I Can Read - Discussion

[Monster Mummy]

Hi,


I think that like others have said, it varies across the centre and also depend on children.

Just like some children can pick up fast and some might still need to make extra effort or longer period to pick up.

For me, the purpose is to let the children to pick up the reading first and of course, I also worry that they does not have grammar foundation. So far so good but I would need to observe what the boy fare during school assessment.

[anastasy]

my experience of ICR Jurong East was quite negative.

my son K2 had some reading problems, in particular he was unable to read the long words, because he reversed lettters.
I hoped that i can read will help us to fix the problem.

Unfortunately, i just waste the money.
For the first 2 months teachers changes 3 times! My kid hated the classes.
He started to cry every time, that we came to the class like a baby, while he is successfully attending full day care center and likes his classes there.
But he did,nt want even enter the ICR once again.
And homeworks were long and boring. Teachers did not concern individual problems of students.
For 3 month, that my son attended ICR, his reading did not improve.
After finishing the session i asked for the deposit,
the answer was you can get back your deposit only if you will attend 2 more classes and you will pay for them.
So to receive back about 100 dollars, i needed to pay more 100 dollars!

[ZY_Mom]

Hi anastasy,


So sorry to hear your unhappy experience with ICR @ Jurong East branch. My DS has been attending ICR @ Woodlands for almost half a year and so far so good. Which stage was your son in?

[cantbearit2]

weekender:

Hi,

My child is in K2 now, he will be entering P1 in 2011. We went to Bt Timah ICR for an assessment and he is placed in the preliminary level, PRP.

I am wondering if the PRP + ICR programme is appropriate for my child as he will be in P1 in a few months' time. Are we too late in starting the programme now? or should we look for an exam-focused curriculum instead?

The teacher said that the ICR provides the strong foundation for writing and comprehension, are there any parents here who are able to testify to this?

Thanks in advance for your feedback.

Cheers

Is your child able to read the instructions in P1 books? If yes, then you may wish to consider \"exam focus\" kind of enrichment class. If not, it's important to start your child on the ground works, ie reading.

Without reading ability, your child will not be able to understand the instructions and thus unable to fulfil it's requirements. This will in turn affect his results.

If you are worried about catching up, you may consider those intensive phonics class. If not, IMHO, ICR PRP is a good start to build those foundations. In less than a year, your child will be able to read reasonably well (in most cases).

[Monster Mummy]

Hi,


I believed that ICR provide the student a background in the basic phonics of decoding the word and how to read out properly. For my end, I see an improvement in my gal who initially do not know how to read till this stage where she know how to decode although still not so quick but she is learning to decode.

Even her ICR teacher is also quite strict, if the student does not show interes in the reading, i think that the teacher will request to have a talk with the parent. I think that he did ask the student to quit after so many chances given.

I believed that this is also up to individual teacher professionism.

[Cassmania]

Can anyone comments on the I can Read, Little Bears Club which is meant for 2.5 - 3.5yrs old?

[Monster Mummy]

Hi,


I think that Little Bears club seem like the new programme just implemented this year.

I think that you will need to call the respective centre and talk to their staff on the programme before you decide to enrol the child or not.

[steffi88]

Cassmania:

Can anyone comments on the I can Read, Little Bears Club which is meant for 2.5 - 3.5yrs old?

Brought my younger boy to the Little Learner's trial last week. It is similar to Little Bears, just that for the latter, there are 2 lessons each week. In Little Learners, the teacher focus on interaction, singing, story telling.

[Cassmania]

Any feedback for I Can Read at Harbourfront or tiong bahru branch

[tweetyjing]

I wouild like to share my personal experience with ICR here.


My daughter was in ICR simei before we moved house and she was doing well there. She benefited from their phonic programme. The center was well managed during my time (2007-2008). However, things changed 180 degrees after we transfered her over to Katong branch.

First of all, the course coordinator placed my daughter in a wrong class for 2 conssecutive lessons despite my notice and discussion with them. After my daughter’s 1st lesson, she complained that she coudn’t understand a single thing from her class. I went to check the material and realised she was not doing book 6 (grammer introduction). I went to the center staff and told her my concerns, she insisted it is right class for my daughter and if I ahve concerns she needed to check with the class teacher, meanwhile asked us to continue in the class. After the second lesson, my daughter cired and told me she did not want to go to class anymore as she couldn’t understand a single thing. I stepped out this time and talked to her new class teacher, and she pointed to us that her class was actually more advanced than what my daughter’ s pace in Simei! Only then the center admitted its their fault and agreed to refund me 2 lessons. Hwever, the my poor thing has experienced the traume.