All About Teaching and Learning Phonics
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Everyone has opinion and they could be different. So please, please do not feel offended with any remark. Peace!!! :lol:
I am one who has benefited from Tamarind's blog, and though i did not really follow her method, but she has been my inspiration to start introducing phonics to my then 3 yo daughter. She is now 4 year 9 months, and she just finished readiing Peter and Jane book 12 B. Horrey! I am so proud of her achievement. and I believer she herself too. the Last book 12 b, she read thru by herself without me pushing her and completed within a day. She read so fluently and with fast speed, she can even read English subtitles in drama with that kind of speed. Of course there are new words that she does not know how to pronounce it correctly, but i would say she is a confident reader. Again, I tried only giving her watching Leapfrog DVD 5 sets and once in awhile i guided her but not in consistent basis. Please note that I can not dedicate my time in teaching her alone, not to speak for Phonics. My younger one, she could know all 26 sounds by 18 months because she watched the leapfrog dvd together with her elder sister. Now at 3 year and 3 months, she read peter and Jane book 3b. But her understanding about phonics is not as deep as her elder sister, she has not caught the essense of phonic and blending the sounds....this is i think partly because i didn not spend much time with her. You know...normally the 2nd child parents tend to be a bit loose. he...he... :lol:
Err....perhaps my elder can absord things fast or perhaps she is ready. But my stand is sometimes we can't say ready just for the ready per se. We need to create the path for them to be ready. For instance, like potty training or diaperless readiness. Both my daughters were without having to wear diaper when they were two years, inclduing night diaper. This is because I trained them from young even when they were babies.
I know some parents who believe that we need to wait them to be ready, then there will be no struggle.
True and false.
Sorry abit side track from reading. :lol: -
siak,
You did not side track at all ! I am very impressed and happy that your older girl can complete book 12B at such a young age, and I am sure that your younger girl will be reading very well soon. Thanks for sharing, that is very encouraging to me. The purpose of my blog is just to tell other parents that it is entirely possible to teach a child to read very well at home. My methods are only suggestions and I advise parents to invent their own methods
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outsider,
Your son is actually progressing very well for his age. It is perfectly OK to seek external help, hope that your son will learn well in his class -
Charmaine_chong:
Hi Tamarind,
Appreciate a lot your willingness to share good resources and know how to parents who keen to teach at home. I learnt a lot from your thread.
Not many parents love to share their experiences but only to seek help. Sorry i am very straight forward sometimes.
I am thankful there is always someone there who is so passionate, so kind to share their know how in teaching to the rest, like you and buds. Truly appreciate.
I absolutely agree with Charmaine, thinking back, I was an ignorant mother who was strugglin with work only. By then my elder was almost 3 and she did not know ABC sound. I only knew phonics when i started feeling panic, that i did not do anything. That's why I chanced upon Tamarind's sharing in baybsupplies forum and ever since then i bought Leapfrog DVD and be more focused in guiding my daughter in phonics. She could only read confidently by 3.5 year. I started buying Peter and Jane series (that Tamarind recommended) for her only in Jan 2009 (she was then 3 year and 8 months), and last Wed she completed 12 B.
The reason I am sharing about her achievement is not to brag, but to encourage those mothers who feel panicked or lousy and then have to start to move them to phonic classes. Again, for a late starter like me....... :lol: and for a lazy one like me who can not afford time to teach them on daily basis. But yet, this is the result. it's rather we save money for other enrichment classes like music, math ....i guess phonics is easier to be teachable. I am not an native english speaker, but i am confident that my English is not bad to teach. But of course, if you could afford to send them for expensive classed, by all mean, i believe the centers could have a better and structured methodology that can work for the children. I do strongly believe in this too......well...if i can afford....i probably send them too ..ha...ha... :lol:
Tamarind, thanks to you million million times again.
You have been my best inspiration in teaching them phonics.
And I did not have to spend money unnecessarily.
Great work! -
Tamarind,
I am not silly as you thought. i knew perfectly what is this thread about.
If you are so strict about talking phonics at home, why you talked about trading of phonics dvd and montessori school tat ur girl attended over here?
Everyone is free to speak up his/her mind. When i c some comments that i would like to made i have the freedom to do so.
How can your post don’t catch my attention?
