All About Teaching and Learning Phonics
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tamarind:
Hi TamarindNot a generalisation, just my personal observation, based on my boy. Before 3 years old, he cannot sit still to listen to me. I know many other kids like him. In my blog, I gave many suggestions of books that could grab his attention :
http://tamarindphonics.blogspot.com/2009/09/wonderful-books-for-kids-from-birth-to.html
I have also heard one parent that she read the same book 50 times to her child, and he still cannot read the book.
Every child is different, and every child learns in different ways. If a child can learn simply by listening to mommy, then by all means read to him/her.
In my case, my boy cannot learn just by listening to me reading him. His mind will be thinking about a hundred different things, not related to the book. He learns best by reading out loud every word from the page. His progress is amazing by learning to read this way. He is able to read Roald Dahl books after only 1 year plus.
I have just sharing the most effective methods of learning to read with other parents. I definitely agree that parents should read to their kids since birth. But if parents find that no matter how many books they read to the child, he/she is still not reading well by 3 years old, then I would advise them to try other methods.
Also, for a full time working mommy like me, I really don't have the time to read so many books to my kids. So it is important that my kids learn to read as soon as possible. Now they read many books out loud to me instead
Asking the child to read out loud from the book, also stimulates his thinking, and allows him to practice his speech. My boy was not speaking well at 3 years old, now at 5 years 6 months old, he is speaking beautifully, and he talks a lot. Now he reads about 500 to 1000 words to me everyday.
That is why I do not believe that reading to a child is the best way to teach him to read. The best way is for him to read out loud, and to get books with interesting pop-ups that will interest him.
My friend's child is turning 3 next month and able to read by herself. She self-taught her child to decode the word but not blending i.e ing, take -n. She claimed that phonics don't work for her after teaching her child for the past 6 months . However, she will insist her daughter to read aloud 4 series books everyday (pointing to the words) and rewarded her generously. She will occupied her child for at least 2 hrs everynight (8pm to 10pm) by teaching her to read and introducing vocabulary ..her child sleep at 12am as she refused to sleep early.. Her child was recently assessed by a phonic centre called \"The Learning Centre\" to be K2 standard (able to decode). The centre refused to accept the child and commented that no centre will accept her. My friend suggested that i should follow her method as it is hard for me to teach blending too..n decoding of words seems to be \"shortcut\" ....What do you think? -
chrismei,
There are 2 ways to learn to read, phonics and sight words. I think that your friend is using sight words. Some kids with excellent memory can learn to read very quickly this way. But it really depends on the child. Every child is different, and not all kids have superb memory. Kids of average ability will have a lot of difficulty memorizing sight words.
Also, a child may be able to read hundreds of words, but she may not be able to spell them if she does not know phonics. I have taught my kids both phonics and sight words at the same time. They are both able to spell words effortlessly. When they are able to read fluently, they are also able to write in complete sentences without the need to be taught.
I am not sure what you mean by "decoding". She may be using her own methods to teach phonics ? Anyway, there are many ways to teach phonics, and parents should find the most suitable methods for their kids, according to the kids’ abilities.
Honestly, many kids at the age of 2 to 3 cannot even focus for 15 minutes. A child who is able to focus for 2 hours is probably of exceptional intelligence. Even then, I feel that it is not necessary for a child below the age of 5, to learn academically for more than 30 minutes a day. -
tamarind:
Hi Tamarindchrismei,
There are 2 ways to learn to read, phonics and sight words. I think that your friend is using sight words. Some kids with excellent memory can learn to read very quickly this way. But it really depends on the child. Every child is different, and not all kids have superb memory. Kids of average ability will have a lot of difficulty memorizing sight words.
Also, a child may be able to read hundreds of words, but she may not be able to spell them if she does not know phonics. I have taught my kids both phonics and sight words at the same time. They are both able to spell words effortlessly. When they are able to read fluently, they are also able to write in complete sentences without the need to be taught.
I am not sure what you mean by \"decoding\". She may be using her own methods to teach phonics ? Anyway, there are many ways to teach phonics, and parents should find the most suitable methods for their kids, according to the kids' abilities.
