All About Teaching and Learning Phonics

[Funz]

Hi Charmaine,


I get you. I am not saying don’t read or don’t bother. In fact I encourage reading to kids. I for one started reading to my kids when they were 4mths old.

And I for one will say the though Phonics is a popular method for teaching reading, it is not the only method. My kids too do not respond well to phonics and it initially confuses them. But I still expose them to Phonics. One never know, they may not be able to apply it fully now but further down they may reach into that memory bank and use that knowledge.

Though I do not think you fall in that category, but I see more and more parents coming to us worrying about their children’s ability to read and write and add and subtract. Whereas in the past, parents start panicking when the kids are in 2nd half of K2, these days, parents at the start of N1 come to us worried that the kid cannot recognise words, citing examples of fren’s kids who can while theirs cannot.

I just cannot stress enough those that can read at such an early age is an exception, not the norm. But with parents pushing for such expectations, my fear is it will become a norm and those who cannot be labelled slow.

[hquek]

hi Funz,


I get your message. DS1 is a joy to read to, and he's learnt to read by himself (on schedule since he's 5+). DS2 runs away very fast when the book is opened.

DS1 didn't require me to revise his chinese enrichment materials and he still knew his stuff. On the other hand, I have been sitting for weeks and weeks reading the same stuff to DS2...and he still dunno how to read. :stupid: :stupid: :stupid:

All kids are different even if factory is the same. I shall pray for patience and understanding - someday I hope he can see the light and love books as DS1 and me do. Till then, I shall remain...

[hquek]

With the passage of time, I can wisely (according to my standards lah) say that whilst phonics is a good method - if mastered can allow a child to close 2 eyes and still get perfect spelling; not all kids will get it. My friend’s kid didn’t attend any formal phonics class, yet he can piece the word together to figure how it sounds…at age 3.


BUT, reality prevails. DS1 is hopeless at blending words and refuses to think how the words come together. Yet, through constant reading (of varied types), I’m comfortable with his grasp of English at this time.

Through this, I learn first hand that kids will learn in their own way and in their own time. And if he isn’t prepared to go solo, I’ll be there to hold his hand until he is.

Am very impressed by what the other parents are doing…it’s a joy and inspiration to read all these contributions…

[Charmaine_chong]

Hi Hquek,


My son (borned in Mar06) didn't want to read after me everytime i took a book out to encourage him to read for last whole year.

Thing changed after he has attended 4 lessons of lapbooking by a blogger-Shirley. She appeared in Jan10 Young Parents Magazine.

http://www.domesticgoddess-ourworldmyworld.blogspot.com/

She is the best teacher i ever met myself so far. I sat through the class with my son and had learnt a lot from her. She is very generous to share her parenting tips and it is really really useful. Very impressive.

During the lesson, my son always answered nonsense when she posted him a question but it does have positive influence on him later on.

He is keen to read out road sign and P&J as well as starting to ask me question since then. This never happen before.

I do not know how to put it in writing. You have to see it yourself. And honestly it is really beneficial.

Eg: When she reads Eric Carle's The Very Busy Spider, she reads with annotation, train children's memory what animal come next, get the child to look at the picture of spider at front page to see how details a child is. Get the child to touch the book..... a lot more.

I know good teacher doesn't easy to come by. I am simply sharing with parents what i find worth to share.

[tamarind]

I never learned phonics when I was a child. My parents only knew how to speak Cantonese and they could never read any English book to me. I could not even read Charlotte's Web at 13 years old, there are so many words that I don't know how to read. I can only read English fluently only when I was over 16 years old. That's why I think that if kids are left on their own, most kids will probably end up like me.


My boy's learning ability is only average, he needs many repetitions to learn new words. He really amazes that he can read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory fluently at 5 years old. (I read this book when I was over 20 years old) I firmly believe that if parents can find the right teaching methods to suit their kids, every child who is of average and above ability, can be taught to read books like those written by Roald Dahl before they turn 6 years old.

The key is to understand what are the effective methods. The most effective way to teach a child to read is to learn phonics and sight words at the same time :

http://tamarindphonics.blogspot.com/2008/08/how-to-teach-phonics.html
http://tamarindphonics.blogspot.com/2008/12/key-words-with-ladybird.html

Parents who do not know phonics, can easily learn it by watching the 3 Leapfrog DVDs

The next important thing, is to know how to attract your child's attention, and motivate him to learn. This is the most difficult part. Every child is different, so parents have to figure out what is the best way to motivate him.

In the case of my boy, establishing a routine to read books really helps. It becomes a habit like brushing teeth. He knows that he has to read everyday, so he might as well finish it quickly so he can do other things Now he is truly enjoying the benefits of being able to read independently.

[tamarind]

Charmaine,

Thanks for sharing. I have read her blog too. Yes she is a very good teacher.

May I ask how much did you pay for the classes ?

