How to improve english for 5 years old kid

[laughingcat]

I agreed with what Tamarind's experiences. It is actually fun & enjoyable and of course at times can be quite :frustrated:


When I was young, I used to envy my brother who was taught by my mum. I used to wish my mum does that for me but...... I saw what my brother's beautiful learning curve and to this this date I personally still stand by it. So now I am teaching my boys English, Chinese, Maths, piano and roller blading.

I always believe that once you taught your own child, at least you kno what is the child's capability. And hence do not unnecessarily set too high an expectation.

Learning with your child is the most beautiful bonding. You will feel the sense of the achivement.

[laughingcat]

wendy2006:

Time to worry for me. I do not know how to guide my child's education.

Hi wendy2006, your child just need to read alot of books. No amount of textbook study and assessment books will help much in the english synthesis or grammar.

Only through reading loads of good english books will help. Applying what you read through writing will helps much. Language is not like hardcore subject such as Science and Technology, it just come naturally if you apply it effectively.

[tamarind]

Hi laughingcat,

Wow you are teaching your boys piano ? I really envy you. I wish I can do that too, but I never learned piano

[laughingcat]

tamarind:

Hi laughingcat,

Wow you are teaching your boys piano ? I really envy you. I wish I can do that too, but I never learned piano

Actually quite easy lah. Get the books by the author of Lina Ng and then can learn together with your kids.

But if my boy wants to sit for the graded exam, I think I would leave it to the teacher bah. But I will still teach on a daily basis.

[tamarind]

laughingcat:

tamarind:

Hi laughingcat,

Wow you are teaching your boys piano ? I really envy you. I wish I can do that too, but I never learned piano

Actually quite easy lah. Get the books by the author of Lina Ng and then can learn together with your kids.

But if my boy wants to sit for the graded exam, I think I would leave it to the teacher bah. But I will still teach on a daily basis.

That's a very good idea I always want to learn piano myself

[Addoil]

Hi tamarind & laughingcat


Just wanna say well done to both of you Nowadays, not much parents are enjoying when teaching their kids at home. If parents can take it as a very fun and enjoyable experience, sure the kids will be enjoy in their learning journey. Keep it up, all kiasuparents! :love:

[mama_g]

Kuddos to u… its always a battlefield when i self teach my kids at home… is it something wrong with my method? Asking my 6YO to read is a nightmare…

[cherrygal]

Kudos to those who enjoy teaching their own kids. However, it could be easy for you but difficult for others since every kid is different. Also, not every parent is good at teaching and some may not have the patience nor the time.


So, let’s just do what we are comfortable with. Let’s not pass judgement that one method is better than the other. Like I said, do not perceive those who send their kids to enrichment centres as selfish parents who rather not teach their own kids.

Sometimes, for parents who are clueless, it is better to get started with an enrichment centre, then make use of those techniques to revise.

My kid did very well with help from enrichment centres so I support them. Of coz, I push him to revise when needed but I don’t pull my hair out if he doesn’t.

Each kid has his/her own learning style and personality. Some thrive with group competition (my kid does) while others learn better one-on-one. In fact, most kids above 5yo prefer to listen to teachers than their own parents when it comes to the core subjects - real nitty-gritty work.

Many of us have older children who don’t even budge at home when it comes to the core subjects. These kids are not stupid. In fact, they are so intelligent that they want to challenge their own parents. The funniest thing is, these kids excel under the guidance of external parties.

To those who experienced success with teaching their own kids, congrats! You have what the experts call "easy children" who adhere to parental authority. The majority of us have challenging ones… that’s why enrichment centres and tuition teachers have booming business.

[tamarind]

My younger boy used to be able to focus for less than 5 mins, and he is the type who needs to repeat the same thing over 20 times before he can remember. He is definitely not an easy child to teach. Every one of his teacher complained to me about him. However, he was reading long English novels of 200-300 words a page when he turned 5 years old. If I don't teach him at home, he would not be able to read even at P1.