Honestly, many kids at the age of 2 to 3 cannot even focus for 15 minutes. A child who is able to focus for 2 hours is probably of exceptional intelligence. Even then, I feel that it is not necessary for a child below the age of 5, to learn academically for more than 30 minutes a day.
I think she taught her child to decode in such manner.e.g pilow- \"pi\"\"low\" or \"citi\"\"bank\". She applied whole word's approach to decode another word in fun way..reinforced by putting word on the floor and let the child find the object.. -
chrismei,
Her method is more towards sight words. Actually kids who have read a lot of books, will be able to figure out how to decode words using their own methods, without having been taught phonics.
But as I have written earlier, phonics is essential when it comes to spelling and reading. There are parents who make their kids write "cat" ten times to learn how to spell it. But with phonics, kids can spell any 3 letter word without the need to practice writing any words. There is no need to learn all the complicated techniques of phonics. Kids should at least know how to join 3 letters to form words, and this skill will enable them to learn sight words very quickly. I have heard of parents who read a book many times to a child, but the child still cannot read the book. This is because the child does not know phonics, and he is unable to remember so many words by sight.
As parents, we should find the best methods that suit our kids. Some methods work well for certain kids, but not others. I believe that we should use a combination of methods, that is, both phonics and sight words, most kids will be able to learn to read very well when they are taught phonics and sight words at the same time. -
Hi Tamarind
I notice that when i read P & J books to my child, he will always look at the pictures and not the words. Then he will ask me tons of question while Im reading, like, what is Jane doing? why Peter kick the ball? etc…This interupts the reading process…
What should i do? Have u experience this before?
I started him on the 3 alphabets phonics recently and noticed he is not very keen on it. When i took out the card (which i made according to yr blog), he will become very resistant and keep saying dont want to play cards… what should i do?
**He is 3 yo and knows all the 26 alphabets sounds very well… -
tamarind:
tamarind,chrismei,
Her method is more towards sight words. Actually kids who have read a lot of books, will be able to figure out how to decode words using their own methods, without having been taught phonics.
But as I have written earlier, phonics is essential when it comes to spelling and reading. There are parents who make their kids write \"cat\" ten times to learn how to spell it. But with phonics, kids can spell any 3 letter word without the need to practice writing any words. There is no need to learn all the complicated techniques of phonics. Kids should at least know how to join 3 letters to form words, and this skill will enable them to learn sight words very quickly. I have heard of parents who read a book many times to a child, but the child still cannot read the book. This is because the child does not know phonics, and he is unable to remember so many words by sight.
As parents, we should find the best methods that suit our kids. Some methods work well for certain kids, but not others. I believe that we should use a combination of methods, that is, both phonics and sight words, most kids will be able to learn to read very well when they are taught phonics and sight words at the same time.
i two thumbs up what u have said. I didnt even finish teaching 3letter blending, my ds is already reading by himself and he was only 3yo then. I also did phonics as well as flashing cards with sight words, it works well. When he was in K2, he was helping others in his class spelling words, now p1 dont even need to learn his spelling in advance.
Initially he did spell phonetically but as they do alot of reading, he picks up the right spelling. I think learning phonics alone is not good enough, you need to read as many books as possible. -
ml15:
Actually in phonics, children learn that \"ai\" sounds like \"a\" as in \"main\", \"pain\" etc. Checkout my blog :Hi mummaid
I have the same problem... my K1 boy recently had spelling list too and I freak out. The first week was 3 words and it was easy, he got it all correct. Then the 2nd week 4 words - that's it, too much for him liao...
Hi Tamarind
My son attended phonics lesson for 1 yr liao. The teacher say he is good at it. But hor, I think he mix up English Alphabets with phonics. He will say 'I' as 'e'. So he will spell RAIN (verbal) as R A E N (so mixed up alpha with phonics). What shd I do? And also he cannot finish writing A-Z and will mix the upper case with lower case. I'm very worried....
http://tamarindphonics.blogspot.com/2008/09/long-vowels.html
Montessori phonics teaches this. Your son's teacher probably has not touch on that yet ?
