All About Teaching and Learning Phonics

[buds]

Here's the usual kind most schools

and parents use.. i bought this from
an exhibition. About S$26 or S$27.
Ants on the apple picture book with
lyrics and an audio CD.


http://www.postimage.org/image.php?v=Pqyr7O9

[tamarind]

Hi buds and MLR,

I did not use any flashcards to teach my kids A,B,C,s and the phonics sounds. Both my kids learn all the letter sounds simply by watching the Leapfrog Letter Factory DVD ! For reinforcements, I let my boy play with alphabet puzzles, and use books with lots of pictures.

When I started to teach my boy to join letters to form 2 and 3 letter words, I made my own cards. But these are not \"flash\" cards. I don't flash them. If I simply flash the cards, my boy will not pay attention at all.

First I taught him to read at, an, ap.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3614/3397774650_ef4abc872d.jpg\">

Then I mix up the cards. I say \"an\", and ask him to pick up the correct card for me (I don't tell him which card) Then I continue to say one word at a time, until he picks up all the cards for me.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3472/3397782612_37aa46b4bf.jpg\">

The next step is to teach the 3 letter words. I taught my boy to read using the letter sounds, for example, \"c\" - \"at\".
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3584/3396984721_ef39afccf9.jpg\">

Then I give my boy the card and ask him to put under the correct column.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3606/3396991361_0c116eb96c.jpg\">

This method worked very very well for my boy, who has a very short attention span, and has very itchy fingers. He really have to pay attention and think so that he can pick up the right card. He especially enjoys the part where he can help to mix up the cards.

He completed learning the whole course of phonics this way. He did not know that he is learning. He thought that he was playing games all along.

More details in my blog.
http://tamarindphonics.blogspot.com/2008/08/how-to-teach-phonics.html

[tamarind]

buds:

Heyya tamarind,


Ya know the ghoti joke too?
All right, girl! Cute how they
put it, aye?

Ya, its true. Many rules to grammar.
Many different steps to reading
efficiently. The words in English
are all different and some are
derived from words of other
languages... like from French
words. As English is that complex,
the proven way to be in good command
is to read a lot and use it a lot...

Phonics IS another aide meant for
words that can be decoded but for
others that cannot be so, its just
plain sight.

Hi buds,
Totally agree ! My hubby told me that he learn phonics by watching \"Sesame Street\". I wonder if you have watched it before.

My point is just that parents should not put too much emphasis on phonics. Like I read somewhere that children must be sent to phonics schools to be taught by the \"experts\".

The fact is that any parent who can read English, already has a basic understanding of phonics, and they can teach their kids phonics at home. There are many helpful and free resources in the internet, like the excellent http://www.starfall.com.

BTW, have you come across any other good graded readers for children besides the Ladybird key word reading scheme (Peter and Jane) ? My kids' schools are using the Rigby readers which I think are not as good as the Ladybird series.

[buds]

Heyya tamarind, yes I have seen them!

Can say one of my favourite-cannot-miss
shows of all time... t'was indirect teaching
via TV series, hehee.. :lol:

Phonics is not thee only way to learn reading.
Heck, i didn't remember anything i did that
was phonics based. Mostly sight reading and
exposed to many many different readers..

But as of today, it has become a widely
commercialized programme to so call super
accelerate a child's reading ablities, from even
the youngest of kiddies to work with...

Though having said the above, it is also not accurate
to generalise a blanket statement that all parents
go to such organizations to fast forward a child's
abilities to be quite the linguist either..

Parents who can afford the time to self-teach
their children will definitely make the effort..
but there will be others who see phonics pgrm
as a need to assist their children in the way
they just cannot due to time constraints.

The other reason would be that there are parents
who feel they are not versed to teach - meaning
that they may not necessarily have the knowledge
to teach the area or may not know the technique
enough to make it work, hence fearing it may
confuse a child even more.

So thats a possible reason why there won't be a
supply without the demand.

In any ways, this forum provides an avenue for
all parents out there who are in the know, to share
their knowledge and experiences working this area
regardless of the different usage of methodologies.
We can all use the one that works best for our own
children..

Cheerios!
:celebrate:

[buds]

I don’t so much as flash either but more to using

cards as another tool to introduce children to vocab
ie. cards with pictures… cards with numbers, etc…

I have seen Fitzroy Readers. Nice graphics. Incorporates
phonetic words graded their own way with the inclusion
of the much needed high-frequency (sight-words).

Ya, Rigby more to thematic and also pure sight reading
readers. My K2 also uses that in her school. But good
thing is the Rigby Readers comes with activity sheets.
those who have used Phonics to introduce children to
reading will find the structure of Rigby Readers a little
cluttered… like not in a systematic order of learning
sounds. But i am ok with it for the pure sake of exposing
to different types of readers… like how i was introduced
to before during my early years with the effort of my
parents.

Ya, i too like the Peter and Jane series. And having tried
and tested that… we know that it will work collaboratively
with Phonics introduction rather nicely, without the pricey
investment.

Letterland story readers are very colourful and interestingly
put together and with carefully thought of sequence - tho it
can be considered a rather pricey investment for set of readers.

