A is for Apple

A for apple- a..p…p…l…e.

‘Apple’. The first word in the English language that we were taught as children to spell and one that we normally teach our children. But at Cosmos, we believe that it shouldn’t be. Why, you may ask?

అ…… అమ్మ. In Telugu, the first word we teach is అమ్మ. An important question to ask here is, are we teaching the spelling of ‘amma’ or are we teaching the the beginning sound of ‘amma’. Do we expect, a child to write the word ‘అమ్మ’ at the very beginning. Isn’t the మ్మ (ma ki ma votthu) taught much later? This very logic applies to why we are completely fine with our children not being able to spell the spellings that otherwise are expected of them in other schools. Read on to find out more…..

How do you spell ‘apple’?

If a UKG student at Cosmos is asked this question, these are some of the probable replies:

I do not know.

a..p…l

a…p…i…l

a….p…e….l

a…p….p….l….e

Does this mean children at Cosmos cannot spell simple words? Are teachers at Cosmos even teaching children to read and spell?

At Cosmos, we teach our children to learn to read through our bespoke Whose School Program called "R.E.A.D - Reading to Engage, Appreciate, and Discover." This program was developed based on evidence-based elements of literacy instruction and practices that align with the Structured Literacy framework by the International Dyslexia Association, as well as other frameworks developed by reading researchers like the Gough and Tunmer’s Simple View of Reading, Scarborough’s Reading Rope, Seidenberg & McClelland's Four-Part Processor for Reading, and others. The collective research on reading is commonly referred to as the "Science of Reading." (Click this link to learn more about R.E.A.D.)

If Cosmos has it’s own program, based on research, why can’t the child spell a simple word like ‘apple’?

Spelling the word 'apple' is more complicated than simply memorizing its sequence of five letters. And there is more to ‘apple’ than it being the name of a fruit. To explain these statements, we need to understand the elements of ‘Structured Literacy’.

The Elements of Structured Literacy are as follows:

• Phonology (Phonological and Phonemic Awareness)

• Sound-Symbol (Phonics)

• Syllables (Orthography)

• Morphology

• Syntax

• Semantics

At Cosmos, all literacy instruction, including the spelling of 'apple', are taught with focus on all these elements.

This is how a Cosmonaut is taught the spelling and meaning of the word 'apple':

At the Basic Vocabulary level:

"What is this?" (Pointing to an apple or a picture of an apple)

"Apple."

At the Word Awareness level (Words in sentences):

"How many words are in the sentence 'I like red apples?"

"Four: 'I', 'like', 'red', 'apples'."

At the Phonological Awareness level (Syllables in words):

"How many syllables are in the word 'apple'?"

"Two: 'ap' and 'ple'."

At the Phonemic Awareness level (Phonemes in a word):

"What are the beginning, middle, and ending sounds in the word 'apple'?"

"/a/ is the beginning sound, /p/ is the middle sound, and /l/ is the ending sound."

"How many phonemes are in the word 'apple'?"

"Three: /a/, /p/, and /l/."

At the Syllable (Orthography) level (Syllable types and syllabication):

What are the two types of syllables in the word ‘apple’?

‘ap-ple’. ‘ap’ is a closed syllable and ‘ple’ is a consonant-le syllable.

Syllabicate the word ‘apple’.

Why does the word ‘apple’ have two ‘p’s?

If the word ‘apple’ were spelled ‘aple’, it would be pronounced /aiple/ with a long a, because ‘a’ would become an open syllable.

"Spell the word 'apple'."

/ap/ /ple/ a….p….p…l…e

Morphemic awareness level (morphemes in a word)

How many morphemes are in the word ‘apples’?

apple-s

What is the base word and suffix in ‘apples’?

‘Apple’ is the base word and -s is the suffix.

Syntax level

Create a "who", "what doing", ("what like") "what", ("what like") "who to" sentence using the words "mother," "baby," and "apple."

The mother (who) is feeding (what doing) a juicy, red (what like) apple (what) to the hungry (what like) baby (who to).

The mother is feeding a juicy, red apple to the hungry baby.

Is ‘apple’ a noun or a verb?

Apple is a thing, so it is a noun.

At the Semantics and Pragmatics Level

What are some idioms and phrases that include the word 'apple'?

• An Apple A Day Keeps The Doctor Away

Meaning: This expression is often used to emphasize the importance of eating fruits and vegetables regularly.

