Meet the Founder
Patrick Mongeau is a ten year veteran of second grade teaching. While he taught, he started to look up all the “exceptions” kids asked him about during phonics lessons.
At first he did it for fun, because when he found out why unexpected and unpredictable letters show up in common words, it never failed to fascinate him, deepen his understanding of English, and laugh out loud at the same time.
When he told his students about these stories, they laughed, too. And then, they started spelling those words correctly. They noticed the patterns in other words, made connections he had never even thought of, and reported that learning the spelling of sight words was their “favorite part of school.”
All of this came together to inspire the founding of his company, The Worst Words.
He wants to bring the laughter, the engagement, and the results he got in his classroom to schools all over the place. He is currently working on The Worst Words full-time, and would love to come to your school to talk about them!
Why We Exist
Have you ever been teaching a phonics lesson, and hands shoot up to prove you wrong? Have you ever had your students tune out, shut down, groan, or cry while you’re teaching spelling? Have you ever been asked why a word has the letters it does and had no idea why?
Have you ever, secretly, felt like spelling really doesn’t make any sense?
Us, too. That’s what we are here to fix.
The most common, most commonly misspelled, and most confusingly spelled words in English are the words we call The Worst.
These are the words that makes us think, “English spelling is nonsense,” “Phonics doesn’t really work,” and “I’d rather do math.” Students tune out, and teachers get confused and frustrated.
What we found out through research is that The Worst Words are not naturally bad. They actually follow English spelling conventions very well. We’ve made them the problem by trying to spell using letter sounds. It doesn’t work, because English isn’t really a phonetic language.
Instead, English letters have three jobs. They say sound, make meaning, and hold history, and meaning and history trump sound. That means that any phonics-based system you teach will confuse you and your students, and telling students they can sound words out sets them up for failure.
So, what do we do about it?
Research shows that when you tell students about the meaning and history of a word, they remember the spelling better. When you learn the ridiculous stories of the Worst Words, you get a much clearer picture of how English really works, and what part phonics plays. You’ll find that there are not rules and exceptions, but rather common, uncommon, and rare patterns, governed by spelling principles and word histories that will make you laugh, sigh, shake your head, and bang it against the wall.
While we spread the word on the truth about English spelling patterns, we are building is a source for all of those stories, along with research-based approaches to orthographically map these words for children.
Let’s make the worst words into the best ones by diving headlong into the wild world of English Spelling. Welcome to The Worst Words!
Have Questions? Let’s Talk
Send us a quick note and let’s figure things out together—we’re excited to help you reach your learning goals.