon:] Year.
[John:] month
[Simon:] of the year?
[John:] Good. [reading] What hard of the opposite is? [] [LAUGHTER]
[Simon:] [LAUGHTER] Erm what of the opposite
[John:] So good what is probably going to start it cos it's a question.
[Simon:] Mm.
[John:] What
[Simon:] Is
[John:] What is right what is
[Simon:] what is the opposite of hard?
[John:] Good what is the opposite of hard?
[Simon:] Easy. [reading] Do tree grow what acorns on? [] [LAUGHTER]
[John:] So what's it probably going to start with?
[Simon:] What.
[John:] Okay so what
[Simon:] Do tree
[John:] Well
[Simon:] what what do trees grow on. What do acorns grow... on... tree.
[John:] Okay good what
[Simon:] Do.
[John:] Yeah what
[Simon:] Tree.
[John:] Tree good.
[Simon:] What tree do
[John:] do
[Simon:] acorns grow on on mm.
[John:] [reading] Grass what is the colour of? []
[Simon:] Grass
[John:] What's it going to start what word is it going to start with if it's a question?
[Simon:] What.
[John:] Okay good and there's a good chance
[Simon:] What is the colour of grass?
[John:] Good no how about this one?
[Simon:] [reading] Many has a how legs lamb? [] [LAUGHTER]
[John:] So what which one of these words is going to start a question?
[Simon:] How.
[John:] Good so how
[Simon:] How many legs how many legs has a lamb?
[John:] Good. And what's this one? Probably going to start with what word?
[Simon:] [reading] How in a week days are there many? []
[John:] So how
[Simon:] Many
[John:] Good how many
[Simon:] So that
[John:] Yeah.
[Simon:] How many days in a week are there?
[John:] Right. How many days are there in a week? So what you need to do with these is work out the right way round that they should go and the answer is a number and you need to put the numbers in there don't you. Well sometimes it's a number here it's how many it's what do you know what sort of tree acorns grow on?
[Simon:] Acorn tree [LAUGHTER] erm
[John:] It's an oak tree and it's another one
[Simon:] Yeah oak tree.
[John:] that it just ends in a K.
[Simon:] Yeah.
[John:] Oak. How do you spell look look
[Simon:] Look?
[John:] look look out there.
[Simon:] [LAUGHTER]
[John:] look at that.
[Simon:] Okay erm L double O K.
[John:] Good. Now so if it's got a double vowel if it's got O O or say E A say leak L E ache L E A K if it's got a double vowel you just have the K on the end of. Okay so you could do those. Could you do any of those?
[Simon:] Erm in each...
[John:] Underline which is different.
[Simon:] Erm... different
[John:] So have a look at number one. Erm which is the easiest one to do of this lot.... Now I okay right I don't want you to underline them now I'd like you to wait until later and then try and work em out again yourself so you get practice doing it. So okay which is the easiest one to work out out of this lot do you think.
[Simon:] Erm out of
[John:] All those.
[Simon:] just that line?
[John:] Yeah.
[Simon:] Probably
[John:] Which one?... Six times one is pretty easy. okay how about six time none?
[Simon:] Six.
[John:] Is it?
[Simon:] Mm. Six times none.
[John:] Six six what does s what does six er let's have a look at this one what does three times two mean?
[Simon:] Three three... times two six.
[John:] It comes to six what does it mean? Why would we want to work out three times two? Well let's say er if you had two Ps if you had three two Ps you might want to work out how much that comes to. How much would it come to?
[Simon:] How much would three two Ps come to?
[John:] Yeah.
[Simon:] Three two Ps comes to six.
[John:] so that or you might just have erm say you had biscuits and your mum was going to give you biscuits and you've got two friends round. And she said, Oh I'll give them two biscuits each. So she put them on the plate and she might want to work out what would three lots of two come to. Okay so how much how many would that come to?
[Simon:] Six.
[John:] Six erm maybe one of your friends didn't turn up and you so out of that six you wouldn't get three lots of two you'd get two lots of three. And you'd have three each then. So that's that's what this is what this is what times means it just means lots of.
