All About Teaching and Learning Phonics

[smurf]

Hi Tamarind,


your boy is quite advanced in reading. my boy also 4 yr 5 mths old. he can recognize words, but he reads very slowly, and sounds very robotic. that means, he is very monotone. not like those storyteller who put life in reading.

he doesn't really like reading alot though he can recognise words. he rather play nintendo. should i confisticate the handheld game?? :?

[tamarind]

smurf:

Hi Tamarind,


your boy is quite advanced in reading. my boy also 4 yr 5 mths old. he can recognize words, but he reads very slowly, and sounds very robotic. that means, he is very monotone. not like those storyteller who put life in reading.

he doesn't really like reading alot though he can recognise words. he rather play nintendo. should i confisticate the handheld game?? :?

Hi smurf,
You should definitely keep the nintendo for the time being. It is too much fun, kids naturally love to play nintendo more than learning to read.

We have tons of toys like Lego, playmobil, ZOOB, etc, which helps to develop motor skills, creativity and imaginary play. Kids don't get addicted to these toys like they get addicted to nintendo.

Most children read monotonously at the beginning. As he learns to read more fluently, you can encourage him to imagine himself to be the character in the book, and speak like the character.

A good read scheme like the Ladybird Peter and Jane series is excellent for teaching kids to read fluently.

[Charmaine_chong]

Tamarind,


Your post is always very encouraging. But.....

Yesterday night, i showed my son P&J again.

Lets's read son. He turned me off. I ignored him and read the whole book myself while he was playing with his toys. I wasn't sure did he listen.

Eventhough i told him, you read with me only a page, i get you sweet tomorrow. He would pay attention for a minute. That is all.

I really wanted to cry loud.

I let him watch Leapfrog Words factory as he still not very sure the sounds yet but he can recognise about 80% of the lower and upper case alphebet.

When i read him dinosaur book, he pay attention and he knows if imiss a page.

He has not read P&J for coming two months. Just once a while, my hubby or me would took the book to read to him while he was playing.

What i am trying to do is to work out his \"book\" myself. Bring him out to get a topic to teach. Example: bring him to east coast, then prepare a book about this topic. As he experience it, i think it might work. What you think?

Tamarind, i know P&J is a bit boring to him. Would you mind to share with me what shall i do to cultivate his interest in this book?

Many thanks for your sharing.

:lovesite:

[tamarind]

Charmaine_chong,

Interests need to be cultivated and developed, sometimes over a long period of time.

At the beginning, my boy was also not interested in the books. I made it a routine for him. He must read one page on his own. Then he can watch his favorite DVD, or eat his favorite sweet. I make sure that he reads everyday, even if it is only for 2 or 3 minutes. After a while he knows that this is something that he must do everyday, since it is only for a short time only, he does not mind doing it. After many months, he begins to enjoy it.

Even if it is only for one minute, it is good enough. You can do one minute in the morning, and one minute in the afternoon.

The thing is that other readers are also very boring. The readers used by the kindergartens which my boy and girl attend, are very boring. And they are not very effective in teaching a child to read.

You should still read all the dinosaur books to him. But in order for him to learn to read, he has to read on his own. You can read hundreds of books to him, he is still not going to learn how to read, because he may not be paying attention. Everyday, point to every word in the page, and ask him to read. You don’t read for him, unless it is a new word that he does not know, or if he really does not remember how to read it. Also, try not to repeat a page, always go on to a new page.

At the same time, you can also try what buds and clarabella suggested. If other methods work better, then by all means use those methods. Every child is different, you may have to find other ways that best suit your child.

While I agree totally with other parents’ views that we should make it as fun as possible when teaching a young child to read, I feel that a few minutes of "serious time" a day does not hurt, and that is enough for a child to learn if we do it consistently.

