All About Getting Help for Students Weak in English

[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.

[ANON001]

Hi,


My gal also in K1 this yr, she’s also slow in learning… eg. i want her to learn to write and spell Jan to Dec, she can write but got problem to spell out when i give her in spelling… i did send her to phonics class for a yr but it doesn’t seem to improve, still can’t blend and try to pronounce on her own, unlike my elder boy who after attending 1 yr phonics, can read independently…

[isaiahmum]

Thanks to all parents who have responded to my mail so promptly. Yes, I do understand that teaching my son personally will yield the best results, and we're already doing that (spending around 30-60 mins with him every night). However, this pose a bit of a challenge cause both my husband and myself are working full time, and we also have to coach my younger daughter and eldest son.


That is why I'm thinking of engaging a tutor to take over some of the teaching sessions so that we can coach the other 2 kids.

Hi Tamarind, I've read many of your emails in this forum and have also checked out your blog previously. It's amazing that you can teach your son so well. Are you interested to provide tuition? I'm staying in Clementi. :lol:

[mrswongtuition]

Every child learns differently. Some may do well on phonics, some need to learn using other methods.


I honestly think that there’s no such thing as ‘slow in learning’. It’s just that we have not discovered the child’s learning style.

Getting a tutor might help if the tutor knows that he/she is doing. However, you will still need to reinforce when the tutor is not around.

[mathsparks]

hi isaiahmum,

I taught both my kids to read by using the Peter and Jane series of books, not the complete series, just 1 book from each level. I started them young, around 2+, if I rem right.

:? Is it really necessary for parents and kids to learn phonics? I've no problems with pronounciation/spelling despite not knowing phonics.

[HyperKiasu]

mathsparks:

:? Is it really necessary for parents and kids to learn phonics? I've no problems with pronounciation/spelling despite not knowing phonics.

i also do without phonics...

Hi isaiahmum,

I think many boys are not interested in language. Yours happens to be one of them. I don't think your son is weak learner... you just need more patience and find out what might kind of books might hook him...

[mathsparks]

:hi5: hyperkiasu! you're not so kiasu, afterall.

[tamarind]

isaiahmum:

Thanks to all parents who have responded to my mail so promptly. Yes, I do understand that teaching my son personally will yield the best results, and we're already doing that (spending around 30-60 mins with him every night). However, this pose a bit of a challenge cause both my husband and myself are working full time, and we also have to coach my younger daughter and eldest son.


That is why I'm thinking of engaging a tutor to take over some of the teaching sessions so that we can coach the other 2 kids.

Hi Tamarind, I've read many of your emails in this forum and have also checked out your blog previously. It's amazing that you can teach your son so well. Are you interested to provide tuition? I'm staying in Clementi. :lol:

Hi isaiahmum,
I am too busy to give tuition, got to wait until both my kids grow up.

I think it is difficult to find a good tutor for K1 kids, because there is no syllabus for kindergarten, most tutors don't know how to teach. They will probably ask you to buy lots of assessment books. The best option is to teach him yourself, if that is not possible, then the next best option is to send him to a good enrichment class but you still have to spend time revising with him everyday.

Also, I think that some boys are late developers. It is too early to label a child as a slow learner at 5 years old. All he needs is one to one attention and a really good teacher who can grab his attention.

My son is like your son in many ways, but by teaching him consistently at home, his speed of learning has improved.

[tamarind]

Dear all,

Research has found that phonics can help the majority of children to read and spell better. In fact, phonics is now compulsory in all schools in UK :

Phonics to be compulsory in schools
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1513565/Phonics-to-be-compulsory-in-schools.html

http://www.synthetic-phonics.com/phonics61.html

In fact, I am surprised that Singapore schools have not made phonics compulsory, following UK. In my girl's primary school, the English head of department mentioned the importance of phonics. It seems like teachers expect kids to know phonics before entering P1.

Some kids may be able to learn to read entirely by sight words, but most kids do not have this ability. I know some kids are able to remember a word after one repetition. But most kids require many repetitions to learn a word. I know this from personal experience because I have 2 kids who are far apart in learning abilities. Also remember that some parents are much more hardworking than others For the majority of kids of average and above learning ability, phonics is very helpful for remembering new words and spelling.

In my http://tamarindphonics.blogspot.com/2008/08/how-to-teach-phonics.html, I wrote that I used a combination of phonics and sight words by the Peter and Jane series. These are the most effective methods to teach kids to read. In fact, I only teach my son to read for only 15 mins a day, and the results are amazing after only one year.