At Level 1 we only read these words. Now we learn to spell them. 'le' is a more common ending than 'el'. Tell your pupil, that if in doubt you are more likely to be correct if you use le and than el.
Keeping the vowel short FACT: 'le' can act like powerful 'e'. There must always be two, non-vowel letters between the 'le' ending and the vowel if we want to keep the vowel short (i.e. saying its sound rather than its name) to stop the 'le' from being powerful. In some words, this means doubling the letters to get two consonants in order to keep the vowel saying its sound rather than its name: little - needs double 't' or it would be litle (said lightle).
Your student will no doubt forget to double the letters. In this case, let him/her sound out the word s/he has created and see what effect non-doubling has. Support as necessary until this point has been grasped, but move on regardless. Some short vowel words already have two consonants before the 'le' so we do not need to double: uncle
Long vowel words If we have a long vowel - i.e. a vowel saying its name, then we do not need to have two consonants between the vowel and the 'le'. table
There are many more of these words. Your pupil will, with support to begin with, be able to spell many more, once s/he has the general idea.
le Study these words Short vowel - doubling: little apple bottle middle
Short vowel - two consonants there already: uncle simple handle candle
Long vowel saying its name: able table stable Bible title
If your pupil finds these easy, then s/he can also study the extension words below.
For writing practice
Uncle is here for tea. I can puff out the candle on the cake. Please can I have an apple? What is the title of that book? You are in the middle. Jack turns the handle and opens the door. Are you able to go to the shop for me?
Dictation One Wednesday, Frank had a call from a lady up the road. "Are you able to come and mend the handle on my door?" she said. "Yes, I can," said Frank. "That is a simple job." He went the next day. He was in the middle of the job when Mrs. Green called him inside. "Here is a snack for you," she said. She pointed to the table. There was a little cake and a bottle of pop. "Thank you very much," said Frank.
Teaching notes: Support your child to use speech marks correctly - give help as necessary, but encourage him/her to try first, so that you can assess how much further help s/he needs to be able to use them correctly.
Level 2: Extension words Some harder words to: break them into syllables to sound them out. possible poss-i-ble horrible ho-rrib-le terrible te-rrib-le article ar-tic-le spectacles spec-ta-cles tentacles tent-a-cles