[smurf]

Hi Tamarind,


thanks for replying! :celebrate:

where did u get your playmobil? my boy doesn't like lego. everytime ask him to play, he will shun away.:(

I think i will keep/hide the nintendo before he is addicted to it.:)

Hi charmaine_chong,

my boy also. ask him to read ladybird, he will find all sorts of excuses. :stupid:

but good thing is, he can recognize words. even those that he doesn't know how to pronounce,he will try to say it out. i guess learning phonics is very important.even if the child doesn't know the word,he will still try to make the sound. phonics does make it easier to learn words.

[smurf]

tamarind:

Charmaine_chong,

Interests need to be cultivated and developed, sometimes over a long period of time.

You should still read all the dinosaur books to him. But in order for him to learn to read, he has to read on his own. You can read hundreds of books to him, he is still not going to learn how to read, because he may not be paying attention. Everyday, point to every word in the page, and ask him to read. You don't read for him, unless it is a new word that he does not know, or if he really does not remember how to read it.

I definitely agreed with this. the cild will not learn how to read unless he/she is learning to read on his/her own. at least my boy is like this. I can read to him, but he doesn't pay attention. :stupid:

[tamarind]

smurf:

Hi Tamarind,


thanks for replying! :celebrate:

where did u get your playmobil? my boy doesn't like lego. everytime ask him to play, he will shun away.:(

I think i will keep/hide the nintendo before he is addicted to it.:)

Hi charmaine_chong,

my boy also. ask him to read ladybird, he will find all sorts of excuses. :stupid:

but good thing is, he can recognize words. even those that he doesn't know how to pronounce,he will try to say it out. i guess learning phonics is very important.even if the child doesn't know the word,he will still try to make the sound. phonics does make it easier to learn words.

You are absolutely right ! A child should know the basic techniques of phonics first before he starts to learn sight words.

I bought the playmobil from Takashimaya toy section, and there are toy shops in IMM and tanglin mall selling it. It is more for imaginary play, personally I still prefer Lego and ZOOB.

If I were a child, I would also choose nintendo over Lego ! So I don't even give my kids a choice. They do not have any form of electronic games, other than the electronic music keyboard. They only have Lego, playmobil, etc, so they have no choice. When they get bored with the toys, they will read books

I believe in not making their life too much fun.

I do let my kids play with http://www.starfall.com on my computer, and they pickup important computer skills like clicking the mouse, scrolling etc. My boy even knows how to shut down my computer in the proper way !

[smurf]

Tanks Tamarind.:)


my boy used to play starfall.com too.but he is tired of it.haha. so when i switch on computer for him (to playhouse disney or starfall), when I'm not looking, he goes to google and search for fun games! such as shooting game, cooking game,etc. if I'm busy with my bb, i just let him play for a while, else, i scold him or ask him to turn off the PC.hee.

what you think of if i let him cut paper? cos sometimes, he has noting to do, other than staring at the ceiling, or play nintendo, i let him cut paper. something he enjoys doing. but of course, he anyhow cut lah.

[Charmaine_chong]

Hi Tamarind,


Thanks for your time and feedback.

I will try a minute a day on P&J.

I think i spent more time just try to talk/convince him to read P&J.

Thanks for all mummies' suggestions. Really appreciate. Will take note and try harder and harder.

Having \"study war\" with my son everynight!

[clarabella]

tamarind:

While I agree totally with other parents' views that we should make it as fun as possible when teaching a young child to read, I feel that a few minutes of \"serious time\" a day does not hurt, and that is enough for a child to learn if we do it consistently.

Totally agree with Tamarind that \"serious time\" doesn't hurt. In fact, I feel it is imperative when kids reach K1/K2, because at some point they have to be able to sit down and do 'proper' (boring) seat work, right? Preschoolers learn well through play, especially for those with short attention spans; you can sneak in lots of teaching without them being aware of the fact. But, they cannot always think that work = play + fun. Otherwise how to get them to do assessment books, past year papers, mummy's homework without them grumbling, \"It's not fun!\"? :lol: I would like my kids to understand what \"work hard\" means, so I see the value of getting them used to \"serious time\" when they are young and can be manipulated hahahaha.


Smurf,
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