Reading Roadblocks

Writing systems are codes for SPOKEN LANGUAGE. Teaching your child a, b, c ... z(letter names) is the FIRST ROADBLOCK to reading. Letter names(ay, bee, cee) has no relationship whatasoever to the sound of speech these letters represent.

So STOP teaching your children abc. STOP forcing them to memorize & recite the alphabet. STOP making them memorize the upper & lower-case letters.

There is a BETTER way for the children to learn the alphabet. Teach them the SOUNDS.

You could use Cory Cat Phonics Song (VCD). We make learning speech sounds fun by associating the sound with an action. The Cory Cat VCD also comes with a set of flashcards and a colouring book.

Steps to introduce a sound:
1. Say 'buh' a few times.
2. Encourage your child to say after you.
3. Then show the symbol/letter 'b'. Point to the symbol and say "This is 'buh'.
4. Ask "What is this sound?"
5. Sing Bobby Bear b b b as you & your child pretend to bounce a ball.

Many parents ask me what other helpful activites can they do with their children to help them learn to read.

My suggestions:
1. TALK to your child.
Use good language. Don't use baby talk. For parents whose child's first language is NOT English, one of you has to use English most(if not all) of the time. According to research, Reading Accuracy & Fluency are enhanced if the word you are decoding(reading) already exist in the memory.

2. READ to your child.
Reading to your child will not only enrich her language but also familiarize him with the format of books. You could trace along the text with a finger as you read to your child. Thus training your child that reading is from left to right and from top to bottom.

3. DEVELOP your child's fine motor skills.
Developing your child's fine motor skills will help his eye-hand coordination which is very important when learning to read. Good fine motor skills will also enhance his writing skills. Give him lots of opportunities to roll playdough into small balls, squeeze water form a sponge, tear scrap papers, lace beads, play with blocks/puzzles & finger paint.

Don't miss the opportunity to HELP your child learn to read.

Sound Song

Most children like songs. In my nursery schools, we teach children as early as one year, to sing this action phonic song . Our Cory Cat Phonics Song will help children say sounds through actions.

They pretend to bounce a ball as they sing "Bobby Bear b b b ".

By the time they are 3 years old, many are ready to learn to read more formally(ehem I suggest you use Readeasy Phonics Beginner Level).

To make learning sounds more meaningful for children(2 yrs and above), do multi-sensory activities :

1. Use water colour to finger paint the letters. Teacher/Parent models how to write the letter being taught for the week. It is very important for the children to learn the right way each letter is written. Children dip their fingers in the paint & practice writing the letter on their own. Encourage the them to say the sound as they write.

2. Sound Collage - Children paste paper, cotton, fabric, beans on letter shapes. Don't forget to ask them to say the sound(not letter names) as they do the activity.

3. Writing on wet sand. Ask your child to write the letter in the sand using his fingers while saying the sound. The feel of the sand will make the letters feel more real and help them remember the sound that each letter makes.

• Level the sand after each letter so as not to confuse your child.
  

4. Form letter using modelling clay. As in finger painting teacher/parent models how to form the sound taught using modelling clay. For 2-4 year olds, they need a letter template to help them.

Research has shown that children learn to spell better if they have made tactile and physical associations with sounds/& letters.

Have fun with your child.

What Is Phonics?

Many Malaysian teachers will say that phonics is teaching letter sounds(letters to sounds). It's like saying 'letters have sounds'.

Well, I'm sorry to disappoint, but letters have NO sound. Have you tried putting a letter card to your ear? I've done so many times to prove my point. You will not hear any sound.

Thus, it is wrong to teach children that letters have sounds for a number of reasons.
Instead, we should teach them that speech sounds are represented by letters or group of letters(sounds to letters).

This is what we do in Readeasy Phonics.

We teach children 2 basic things.

1. Sounds are represented by letters/symbols.
For example the sound /t/, (tuh), is represented by letter 't'.
The sound / ʃ/, (sh), is represented by grapheme 'sh'.

2. To blend sounds together to read words.
For example /b/ - / ɪ/ - /t/..../bit/.

Readeasy Phonics is the FIRST and ONLY Synthetic Phonics reading programme in Malaysia, since 2001.

Synthetic phonics is a method of teaching reading which first teaches the smallest speech sounds and then builds up to blending these sounds together to achieve full pronunciation of words.

In the United Kingdom, the government has given a go-ahead for children to be taught to read PRIMARILY using the synthetic phonics method since 2006.

Also, a previous study in Scotland found out that children taught to read using the synthetic phonics method, were three years ahead of children who learnt by other methods.

As for me, I began using synthetic phonics(now Bacalah Anakku series) to teach my third child Athirah to read in Bahasa Malaysia in1995. It was an amazing experience. She became an independent reader in just a month. After publishing Bacalah Anakku in 1997, a lot of people encouraged me to write an English version of Bacalah Anakku. Alhamdulillah, in 2001 Readeasy Beginner Level was published.

For the past 9 years, I've met a lot of 6-yr-olds (Malay children), whose first language is NOT English, read in English fluently. There were many times I was overwhelmed when I saw Kelantanese children(kindergarteners ) reading in English!(Our home is in Kelantan).
And the best thing was that they were taught to read using Readeasy Phonics.

An experienced phonics teacher, Pn Kamariah, from Kemas Kindergarten , will always bring her students to show us how well they read in English whenever we go to Kuantan. Kindergarten teachers, operators, and parents who have used Readeasy Phonics are always happy to tell us how Readeasy Phonics has given their children a headstart in English.


My husband and I have been conducting phonics workshops for parents & teachers for the last 12 years. And we( others too) were always saying, "when is the KPM/MOE going to use synthetic phonics in schools to teach reading..." And out of the blue last year, Tan Sri Muhyiddin made the historic announcement.... phonics for Year 1 starting 2011.

Furthermore, the Dewan Bahasa & Pustaka(DBP) had appointed my husband and I as Phonics Consultants to help the Year 1 English Textbook Writers understand phonics better.

I'm sure that many primary school teachers are still 'blurred' about synthetic phonics. So. the least we can do is share our experiences & ideas on how to teach reading to small children in this blog.