All About Teaching and Learning Phonics

[tamarind]

laughingcat:

Thanks Tamarind.


I guess I need to be patient and plays lots of game. That means scratching my head for more ideas. :idea:

I guess that is the way for not easily decodeable sight words. Sometime he can remember but sometime he just can't. And that can be demoralising for me lah. Not so much on him....just need to be patient then.

Don't be demoralized. My boy can take many weeks to remember some words How old is your child ? If he is less than 5 years old, you still have lots of time so you can take it easy.

[kids_r_innocent]

Hi,


Appreciate advise on the following:

I have juz started coaching my gal to spell. I realised that she may be good at breaking new words into parts to pronounce, however, she doesnt use/know how to use phonics to learn spelling. I am wondering what is the problem, and how to get tackle it (personally i am not good at using phonics to spell oso).

Thank you!!

[tamarind]

kids_r_innocent:

Hi,


Appreciate advise on the following:

I have juz started coaching my gal to spell. I realised that she may be good at breaking new words into parts to pronounce, however, she doesnt use/know how to use phonics to learn spelling. I am wondering what is the problem, and how to get tackle it (personally i am not good at using phonics to spell oso).

Thank you!!

Hi kids_r_innocent,
A very important part when teaching phonics, is to say a word, then ask the child to pick up the correct word. We must train the child to listen and then think about the letters associated with the sounds.

My methods are described in this page :
http://tamarindphonics.blogspot.com/2008/08/how-to-teach-phonics.html

In Montessori phonics classes, teachers say a word, then the child have to circle the correct letters in their worksheets.

This is very different from just pointing to the word, breaking it up, and asking the child to repeat after us. By training them to listen to the sounds and then pick up the correct word on their own, we are training them to spell by listening to the words.

You can teach her by helping her to break up the words. For example, when you ask her to spell cat, say c-a-t and tell her to write down the letters. For long words like \"interesting\", when you say the word, break it up and pronounce the sounds slowly : in - ter - es - ting. Ask her to write down the letters associated with the sounds. After more practice, she should be fine.

[kids_r_innocent]

tamarind:

Hi kids_r_innocent,
A very important part when teaching phonics, is to say a word, then ask the child to pick up the correct word. We must train the child to listen and then think about the letters associated with the sounds.

My methods are described in this page :
http://tamarindphonics.blogspot.com/2008/08/how-to-teach-phonics.html

In Montessori phonics classes, teachers say a word, then the child have to circle the correct letters in their worksheets.

This is very different from just pointing to the word, breaking it up, and asking the child to repeat after us. By training them to listen to the sounds and then pick up the correct word on their own, we are training them to spell by listening to the words.

You can teach her by helping her to break up the words. For example, when you ask her to spell cat, say c-a-t and tell her to write down the letters. For long words like \"interesting\", when you say the word, break it up and pronounce the sounds slowly : in - ter - es - ting. Ask her to write down the letters associated with the sounds. After more practice, she should be fine.

Oh... Listen to the sounds, break up the words. I will try this method, thks Tamarind.

[sean wife]

Hi Tamarind,


Like to check with you…in the leapfrog DVD, the sounds of ‘a’ and ‘u’ sounds the same? How do you differentiate that?

How does Montessori teaches the sound ‘a’? I know that some teaches it as ‘eh’, almost the same as the sound for ‘e’, except that it is a longer sound. And when it comes to blending, it seems like ‘eh’ sounds more logical. If we say ‘a’ as ‘ah’, then the word ‘at’ will sound like ‘ut’ right?

:?:

[tamarind]

sean wife:

Hi Tamarind,


Like to check with you…in the leapfrog DVD, the sounds of ‘a’ and ‘u’ sounds the same? How do you differentiate that?

How does Montessori teaches the sound ‘a’? I know that some teaches it as ‘eh’, almost the same as the sound for ‘e’, except that it is a longer sound. And when it comes to blending, it seems like ‘eh’ sounds more logical. If we say ‘a’ as ‘ah’, then the word ‘at’ will sound like ‘ut’ right?

:?:

The sounds of a and u are actually not the same in the Leapfrog DVD. You can use the http://www.starfall.com webpage to check :
http://www.starfall.com/n/level-k/index/load.htm?f

It is clearer on the website. Both the Leapfrog and the starfall.com website teaches the same sound. It's hard to explain in words, you can use the website and find out more.

In the Letter factory DVD, every sound is taught together with words as examples. Parents should also teach the sound together with the words.

[tamarind]

Dear all,

I just read something interesting :
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-496985/English-childrens-literacy-levels-worst-developed-world.html

We are world number 4 in English reading literacy. The United States and English are number 18 and 10 respectively. I am surprised that they are so far behind us. Furthermore, our kids have to manage 2 languages !

Quote from the article :
England's poor showing was also being blamed yesterday on a failure to put traditional \"synthetic phonics\" at the heart of literacy lessons.
The back-to-basics method of teaching children to read - credited with virtually wiping out illiteracy in part of Scotland - became law in schools only last September.

How to teach phonics :
http://tamarindphonics.blogspot.com/2008/08/how-to-teach-phonics.html

[laughingcat]

Hello experts :rahrah: ,


I do have a query and hopefully can get some expert view and suggestion. :salute:

All along I have been teaching my boy the short vowel first. Now that I need to move to teaching long vowel because of some advanced blending.

Can anyone advise me how do I go about teaching long vowels in order to avoid confusion? :?

[milo66]

Tamarind, thanks for ur excellent blog it certainly help to kickstart teaching my boy phonics at home.


Will be relocating overseas hence abit worried of his progress in school and whether he can catch up with P1 curriculum when he is back. Thanks for giving me the confident tat with hard work, a mother can be a good teacher too!

[tamarind]

milo66:

Tamarind, thanks for ur excellent blog it certainly help to kickstart teaching my boy phonics at home.


Will be relocating overseas hence abit worried of his progress in school and whether he can catch up with P1 curriculum when he is back. Thanks for giving me the confident tat with hard work, a mother can be a good teacher too!

You are welcome

I think of teaching as spending quality time with my kids, it is actually very enjoyable now. I love to hear them read the wonderful children's classics out loud to me, it is a great way to de-stress after work. I think that my mind has been enriched through the process too