All About Teaching and Learning Phonics

[sunset_dae]

Hi Tamarind


Thanks! Understood!
U now in China? yr children must have miss u so much!

[lisa9841]

hi Tamarind


Just want to say that I am very motivated after reading your postings and buds postings on phonics would like to start teaching phonics to my DD who is 3.5 years now. I have posted a similar question on Buds thread but would like to ask you the same question as well as I would love to hear your views too! You both are very inspirational and also very generous to share so much with the parents here! Thank you very much!

I have been teaching my DD to read via the flashcard (aka shichida/Glenn Doman) method to read since very young. She can recognize most of the sight words on the dolch list and is beginning to read simple story books.(3-4 lines per page kind).

But as you know, the cons of the shichida method is that kids can only recognize words that are already taught to them.When it comes to a new word that they have never seen before, they would not be able to pronounce.

For my DD, I will be starting her with the single phonics sound first as I would want to teach her the basics. But My query is: For example, I want to teach her the sound of the letter "C" ==> since she already know the word "Cat", by sight, should I still use the word "Cat"? From my understanding from your blog, the reason for choosing a word is to get the child to try and sound out these words using phonics method right? In my case, am i right to say that i should choose some "C" letter words that she has never seen before? What is your suggestion in my case? How should I proceed with her? I am also taking your suggestion and bought her the "peter and Jane" books to read.

Also, I have never formally taught her the alphabets. She knows most of them from watching DVD. Should I just do a "revision" with her first as she sometimes will get confused with certain letters, say "b and d" and "m and n"?

Lastly, do you think 3.5 years is too young to start and learn how to write letters? Her school teachers seem to think so and advise me just to let her doodle. Was just wondering what is your views on this? I am very impressed with one Mummy’s posting in the previous pages that her 3 yr old son can already write letters and would write them on her whiteboard! I know I am not supposed to be comparing but my DD cannot hold a pencil very well yet. I can’t help but feel a bit stressed and am beginning to doubt if I am doing/teaching her enough!!

[Wesim]

Hi lisa,


My DD is 3.3 years old now. She can write freehand. I taught her myself. I realised that some centres do not teach them to write at this age. I think they are afraid their little fingers are just not ready to hold the pencils. I started my girl with Kumon write-and-wipe cards. Not a lot of strength is required. You might want to give it a try.

[kaitlynangelica]

tamarind:

sean wife:

Hi Tamarind,


I search for the Winnie the Pooh book that you recommend and found several similar ones in Amazon...can you advise which is the one you recommend?

http://www.amazon.com/Winnie-Pooh-Pooh-Original-Milne/dp/0140361219/ref=pd_cp_b_3_img

http://www.amazon.com/Winnie-Pooh-Milne/dp/B00375LM0W/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1282441627&sr=1-1

Thanks!

Yes these are the original. I advise you to get the book in the second link. The printing of the first book is quite bad. I know this because I bought both books amazon.

You can try to look for the original versions of Winnie-the-Pooh and The House at Pooh corner at Popular bookshops.

Kinokuniya is also selling the book :
https://bookweb.kinokuniya.co.jp/guest/cgi-bin/bookseaohb.cgi?ISBN=0525477683&AREA=04&LANG=E

But quite expensive compared to amazon.

Hi tamarind,

Don't the prices come up to a lot after adding in shipping charges?

[tamarind]

lisa9841,

The shichida method is teaching by sight words, that is, kids memorize the shape of the word. Kids who know only sight words may know how to read the word, but they may not know how to spell it. Since your DD has learned many sight words, I would suggest that you use this approach to teach her phonics :

1. First make sure that she knows all the phonics sounds of the 26 letters very well. This is different from the letter names. Checkout this webpage :
http://www.starfall.com/n/level-k/index/play.htm?f

2. Next, instead of giving her the whole word, use the individual letter cards, for example, \"a\", \"b\", \"c\", etc, one letter on each card. Say c-a-t, ask her to pick out the correct letters to form the word.

3. Continue with all the other 3 letter words containing \"a\". Then move on to the \"e\", \"i\", \"o\", \"u\" words in stage 1 in my blog :
http://tamarindphonics.blogspot.com/2008/08/how-to-teach-phonics.html

This method is essential, because kids who are trained this way will be able to spell words effortlessly, without the need to practice writing a word many times.