In my blog, I described the resources and methods that I used :
http://tamarindphonics.blogspot.com/2008/08/how-to-teach-phonics.html

I sent my boy to Berries from 4 years old to 6 years old, after he completed K2, he still could not read any Chinese story book. I had enough of his teacher complaining to me about him not paying attention in class, so I withdrew him from Berries. After I started to teach him Chinese at home, he is now reading Chinese chapter books of about 300 words a page. Check out the resources that I use :

http://tamarindvillage.blogspot.com/2010/09/how-to-raise-bilingual-child.html

The fact is that even my girl, who can learn effortlessly, and remember every word that she learned in Berries since 4 years old, was not able to read independently after she completed K2. By the end of P1, she can read long Chinese novels of over 70000 words, all because I teach her at home.

Using good resources and effective methods, all we need is to spend about 30 mins a day. It is not a lot of hard work at all.

The problem is that many parents do not know how to use good resources, and even if they have the resources, they don't know how to use them effectively. Some parents try to achieve too much in too short a time, making kids repeat the same thing 20 times in one day. This is definitely going to cause a lot of unhappiness.

In fact I spent much more time doing research on how to teach and looking for good resources, in comparison to time spent on actually teaching my kids.

As I wrote earlier, not every parent is suitable to teach kids at home. The parent must be prepared to spend some time reading and learning about effective methods to teach. For those parents who are too busy to teach at home, it is absolutely fine not to teach. No one is being judgmental here. There is no need to discourage other parents from trying to teach their kids at home.

Also note that many parents cannot afford to send their kids to enrichment classes, especially those with 2 kids or more. If these parents think that there are no other way to help their children except sending them to enrichment classes, they may think that they have failed as parents

[pummanuel]

wendy2006:

Time to worry for me. I do not know how to guide my child's education.

Hi Wendy, my daughter's first language is Mandarin as my husband and I believe in inculcating our values through our mother tongue and she spent her first 3 years in China where my husband was working.

When she entered playgroup in Singapore, her teacher told her to sit down on the first day of school. She stared blankly at her teacher who had to resort to sign language. After 1 year, her daily interactions with her English teacher and dominantly english-speaking classmates helped to improve her English but there was still a big gap.

I spent some time finding a good method to teach her. Finally I stumbled upon Tamarind's blog and I adapted her method to Letterland phonics, which is the phonics system my daughter's preschool is using. (I didn't turn to external enrichment classes as very few conduct their reading classes using Letterland.) After a year, my daughter can read chapter books under my guidance and all those princessy, fairy tales on her own.

I think enabling her to read is a big leap forward. With reading, it helps to improve her grasp and feel of the English language. It makes it easier to teach her grammar, sentence structure and vocabulary. I bought assessment books for her to do but realised it's too dry for her after a few exercises. Instead, I encourage her to draw and write things that happened around her. Through her writings, in addition to reading, she will be able to pick up the technical aspects of the English language. Also, if she just learnt a new phrase or word from her reading, I will try to incorporate it in our daily lives so that it becomes her 'permanent vocabulary'.

My daughter used to see me as 'Mama' only. If I tried to correct her in her languages or Maths, she would brush me aside as I'm not her teacher. After a year + of coaching, she sees me as her 'Mama' and 'Teacher' too. It makes coaching much easier as I've earned her trust in my teaching.

Of course, I've nothing against enrichment classes as many parents are working and their working hours can be very demanding. However, as Tamarind pointed out, revision and coaching will still have to be conducted at home. My daughter's classmate attends 3 academic enrichment classes and his mother told me she will make her son do his homework/revision everyday from 8 to 9. Her son also showed great improvements after some time.

It's a matter of choice and I think whichever route we take, we will still have to coach our children at home given their young age. Coaching can be stressful. I had my hair pulling, books throwing period too. However, coaching also allows us to understand our child better, and in a way understand ourselves better too. In due time, we will find a method that suits our child.