Use In A Sentence: Children, you know what they say: an apple a day keeps the doctor away. So, if you don’t want to be sick in bed all the time, I suggest you eat more fruit and vegetables.

• The Apple Of My Eye

Meaning: This phrase is used to describe a person that you cherish or favor.

Use In A Sentence: Mrs. Devi has many grandchildren, but Shasika is her only granddaughter. No wonder she is the apple of her eye.

• The Apple Never Falls Far From The Tree

Meaning: This phrase is used to describe it when a person behaves in a similar way to their family, usually their parents.

Use In A Sentence: Did you hear that Mrs. Leela’s daughter also wants to be a teacher? I guess the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

• A Bad / Rotten Apple Spoils The Whole Bunch

Meaning: This phrase means that one bad thing could ruin everything. One negative person could affect the entire group.

Use In A Sentence: Ever since Ravi has been hanging around Ram, he has changed. He is different. I guess a rotten apple spoils the whole bunch.

Etymology (Word Origin)

What is the origin of the word 'apple'?

The word 'apple' comes from Old English (Anglo-Saxon). In Middle English and as late as the 17th century, it was a generic term for all fruit other than berries but including nuts. Some examples are:

• 'fingeræppla' for dates, meaning literally 'finger-apples'

• 'appel of paradis' for banana, meaning 'apple of paradise'

• 'eorþæppla' for cucumber, meaning 'earth apples'

Hence, its grafting onto the unnamed 'fruit of the forbidden tree' in Genesis.

In Islam, the 'fruit of the forbidden tree' may not have actually been an apple, as Christians and Jews believe. Instead, for Muslims, the fruit of the forbidden tree is 'wheat'.

All good, but why can't the child spell the word "apple" in UKG?

Simply memorizing the spelling of certain words will only help children learn a limited number of words. However, using a structured literacy approach will enable children to apply the skills they learn to any word that fits with the phonemes, graphemes, syllables, and morphemes they have learned up to that point. In other words, the content is taught systematically and cumulatively.

The child is currently unable to spell ‘apple’ because the orthographic rules that explain the sequence of the letters a, p, p, l, e have not been taught yet. These rules will be covered later in the progression in first grade. However, the child is able to decode numerous words other than ‘apple’ and can justify and reason why certain words are spelled the way they are, such as ‘black’, ‘Blake’, ‘hiss’, ‘his’, ‘buzz’, and ‘bus’.

As discussed earlier, the child is already engaging phonologically and phonemically with the word ‘apple’. By the time they are ready to spell ‘apple’, they will be able to decode many more words automatically even if they encounter the word for the first time, such as dimple, cycle, dribble, needle, raffle, and doodle and many more.

What about the children who can easily memorize and spell?

As shown in the infographic below, around 5% of children in an average classroom can pick up some the elements of literacy discussed earlier implicitly and around 35 % learn to read relatively easy with broad instruction, but 40-50% of the children need explicit, systematic and sequential instruction in phonics-based reading. There will still be 10-15% of children who may be Dyslexic at varying levels. But Structured Literacy will benefit even them with repetitive practice of the skills. When all children are taught through structured literacy, everyone benefits.

In the R.E.A.D program, assessments are diagnostic and continuously monitored to ensure gaps are filled as they become evident. This means that children's learning journey is continuously tracked and evaluated to identify areas of strengths and weaknesses. With this approach, educators can provide targeted support and interventions to address individual needs, allowing children to master the skills needed for reading comprehension.

As children progress, decoding becomes automatic and the cognitive load can be reduced, which means children can focus on understanding and interpreting the text they read, rather than struggling to decode individual words. Ultimately, this approach supports children to become confident, independent readers who can engage with a wide range of texts and build a lifelong love of learning. Then our children will move from the ‘Learn to Read’ phase to the ‘Read to Learn’ phase.

The idea behind adopting this approach to teaching children how to read is to ensure that every child is given the best opportunity to succeed. By mastering the foundational skills of Reading, they will be able to Engage with a wide range of texts, Appreciate the beauty of language, and Discover new worlds through the written word.

And of course, the ability to read also has obvious practical benefits, of improved academic performance, increased vocabulary, and enhanced critical thinking skills. Therefore, it is crucial that we provide children with the necessary tools and support to become confident and capable readers. With this approach, we can help unleash their full potential and set them on a path towards a lifetime of learning and discovery.