All About Teaching and Learning Phonics

[jedamum]

tamarind:

Note that as soon as the child can read on his own, it is best to encourage him to read out loud on his own. This is the best way to make sure that he is paying attention to the words in the book, and it also makes our job much easier, we can just sit back and listen to our kids

I love to listen to him read, but my ds2 complains of dry throat if he reads out loud. So i negotiate with him to read only first page (5 lines etc) if he wants me to read the rest of the book. Or he will read the left page (3-4 lines) if he wants me to read the right page. Then after a few stories, he will start coughing.

[jedamum]

hot:

Hi Tamarind,


My boy learnt phonics at age of 4, but not strong in it. He has difficulties especially words that cannot use phonics to blend. And confused why some “a “ sound this way, sometimes it sounds another way :?

Do you have any suggestion for me how to improve these parts of words?

I am thinking to re-send him back to class to reinforce phonics, what do you think? Else, what can I do to help him?

Any suggestions are welcome
thanks

Hi hot,
my ds1 (now in P3) started phonics basics and had phonics lessons (not upmarket range) in preschool, but could never blend. He could read 'dr-' and '-ink', but when put together, he would go 'dr---ink' without knowing that it means drink. got frustrated a while until i found out about sight words. he managed to master it before p1. Now at P3, he can decipher general/common words using phonics and sometimes does not even bother learning spelling as he can get most correct through phonics :roll: .
my ds2 did not go through phonics class. although his preschool has stronger academic curriculum and a more robust phonics programme, his K1 teacher told me that she was surprised that he can read before they started the programme. I referred to Tamarind's blog on teaching of phonics (Mat, Bat, Rat etc) and used my own learning materials to reinforce at home. I also have the benefit of ds2's phonics material as reference. Although I did not specifically teach blending of longer words, ds2 is able to try blending because we read a lot. Whenever we come across a long/difficult word, I will cover some parts of the word and encourage him to blend. Eg, information, I will cover 'formation', then cover 'mation', then cover 'tion' to get him to read 'in','for','ma','tion', before telling him that all 'tion' reads as 'tion'. so it is part sight reading, part 'blending.

[jedamum]

Hi Tamarind,

My ds2’s reading ability is above his peers, but his speech ability is behind. He mixes up past-present tenses and gender usage (his/her) and his sentence structure is not proper. He was on speech therapy for a while last year, but we were ‘discharged’. Do you suggest that I specifically highlight areas of such grammar rules when doing reading with him? or will it dampen the reading ‘momentum’?

[tamarind]

jedamum:

Hi Tamarind,

My ds2's reading ability is above his peers, but his speech ability is behind. He mixes up past-present tenses and gender usage (his/her) and his sentence structure is not proper. He was on speech therapy for a while last year, but we were 'discharged'. Do you suggest that I specifically highlight areas of such grammar rules when doing reading with him? or will it dampen the reading 'momentum'?

I don't advise you to stop after every sentence to highlight the grammar rules. It will be better to do so after a few paragraphs or one page, so that the flow of reading is not disrupted. We should focus on letting kids enjoy the story first, this is essential for nurturing a child who will be keen to read independently.

In fact, when a child has read a large number of books, it will be easy for him to tell whether a sentence sounds grammatically correct or not, even before he learns all the grammar rules.

[hot]

Hi Jedamun, Tamarind,


The sight word of ‘dr—ink’ is it “drink”?
Can you elaborate more about the transition / mastering of words from blending of letters to sight words?
I used Tamarind’s materials plus some materials from boy’s phonics lesson.
Eg. “ai”
I actually gave the whole sets of word cards (>10) containing “ai” which including Train, rain, pain, pail etc. to him as I know he can read and identify the words.
With the 1st card showing “ai”, he hesitated. He then flipped the 2nd card showing train, he sounded out correctly Train, and went back to tell me the sound of “ai”. With that, he proceeded to read out all the words in the cards correctly.
It meant to say he is able to read the words, but confused with sound in phonics and not phonetic words of the same letter. I used the same method as you by breaking down the long / difficult words… but he can never master the method le…What went wrong???

