Reading for young children

I have been missing from blogging because I lack the self discipline to do so. I will give myself another attempt to blog in order to document all the work that I have been doing with my own. At the beginning of this year, my eldest had issues with reading and comprehension. Today marks his 'final English paper' for his first year at primary school. And, I'm glad to say that our efforts have paid off without any external enrichment classes.

Throughout the years of teaching preschool, I have truly believed in the phonics system to help children to read and spell. I believed it's sufficient, until, I taught my own two kids. Yes. That's when phonics was taught and they can't spell when they can sound the blends, consonants and vowels. To be fair, they are poor listeners. They can't decipher the sounds in words all the time. Tsk tsk.... I find that girls fair better at this than boys. But this is solely my personal experience.

Alright, back to the topic of coaching the boys. I find that a combination of the following helps.

[1] Do the traditional phonics.
Most preschools in Singapore conduct phonics lessons now as a part of the English education. Extend the lesson at home by having the games that allow the child to spot the sound (if they are little). otherwise, attempt to get the child to spell the word using their listening skills. Very often, the child spells "fone" for "phone". Phonemically, the child has made an educated error. The blend and consonant share similar sounds. That's when we list words that contain "ph". This is an attempt for the child to identify and learn the spellings of the various words. Yes, they must learn the spellings. As much as you can. You can make it fun. play hangman. repeat the letters. repeat. repeat. repeat the same list for the week. Then change. There's no short cut. Keep this list for the end of week 2. And, if you are wondering, organization is crucial in educating the kids. We need to be really clear in order for the kids to achieve the objective.

[2] Read. Read. Read.
Children who find it difficult to read are choosy with their books. They read, lose interest and need companionship in their reading journey. By reading journey, I refer to a single book. Not books. You need lots of patience to instil that love for reading for children who find it tough. (P.S. There are children who find reading a breeze. And, you wonder why?) Rest assured. My boy really could not read and now, he can read books he did't manage to in January. Even his teacher in school is surprised. He's not top notch, but I'm very happy with the progress and results. You get the picture. Parents have to let the children choose their books. Celebrate every word they manage. Do the same book as often as he wants until he's confident. Confidence is important and confidence is built with time and his personal effort. Then let him know you are there to help him with the books that he has difficulty with; that you can share the books he can't manage by reading to him. Make him comfortable initially. Let him want to try. For my boy, he likes to sit on my lap and make me hug him and make me read to him. Then, I will embark on the plan to get him to co-read with me. Help me with the words. Word by word. followed by page by page. Until he did it all by himself! I started with the Oxford Learning Tree readers. Maintain that interest by consistently reading to the children. Sometimes, I get the feeling that he doesn't really listen. But, if we finish the book and leave it accessible to him. You will find him reaching for it in future.

[3] Do sight words, apart from phonics.
You can find lists of sight words simply by asking google. The list is usually sectioned into pre-k, k, grades 1 and 2. If the child is very weak, you should begin with the simplest stage. This will also assure him that he can conquer it. Once he's able to read the words at the grade, add ten words from the next grade. Keep doing this until all the sight words are mastered.

[4] Keep a diary. A simple diary.
Get the child to write one thing that happened in the entire day. Simply denote if the event made him happy or sad or angry. I tell my boy to write one sentence or in point form. It doesn't have to be a story. The purpose is to have an experience with writing, with relating his experiences. Children love to change little things like their pens/ pencils/ booklets. I often do not buy big notebooks for him to 'finish'. Instead, I suggest buying little booklets so that the child has the sense of accomplishment of filling up his diary. If you have guessed right, you can 'grow' the size of the booklets as the child starts writing more. :)

[5] Play games. Bingo. Memory. Hangman. Crosswords.
The trick with playing games is you have to keep the words they learn at your fingertips. Only do words they have seen or read.

There will be occasions you feel that it's not working, that your child is not reading. You will get frustrated, get upset, look elsewhere for help. I'm writing this post to encourage people who are in the same position as me. Not all children respond to enrichment or tuition. Coaching my own children have proved to be tedious, nerve wrecking, back breaking, heart breaking, but this joy I get as I see how he is managing now is my prize. There are still areas for me to work on with my child, but hey, that's the 'value' of my existence now.

Techniques for handling children with low attention span

Techniques for handling children with low attention span

[1] Have a checklist of mini-tasks that needs to be completed

Having small bite-sized mini task instead of an entire unit of work proves to give the child a greater sense of fulfillment and accomplishment. This spurs the child on and provides the child the impression that he is doing very well. It promotes confidence on a certain topic or a similar style of question that the child does not do well initially.

[2] Time him!

Setting achievable targets within a specified time frame helps the child to focus better at the task. If he is motivated by a sense of achievement, he will attempt to shorten the time frame to impress you the next time.

[3] Practice, practice and more practice till it becomes a habit

In order for the child to master a certain question or topic, practicing on a regular basis is more beneficial than 100 similar questions at a sitting. Divide the questions into mouthfuls of 10. So that the child feels that its manageable. You can always shorten the time given or provide 20 questions in the same time frame. Doing this daily makes it regular practice.

Everything we do well now is done through practice. We finish our assignments and jobs on time because we are trained to do so. In reality, the child will only master a very simple good habit (like, brushing his teeth twice a day) after the mum nags and insists that he does so for a couple of years (just about from 2 till 4) J. Every habit is learned, before it ever becomes a habit.

[4] Understanding the child’s learning style

Using things that the child enjoys, teach him the stuff that he doesn’t understand. From building ramps, we can teach relationship between gradient and velocity; if the child adores Monopoly (like my #2), then use it to teach counting (1 – 1 correspondence). If the child has problems reading, play SNAP, memory games, word games or scrabble. In every situation, there is a learning opportunity. It depends on the adult to see that opportunity and steer it in the right direction.

[5] Accepting your child

Truth be told, my kid is not smartest on the block. He’s not even close to being best, but he is my kid and there are always stuff he’s really good at and some that is far from being his forte. Accepting them is not equivalent to condoning them. It’s akin to understanding your personal weakness and asking yourself what you can do to ‘neutralize’ the effects of your undesirable trait. In a similar fashion, understanding what your child is weak at means you can invent an ingenious strategy to counter its effects. J I’m sure the journey to finding the most suitable strategy will be laid with pits and twigs, ensuring that falls will be painful. Take heart that every parent who is with a child goes through that same pain, some more, some less, but you are never alone.

[6] Discovering the child’s favourite reward

Haha, and we are here!! Every child likes reward is a different way, just as one woman prefers a handbag whilst another prefers a meal or even cash! You will have to discover your child’s preference. Using his unique and preferred reward, entice him. Make him feel that it’s all worth it!