All About Teaching and Learning Phonics

[sunset_dae]

Hi Tamarind


I notice that when i read P & J books to my child, he will always look at the pictures and not the words. Then he will ask me tons of question while Im reading, like, what is Jane doing? why Peter kick the ball? etc…This interupts the reading process…
What should i do? Have u experience this before?

I started him on the 3 alphabets phonics recently and noticed he is not very keen on it. When i took out the card (which i made according to yr blog), he will become very resistant and keep saying dont want to play cards… what should i do?

**He is 3 yo and knows all the 26 alphabets sounds very well…

[pokemon]

tamarind:

chrismei,

Her method is more towards sight words. Actually kids who have read a lot of books, will be able to figure out how to decode words using their own methods, without having been taught phonics.

But as I have written earlier, phonics is essential when it comes to spelling and reading. There are parents who make their kids write \"cat\" ten times to learn how to spell it. But with phonics, kids can spell any 3 letter word without the need to practice writing any words. There is no need to learn all the complicated techniques of phonics. Kids should at least know how to join 3 letters to form words, and this skill will enable them to learn sight words very quickly. I have heard of parents who read a book many times to a child, but the child still cannot read the book. This is because the child does not know phonics, and he is unable to remember so many words by sight.

As parents, we should find the best methods that suit our kids. Some methods work well for certain kids, but not others. I believe that we should use a combination of methods, that is, both phonics and sight words, most kids will be able to learn to read very well when they are taught phonics and sight words at the same time.

tamarind,

i two thumbs up what u have said. I didnt even finish teaching 3letter blending, my ds is already reading by himself and he was only 3yo then. I also did phonics as well as flashing cards with sight words, it works well. When he was in K2, he was helping others in his class spelling words, now p1 dont even need to learn his spelling in advance.

Initially he did spell phonetically but as they do alot of reading, he picks up the right spelling. I think learning phonics alone is not good enough, you need to read as many books as possible.

[tamarind]

ml15:

Hi mummaid


I have the same problem... my K1 boy recently had spelling list too and I freak out. The first week was 3 words and it was easy, he got it all correct. Then the 2nd week 4 words - that's it, too much for him liao...

Hi Tamarind
My son attended phonics lesson for 1 yr liao. The teacher say he is good at it. But hor, I think he mix up English Alphabets with phonics. He will say 'I' as 'e'. So he will spell RAIN (verbal) as R A E N (so mixed up alpha with phonics). What shd I do? And also he cannot finish writing A-Z and will mix the upper case with lower case. I'm very worried....

Actually in phonics, children learn that \"ai\" sounds like \"a\" as in \"main\", \"pain\" etc. Checkout my blog :
http://tamarindphonics.blogspot.com/2008/09/long-vowels.html

Montessori phonics teaches this. Your son's teacher probably has not touch on that yet ?

I think you don't have to worry. You should be very happy that he spelled 3 out of 4 letters correct ! That is 75% correct All he has to do is remember 25% of the word.

Also make sure that your son reads as many books as possible. A child who reads regularly will have a \"photo\" of the words inside his brain, and he will be able to spell even the sight words that are not phonetic : http://tamarindphonics.blogspot.com/2009/05/spelling.html

Phonics is essential for spelling. Kids should be encouraged to spell by listening to the sounds. It is OK that they make small mistakes, we should give them lots of encouragement. They only have to spend very little effort to remember small parts of some words. Do not make a child memorize the spelling, there are thousands of English words, it will take them many years to memorize all of them.

It is absolutely alright for a child to start to learn phonics from 2 or 3 years old. A child who has a very strong foundation in phonics, and has read many books, will be able to write compositions very easily. We should not only aim for a child to spell individual words. We should aim for him to write in sentences, compositions and stories :
http://tamarindphonics.blogspot.com/2009/02/written-by-chloe.html

[tamarind]

pokemon:

tamarind,

i two thumbs up what u have said. I didnt even finish teaching 3letter blending, my ds is already reading by himself and he was only 3yo then. I also did phonics as well as flashing cards with sight words, it works well. When he was in K2, he was helping others in his class spelling words, now p1 dont even need to learn his spelling in advance.

Initially he did spell phonetically but as they do alot of reading, he picks up the right spelling. I think learning phonics alone is not good enough, you need to read as many books as possible.

pokemon,
Thanks so much for sharing You are absolutely right that a strong foundation in phonics, as well as reading as many books as possible, are the best methods to learn to read. If parents can do both, kids will have a very easy time in school !

[tamarind]

sunset_dae:

Hi Tamarind


I notice that when i read P & J books to my child, he will always look at the pictures and not the words. Then he will ask me tons of question while Im reading, like, what is Jane doing? why Peter kick the ball? etc.....This interupts the reading process..
What should i do? Have u experience this before?

I started him on the 3 alphabets phonics recently and noticed he is not very keen on it. When i took out the card (which i made according to yr blog), he will become very resistant and keep saying dont want to play cards.. what should i do?

