All About Getting Help for Students Weak in English

[jasminetang]

My P1 son cannot really read, so he has some problems doing his English especially comprehension. He only sees pictures when he holds a book so I had to force him to read 1 page per day. Any good advice?

[kaitlynangelica]

Hi jasminetang,


Was he sent for any phonics class in Kindergarten? Otherwise, is there any feedback from the school teachers?

Alternatively, I don’t think its too late to send him to programmes like I can read.

[smurf]

can elaborate more? such as, do u read to him, does he likes/enjoy reading despite cannot read, what he learnt in kindy?? :?

[jedamum]

jasminetang:

My P1 son cannot really read, so he has some problems doing his English especially comprehension. He only sees pictures when he holds a book so I had to force him to read 1 page per day. Any good advice?

he doesn't know how to read (poor foundation), doesn't enjoy reading or finds it difficult to read (dyslexia)?

[MMM]

As he has been in P1 for 8 months now, did his teacher say anything? Or you can actually speak to his english teacher to see if there are any ways to help him and also their observation if there are any underlying problem?


My P2 niece had problem reading and at P1, she attended the learning support program and it did her well. Now at P2, she is reading well.

My P1 son had the same problem at end K2. Don’t seem to be able to read despite doing phonics program. Some of the things that I did at end K2 to beef him up include sending him for advanced phonics program and making sure that he try to read every night. It started with me reading with him but it has now progress to him reading by himself. His favorite are young scientists magazines and enid blyton books. This is a huge progress from where he came from.

Try to set aside some time everyday to read to him/ with him. Be patient and you will see results. But importantly, speak to the teachers to rule out any problems.

[Poonie]

jasminetang:

My P1 son cannot really read, so he has some problems doing his English especially comprehension. He only sees pictures when he holds a book so I had to force him to read 1 page per day. Any good advice?

jasminetang
I had similar experience with my younger child too. You may want to try these with your son:
- revise phonics concepts with your son everyday
- print out a list of sight-words and get him to read through them over and over. Sight-words are words which one cannot apply phonics technique. Hence such words have to be learnt thru recognition.
- for his school spelling list you can break up the words according to syllables.
- choose story books which have larger fonts and read with him.

It sounds like a lot to do and it really does take a bit of patience. In my child's case, she improved and was able to read Chapter books and was even rewarded with a prize from her English teacher for being one of the 3 pupils who improved their composition writing by leaps and bounds.

Hope these strategies will work for you.

[jasminetang]

Thanks everyone!!


my son is attending lsp now. he seems very lazy to read on his own so i have to read with him. he loves to see pictures only.

he did phonics when he was in k1 and k2 but somehow he has problems blending. e.g. mala, i need to cover ‘la’, to let him read ‘ma’, then he can read.

i have asked the tchrs before and they said he is not dyslexic. need to continue to read with him.

i worry is the exams during yr end as he needs to do compre and compo. wonder if i shld send him to icanread?

[isaiahmum]

Hi parents


I'm new to this forum and wish to seek some advice. My 4.5 years old (K1) son is not learning well at his cc. Have recently switched him to a kindergarten. He is not motivated to learn. Have sent him for some behavioural therapy by a child psychologist, and she said that his development is age appropriate. However, I'm concerned because at his age, he's still not able to write his alphabets well and can't read at all. Brought him to ICR but he refused to go into the classroom and kept crying. Will be sending him to Zoophonics in Aug to join his twin sister's class (he'll be more willing to go since the sister is there).

Does any other parents have similar experience with your child? What kind of enrichment programme is good for him? Am thinking of engaging a private tutor for one-to-one tuition for him. Does anyone have any good tutor to recommend? Also, am considering deferring his P1 registration for a year as he is a Dec child (born Dec 2005) as I would not want him to struggle with his school work if he is not ready for P1. Does any parents have experience deferring their child for P1?

Many thanks! :lol:

[tamarind]

Hi isaiahmum,

My son also does not learn well in kindergarten and enrichment classes at that age. I put him in Zoophonics for 5 months and he learned nothing.

Kids like him need one to one attention. That is why I did my own research and taught him myself. Check out my blog for the resources to use. The first step is to teach phonics :
http://tamarindphonics.blogspot.com/2008/08/how-to-teach-phonics.html

After I taught him for about one year, he is already reading well. By 6 years old, he is reading long English novels very fluently. Thanks to a strong foundation in phonics, he is also able to spell almost all the words in his sister's P1 spelling list, and he does not even need to practice writing the words.

I strongly believe that kids below the age of 6 learn best when given one to one attention by mommy. All we have to do is to spend some effort learning phonics and other effective methods to teach them. All these are very easy, any adult who can read and write English like you do, are capable of learning phonics in less than a week.

Even if you send your son to classes, the teachers will also tell you that you must practice with him everyday at home. Otherwise, he is still not going to do well.

[ctrlaltdel]

I also have a Dec 2004 child and i had also considered to defer him for P1 registration this year. However, i believe that the deferment can only be granted on medical ground. Only children born on 1st Jan can choose to defer p1. Since you had already sent him for behavorial tests and the results are ok, i don’t think deferment can be granted.


In any case, since deferment is not an option, personally for me, my opinion is that we should try our very best to coach our children every day. Even 15 minutes a day can make a huge difference. I know, because my child can now read quite well, and i can say that he should be on par or even better than his peers now.

Your son is only in K1, still got lots of time to improve.