I think you don't have to worry. You should be very happy that he spelled 3 out of 4 letters correct ! That is 75% correct All he has to do is remember 25% of the word.
Also make sure that your son reads as many books as possible. A child who reads regularly will have a \"photo\" of the words inside his brain, and he will be able to spell even the sight words that are not phonetic : http://tamarindphonics.blogspot.com/2009/05/spelling.html
Phonics is essential for spelling. Kids should be encouraged to spell by listening to the sounds. It is OK that they make small mistakes, we should give them lots of encouragement. They only have to spend very little effort to remember small parts of some words. Do not make a child memorize the spelling, there are thousands of English words, it will take them many years to memorize all of them.
It is absolutely alright for a child to start to learn phonics from 2 or 3 years old. A child who has a very strong foundation in phonics, and has read many books, will be able to write compositions very easily. We should not only aim for a child to spell individual words. We should aim for him to write in sentences, compositions and stories :
http://tamarindphonics.blogspot.com/2009/02/written-by-chloe.html -
pokemon:
pokemon,
tamarind,
i two thumbs up what u have said. I didnt even finish teaching 3letter blending, my ds is already reading by himself and he was only 3yo then. I also did phonics as well as flashing cards with sight words, it works well. When he was in K2, he was helping others in his class spelling words, now p1 dont even need to learn his spelling in advance.
Initially he did spell phonetically but as they do alot of reading, he picks up the right spelling. I think learning phonics alone is not good enough, you need to read as many books as possible.
Thanks so much for sharing
You are absolutely right that a strong foundation in phonics, as well as reading as many books as possible, are the best methods to learn to read. If parents can do both, kids will have a very easy time in school !
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sunset_dae:
You should be happy that your son is asking all those questions ! Try your best to answer as much as possible, and allow him to examine the pictures for as long as he wants to. My older girl likes to examine the pictures too, and now in P1, her comprehension skills are excellent, and very advanced compared to other kids in her class.Hi Tamarind
I notice that when i read P & J books to my child, he will always look at the pictures and not the words. Then he will ask me tons of question while Im reading, like, what is Jane doing? why Peter kick the ball? etc.....This interupts the reading process..
What should i do? Have u experience this before?
I started him on the 3 alphabets phonics recently and noticed he is not very keen on it. When i took out the card (which i made according to yr blog), he will become very resistant and keep saying dont want to play cards.. what should i do?
**He is 3 yo and knows all the 26 alphabets sounds very well..
Pictures are very important in helping kids to understand what they are reading. I have heard cases where kids are reading Roald Dahl, but don't understand what they are reading. Kids below the age of 5 should read as many picture books as possible to help them comprehend the story, even though they may already be able to read English chapter books.
As for teaching phonics, try to design games to make learning fun.
For example :
1. Hide the cards and ask him to look for them. When he finds the card, he has to read the word.
2. Demonstrate the action and ask him to guess the word
3. Show him the real object and ask him to guess the word
4. Paste the \"a\" on a ball, and \"n\" on another ball, you roll one ball and she rolls the other ball. When the 2 balls touch, he must read the word.
5. If you have toy cars, you can also try number 4 the same way by rolling 2 toy cars together.
6. We have square tiles at home, so one idea is to put one card on each tile. Then play some music and ask the child to walk on the tiles. When the music stops, he has to read the word on the tile.
My hubby often asks me whether we are playing or learning. Before the age of five, kids should play and learn at the same time.
There is no need to think of elaborate games, young kids will enjoy simple games.
In the case of my boy, I use the word cards to play \"games\" with him, it was just a simple game of asking him to group the words in the correct groups. At that age he liked to arrange things, that that was fun for him. Sometimes we messed up the cards, and he had to pick up a card when I read the word. He had a lot of fun messing up the cards, sometimes we even blew the cards around just for fun
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hi tamarind
My girl has just finished reading Book 3b. However, for the C series, she is still at 1c. Do i have to follow the sequence i.e. 1a, b and then c?
She also likes to look at the picture first before she starts to read. She does not ask questions, but sometimes will just say out something what she likes or what happened by looking at the picture. Does this mean she understand what she is reading?
Btw, she is turning 3 next month.
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