I Can Read - Discussion

[gaagaa]

miza mummy:

Hi all, i just want to share my experience with I Can Read - the English enrichment course kids.


My daughter is going to be 6 soon, and she can read book independently, if you know the series Reading with Robin, she actually had completed the whole range of series.

She attended Kumon as well for the past 8 months, for English and has no problem with writing and reading.

The reason we want to enroll her to I Can read is to have more exposure with the native speakers, so she can pick up the proper and correct pronunciation. On top of that we also want to expose her with critical thinking, involve with discussion and more on communication/ oral activity.

We took the appraisal test and during the test to my opinion she was doing quite well. she can read, pronounce all the objects shown on the table correctly even mention the first sound of the object. she also can read about 30 common words and make 3 mistakes because of wrong pronunciation. when come to the test to read about 30 uncommon words, she makes about 5 mistakes.

I am quite happy with the test, However I am very disappointed with the placement result. They put her under the I Can Read level which is for 5+ years old and start from reading again. And this program last in 1 year.

To me, it is a repetition for her, she reads already she needs to go to the next level! beside she is going to be 6 and next year P1. She will have to waste 6 months worth of exposure if we take up this path.

But I can say this because i don't know what this school is actually doing for the level of I can Read.

any parents have experience with I can read program? maybe you can share with me what they are actually doing for this level so we can rest assure we are making the correct decision.

thank you.

Hi Miza Mummy,

I withdrew my dd from ICR 2 mths ago as I don't believe in the teacher and I feel their curriculum is not very tuned to the P1 curruiculum. Like what others say, their ICR level does not cover the grammer part and it's true that the words in the reading text is very difficult for a 6 yrs old kid to understand. They do focus a lot of reading but if the kid can read independently already, I wouldn't recommend this school.

I've switched to LCentral after that to give it a try after seeing their curriculum and their workbooks. Of course their methodology is different but their coverage is better. However, it was my luck to have gotten a new teacher who does not meet my expectation. I do not want to bad mouth any school or teacher but I was really disappointed with the teacher since day 1. I guess which ever school you choose, the most important factor is the teacher, which he/she is competent and is willing to go the extra mile....

[gaagaa]

Celyw:

gaagaa:

[quote=\"Celyw\"]Hi,


how about ICR at West Coast Plaza? Any parent send their children there?

:?:

Hi Celyw,

My gal was with ICR West Cost Plaza... I didn't really have a good experience with the new teacher. She won't entertain you after the lesson unless you make an appointment with her. Today, I just saw 2 spelling errors in my gal's workbook that were not corrected by her in last week's class. I was really disappointed with their standard/quality

Hi, May i know the teacher name? I will try my best not to let my boy get into her class :P[/quote]so sorry, not sure if it's ok the mention names in this forum? pm me if anyone wish to know the name of the teacher...

[weekender]

Hi,

My child is in K2 now, he will be entering P1 in 2011. We went to Bt Timah ICR for an assessment and he is placed in the preliminary level, PRP.

I am wondering if the PRP + ICR programme is appropriate for my child as he will be in P1 in a few months’ time. Are we too late in starting the programme now? or should we look for an exam-focused curriculum instead?

The teacher said that the ICR provides the strong foundation for writing and comprehension, are there any parents here who are able to testify to this?

Thanks in advance for your feedback.

Cheers

[Monster Mummy]

Hi,


I think that like others have said, it varies across the centre and also depend on children.

Just like some children can pick up fast and some might still need to make extra effort or longer period to pick up.

For me, the purpose is to let the children to pick up the reading first and of course, I also worry that they does not have grammar foundation. So far so good but I would need to observe what the boy fare during school assessment.

[anastasy]

my experience of ICR Jurong East was quite negative.

my son K2 had some reading problems, in particular he was unable to read the long words, because he reversed lettters.
I hoped that i can read will help us to fix the problem.

Unfortunately, i just waste the money.
For the first 2 months teachers changes 3 times! My kid hated the classes.
He started to cry every time, that we came to the class like a baby, while he is successfully attending full day care center and likes his classes there.
But he did,nt want even enter the ICR once again.
And homeworks were long and boring. Teachers did not concern individual problems of students.
For 3 month, that my son attended ICR, his reading did not improve.
After finishing the session i asked for the deposit,
the answer was you can get back your deposit only if you will attend 2 more classes and you will pay for them.
So to receive back about 100 dollars, i needed to pay more 100 dollars!

[ZY_Mom]

Hi anastasy,


So sorry to hear your unhappy experience with ICR @ Jurong East branch. My DS has been attending ICR @ Woodlands for almost half a year and so far so good. Which stage was your son in?

[cantbearit2]

weekender:

Hi,

My child is in K2 now, he will be entering P1 in 2011. We went to Bt Timah ICR for an assessment and he is placed in the preliminary level, PRP.

I am wondering if the PRP + ICR programme is appropriate for my child as he will be in P1 in a few months' time. Are we too late in starting the programme now? or should we look for an exam-focused curriculum instead?

The teacher said that the ICR provides the strong foundation for writing and comprehension, are there any parents here who are able to testify to this?

Thanks in advance for your feedback.

Cheers

Is your child able to read the instructions in P1 books? If yes, then you may wish to consider \"exam focus\" kind of enrichment class. If not, it's important to start your child on the ground works, ie reading.

Without reading ability, your child will not be able to understand the instructions and thus unable to fulfil it's requirements. This will in turn affect his results.

If you are worried about catching up, you may consider those intensive phonics class. If not, IMHO, ICR PRP is a good start to build those foundations. In less than a year, your child will be able to read reasonably well (in most cases).

[Monster Mummy]

Hi,


I believed that ICR provide the student a background in the basic phonics of decoding the word and how to read out properly. For my end, I see an improvement in my gal who initially do not know how to read till this stage where she know how to decode although still not so quick but she is learning to decode.

Even her ICR teacher is also quite strict, if the student does not show interes in the reading, i think that the teacher will request to have a talk with the parent. I think that he did ask the student to quit after so many chances given.

I believed that this is also up to individual teacher professionism.

[Cassmania]

Can anyone comments on the I can Read, Little Bears Club which is meant for 2.5 - 3.5yrs old?

[Monster Mummy]

Hi,


I think that Little Bears club seem like the new programme just implemented this year.

I think that you will need to call the respective centre and talk to their staff on the programme before you decide to enrol the child or not.