Phonetics

[carolynwhite2]

--- In HPFGU-Catalogue at yahoogroups.com, "corinthum" <kakearney at c...> 
wrote:
> 
> On a completely unrelated and off-topic note, to all you Brits, do you
> learn to spell by sound rather than letter?  My sister works in a
> popular destination for British tourists (well, tourists of all
> nationality, really, but half of the UK seems to migrate there at
> certain times of the year).  And she's noticed that when she asks
> young kids to spell their names, they don't use letters, but sounds. 
> For example, my name would be k at -e-@l- at l-j@  rather than
> keI-i:-el-el-waI.  Is this a widespread technique for learning to
> spell over there?
> 

Coincidentally with you raising this question, an immense row has 
broken out about this topic in the UK this week. I am only loosely 
following it to be honest, but those of you interested in kids' 
education might like to peruse this blog item for starters:

http://www.samizdata.net/blog/archives/007625.html

..erm, don't ask me to defend the politics of this site, but there's no 
doubt it's lively. I particularly enjoy their Social Responsibility 
statement (see RH margin).

Carolyn