[Simon:] Mm.
[John:] So what's six lots of one?
[Simon:] Six times one
[John:] Six lots of one how many would you have altogether?
[Simon:] Twelve.
[John:] Times one so if there
[Simon:] Oh.
[John:] were six of you one for you and one for you and one for you six lots of one
[Simon:] Six lots of one
[John:] Six six lots of one
[Simon:] is oh do you mean like one six?
[John:] I mean one one one one one another one.
[Simon:] So there's six
[John:] Six yeah.
[Simon:] and one.
[John:] Six lots of six how many are there in your let's let's look at just three lots of two again. There are two in each lot.
[Simon:] Yeah....
[John:] Let's use these.... So three pound there there's one lot of three pounds... and three pounds there. So I've got two lots of three pounds I've got six pounds altogether. Mm. How much would I have if I had three lots of two pound?
[Simon:] Three lots?
[John:] Three lots there's one lot for you, one lot for you, one lot for me. Each person gets two pounds how much
[Simon:] Oh three.
[John:] So I have three lots of two pounds how many have i got altogether there?
[Simon:] Six.
[John:] Six right okay. [1409 1] How about if there were just two of use and we had two lots of three?
[Simon:] Six.
[John:] Six. How about if there were six of us and we all got one pound each so we'd have six lots of one.
[Simon:] Six [LAUGHTER]
[John:] Right how about if there were six of us and we got none each no one got any how many would there be altogether.
[Simon:] None.
[John:] None so what's six lots of none come to?
[Simon:] Six lots of none.
[John:] So there are six of us here it's none for you, none for you, none for you, none for you, none for you and none for me how many altogether?
[Simon:] None [LAUGHTER]
[John:] None six lots of none. What do ten lots of none come to?
[Simon:] Ten lots.
[John:] Ten lots of none ten people sitting round a table and they all got nothing they all got none.
[Simon:] None [LAUGHTER]
[John:] None. Erm how about a hundred lots of none?
[Simon:] [LAUGHTER] I don't think a hundred people would sit round
[John:] Well we've some of them queuing outside and they're all they're all queuing up for something and they're going to get nothing each. You know how much would they get altogether.
[Simon:] None.
[John:] None what about a thousand lots of none?
[Simon:] None.
[John:] Okay so that's the easiest one Anything times nothing is just?
[Simon:] None.
[John:] Nothing. How about if we had no lots of ten?
[Simon:] No lots
[John:] How many?
[Simon:] of ten?
[John:] Yeah. Let's say we had let's do it with three
[Simon:] None.
[John:] That's none good yeah.... Six lots of none will always come to the same as
[Simon:] None.
[John:] no lots of six they'll both come to nothing.
[Simon:] Mm.
[John:] So three lots of two?
[Simon:] Three times two erm... nine.
[John:] Is it? There's two another two
[Simon:] Oh.
[John:] another two.
[Simon:] Oh six.
[John:] Six you were doing a harder one than they was asking.
[Simon:] Mm.
[John:] Okay. Three add three?...
[Simon:] Yeah three six.
[John:] Six. Six lots of one?...
[Simon:] Er six.
[John:] Six. Five add one?... Five add one.
[Simon:] Oh [LAUGHTER] six.
[John:] Six. And six lots of nothing.
[Simon:] None.
[John:] So which is the odd one out there?
[Simon:] Oh the odd one is
[John:] That come to a different answer from all the others. Three add two three times two?
[Simon:] Or that one nine.
[John:] Three ti hang on three add three?
[Simon:] Oh f oh that's
[John:] That's six.
[Simon:] That one.
[John:] That one so that's the odd one out. Six lots of nothing comes to nothing.
[Simon:] So you can underline that one.
[John:] So you can underline that one later. Now what have we got here? Eight take away one?
[Simon:] Eight take away one is just erm seven.
[John:] Okay eight times one eight lots of one eight ones?
[Simon:] Eight ones eight.
[John:] Two lots of four?