Please have some basic manners. When you don’t know what i had went through , do not post negative comments on me. I got eye sore seeing it.
I haven’t been arguing with anyone in various forums but your posting indeed interesting. -
Siak,
awesome!
May i know how you got your first child to read p&j? For DVD, any systematic way that you do it?
We need to create the path for them to be ready
Well said. When i was struggled helping my child last year, i was always asking myself how to get him ready.
Early stimulation by reading aloud to young tots help them on various of developments (love for books, speech, vocabulary, imagination....)
Hi outsider,
Your son is doing well.
Welcome parents who can post their methods of teaching p&j here. Hope to help other parents various of possible methods.
For me i get my son reads a page of book 2a and repeat words that is not familiar daily. Aside reading p&j, he has to recite lun yu, i use this method to teach him reading chinese + go though phonics and i reading stories to him.
When i am at work, he has to do homework like writing numbers or words, maze, spot differences,math (worksheet based). Is different assessment daily. -
Charmaine:
I am just being very honest that I have also sent my girl to Montessori phonics, but I realized that teaching my boy at home can achieve even better results
If you are so strict about talking phonics at home, why you talked about trading of phonics dvd and montessori school tat ur girl attended over here? I realized that one to one teaching at home, is far more effective than one to eight, especially for kids with short attention span. I remember writing about this before in this thread. I have also written before that even after my girl completed the phonics course, she still could not read fluently. It was only after she read the Peter and Jane series, that she started to read very well.
If I never sent my girl to phonics class, how can I do any comparisons ? That is why I created my blog and this thread to tell other parents to try teaching at home first if they can, instead of sending to enrichment class.
Please I do not wish to continue this argument any more. Your different opinions are respected, though I do not agree with them. -
siak:
siak,Tamarind, thanks to you million million times again.
You have been my best inspiration in teaching them phonics.
And I did not have to spend money unnecessarily.
Great work!
You are welcome Actually you are the one who has put in all the hard work to teach your girls, and I congratulate you for the great work that you have done ! I am very happy to see any kids, not just my kids, reading so well as such a young age.
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Dear all parents,
You may have heard of kids who learn to read very well at a young age, without the need of phonics. The fact is that these kids learn all the words by sight and memorized them. These are kids with excellent memory and a long attention span.
In the case of my boy, who does not have a good memory, and very short attention span, phonics is essential for him. Phonics gives him the technique to decode words, and for words that are not phonetic, he can at least read parts of it and that really helps him to remember the word.
The best part is that phonics has enabled him to learn spelling effortlessly :
http://tamarindphonics.blogspot.com/2009/05/spelling.html
I know many parents make their kids write the same word 10 times to learn the spelling. I do not need to make my K2 boy do that. He knows how to spell the words with the help of phonics, there is no need to practice writing many times.
I only have to let him practice writing each word one time a day, because his hand writing is not good and needs to be trained. 2 days ago, after I let him practice his spelling words :
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
He wrote each word once. Then he asked to spell more words. I asked him to spell all the words in his spelling list over the next few weeks, and he was able to spell them correctly. Then he said that was not enough. I let him spell the words in my P1 girl's spelling list, and he can spell most of them too
The fact is that I never let him practice spelling. All I have done was to teach him phonics (which he has finished learning about one year ago), and let him read a few pages from a story book every day. Now he reads 500 - 1000 words in less than 15 mins every day, and he reads happily
From the experience of teaching my boy, phonics is really essential for kids like him who do not have a good memory, and have a very short attention span. Phonics does not only help in reading, it helps a lot in writing too. The fact is that knowing how to read is not enough, the child has to know how to write.
Even for kids like my older girl who has excellent memory and a very long attention span, phonics make learning to read and write so easy for her. Now at P1, she is able to put her ideas in compositions effortlessly She actually spent far less effort learning as compared to my boy, and she can spend most of her time playing.
As parents, we should teach kids the skills that will make learning easy for them, regardless of their abilities. http://tamarindphonics.blogspot.com/2008/08/how-to-teach-phonics.html is the essential skill, and when taught together with http://tamarindphonics.blogspot.com/2008/12/key-words-with-ladybird.html(using a reader like Peter and Jane), are the most effective methods.