[buds]

I will check my resource library and let

you know of more good ones okay!

Chow!

[tamarind]

[quote]
Parents who can afford the time to self-teach
their children will definitely make the effort..
but there will be others who see phonics pgrm
as a need to assist their children in the way
they just cannot due to time constraints. [/quote]buds,
It actually takes much more time and effort to send a child to phonics class, as compared to teaching at home.

I sent my older girl to Montessori phonics class when she was almost 4 years old. The course was about 11 months. It was only for one hour a week on Saturday afternoons, and the school was only 5 minutes away by car. But I had to wait for her outside, and by the time we got home, I felt like the whole Saturday afternoon was gone. After every lesson, the teachers showed the parents how to teach the day's lesson, and emphasized that parents must practice with the child at home. So we still have to spend time teaching the child at home.

I actually feel that I save a lot of time by teaching my boy at home. I only teach him for less than 15 minutes a day in the comfort of our own home. It is so relaxing, and most importantly, teaching my boy is a great way of bonding with him.

I honestly do not feel that the Montessori phonics teachers are \"experts\" at all. They probably just went through a short course, and they simply follow the phonics materials to teach. Phonics is not rocket science. English educated mommies should be able to learn phonics very quickly. Given the phonics materials, anyone (who can read English well) can teach phonics. The best thing is that we can always invent our own methods to teach phonics. We all know that phonics is taught in many different ways : Jolly, Letterland, Zoophonics, Montessori, starfall.com, Leapfrog, Sesame Street None of these methods can claim to be the absolute authority of teaching phonics.

Also we must not forget that English is not phonetic. Personally I feel that it may be good enough for a child to just know how to join letters to form 3 letter words. In fact, my boy started to read the Peter and Jane series after he knew how to read 3 letter words, and he is able to progress very well. The more advanced rules of phonics, like the long and short vowels, can be very confusing to a child. In fact, I simply taught my boy using the silent \"e\" method (from the Leapfrog DVD), I don't bother about explaining long and short vowels at all. I think my boy learns many words by sight as he reads the Peter and Jane series. I have heard of other children who learn very well using sight words, which may be better than trying to make them understand long and short vowels.

[tamarind]

buds:

I don't so much as flash either but more to using

cards as another tool to introduce children to vocab
ie. cards with pictures.. cards with numbers, etc..

I have seen Fitzroy Readers. Nice graphics. Incorporates
phonetic words graded their own way with the inclusion
of the much needed high-frequency (sight-words).

Ya, Rigby more to thematic and also pure sight reading
readers. My K2 also uses that in her school. But good
thing is the Rigby Readers comes with activity sheets.
those who have used Phonics to introduce children to
reading will find the structure of Rigby Readers a little
cluttered... like not in a systematic order of learning
sounds. But i am ok with it for the pure sake of exposing
to different types of readers... like how i was introduced
to before during my early years with the effort of my
parents.

Ya, i too like the Peter and Jane series. And having tried
and tested that... we know that it will work collaboratively
with Phonics introduction rather nicely, without the pricey
investment.

Letterland story readers are very colourful and interestingly
put together and with carefully thought of sequence - tho it
can be considered a rather pricey investment for set of readers.

What I like about the Peter and Jane series, is that it starts out so simple.

Page 1. Peter
Page 2. Jane
Page 3. Peter and Jane.

Any child can manage that. Then it repeats the same words, adding only one or two new words on each page. I have seen other readers, like the Rigby and Magic Schoolbus series, where the first page has more than 5 words. A child who does not know how to read will lose confidence at the very first page.

[buds]

tamarind:

It actually takes much more time and effort to send a child to phonics class, as compared to teaching at home..

For parents to self-teach, other than the knowledge and the necessary
techniques they wish to adopt to teach that they can learn, there is
also the area of material preparations to bear in mind - which some
parents cannot find time to accomplish. I personally know this from
experience...

To save the trouble...
I share materials with my students' parents which i personally did from
scratch and put them in fun packs and according to the grading levels,
but there will be some who bring the fun packs back... left in the folder
each week -untouched. They didn have to make since i already made
them and printed them in A4 sized sheets ready for cutting into cards.
But still...

Buying extensive materials may be too much of an investment especially
if its for an only child. Having a few children, parents get the experience
from the elder child to work with and hope to do better for the 2nd and
the next... so if first child learns from enrichment centre, parents can
learn too and save the same amount spent on the 1st one by teaching
the consecutive ones on their own. Then again, not all parents have the
patience to sit through to see the effort to completion on their own mebbe
due to unbearable work routines for both parents working full time or just
cause there are a handful who cannot teach their own children. ie. they
can be mummy to the children but their children cannot take them
seriously when they play teacher. Heheee.. :lol: :lol:

A few children i know of are fully cared for by their grandparents and
the parents only pick them up during weekends. So how?

In short, there is a diverse culture amongst families and like csc mention
before that not all parents are cut-out to be their child's first teacher.
Not everybody can do it or rather not everybody is prepared to do it.

tamarind:

I actually feel that I save a lot of time by teaching my boy at home. I only teach him for less than 15 minutes a day in the comfort of our own home. It is so relaxing, and most importantly, teaching my boy is a great way of bonding with him.

