All About Teaching and Learning Phonics

[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.

[Charmaine_chong]

Mummy of 2,


Thank you for sharing your experience. It touches my heart.

I am thankful to Tamarind and Buds when i was lost to find way teaching my son.

Lots of parents just knew how to show off how well their children can read at very young age but nobody willing to put in effort to share their success road of teaching young tots to read. This is what we need.

Phonics + reading sight words is the express way of reading. I also believe that reading loads of books by running finger on pages + flashing cards to young babies help a lot too. However, flashing to older kid is not effective at all.

My son age 3 years 11 months is reading P&J (book 2a) and knew most of short vowel a.

Lets keep up the hardwork and encourage each other.

[mummy of 2]

Hi Charmaine


I believe you also put in loads of efforts with your child. Let's all continue to share our experience, tips (if any) and learning points, while we journey ahead together.

Forgot to add that my DS1 (4 yrs 3 mths) started on Rigby Literacy in Dec last year and has read all the books in Emergent 1 and 2. I can't say that he recognises all the words he reads, as i suspect he reads based on memory. Nevertheless I'm glad that he is willing to pick up the books and read on his own. He will insist on reading the \"whole stack of books\". The books give him the confidence to read on his own. It also helps that DD2 praises gor gor for being able to read on his own.

[buds]

tamarind:

[I agree. However, I find out some mommies give up too easily on a method, then they desperately go around trying this and that. A method works only if we try it for sufficient amounts of time. If we try for a few days, then give up on the method just because we cannot get the child to be interested, then it will be difficult to find any method that will work for the child

When i read this i honestly thought you were talking in your usual
straight-forwardness manner direct at Charmaine! :!:

:faint:

Charmaine_chong:

[Tamarind,

True enough a method works only when parent persist. BUT, do bear in mind there isn't an approach or method that suits everyone. We have to always re-visit /try again and again. If this method doesn't work out, please review and revise. Is pointless to persist. Take a break may be few days or few weeks, try again.

You are very very very right, Charmaine.

There's this song that goes :

If at first you don't succeed, try try again.. :hugs:

And if it still doesn't seem to work...

There this song...

If at first you don't succeed, try other ways! :celebrate:

[autumnbronze]

Hi Charmaine,


I have PM-up

[tamarind]

mummy of 2:

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.

mummy of 2,
You are welcome

Phonics as well as reading out loud every day, can improve kids speech. My younger boy does not speak well at 3 years old, but since 4 years old he talks from morning to night non-stop. And I am happy that his pronunciation is so clear, thanks to phonics. I don't think I can speak English like that even when I was in Sec 1. I was in RGS so you can imagine what other students think about me.

Yes reading as many books as possible is the key to doing well in English (and also Chinese). I was not able to read story books when I was young, because there were so many words that I didn't know and my parents could not teach me. All I could do was to memorize entire textbooks. I still did well enough, but I could not write good English compositions, even though I memorized all the grammar rules and lots of vocabulary.