6．There is a popular belief among parents that schools are no longer interested in spelling．This is，however，a misunderstanding．No school I have taught in has ever ignored spelling or considered it unimportant as a basic skill．There are，however，many different ideas about how to teach it，or how much priority （优先） it must be given over general language development and writing ability．
If spelling becomes the only focal point of his teacher's interest，clearly a bright child will be likely to"play safe"，this is to say，to avoid using words he is not sure of．He will tend to write only words within his spelling range，choosing to avoid adventurous language．That's why teachers often encourage the early use of dictionaries and pay attention to content rather than technical ability．In this way，students will be able to express their ideas more freely．
I was once shocked to read on the bottom，of a sensitive piece of writing about a personal experience："This word is terrible!There are far too many spelling errors and your writing is illegible （难以辨认的）．"It may have been a sharp criticism（批评） of the pupil's technical abilities in writing，but it was also a sad reflection on the teacher who had failed to read the essay，which contained some beautiful expressions of the child's deep feelings．The teacher was not wrong to draw attention to the errors，but if his priorities had centered on the child's ideas，an expression of his disappointment with the presentation would have given the pupil more motivation to seek improvement．
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If spelling becomes the only focal point of his teacher's interest，clearly a bright child will be likely to"play safe"，this is to say，to avoid using words he is not sure of．He will tend to write only words within his spelling range，choosing to avoid adventurous language．That's why teachers often encourage the early use of dictionaries and pay attention to content rather than technical ability．In this way，students will be able to express their ideas more freely．
I was once shocked to read on the bottom，of a sensitive piece of writing about a personal experience："This word is terrible!There are far too many spelling errors and your writing is illegible （难以辨认的）．"It may have been a sharp criticism（批评） of the pupil's technical abilities in writing，but it was also a sad reflection on the teacher who had failed to read the essay，which contained some beautiful expressions of the child's deep feelings．The teacher was not wrong to draw attention to the errors，but if his priorities had centered on the child's ideas，an expression of his disappointment with the presentation would have given the pupil more motivation to seek improvement．
| Topic | Spelling |
| Different beliefs | •Parents（61）believe/thinkthat schools no longer show（62）interestin spelling． •Teachers consider spelling（63）important/significantas a basic skill，or never ignored it． |
| The writer's （64）attitudes towards spelling and an essay's comment | If a teacher only（65）focuseson spelling，a clever child will be likely to use the words familiar to them．As a（66）result，teachers encourage students to use dictionaries（67）early． |
| •It was（68）shocking/astonishing/amazing for me to read comments on an essay． •The teacher failed to read the essay，and（69）ignored some good expressions of a student's deep feeling． •Centering on the spelling errors would（70）discourage/prevent/stop/keepthe pupil from expressing himself freely and seeking improvement． |