[Simon:] T erm two fours oh four twos erm
[John:] Four twos two fours which ever one's easier it's going to come to the same answer.
[Simon:] Eight.
[John:] Eight and well four twos two fours and four twos?
[Simon:] Two fours four twos Eight.
[John:] Four add four well we've got two lots of four there haven't we.
[Simon:] Yeah.
[John:] So it's going to come to two fours so that comes to?
[Simon:] Erm
[John:] Four add four is the same it's just the same as two lots of four Eight.
[Simon:] Four add four is erm eight. Eight.
[John:] So the odd one out there?
[Simon:] The odd one out there is erm
[John:] That came to eight that came four add four is eight
[Simon:] Eight.
[John:] four twos are eight.
[Simon:] Eight.
[John:] Two fours are?
[Simon:] Eight.
[John:] Eight ones are?
[Simon:] Eight
[John:] Eight take away one is?
[Simon:] Seven.
[John:] So which one's the odd one out?... That's it. Okay. Three times four three lots of four?
[Simon:] Three three times four... three fours is three three six nine [cough] three six nine... twelve. Twelve.
[John:] Twelve good three lots of four is twelve. Six lots of two?
[Simon:] Six lots of two.
[John:] Or you could do two sixes. Yeah good.
[Simon:] Twelve.
[John:] twelve.
[Simon:] [cough]
[John:] And you've done th you did three fours and you got twelve what's four threes?
[Simon:] Twelve?
[John:] Good and you did
[Simon:] That's just the same as that one
[John:] Yeah.
[Simon:] really.
[John:] You did six twos so what's two sixes?
[Simon:] Erm forgotten what the answer was.
[John:] Two sixes came to
[Simon:] Twelve.
[John:] twelve. Five add eight. Or eight and it's usually easier to put
[Simon:] Eight add three.
[John:] Yes eight add five. Eight five.
[Simon:] Thirteen.
[John:] Right so which one's the odd one out?... That one okay. Nine times one nine lots of one nine of us
[Simon:] Nine.
[John:] and we all get one pound each what would that come to?
[Simon:] Nine.
[John:] Okay. Eight add one?... Good.
[Simon:] Eight take away one.
[John:] Right eight take away one? nine take away one is going to come to eight. Eight add one?
[Simon:] Eight eight.
[John:] Eight add one.
[Simon:] Oh eight add one nine.
[John:] Three lots of three?
[Simon:] Nine.
[John:] Five add four?
[Simon:] Nine.
[John:] Okay so you worked Erm I think you can do these on your own you can
[Simon:] Yeah.
[John:] work those out okay. Yeah?
[Simon:] There's stuff in erm them them there
[John:] Okay so you can do these. Mhm.... Those some of those might be a little awkward. Erm tables if you learn the tables it's a lot easier. Now there's no need to learn all of the tables erm er what I will do is if you want any more lessons I'll do you some special tables cut down so you only have to learn about half the normal and then you'll know them all cos if you know two sixes. If you know six twos you don't need to learn two sixes do you. And if you know four threes then you don't need to learn three fours.
[Simon:] I know.
[John:] So we'll cut it all down so there's only about half of it that you need to learn okay and I'll print you a table out on the computer like that and then you can ask your mum to ask you them. tell her not er not to be sort of hurrying you too much saying, Oh come on come on you should learn. It's no good
[Simon:] No.
[John:] it's no good saying to someone come on you should know this if they don't it doesn't help does it.
[Simon:] [LAUGHTER]
[John:] No. Okay and you say there are some in here?
[Simon:] we're starting this book erm when we're coming back form Easter.
[John:] You're starting this
[Simon:] Yeah so
[John:] Okay so you'll be doing angles and things like that. And weight. [whispering] You'll be investigating area and perimeter. Okay and drawing pictures of castles. Mm. [] Have you been to any castles?
[Simon:] Well Edinburgh Castle
[John:] Mm oh that's good.... I think I saw Edinburgh Castle I haven't been in so
[Simon:] Well we haven't actually been in but
[John:] Ah that one I think is Sissinghurst Castle. I've been in there. It's
[Simon:] Any good?