There are many ways to learn phonics. The method in my http://tamarindphonics.blogspot.com/2008/08/how-to-teach-phonics.html, which is basically using the Leapfrog DVDs or starfall.com and practicising more words, is the cheapest and the easiest. But believe me, this is all we need to know about phonics. Parents can also Letterland and Jolly phonics, but I think they cost more and are more complicated. -
Charmaine_chong:
Siak,
awesome!
May i know how you got your first child to read p&j? For DVD, any systematic way that you do it?
We need to create the path for them to be ready
Well said. When i was struggled helping my child last year, i was always asking myself how to get him ready.
Early stimulation by reading aloud to young tots help them on various of developments (love for books, speech, vocabulary, imagination....)
Hi Charmaine, my opinion and view is basically based on the my past experience, and i believe everyone's opinion is drawn mostly by its own encounter and experience. There is no fast rule and what works for me may not work for others.
I only have two daughters who in general are behaving well, though they are bickering and too active, but when comes to \"learning\" they are very interested and inquisitve. I have seen some kids (in music class with my girls) who don't bother at all, and they did their own things, and until i hv never seen them anymore for 1 -3 months. This could be the parents concluded that the kids are not interested and do not want to waste money. Anyway music is considered not as MUST, so parents can withdraw them. But reading is considered important, thus though they have difficulties they will perservere to introduce and explore till the kids grab them one day.
I only can provide my different views for my 2 girls. My elder, she started very late in phonics, this is after i read and join forum, and i realised how ignorant i was. Like most of us, I did not learn phonics in the past, and truly speaking I only knew phonics and learnt at the same time with my daugther :lol: We both love watching Leapfrog DVD, and I need to know phonics too so that I can guide her. Within 2 weeks, she mastered all the 26 letters and its sounds and that was her modal to begin with. Few months later, In July 2008 I started with her Glen Doman flash cards. You see, most parents start flash cards much ealier, but she was late again. But I said ...never mind, since i have younger one (then 18 mths) my investment in glenn doman program would be more worth it. Combined with her good memory (she has better memory compared with her younger sister) and her basic modal, she could pick up the blending of 3 letters. But to read simple sentences that took her about 6-8 months. I only gave her books like Red dog..(sorry forget the title), and only she can blend the sounds, I then bought the Peter and Jane books. I bought not in bulks, only she can complete 1 level i then bought the next level. This was also to motivate her. Initially she was so motivated to read P&J by herself. I must say i did not have problem to motivate her (with little good manipulation) she had self motivation. Half way thru, she was bored, cause I must admit P&J is quite boring, :lol:
You asked me how I got your first child to read p&j? I have no other method, my elder was easier, she is inquisitive and self motivated, and she likes books. My 2nd one, she is more difficult, but good thing is she has competitive spirit, whatever hse sister does she wants to do so. So when she saw her older sister was reading book, she also wanted to do so, this made me easier. But her memory is not as good as her elder sister.
For DVD, any systematic way that you do it?
No, just switch on the dvd and let them watch as much as they like, for the first month, they can watch at least 2 times daily. Till even now, they still love to watch Leapfrog dvd.
I am sorry if i dont help much.
My method is not a method, I don't have originality. :lol: There is no systematic way. But since young, i read story fairy tale books to them. And it becomes a habit for the elder that she has to read many many books before she sleeps, she HAS to read or me read for her everynight.
Sometimes even I was too tired and ended up I fell asleep, she still insisted me reading for her. She loves planet and universe books. I bring her to library and let her pick her favourite books, and we will read the books over and over again. Sometimes she likes those picture books, it's ok, though she knows how to read lengthly pages, I don't want to restrict her from any kind of books. I remember my ex colleague commented that I might kill her interest in reading if I introduce lengthly pages for her to read at her age.
But I must say knowing phonics definitely facilitate my elder daughter in her reading ability, and it is accelerated. Now I can give her a new word, which she does not know and never hears before but she could try to spell it and 90% correct, this is because of phonics. Of course there are so many exceptions in phonics too, even us may not know it 100%, hayo....you ask many of us here still pronouce divorce as daivorse....or the other day my hubby and my daughter were arguing how to pronounce \"vineyard\", they insisted the righ one should be \"vain-yard\", i said ok ok...let's check, and it turned out to be vinyerd. :lol:
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