You are different lah, tam... You have the drive and the energy, many of
the mothers out there could only wish they have half of... Your intent
to bond via self-teaching is a fantastic effort on your part esp since you
work too.

No need to go so far for living examples..... close friends and even a
couple of my neighbours, feel they just wanna go home (from whole day
at work and long journey back home in public transport) to rest and bond
with their kiddies through family time together chilling around the TV,
have dinner together and catch up on each other's day at work/school,
share cuddles and mebbe at most read storybooks... instead of going
through another round of lesson (when sch and work is supposed to be
over already) and more stress. They wanna de-stress and enjoy
the company of their children.

tamarind:

After every lesson, the teachers showed the parents how to teach the day's lesson, and emphasized that parents must practice with the child at home. So we still have to spend time teaching the child at home.

At whichever phase of our children's lives and growing stages, there will
be an endless journey of learning. Mebbe at pre-school, the additional
enrichment pgrms... At Primary school coaching of homework... At
Secondary different set of revision schedule... so no matter what, we
still hafta spend time to revise even if not entirely teaching them...
to be involved in their studies so we know where they are, we are
able to observe their progress and provide assistance or intervention
(if necessary upon our observations of their abilities).... in short,
with parents involvement in the child's education it helps to keep the
child in pace or at times even help accelerate their progress.

Even at now P2, each time we go for school talk the principal and the
teachers constantly remind parents to try be a part of the child's life,
to nurture, to collaborate with the teachings from school..... to assist
the child with any school work to be done and ensure work is handed
up on time, so child does not fall back..

tamarind:

I honestly do not feel that the Montessori phonics teachers are \"experts\" at all. They probably just went through a short course, and they simply follow the phonics materials to teach. Phonics is not rocket science. English educated mommies should be able to learn phonics very quickly. Given the phonics materials, anyone (who can read English well) can teach phonics. The best thing is that we can always invent our own methods to teach phonics. We all know that phonics is taught in many different ways : Jolly, Letterland, Zoophonics, Montessori, starfall.com, Leapfrog, Sesame Street None of these methods can claim to be the absolute authority of teaching phonics..

Experts, definitely not. Even sometimes we feel we can teach our children
better and more in depth than the teachers in school be it in kindy or Pri,
cos we have few and they have a whole class. Teachers are in place to
facilitate the learning program. Not all times we come across interesting
teachers who make class fun and full of vibrant energy, so it portrays
a person who simply goes through the motion of what she may have
learnt to teach.

With experience and time, teachers can grow to be more creative,
acquire more personal resources (other than those of the school's) to
assist in making lessons interactive and hands-on for the children...

Naaah, i dun know of anyone in particular who wants a claim, coming
up with the phonics method of teaching phonics... Heehee..
Mebbe Sesame Street should come forward to claim, aye? They've
been on TV since forever! Consistent reading practises/reading
together with our children is still one of the best yet most under-rated
method to explore introduction to reading and to cultivate the interest
in reading.

tamarind:

Also we must not forget that English is not phonetic. Personally I feel that it may be good enough for a child to just know how to join letters to form 3 letter words. In fact, my boy started to read the Peter and Jane series after he knew how to read 3 letter words, and he is able to progress very well. The more advanced rules of phonics, like the long and short vowels, can be very confusing to a child. In fact, I simply taught my boy using the silent \"e\" method (from the Leapfrog DVD), I don't bother about explaining long and short vowels at all. I think my boy learns many words by sight as he reads the Peter and Jane series. I have heard of other children who learn very well using sight words, which may be better than trying to make them understand long and short vowels.

Yup yup yup! English is far too complex to explain with a one-liner
explaination... so heck it la. Important thing is make learning fun!

When it's fun, it won't be like a chore..
(At least when kiddies are still in pre-school )
Come Primary school onwards no matter how
fun, the work they bring home is still a chore to them.
Not counting the home assessments parents
throw into the pile as well..

Don't we all wish housework could be more fun?

[tamarind]

buds,

When I was teaching my boy phonics, I only prepared materials once a month, each time spent less than 30 minutes. My materials are very simple, just type in, print out, and cut out. I thought about the methods when traveling to and from work, and during my lunch hours.

For reading, I simply bought the Ladybird Peter and Jane series, no preparation time needed !

I am not that energetic lah. I teach my boy while sitting on our soft king size bed, sometimes right after he finished reading, I fell asleep.

Young children do not need to spend hours studying. I think that 15 minutes everyday is good enough. No matter how busy we are, every day we must at least spare 15 minutes of full and undivided attention for our kids, right ? In fact, nowadays my boy only reads one page a day and it takes less than 10 minutes.

I certainly understand that every one has their own problems, and not every mommy can teach their kids. But I am sure there are many mommies who can manage to find time, and are keen to teach their kids at home, but don't know how to start, and my http://tamarindphonics.blogspot.com/ shows them how to do so. I am sure other mommies have learnt a lot from your contributions in this forum too