All About Teaching and Learning Phonics

[tamarind]

This comment was posted on my blog.


http://tamarindphonics.blogspot.com/2009/05/spelling.html
http://www.postimage.org/

I am really delighted to read this comment. It reminds us how old the Peter and Jane series are. They have been around for more than 40 years ! Though most parents find it old fashion, the fact is that it is a tried and tested method and the series stands the test of time !

Phonics is equally important, but take note that the letter sounds must be taught together with the whole words. That is, when teaching \"c\" sounds like \"ke\", show the words \"cat\", \"can\", etc, because \"c\" often sounds like \"s\" as in \"circle\", \"cycle\", \"center\", \"city\", etc.

I believe that it is most effective to teach phonics and sight words(using Peter and Jane series) at the same time, so the child learns to be flexible

[maltbibi]

Hi Tamarind


Wanna say thanks for recommending Peter and Jane. I started few months ago but din see the result that I want. My girl was fine for the first two days reading the book. However, she lost interest and whenever I passed her the book she would turn away and said she dun like the book. Hence I stopped asking her to read.

Recently, I happened to read this thread again and was inspired to try the book on her again. Surprisely, she managed to finish 1a within two days. Read from your blog that it is not necessary for them to fully know the words in book a inorder to start b. So just now, I passed her the book b and she managed to finish reading the whole book. Throughout the process I kept praising her. She realised that mummy was happy and become more confident in reading.

I think 'm going to start her on 2a tomorrow. Isit too soon to start her on 2a?

Looking at the rate she is going, I may need to source for more P&J for her.

[kidsfirst]

Hi all,


I believe that many parents (or at least for Singaporean parents) are concerned about whether their child will grow up speaking Singlish. And on such grounds, most parents would enroll their child into language centres that boast of supplying native English teachers.

How important is the ability to speak proper English without any hint of Singlish? And would phonics lessons eliminate the problem of the child picking up Singlish?

[mrswongtuition]

kidsfirst:

Hi all,


I believe that many parents (or at least for Singaporean parents) are concerned about whether their child will grow up speaking Singlish. And on such grounds, most parents would enroll their child into language centres that boast of supplying native English teachers.

How important is the ability to speak proper English without any hint of Singlish? And would phonics lessons eliminate the problem of the child picking up Singlish?

I would prefer my son to know when to use Singlish and when not to use it. Totally not knowing Singlish in Singapore would register him as an 'alien'. Even caucasians who come here to work/live pick up some Singlish after a while!

Singlish when speaking with friends is fine, but one must know the limit & when to use proper English (at work, school, etc)

[sleepy]

tamarind:

This is a page from the Minpins by Roald Dahl. My boy just read it 2 nights ago. He can read every word on the page without any help from me, except for a few words like \"completely\", \"tantalizing\", \"desire\". There are usually less than 5 words on each page that he needs help.

Does he understand the content of the story & narrate back to you in own words? ie. reading with understanding?

I noticed even though my girl can read chapter books but she may not really understand the story. I was told in such instance the book is too 'chim' for her even though she can each & every sentence

[tamarind]

maltbibi:

Throughout the process I kept praising her. She realised that mummy was happy and become more confident in reading.


I think 'm going to start her on 2a tomorrow. Isit too soon to start her on 2a?

Praising is the best way to motivate a child ! Every mommy should be like you

Since she can finish reading book 1b, you should certainly start her on 2a now. Every child's should progress at a pace that he/she is comfortable with.

[tamarind]

kidsfirst:

Hi all,


I believe that many parents (or at least for Singaporean parents) are concerned about whether their child will grow up speaking Singlish. And on such grounds, most parents would enroll their child into language centres that boast of supplying native English teachers.

How important is the ability to speak proper English without any hint of Singlish? And would phonics lessons eliminate the problem of the child picking up Singlish?

Going to language centres for 2 hours a week will not be helpful. Especially when the child still attend daily kindergarten where most of his classmates come from the HDB heartland and speak Singlish, or if the child is being taken care by maids who do not speak good english. He will definitely be influenced to speak Singlish.

Ideally you should send your child to a full day preschool, like the Pat Schoolhouse, where all the teachers are native speakers.

