As stated earlier, emphasis should not be on perfect grammar or spelling, even though the final draft of a learner's paragraph, journal or story should contain proper spelling. This lets the learner get the true value of a written piece. Therefore, several techniques and tools can help the learners achieve this.

Many people have difficulty spelling. Spelling in English is not easy because words often sound different than the lettering. Also, the spelling rules often have exceptions. Learning to spell takes a lot of practice. In order to help the adult learner with spelling, the program utilizes a number of techniques and tools.

1. People spell by reading and writing:

A learner can practice spelling through reading and writing, not necessarily through memorizing lists of words or spelling orally as in spelling bees. Encourage the learner to start with words he/she needs to know. You can also encourage the learner to use words from his/her personal dictionary. The learner can then look for these words when he/she is reading. Tools we have found particularly useful here include:

Phonics: Teaches the learner the sounds of the alphabet, consonants and vowels, and the many combinations. This encourages the learner to 'sound out' words he/she does not recognize.

Phonics Wheel: Used as an aid in writing and spelling, it suits regular class work in a group or on an individual basis. It contains over 800 word combinations. One objective of the Phonics Wheel is to reinforce the phonetic value of letters whether single or in combination. It also helps develop word recognition and formation, and aids in learning phonetic essentials and basic vocabulary.