8 Spelling Mistakes Even Smart People Make

Kali ini aku ingin melanglang bahasa ke Inggris, tempat bahasa kedua kita berasal. 

The other day I have mentioned something about re-activating my English skills, especially in speaking, since our school is gdeveloping to an international school. English should be the main language used in our school. So here are some commonly spelling mistakes that we have to know to be avoid. Copy & paste from Care2.com. Here is the original site. 

By Desktop Diva via DivineCaroline

1. YOU’RE and YOUR
If you have no idea when to use which … well, you’re not on your own. This is perhaps the most common mistake of all. Heaven knows why. The distinction is really quite simple:

• You’re is used to substitute the words you are.
• Your is a word you use when referring to something that belongs to the person you’re speaking to. “Your purse,” “your coat,” and so on—and not “Your late!” or “Your wrong!”

2. IT’S and ITS
Close cousins of you’re and your, it’s and its suffer about the same amount of misuse.
• It’s (with an apostrophe) replaces It is or It has. (It’s easy to remember!)
• Its (with no apostrophe) refers to something that belongs to “it.” (Its meaning is clear!) 
 3. THEY’RE, THEIR, and THERE
Ah, the triple treat … or terror, as the case may be:
• They’re is short for They are.
• Their refers to something that belongs to “them.”
• And there is simply “not here.” “They’re going to their house, which is over there.”

4. TO and TOO
When you mean overly, please remember to add the extra O—or face the consequences. I once received a heated text message that was meant to make me angry: “TO BAD!” it shouted in loud, aggressive capitals. I ended up in uncontrollable giggles instead. Too bad indeed.
5. LOOSE and LOSE
This one really drives me batty. And when I lose my mind, I often let loose a string of expletives. When what you want to say is the opposite of find, then lose the extra O. Loose (with two o’s) is the opposite of tight.
Like I said, these little confusions are pretty common. They don’t actually bother me half as much as the non-words I often find littering notes, emails … even official business memos. Words like:

6. IRREGARDLESS
Hundreds of people use this word (often with passion!), both in speech and writing, every day—but the truth is, it doesn’t exist! The real word is regardless.
7. ALOT
Anyone who insists this is a word is spouting ALOT of baloney. If you’ve ever written this non-word, what you probably meant was either a lot (meaning “many”) or allot (to ration or allocate).
8. AHOLD
Boy, would I love to get a hold (two words, not one) of the person who decided to just forget the space and make up “ahold new word.”
Guilty? Don’t sweat it. Its nothing to loose sleep over. Your not to bad. Their are alot of people in the same boat, irregardless of what you may think. Just get ahold of you’reself, take a few mental notes, and move on from here.
Please?

Let's keep speaking English, and avoid the common mistakes that even smart people do. Let's be smarter than them ;)

Berbahasa Inggris Lagi

Tahun Pelajaran Baru sudah dimulai lagi. Tengah tahun pertama bahkan sudah pula kulewati. Aktivitas rutin kembali kujalani. Mengajar materi baru, aku harus banyak belajar lagi. Tahun ini aku diamanahi untuk mengajar kelas tematik di kelas 2. Ini berarti aku mengajar beberapa mata pelajaran sekaligus, yaitu Bahasa Inggris, IPA, Kesenian, Hafalan Quran, plus iqro dan satu jam pelajaran kewalikelasan. 

Sebagai guru di sekolah yang mematok target sebagai sekolah internasional, tentu saja kami, guru-guru, dituntut untuk selalu berbahasa Inggris dalam keseharian kami. Sebetulnya, aku cukup terbiasa berbahasa Inggris, walaupun tetap harus belajar banyak. Yang jadi masalah adalah... aku harus menjelaskan materi pelajaran dalam bahasa Inggris pula. Ini yang sulit. 

Mencari padanan kata maupun kalimat untuk diucapkan sebetulnya relatif mudah. Apalagi saat ini kita bisa mendapatkan berbagai sumber dengan mudah melalui fasilitas mesin pencari dengan koneksi internet yang semakin mudah diakses. Yang sulit adalah membuat mereka, anak anak itu, mengerti apa yang kita katakan. 

Anak-anak yang belum terbiasa berbahasa Inggris itu, tentu tidaklah bisa dengan cepat 'dipaksa' untuk mengerti berbagai konsep pelajaran, yang disampaikan dalam bahasa asing. Jika pun aku harus mengajar mereka dalam bahasa Indonesia, belum tentu pula mereka mengerti. Apatah lagi dalam bahasa Inggris. Maaf, aku mungkin sedikit pesimis, tapi kondisi ini memang membuatku 'jumpalitan' mengejar target ketercapaian pelajaran, selain kebahasaan. 

Lelah, memang. Tapi aku tahu, kelelahan ini bukan alasan untuk membuatku patah semangat. Kurasa, aku hanya perlu mengkaji lagi, seberapa jauh upaya yang bisa kulakukan untuk mengoptimalkan peningkatan kemampuan berbahasa di kalangan murid-muridku. Seberapa 'gesit' pula aku harus menggunakan bahasa yang berbeda di setiap kesempatan, karena penguasan bahasa ibu pun, menurutku, tetap penting. Sebuah artikel yang kukutip dari tabloid Nova beberapa waktu lalu mungkin berguna. Dapat dilihat di blog bahasamania. Sementara itu, mari berbahasa Inggris lagi.