Australian National Curriculum
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Smart Words is directly linked to the Australian National Curriculum and is used in many English teaching centres worldwide. It works towards developing students’ knowledge and skills that can then be applied to accurately spell words. This is done through:

  • Teaching knowledge of spelling rules, the etymology (history) of words including why and when exceptions may occur.
  • Encouraging students to understand, select, and contextually use familiar and extended vocabulary.
  • Building phonological awareness.
  • Developing phonemic knowledge: sound/letter combinations including vowel and consonant clusters/digraphs. The program categorises the variability of sound and possible letter representation.
  • Developing memory skills to help in the retention of high-frequency words and automaticity when spelling.
  • Extending from concepts of print through to features and organisation of text.
  • Teaching grammar and differentiating words into parts of speech.
  • Teaching the understanding of morphemic groupings: the rules in adding prefixes and/or suffixes to a word and the changes in meaning.
  • Develops proofreading and editing skills, including punctuation.