**He is 3 yo and knows all the 26 alphabets sounds very well..

You should be happy that your son is asking all those questions ! Try your best to answer as much as possible, and allow him to examine the pictures for as long as he wants to. My older girl likes to examine the pictures too, and now in P1, her comprehension skills are excellent, and very advanced compared to other kids in her class.

Pictures are very important in helping kids to understand what they are reading. I have heard cases where kids are reading Roald Dahl, but don't understand what they are reading. Kids below the age of 5 should read as many picture books as possible to help them comprehend the story, even though they may already be able to read English chapter books.

As for teaching phonics, try to design games to make learning fun.

For example :

1. Hide the cards and ask him to look for them. When he finds the card, he has to read the word.

2. Demonstrate the action and ask him to guess the word

3. Show him the real object and ask him to guess the word

4. Paste the \"a\" on a ball, and \"n\" on another ball, you roll one ball and she rolls the other ball. When the 2 balls touch, he must read the word.

5. If you have toy cars, you can also try number 4 the same way by rolling 2 toy cars together.

6. We have square tiles at home, so one idea is to put one card on each tile. Then play some music and ask the child to walk on the tiles. When the music stops, he has to read the word on the tile.

My hubby often asks me whether we are playing or learning. Before the age of five, kids should play and learn at the same time.

There is no need to think of elaborate games, young kids will enjoy simple games.

In the case of my boy, I use the word cards to play \"games\" with him, it was just a simple game of asking him to group the words in the correct groups. At that age he liked to arrange things, that that was fun for him. Sometimes we messed up the cards, and he had to pick up a card when I read the word. He had a lot of fun messing up the cards, sometimes we even blew the cards around just for fun

[Wesim]

hi tamarind


My girl has just finished reading Book 3b. However, for the C series, she is still at 1c. Do i have to follow the sequence i.e. 1a, b and then c?

She also likes to look at the picture first before she starts to read. She does not ask questions, but sometimes will just say out something what she likes or what happened by looking at the picture. Does this mean she understand what she is reading?

Btw, she is turning 3 next month.

[smurf]

I think Tamarind is right about picture books. I tried to 'force'my boy to reads those chapter books, but a lot of time, I found that he doesn't even understand what the story is about. he can read, and can recognise words. but he hates reading, and would prefer to read very very very simple book. simple books meaning those few-words-a-page kind. with very BIG picture. and he will stare at the picture and ask what is this doing what is that doing. initially, I was frustrated, very frustrated, but now, I just feel that it's better that he reads simple book than not reading.



OT:

just want to ask Tamarind, did you send your gal to drawing class? cos her drawing is fantastic! I wish my boy can draw so well, but usually, he only doodle and ''copy'' what he sees.

[tamarind]

Wesim:

hi tamarind


My girl has just finished reading Book 3b. However, for the C series, she is still at 1c. Do i have to follow the sequence i.e. 1a, b and then c?

She also likes to look at the picture first before she starts to read. She does not ask questions, but sometimes will just say out something what she likes or what happened by looking at the picture. Does this mean she understand what she is reading?

Btw, she is turning 3 next month.

Hi Wesim,
You girl is doing very well ! There is no need to complete all the a, b, c books. Some kids only require the \"a\" books, while most kids will require the \"a\" and \"b\" books. If she can read about 80% to 90% of the words in the \"b\" book, then you can already move on to 4a.

It's good that she likes to look at the pictures, if she does not ask questions, she probably already understands what she is reading. If you think that she may not understand something, just explain it to her. For kids at this age, parents should focus on \"inputs\".

[tamarind]

smurf:

I think Tamarind is right about picture books. I tried to 'force'my boy to reads those chapter books, but a lot of time, I found that he doesn't even understand what the story is about. he can read, and can recognise words. but he hates reading, and would prefer to read very very very simple book. simple books meaning those few-words-a-page kind. with very BIG picture. and he will stare at the picture and ask what is this doing what is that doing. initially, I was frustrated, very frustrated, but now, I just feel that it's better that he reads simple book than not reading.

Yes we should actually books that are at a lower level for the child. For example, if the child is reading book 6a which has about 100 words a page. Then we should find picture books that have about 50 words a page. Then the child will find these books very easy to read.

There are many picture books that have big pictures on every page, and enough words too. Try looking for these books in the library :

Percy the park keeper : a classic treasury
by Nick Butterworth
This is a very nice book, very thick, but with cute pictures on every page.

The complete adventures of Curious George
by Margret & H.A. Rey.
Another very thick book about a very cute monkey, will occupy kids for a long time.

Parents can search and reserve for the book at
http://www.nlb.gov.sg/

[tamarind]

smurf:

just want to ask Tamarind, did you send your gal to drawing class? cos her drawing is fantastic! I wish my boy can draw so well, but usually, he only doodle and ''copy'' what he sees.

smurf,
Thanks for your compliments I did not send her to drawing class. She does not like to draw what the teacher asks her to draw, she has her own ideas of what to draw