I think that I have posted elsewhere that affairs here in Edinburgh seem to be taking a turn for the better.
My daughter's school, in common with others in the area adopted a rather "old fashioned" method of teaching spelling, based on lists of words with the same sounds, highlighting words which sounded different but were spelt the same or words which sounded the same and were spelt differently. It was rediscoved because in some schools the children with "special needs" were doing better than the children taught in more "modern" ways. On the subject of grammar, both children seem to be coming home with English homework that is more sophisticated than the work that I was doing at the same age. Let's hope that things are improving.
The way I was taught was not particularly impressive. I only just escaped being taught ITA (Intermediate Teaching Alphabet - waz, sed etc) which I regard as one of the lowest points in the teaching of English!