[John:] Oh very nice yes yeah. Sissinghurst... or is it I know I've been there I took a photograph of my son outside there holding the doors.
[Simon:] I've got a picture of me standing outside Edinburgh Castle you know
[John:] Mm.
[Simon:] in between two guards like that with the
[John:] Yeah.
[Simon:] machine guns.
[John:] Okay so you'll be doing all these how far is it from one place to the other.
[Simon:] Yeah.
[John:] and things like that. That's your book two. Have you got your book one about?
[Simon:] Book one's
[John:] Is that okay. Well I think if we can and it's up to you if you want any more lessons. But if you want to have some more lessons you want if you don't want to you can tell me now or you can leave it and get your mum to tell me later that you don't want any more. Erm if you do I think what we'll do is we'll go through this book one so that we make sure that you really know everything in this and you're really good at it. Yeah?
[Simon:] So
[John:] and then when you go on to book and we'll if we get through this in time we'll have a look at book two as well. But it's no good going on to that until you're really pretty good at this then you should be able to follow what's going on here. It's a bit like somebody sort of can only just about kick a ball and you say, We'll make him our centre forward. and you wonder why you're losing all your matches cos every time the ball comes to him he can't trap it or if he does he kicks it the wrong way an own goal or something. So you've got to build up gradually doing each little bit at a time and working on it. They can't expect you to do everything overnight can they? To just suddenly be able to do the whole lot yeah. a little bit at a time build it up. We'll work a little bit on the maths and a little bit on the English each time.
[Simon:] Oh mm I'll tell me mum to get erm a few you know come round a few before go back to school so
[John:] Okay. It's up to you. Let's have a look I'll leave those you can have a look through some of those and
[Simon:] Okay.
[John:] you know you're coins that you've got there?
[Simon:] I count them put them into little money bags.
[John:] Okay well this is what I'd like you to do. I'd like you to put them out just bring me the bottle over now I'll show you what I want you to do.... What have we got. They all one Ps? Or mixed?
[Simon:] Ones and twos.
[John:] Ones and twos so we'll sort some out....
[Simon:] Orange juice.
[John:] Orange juice okay squash....
[Simon:] Now find all the
[John:] Right keep all the the ones over your side. Okay what I want you to do is to get twelve of them first and put them into see how many rectangles you could make. I mean you could make if we had twelve we get another two....... So with twelve we could make
[Simon:] Two.
[John:] the way you're looking at it it's six lot's of two isn't it. If you look at it from round that way it's two lots of six. So you can do things like that you can do erm playing with your coins.
[Simon:] Draw round them.
[John:] draw round them just put them put them out like that and when you've put them out to make a a pattern you can say if you just work with twelve first. And you do things like two lots of six makes twelve and six lots of two makes twelve.
[Simon:] Equals twelve.
[John:] And then you could say well we could try threes try that see if you could make em into into sets of three.
[Simon:] Into sets of three?
[John:] How many lots of three would you get?
[Simon:] Right so I'll scramble them all up so like
[John:] Like that okay.
[Simon:] Okay.
[John:] And then carry on and you you try that and see what you can do with with that. When you've done twelves... and you've got all the answers that you all the things you can make out of it. See if you could make lots of fives maybe you can maybe you can't that's for you to find out okay.
[Simon:] Mm.
[John:] Then try it with twenty four of them. Then try it with thirty six. Now that will probably be enough all the different
[Simon:] Thirty six.
[John:] patterns you can make. But if you still get through all that and you want to do more try sixty. Sixty of them and put them out and make them into nice little lines and that and see what things you'd have to multiply together to make twelve or what numbers you'd multiply together cos it'd be so many sets of like four sets of three or three sets of four. Two sets of six six sets of two. I don't think you'll take very long on the twelves I think you'll have that sorted out pretty quickly. Then you try the twenty four and then try the sixty. So I'll leave that for you to play with and erm I better give your mum a shout because I should have gone by now. I've got another I've got someone I'm supposed to ring up and somebody else that I've I've got a lesson starting soon.