I listened to him reading book 10a P & J, I dared say he is able to read quite confidently. Could it be many words have been repeated and not many new words? How to transit him from P&J to other books? He has books from Curious George, but not keen to read. For the sake of reading to parents, he chose very simple books… books that has big words few pages de 

I tried him with magic tree series, only 5 to 6 lines in a page, no color pictures… he turned me off. I told him those words are even bigger than P&J, lesser wordy, he sure can read, but he simply not interested.

[tamarind]

Hi hot,

The word "drink" is a phonetic word.
Examples of sight words are like "one", "two", "was", etc. We should not try to break up a sight word, because we cannot use the phonics sounds to read them. We should just point to the word and read it. Kids need to learn the word as a whole word. There are no techniques that we can use to read sight words, kids just need to be taught how to read it.

Basically I just made sure that my kids know the phonics techniques very well, then let them read as many story books as possible to learn the sight words.

After the Peter and Jane books, parents need to try to look for books that interest the child. My boy loves animals, so I let him read lots of books about animals. What does your boy like ? If he likes adventure stories, you can try to look for books about adventures for him.

I believe that kids can be trained to love to read. What I have done is to make my boy read a chapter from interesting story books, out loud to me everyday. It has become a routine and he does not mind reading to me. He is also free to read any book that he wants.

Also, my boy does not have any electronic games, and he is only allowed to watch TV for about 1 hour every day. Without distractions, when he has nothing to do, he reads because it is the most interesting thing to do.

[hot]

Hi Tamarind,


My boy loves dino, animals and cars. He will look for these books that he is very interested for his parents to read  … only keen to look at pictures but not reading it.

As mentioned, he is reluctant reader, books may interest him to look at the pictures, yet he will not keen or make effort to read.

I made it a point to have reading time every nite. Each of us will have a book of their choice to read, then share / exchange the story. So far, boy is trying hard to read his book aloud to us in order to listen to our story in return.

I am hoping this method can help cultivate his interest of reading books. Actually he loves looking at books when he has free time…he will pick up books to flip for sure. It is tat he does not want to read the words / story making me headache. He does not have TV, computer… no electronic stuffs…books and toys are his only playmates so far.

I guess all kids are different. When your method is applicable to your children, may not apply to others. I think I just have to be perseverance, continue to encourage him to read more and more.

Thank you so much for your time, effort and advice given to me.

[tamarind]

Hi hot,

My method is not much different from that of many other parents who have successfully brought up kids who can read very well at a very young age. Most parents and experts will tell you to read every day to your kids. In my case, I ask my kids to read out loud to me every day, because I find that this is the best way to make sure that they pay attention.

Whether we read to the kids, or ask the kids read out loud to us, the key is to read everyday, and make sure the the child is paying attention when he reads. In fact, I continue to read other story books with my kids long after they have completed the Peter and Jane books. It may take some time before the child will pick up a book and read on his own. We cannot expect them to do so right after they completed the Peter and Jane books.

The fact is that even after my kids are reading chapter books on their own, I still ask them to read out loud to me, from a book of my choice. I find that this is an excellent way of bonding with them.

[hot]

Hi Tamarind,


I know this is the best method. I mean it is just not for my boy.
Or maybe time not ripe yet
I just prayed hard he will willingly read all by himself one day.
Many times, when seeing him flipping thru the pages, I would
always explain and encourage him to read the words in the book
in order to know what the picture wanted to tell him.
Hope he will 开窍 one day.

[tamarind]

Hi hot,

Yes he will definitely 开窍 one day

My boy also used to flip through the pages, and I had no idea whether he was reading or not. Until one day he told me facts that he read from the books. Then I realized that he had been reading silently