Comparing Pre-school English Reading and Phonics Enrichment

[blueblue]

What is the best age to send my son for phonics class? He is currently 2 1/2years old. His kindergarten do offer Jolly phonics at K1 though.


Should I just wait till he goes to K1 or do you think I should enrol him now? I heard that the jolly phonics will be taught within school hours. Not sure he will be confused abt the different methods. Can anyone advise me?

He is also to read some books now. I am also afraid that it will be harder for him to learn phonics at a later age.

[buds]

blueblue:

What is the best age to send my son for phonics class? He is currently 2 1/2years old. His kindergarten do offer Jolly phonics at K1 though.

From experience, it's better to start when your child has already mastered
the ABC's - recitation, writing and recognition. This will avoid confusion
between letter and sound when child starts Phonics lesson. Mastery
depends highly on the stimulation of parents at home and also how much
emphasis is given in school by the teachers for the mastery of such. In
a general figure, they should be efficient earliest by N2. ie. abt 4yrs old.

blueblue:

Should I just wait till he goes to K1 or do you think I should enrol him now? I heard that the jolly phonics will be taught within school hours. Not sure he will be confused abt the different methods. Can anyone advise me?

K1 is also a good age to start cos by then, the children are more mature
in majority of their developments ie. adaptability, concentration, writing
capabilites, reading readiness, behavioural factor.. (etc).. in general.

Jolly Phonics is a good Phonics Programme. With a good facilitator,
children will have fun learning to read. Different methods is one thing,
different pronunciations is also another. Some Phonics programme follows
the American twang and others the British twang, mostly for the vowels...
As for starting Phonics introduction early, the younger the child... the more
fun (kind) it should be.

blueblue:

He is also to read some books now. I am also afraid that it will be harder for him to learn phonics at a later age.

Reading of books this early stage is usually coincidental learning where
as parents and teachers, when we introduce books to children on a very
stimulating atmosphere and also at an extremely regular basis, these
young children pick up words with repetitive reading by an adult. These
are the learning moments where learning isn't meant to be... \"come sit
down and learn this now\" kinda approach, but instead \"as we go along\"
kinda approach.

It is good to know that your child as young as now can relate to books
in such a positive way. You ARE doing something right to encourage
child to read some words now. Keep it up, you!
:celebrate:

With most things, we always believe the younger children are exposed
the better. However, do please bear in mind that a child's development
if pursued not age-appropriately may result in adverse effects. A child
who knows too much before his time, may be easily bored... as he/she
will need more stimulating learning experiences to top up what he/she
already knows.

In my opinion, you have another good year to mould the abc's to
perfection! The earliest i'd suggest is 3.5 years old. But again, the
decision is subjective. What is provided here are just general
suggestions from moi.

Hope it helps with your questions aniwaes, blueblue.

[sumo22]

Hello parents,


I’m pondering if I should enrol my K1 son in the I Creative Learner. They are starting a new "crash course for K1" sometime in May next mth at West Coast.

Anyone know of this & have any comments?

[joconde]

sumo22:

Hello parents,


I'm pondering if I should enrol my K1 son in the I Creative Learner. They are starting a new \"crash course for K1\" sometime in May next mth at West Coast.

Anyone know of this & have any comments?

I started my girl with ICL crash course last last june. She was K1 then, and couldn't even recog all 26 alphabets, let alone letter sounds, words recog or reading. (I really had been too 'switched-off' then :oops: )

Now, she's able to read at least ladybird level 4 with ease, and can read most of the words in storybooks meant for her age.

I'm happy with the programme. The course syllabus is very systematic and will work as long parents put in effort. And for my case, i dun simply send her to enrichment and then hands-off. I spend lots of effort in revising with her, started her on ladybird (almost at the same time as ICL), leapfrog VCD, flash cards and story reading every night, etc.

[blueblue]

buds:

blueblue:

What is the best age to send my son for phonics class? He is currently 2 1/2years old. His kindergarten do offer Jolly phonics at K1 though.