[Simon:] It's nearly twenty past... eight....
[John:] ...
[Simon:] So I'll tell me mum to give you.
[John:] That's probably best. Erm if you get to ask your mum to come in I'll just ask her what's what you're doing next week. I think the best is get some of this stuff done during the holidays yeah? And then when you go back to school you won't be thinking, Oh they're all rushing ahead and doing it and I'm getting left
[Simon:] I know.
[John:] behind. Cos it makes you feel bad that doesn't it.
[Simon:] Yeah.
[John:] And you start thinking, Oh dear
[Simon:] That's what puts me off me work really.
[John:] It does put you off and you start thinking, Oh there's no point trying it cos I know I'm going to be last.
[Simon:] sometimes goes, First one to finish... wins so and so. and the last one sometimes
[John:] But.
[Simon:] But I'm not the last.
[John:] Good.
[Simon:] I've never been last.
[John:] Oh that's great. Well I reckon if we practise a lot during the holidays if you play with the pennies and things and think about the spellings and try... you know you don't have to read through the whole dictionary just learn some
[Simon:] Or re redo all that at some point.
[John:] Yeah. I've do It's like it's like practising for football I mean you might be the best footballer in the world and you say you know they say well you've just won the cup say
[Simon:] Mm.
[John:] and then they say, Are you going to what are you gonna do now for for next cup? Oh nothing. I don't I don't need to practise. So you just sit and watch the telly for a year and not do anything he's not gonna be very good
[Simon:] No.
[speaker004:] in the next years cup is he. So So if you just call your mum....
[Simon:] Oh yeah.
[John:] Oh yes I'll take that.
[Simon:] ...
[John:] That's it just give her a shout.
[Simon:] [shouting] Mum. []...
[speaker001:] Hiya getting on?
[John:] Oh well how did we get on? What did you think of it?
[Simon:] Okay.
[speaker001:] Okay. Okay. Good
[John:] Good so
[speaker001:] so that's good.
[John:] how do you feel about it do you think you're going to get the hang of this
[Simon:] Yeah.
[John:] spelling and the sums and things like that.
[Simon:] Yeah quick.
[speaker001:] Do you?
[John:] Yeah?
[Simon:] Quick.
[John:] I think so I think he's he's good at picking it up. It's just that if in you need you want it explained to you in a way you understand don't you rather than
[speaker001:] Mm.
[John:] someone going on about how they think you should understand it.
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[John:] So I think he's picking it up very well. I've given him some some things to play he's going to play with his pennies and make patterns and work out his tables.
[speaker001:] Alright.
[John:] And for next time I'll get some erm a special set of tables for him a lot easier to learn so that he can learn his tables and he'll only have to learn about half of them and then he'll know all of them. Cos some
[speaker001:] Right.
[John:] are duplicated.
[speaker001:] Mhm.
[John:] So we'll get that sorted out and been talking about it I think the best bet is if we can get a few lessons in during the holidays so that when he goes back to school he'll be more or less up to date.
[speaker001:] Mhm.
[John:] Erm if we get on very well if we get through say that book one on the maths if we get through very well then we can start having a look at what he's going to do when he goes back so he'll understand the terms when they're explained to him
[speaker001:] Mm.
[John:] cos we want want him to get maximum benefit from the school not just
[speaker001:] Right.
[John:] rely on me.
[speaker001:] That's right yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I thought he said he got through book one but is there some stuff in it he doesn't understand yet?
[John:] Erm I think we need to just go through it
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[John:] and just make sure about a few things don't we on the book one.
[Simon:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] Mm.
[John:] Because this is this is very common in maths that there isn't really time for the teachers to give them
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[John:] this attention everyone needs so sort of whiz through it okay you've done that
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[John:] now we go on to book two because
[speaker001:] Mm.
[John:] that's what we do this term we go on to book two.
[speaker001:] Yeah this is it yeah
[John:] And if you don't know it you're not a hundred percent sure on book one
[speaker001:] You're gonna be struggling yeah.