But then remember that when your child goes to government schools, almost all the teachers are locals, and they are not going to speak like the British or Americans.

My hubby told me, that he has been taught to pronounce \"their\" as \"dia\" by his teachers. But the fact is that \"their\" should be pronounced in the same way as \"there\".

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/their
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/there

My hubby was from ACS !

Phonics will help in proper pronunciation, but only to a certain extent.

For example, if you use phonics to pronounce the word \"salmon\", then it is wrong. \"Salmon\" should be pronounced as \"samun\", without the \"l\" sound.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/salmon

Try to pronounce \"http://mw1.meriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/audio.pl?intrig04=intriguing\" using phonics and it is going to sound very funny.

There are many words in English which are not phonetic ! The best way, like what my hubby has been doing since he was a child, is to listen to BBC radio everyday. His parents speak English with a Hokkien accent. But my hubby has always been mistaken to have studied in an overseas university (he actually graduated from NUS).

I guess it is very important to speak proper English without any hint of Singlish, if you want your child to become a lawyer, a DJ, a newscaster, etc. I know many engineers, doctors, lecturers(university and polytechnic), etc who do not speak perfect English !

mrswongtuition:

I would prefer my son to know when to use Singlish and when not to use it. Totally not knowing Singlish in Singapore would register him as an 'alien'. Even caucasians who come here to work/live pick up some Singlish after a while!

Singlish when speaking with friends is fine, but one must know the limit & when to use proper English (at work, school, etc)

mrswongtuition,
You brought up a good point A local child who goes to a local school, but speak like the British or American, may be labeled as \"acting\".

I used to work with many Americans in my ex-company. Once I asked an American colleague, whether he has problem understanding Singaporeans' way of speaking English. He said that we sound OK. He told me that the Americans from their Southern states sound a lot worst !

[tamarind]

sleepy:

tamarind:

This is a page from the Minpins by Roald Dahl. My boy just read it 2 nights ago. He can read every word on the page without any help from me, except for a few words like \"completely\", \"tantalizing\", \"desire\". There are usually less than 5 words on each page that he needs help.

Does he understand the content of the story & narrate back to you in own words? ie. reading with understanding?

I noticed even though my girl can read chapter books but she may not really understand the story. I was told in such instance the book is too 'chim' for her even though she can each & every sentence

sleepy,
You have brought up a very important point Yes understanding what he reads is most important.

For my boy, since he is not yet 5 years old, I don't ask him to narrate it back to me in his own words. I don't want to make reading too stressful to him. I act out the story with him to make sure that he understands what he is reading. He actually asks lots of questions as he reads and so I know that he is making an effort to understand the story.

For my 6 year old girl, I also did not make her narrate the story to me in her own words. But as she reads, she makes comments about the story, and so I know that she understands what she reads.

For example, when she was reading the Wizard of Oz, there is a part where the people of the Emerald City said that the Wizard built the city for them. She told me that she read in other pages, that the Wizard actually said that the people built the city for him, and she wondered why there are contradictions. I did not even remember this detail. I had to go through the pages again and I realized that she is correct !

Even though my girl is reading independently, I still insist that she reads out loud to me, a few pages from a book of my choice every day. She is now reading Alice's Adventures in Wonderland(unabridged version). As she reads, we discuss about the story, or the meaning of certain words, or she can tell me what she thinks or feel about the characters or the story. I want her to enjoy reading , and not think too much about learning as she reads.

[Charmaine_chong]

Hi,


Just to share my joy.

My son has finally master his lettersound using Tamarind's method.

Has started teaching him 2 words yesterday.

Mummies, never give up and keep on trying. :rahrah:

[tamarind]

Charmaine_chong:

Hi,


Just to share my joy.

My son has finally master his lettersound using Tamarind's method.

Has started teaching him 2 words yesterday.

Mummies, never give up and keep on trying. :rahrah:

Charmaine,
I am happy to hear that Well done !

To other mommies,
I took more than 2 years to teach my son to read. He is now reading at a level that no enrichment classes can achieve at his age. I believe that mommies can achieve the best results at home, so long as we are consistent and make sure that our kids learn everyday.