May I suggest that you post about this blog in this thread ?
http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?t=584&start=430

I am sure that mommies reading that thread will be very interested to know about this class.

[tamarind]

hquek:

With the passage of time, I can wisely (according to my standards lah) say that whilst phonics is a good method - if mastered can allow a child to close 2 eyes and still get perfect spelling; not all kids will get it. My friend's kid didn't attend any formal phonics class, yet he can piece the word together to figure how it sounds...at age 3.


BUT, reality prevails. DS1 is hopeless at blending words and refuses to think how the words come together. Yet, through constant reading (of varied types), I'm comfortable with his grasp of English at this time.

Through this, I learn first hand that kids will learn in their own way and in their own time. And if he isn't prepared to go solo, I'll be there to hold his hand until he is.

Am very impressed by what the other parents are doing....it's a joy and inspiration to read all these contributions....

Phonics is actually just a technique of sounding out the words. I wrote before that it is not rocket science, and we don't need to find an expert to teach it. Kids and even adults who has read enough books, actually know the techniques of phonics even though we never attend any classes. Phonics is simply a way of figuring out how to read a word by using the sounds of the letters. Very smart kids can figure out on their own. I figured it out only when I was about 16 years old

[dimsum]

Charmaine_chong:

Thing changed after he has attended 4 lessons of lapbooking by a blogger-Shirley. She appeared in Jan10 Young Parents Magazine.

http://www.domesticgoddess-ourworldmyworld.blogspot.com/

She is the best teacher i ever met myself so far. I sat through the class with my son and had learnt a lot from her. She is very generous to share her parenting tips and it is really really useful. Very impressive.

During the lesson, my son always answered nonsense when she posted him a question but it does have positive influence on him later on.

He is keen to read out road sign and P&J as well as starting to ask me question since then. This never happen before.

I do not know how to put it in writing. You have to see it yourself. And honestly it is really beneficial.

Eg: When she reads Eric Carle's The Very Busy Spider, she reads with annotation, train children's memory what animal come next, get the child to look at the picture of spider at front page to see how details a child is. Get the child to touch the book..... a lot more.

I know good teacher doesn't easy to come by. I am simply sharing with parents what i find worth to share.

Charmaine, I am an active reader of her blog lately. She's an amazing mummy who could do SO MUCH with her 2 boys. Lotsa great ideas/activities that she shared on the blog. Sorry Tamarind, OT.

[Charmaine_chong]

Hi Tamarind, i will post on the other thread.


Parents,
She is really great. Not only teaching a child to read, but she trains the child at the same time for lots more.

The fees and classess available here
http://thetotsuniversity.blogspot.com/2009/11/class-schedule-april-to-july-2010.html

Dimsum, me too.

[mummy of 2]

Just want to share my experience and thoughts, as I have been following this thread and the topic is close to my heart.


I grew up in a dialect-speaking home, like Tarimand (except mine is Hokkien). My exposure to English came in the form of Enid Blyton books. My mother used to babysit this girl, whose mother had a wonderful collection of Enid Blyton books. I would pester her to lend me the books. And I remember I could read 3-4 books in a week. To this day, Enid Blyton books hold a special place in my heart. I was shocked to realise that the books are considered politically incorrect nowadays. Anyway, that's another topic altogether. I'm sure I will still expose my kids to Enid Blyton.

Through reading, my writing skills improved, and I'm considered a pretty good writer amongst my peers. Though I can read and write well, I was not a confident speaker, as I had difficulty getting the pronounciation right. I felt inferior to some of my classmates and friends, who grew up in an English-speaking environment. I envied the way they could speak so fluently in English. My spoken English was not on-par with my command of the written language, as I could not pronoucne correctly the words that I could write.

From my own experience, I knew the importance of reading. I made it a point to introduce books to my kids since they were babies. I'm glad to say my efforts paid off, and both of them love to sit down with a good book. I did not consciously plan to teach them to read, as I thought that they would pick up simple by reading widely, just like the way I did.

It was a revelation to me to read about how Tarimand taught her children phonics and to read independently using phonics. I realised that this was the missing piece in my jigsaw puzzle of mastering the language. With phonics, one can improve one's speaking. I was very inspired and started to expose my children to the Leapfrog DVDs Tarimand introduced. I learned my phonics together with them. Soon I could see the effects. When I did worksheets with DS1, he could match the picture to the word simply by looking at the first letter of the word. I will continue to teach my kids phonics as best as i can.

Having said that, I still believe in the importance of cultivating the love for reading, as I believe that is fundamental to learning.

I would like to thank Tarimand and Buds for their generous sharing, and the tips they have provided to clueless mummies like me

I also hope that other parents will continue to keep trying. I'm sure we can make a difference to our child's learning. Even if we do not have the technical skills, our interest alone will be motivation to our children to keep learning.