[John:] you just can't understand what it's on about so
[speaker001:] Mm.
[John:] the only way to do it is get that book one really sort of so he really understands it and then he's gonna be interested in book two cos he'll
[speaker001:] Right.
[John:] understand it and he'll get
[speaker001:] Okay fine. So what what day do you suggest next week?
[John:] I I'm not sure at the moment are there any days that are
[speaker001:] Erm I I've just been talking to me husband about it. Tuesdays and Thursdays we though were good days so leave it at them.
[John:] Okay okay erm
[speaker001:] Because erm
[John:] Right.
[speaker001:] Monday it's too soon after the weekend.
[John:] Oh yes yeah.
[speaker001:] And he he he does jujitsu classes which he's
[John:] Does he?
[speaker001:] gonna start up again on Wednesday
[John:] Oh good.
[speaker001:] evenings
[John:] Good.
[speaker001:] and then if he ever wants to stay over a friends
[John:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] Friday's not a good one you see.
[John:] Okay well
[speaker001:] So.
[John:] Tuesd yeah Tuesday and Thursday then cos we'll try and fit in with you if you can. So do you want Tuesday and Thursday next week?
[speaker001:] Or just just the once I think what's whatever's best for you
[John:] Okay.
[speaker001:] Tuesday or Thursday.
[John:] Right now Oh very good. that's good that's good. Erm I'm just trying to think we really want to try and fit a few lessons into the holiday if you can it's up to you fit in. Erm probably about sort of four or five would be ideal but we can see what we can do with about maybe three or something like that.
[speaker001:] Mm.
[John:] It depends on how much you can do how much Simon can do on his own if I give him stuff to do.
[speaker001:] Okay.
[John:] Erm so have a go at that stuff and work through it and think about think of new words for yourself and I've suggested that he gets a notebook to put some spelling in.
[speaker001:] Right he's got plenty I've got plenty
[John:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] of pads about the place.
[John:] To just k just keep that with you
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[John:] Keep your spellings in that and when you come across new spellings put them in there. Okay.
[speaker001:] That's a bit like erm didn't you used to have a word box with words in?
[Simon:] Yeah.
[John:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] Have you still got that upstairs yeah?
[John:] Yeah good that's a good idea but now you can start keeping them in a in a book.
[speaker001:] we'll keep them in a book. So shall we erm say Tuesday then we'll see how we go from there.
[John:] Yeah Tue Tuesday'll
[speaker001:] Is that okay?
[John:] be fine. Erm I'm not sure what time yet but erm it's more likely to be sort of just before lunch or just sort of or maybe just after lunch or round four o'clock I try to keep the younger ones earlier so they're not you know it's not
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[John:] too late for them so it'll be earlier on. Erm if I give you a ring about Sunday or so I will have sorted out cos I've got quite a few to sort out at the moment.
[speaker001:] Okay then yeah that's fine.
[John:] Okay....
[speaker001:] Are you gonna put your things away Simon?... There there we go.
[John:] Right thank you. Now that's how much is there?
[Simon:] Five.
[John:] And that one?
[Simon:] Oh erm fifteen.
[John:] Right and it's thirteen pounds fifty so how much change?
[Simon:] Fifteen
[John:] So thirteen fifty and that would make how many?
[Simon:] Thirteen fifty what how much i
[John:] Thirteen pound thirteen pound fifty and then
[Simon:] Thirteen pound fifty then it's
[John:] How much does that make? Another fifty onto thirteen pound fifty. If you had fifty pence and
[Simon:] Fifty
[John:] then you got another fifty pence how much would that be?
[Simon:] A pound.
[John:] Okay so we've got thirteen pounds forget about that for a minute and then fifty pence.
[Simon:] Two pound change isn't it?
[speaker001:] No.
[Simon:] Fifteen
[John:] That would make it up to
[speaker001:] But it's thirteen fifty
[John:] fourteen pounds.
[Simon:] Oh.
[John:] That would make it four [tape ends]