Comparing Pre-school English Reading and Phonics Enrichment

[usaik]

Lynn:

Have anyone enrol your kid to \"I CAN READ\" centre? I'm thinking of sending my son to the branch at Rivervale Mall...any comment?

Hi Lynn, How old is your kid?

My kid has been attending classes at ICR rivervale centre for quite a while. I find the ICR programme is very good for children who need help in reading and spelling. Well, their school is afterall called \"I Can Read'. My son used to be a very bad reader. He couldn't read simple words, cannot blend, and of course cannot spell words. Since he started lesson there, he improved tremendously. In a short period of time, he was able to read independently. They also included tenses and grammar into their programme which I find very useful. More importantly, he is always looking forward to class.

However, I can't tell much about their ADVANCED WRITING AND EXAM SKILLS class. I don't think my son is picking up any exam skills. But I believe it does help in his comprehension. Since my son is always looking forward to class, I just let him continue as I believe it's probably better for him to spend 90 min of his time there than at home watching TV all day.

[lambchop1976]

i brought my 3.5y/o son to both ctr for their assessment. His reading ability is pretty well above the peers of his age. So the schools place him on a \"higher\" start. Altho I hv yet place him in any of the school, but ws pretty sure \"I Can Read\" is NOT for him.


Parents, whichevr the schools \" good or bad\" on depends on yr own personal preference. Many told me \"ICR\" is good becos they drill n many primary school tchrs comment that its good too. I do have my own reservations. Remember, too much drills the syst may cause the kids to be put off.

They are too academic. Every week they will go thro 50 words of the sound they want to teach, then stories reinforce the sound of the week from the same book -- lines and lines of words, minimum pictures, no colours, after which they do spelling. Not for kids at too young age. They are good for those with no or minimum english speaking backgrd n need that drill and practice to excel in the shortest time available.

As an educator, I strongly believe learning takes place thro play and self-discovery...which lasts longer...

[swpf]

so is there more votes for I CAN READ or ZOOPHONICS?

especially for those kids who cant even recognize alphabets…

[sunflower]

After reading thru the posts, my personal opinion is that if your child's style of learning is kinaesthetic, then go for Zoophonics. If you feel your child is more of a visual/auditory learner and learns well with much repetition, than go for I Can Read. However, for younger children such as 3 – 5/6 yrs old, Zoophonics might be better suited, as at that age, children are in the pre-operational stage (Piaget’s developmental theory) where they learn better when they act or try things out.

[lambchop1976]

i thk for in "I Can Read prog" there is the TCR and PRP classes where i believe there are more fun. What my son was given to suit his ability is the actual I Can Read class where more rigid and academic which i tot it is not suitable for him.

He is with Julia Gabriels for almost 1 year and he is more confident to express and creative.
As an ex-teacher, I had taught close to 2000 youths in my 10yrs of teaching and i realise those who are confident, independent and more eloquent students usu have some form of "training" in speech and drama either with JGLC or Lornia Winston.

[ChiefKiasu]

sunflower:

After reading thru the posts, my personal opinion is that if your child's style of learning is kinaesthetic, then go for Zoophonics. If you feel your child is more of a visual/auditory learner and learns well with much repetition, than go for I Can Read. However, for younger children such as 3 – 5/6 yrs old, Zoophonics might be better suited, as at that age, children are in the pre-operational stage (Piaget’s developmental theory) where they learn better when they act or try things out.

Wah sunflower... my eyes crossed already with all those big words... only 1 word to describe your knowledge... GURU! :mrgreen:

Anyway I'm not sure if I fully agree with what the experts say about how people have specific preferred styles of learning... eg. visual, kinesthetic, audible, yada-yada. I personally find myself applying each of these styles depending on the learning subject. The way I learn math is very different from the way I learn literature, physics or chemistry. I learn my Shakespeare by reading aloud, my math by visualizing models, my physics by actually doing the experiments. We have multiple learning modes which we can apply in flexible manners, and teachers must know the right modes to use for instruction for the subjects they are teaching - eg. you can't teach physics by telling your students to memorize definitions of Newton's Laws by reading aloud!

Also, it is difficult to classify pre-school children in terms of their learning styles. Most children of this age are naturally kinesthetic as their main source of learning comes from the physical interaction with their environment. Most are also visual and audible - which explains why young children tend to be \"parrots\" and can reproduce the words and sounds they enjoy hearing. But most will also not understand what they are seeing or saying - their ability to process the information is developed later.

In short, I feel that the more important criteria for an early reading programme is its ability to hold the child's attention by making it fun for the children to do. My 3yo daughter right now can recite San Zi Jing and sing along all the Chinese nursery songs and rhymes much better than me, not because we made her recite it , but because they were introduced with interesting music, cartoons and games which she loves. She probably understand only about 30% of whatever she is saying... but the goal is simply to ensure she is used to hearing and speaking the sounds. There was the other post that said that exposing San Zi Jing to young children may make them hate the language. Personally, I think it has a lot more to do with how the child is taught than the topic itself.

[quixation]

What about zoo-phonics? Anyone tried it? I heard its very interesting for the kids…

[mintcc]

my son’s PCF CC has a phonics option from nursery onwards. Wonder if any one come across that. is it similar to what zoo phonics or I can Read offers?

[HappyAvon]

quixation:

What about zoo-phonics? Anyone tried it? I heard its very interesting for the kids..

Hi quixation

Zoophonics is indeed very interesting for the young childrens. My 3yrs+ girl likes her weekend class so much and she really looks forward to it everytime. She enjoys herself very much. She is able to master all the sounds in one term and homework is given every week. The programme is 1 1/2 hr and it incorporate 1/2 hr of chinese every week. children is also exposed to art & craft every week. In her childcare, she learns letterland but whenever I ask her about an alphabet, she will responds with what she learns from Zoophonics. Like when asked what is alphabet C, she will says Catina Cat followed with the sound of C, alphabet S and she will says Sammy Snake, ...etc etc.... I trust that the programme is good.

[HappyAvon]

quixation:

What about zoo-phonics? Anyone tried it? I heard its very interesting for the kids..

Hi quixation

Zoophonics is indeed very interesting for the young childrens. My 3yrs+ girl likes her weekend class so much and she really looks forward to it everytime. She enjoys herself very much. She is able to master all the sounds in one term and homework is given every week. The programme is 1 1/2 hr and it incorporate 1/2 hr of chinese every week. children is also exposed to art & craft every week. In her childcare, she learns letterland but whenever I ask her about an alphabet, she will responds with what she learns from Zoophonics. Like when asked what is alphabet C, she will says Catina Cat followed with the sound of C, alphabet S and she will says Sammy Snake, ...etc etc.... I trust that the programme is good.