As for writing, I think that it all depends on the child. My girl is able to write very well before 4 years old, and I spent very little time teaching her, she learned to write mostly on her own. My younger boy, on the other hand, can only write legibly at 5 years old, and I also did not make him practice writing. By 6 years old, his writing is fine. Some kids have excellent fine motor skills at 2 years old, while others develop slower. Personally I do not think that it is necessary to make a 3 year old child practice writing everyday. Instead, develop his fine motor skills, using toys like Lego, or even teaching him skills like how to button his shirt, how to tie shoe laces, how to put a thread through beads, etc. In fact, I remember that my mother used to let my younger girl pick up tiny red beans before she was 2 years old. We made sure that we have lots of paper and pencils around, so the kids are free to draw or write anything at any time.

When a child's fine motor skills are well developed, he will naturally know how to write. If we try to make them practice, it will be quite frustrating for both the parent and the child.

I also think that it is quite pointless to make a child practice writing the same word many times. A child who has a strong foundation in phonics will know how to spell most words just by listening to the sounds. What parents should do is to encourage kids to write whatever they want, for example, take a look at these little stories written by my girl at 4 to 5 years old :
http://tamarindphonics.blogspot.com/2009/02/written-by-chloe.html

Before the age of 5, parents should focus in teaching a child to read very well. It is possible for a child to be able to read long novels by 5 years old

[tamarind]

kaitlynangelica,

For hardcover books, it is still cheaper to buy from amazon.com after including shipping cost(direct shipping). Hardcover books are very expensive in Singapore. Paperbacks are cheaper in Singapore.

[autumnbronze]

Thanks for the valuable advice Tamarind.


Just want to share with you that I have just started my DS on letter sounds.

I do not have the Leapfrog DVD but rather am using the Oxford Essential Reading phonics set of books which comes with a CD, you know the one that goes \"ants on the apple, a a a\". Was enticed into buying that when DS was about a year old and used to let him listen to the CD. Now he listens, looks at the words while singing along with the CD. He also tries to identify other words beginning with the letter sound in the book too. Also prefer this method personally cuz I do not encourage him to watch much TV. Here are the pix:

http://www.postimage.org/

http://www.postimage.org/


Like you, I spend 15 mins every day on phonics and about a week or less on each letter sound. He is now at letter sound \"h.\"

So anyway, I was just wondering how to proceed after the individual letter sounds when I chanced upon your post above. I will follow up with your step 2 and 3 after this.

Thanks again

[autumnbronze]

post deleted

[pummanuel]

kaitlynangelica:

Hi tamarind,

Don't the prices come up to a lot after adding in shipping charges?

Hi kaitlynangelica

Besides buying from Amazon and sending via vpost, or some other alternative couriers, we can wait for offers for free delivery too. A few months ago, there was an offer by Amex for free shipping from US for anything below 3kg. I bought my Winnie the Pooh set then. The recent one I was told is hopshopgo.com, for first time customers, restricted to 2kg.

As I normally buy 1-2 books at one time, if there are no free shipping offers, I will buy from The Book Depository. Depending on the books, some are slightly cheaper than Amazon (without the 3-for-1 promotion) and some are slightly more ex, some much more ex. But so far, all are cheaper than our local bookstores, even after their 20% discounts.

[pummanuel]

tamarind:

pummanuel,

Momo is suitable for kids at least 8 years and above, the reading level of the book is about our P4/P5 standard. Kids need to have a certain level of maturity in order to appreciate it. Before reading Momo, kids should read the Neverending Story, another fantastic book by the same author. This book is very thick, the reading level is higher than Peter and Jane level 12, but the story can be easily understood by kids as young as 5 years old. The book is highly imaginative and original. Quote from an Amazon review : \"It is one of those rare children's classics that can be read by anyone, of any age. Once you've read it, you can no longer imagine the Universe without it. \"

Thanks, Tamarind. I'll borrow it from the library first and decide if I want to buy. I've bought too many books, not as many as your home library but enough to make me worried about storage space.