There is a popular belief among parents that schools are
no longer interested in spelling. No school I have
taught has ever ignored spelling or considered it 1.__________
important as a basic skill. There are， however， vastly 2.__________
different ideas about how to teach it， or how much
priority （重点） it must be given over general language
development and written ability. The problem is， how to 3.__________
encourage a child to express himself freely and
confidently in writing without holding him back with the
complexities of spelling？
If spelling becomes the only focal point of his teacher‘s
interest， clearly a bright child will be like to 4.__________
“play safe”。 He will tend to write only words with his 5.__________
range and choose to avoid adventurous language. That is
why teachers often encouraging the early use of 6.__________
dictionaries and pay attention to content rather than
technical ability.
I was shocking to read on the bottom of a sensitive 7.__________
piece of writing about personal experience： “This work
is terrible！ There are far too many spelling errors and
your writing is eligible.“ It may have been a sharp 8.__________
criticism of the pupil‘s technical abilities in
writing， but it was also a sad reflection at the teacher 9.__________
who has omitted to read the essay， which contained any
beautiful expressions of the child‘s deep feelings. The
teacher‘s wrong not to draw attention to the errors，
but if his priority centered on the child‘s ideas， as 10.__________
expression of his disappointment with the presentation
would have given the pupil more motivation to seek
improvement.
参考答案：
1.taught 之后加in.
2.important 改为 unimportant.
3.written改为writing.
4.like改为likely……
5.with 改为within.
6.encouraging 改为encourage.
7.shocking改为shocked.
8.eligible改为 illegible.
9.at改为 on.
10.centered前加had.