From experience, it's better to start when your child has already mastered
the ABC's - recitation, writing and recognition. This will avoid confusion
between letter and sound when child starts Phonics lesson. Mastery
depends highly on the stimulation of parents at home and also how much
emphasis is given in school by the teachers for the mastery of such. In
a general figure, they should be efficient earliest by N2. ie. abt 4yrs old.

blueblue:

Should I just wait till he goes to K1 or do you think I should enrol him now? I heard that the jolly phonics will be taught within school hours. Not sure he will be confused abt the different methods. Can anyone advise me?

K1 is also a good age to start cos by then, the children are more mature
in majority of their developments ie. adaptability, concentration, writing
capabilites, reading readiness, behavioural factor.. (etc).. in general.

Jolly Phonics is a good Phonics Programme. With a good facilitator,
children will have fun learning to read. Different methods is one thing,
different pronunciations is also another. Some Phonics programme follows
the American twang and others the British twang, mostly for the vowels...
As for starting Phonics introduction early, the younger the child... the more
fun (kind) it should be.

blueblue:

He is also to read some books now. I am also afraid that it will be harder for him to learn phonics at a later age.

Reading of books this early stage is usually coincidental learning where
as parents and teachers, when we introduce books to children on a very
stimulating atmosphere and also at an extremely regular basis, these
young children pick up words with repetitive reading by an adult. These
are the learning moments where learning isn't meant to be... \"come sit
down and learn this now\" kinda approach, but instead \"as we go along\"
kinda approach.

It is good to know that your child as young as now can relate to books
in such a positive way. You ARE doing something right to encourage
child to read some words now. Keep it up, you!
:celebrate:

With most things, we always believe the younger children are exposed
the better. However, do please bear in mind that a child's development
if pursued not age-appropriately may result in adverse effects. A child
who knows to much before his time, may be easily bored... as he/she
will need more stimulating learning experiences to top up what he/she
already knows.

In my opinion, you have another good year to mould the abc's to
perfection! The earliest i'd suggest is 3.5 years old. But again, the
decision is subjective. What is provided here are just general
suggestions from moi.

Hope it helps with your questions aniwaes, blueblue.

Hi buds! Many thanks for your valuable advice. You are right. I should try to mould the abc's to perfection first before I consider sending him to learn phonics.

I read somewhere that Jolly Phonics is not a very good program so I thought maybe I should send him to learn other different phonics programme instead of learning it in school. Reading your post on Jolly Phonics puts me at ease. Thanks again!

[MUMMYOF3]

sumo22:

Hello parents,


I'm pondering if I should enrol my K1 son in the I Creative Learner. They are starting a new \"crash course for K1\" sometime in May next mth at West Coast.

Anyone know of this & have any comments?

I started my boy with K1 crash course in Nov last year and i'm happy with his progress. He can now read and spell quite a number of words.

[buds]

blueblue:

Hi buds! Many thanks for your valuable advice. You are right. I should try to mould the abc's to perfection first before I consider sending him to learn phonics.


I read somewhere that Jolly Phonics is not a very good program so I thought maybe I should send him to learn other different phonics programme instead of learning it in school. Reading your post on Jolly Phonics puts me at ease. Thanks again!

You're welcome, blueblue.

By the way, where did you read that Jolly isn't a very good program..

Jolly has a different background and philosophy to learning Phonics.
Its main components of introducing Phonics is through fun and multi-
sensory interactions especially young children. Jolly is one Phonics
method i was introduced to that does not exactly require the children
to be seated throughout the lesson. They have songs, actions and
systematic learning tools/teaching aides and curriculum+worksheets
providing structured strategies to teach up till spelling, grammar and
written expression.

This being said, without the right teacher even the best of reading
methodologies will be grounded.. As with concern to any teaching
methodology, the teacher is of importance at all times..

As for the programme itself, Jolly IS a good and comprehensive
reading programme.

:celebrate:

[jedamum]

buds....http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc18/jedamum/Emoticon/hammer.gif\"> quote too long already....

[buds]

jedamum:

buds....http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc18/jedamum/Emoticon/hammer.gif\"> quote too long already....

Yup. Yup. You're right.
Chop chilli choppity chopped liao.

[jedamum]

buds:

Yup. Yup. You're right.
Chop chilli choppity chopped liao.

Thanks! :lol: I only know pepsi-cola 123...