Letter Land

Jokey2828

Dear 510,

Yes, I have the Picture Code Cards and the Programme CDs. The cards are quite expensive. Each set costs $300 and more.

Honestly, I can't tell whether they are useful or not as each kid has different needs. In my child's case, I seldom show her the cards. She is big enough to read without the help of the pictograms. In fact, I find many of the cards rather clumsy. For example, instead of using the double consonant Picture Code Cards, we can simply put 2 consonant cards together, and then show the kid how to blend the sounds.

When my child learns a particular sound, I will play the CD to her so as to reinforce her memory of the sound pattern. Yet, the songs are not as attractive or interesting as the Alphabet songs. For details, I must go home and take a look.

How old is your child? If I know her age, I may be able to share more age appropriate experience with you.

Jokey2828

510

Dear Jokey2828

Thanks for your info.  In fact, I've been showing the Letterland characters to my daughter (now 3 years 3 months) for quite some time.  However, since I didn't commit much time in teaching her (my own fault   ), progress is a bit slow.

I started with the frieze and a early reading boardbook.  Then I started using the ABC book (she doesn't like it a lot) and some Letterland readers to tell her stories.  Only around two months ago I purchased the Teacher's Guides and started putting some effort.  My girl could now sing (or hum) the Alphabet songs with me and remember some blending stories (or patterns).

I'm working on these right now:
- Capital letters (as she hasn't got all yet);
- Handwriting songs (as she started writing alphabets in schoolwork);
- more "blend" or "digraph" stories

I could make the Code Cards by cutting-and-pasting scanned images but I'd rather spend the time to read the materials again.  In fact, I once made a crude Letterland font but I didn't have time to scan & make the blends therein.
Btw, do you know whether there is any writing songs for capital letters?  

As previously mentioned, I'm afraid that my poor pronunciation (though I'm making a lot of make-up revision right now) may render the learning less effective so I'm considering to let her learn from some native speakers soon.

Any advice from other parents as well?  

Thanks and regards,
510

PS: I found the "Alphabet Adventure" very useful to new learners.  My girl loves to play with me to locate the characters in those pages.

Jokey2828

Dear 510,

The Programme CDs are for use in conjunction with the Teachers’ Guides. The songs are to reinforce the child's memory of the sounds they have just learnt. As an example, here is the lyric for “Vowels Out Walking Song”:

"When two vowels go out walking,
The first man does the talking,
The first one says his name: ‘a’,
But his friend won't do the same,
But his friend won't do the same."

Of course, the phonics concepts introduced in the Programme CDs are more advanced. The melodies and lyrics are more complex. Again, I can't say whether they are useful or not as the songs may not appeal to your child at all. Do flip through the Teachers' Guides. They will tell you which song to play as you come across a particular sound.

As Letterland is a reading programme, it does not emphasize on capital letters, which are only found at the beginning of a sentence and proper names. So if you want to teach your daughter the upper case, you must look for other products.

If you find the Picture Code Cards useful, yet you don't have the time to draw or scan them, having a set is a good idea of course. Only that they are quite expensive.

Jokey2828

ALAL

up

小樹熊

就夠30日啦，入O黎傾O下啦，如果唔係潛在落低就好可惜了。   

UP~UP~UP~UP~UP~UP~

ALAL

Dear Jokey,

thank for your earlier information on teaching of English in international school.

Now I encourage my son to write letter and cards, turning the tedious copying and dictation into interesting job. Now he can dictate his own address in Chinese.

He even has an idea to give lai-see to others. I permit him to do that, given that he write the target person's name on the lai see and make his own paper coins to put inside the lai-see.

thanks.

Jokey2828

Dear ALAL,

Pleased to know that your son is progressing well in his Chinese writing. My child can hardly do this.

Keep up good work!

Jokey2828

marieyuen

壞消息！Yesasia已cut去大部份英語童書，無得賣了！！！
http://www.baby-kingdom.com/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=255748&forum=19&1

kittylock

marieyuen,

係呀，我都發覺佢地自2005年1月1日起好多好popular嘅children book都唔賣啦！！

好多 barney, bob the builder, dora the explorer, mathstart, math matter, let's read and find out science, letterland, eric carle,..... 都cut晒呀！！   

510

Hi all

Sorry! 成兩個月無入黎分享分享添!  At last I bought the Programme One & Two Code Cards, together with the Programme One CD (have hardly ever used ) from ETC (somewhere in late Dec).  Though the Code Cards are quite expensive, they are nicely printed & I could get some "missing" characters (missing in Reading Flash Cards or Sammy Snake Uno Cards).  My progress (slow progress is solely due to my laziness) is still around Alphabet songs, handwriting songs, CVC + some blending stories.  Relieved to me that my girl is getting more initiative (on Letterland) and she likes to sing the songs with me more (she used to ask me to sing them instead).  It's a pity that handwriting songs only cover lowercase as she is learning to write right now.  For her benefit, I'll make some real effort to put it in a more systematic way.  However, still looking for good tutor/tutoring center as my girl always gets confused with my bad/bed, fog/frog, clown/crown pronunciation.

I did have a little chat with Connie in my last visit regarding the "/a/" and she told me the same (accent used in England).  Finally I could convince myself to set it aside, by correlating to the different "a" pronunciation when people pronounce "balance", "Alex", etc (don't know whether it's a good analogy though ).

Ever been the new ETC showroom?  I've been there twice (both in a hurry); it's a pity that it's a bit farther from the MTR station and I'd to rush to there after work.  It's a bit bigger and they could put more products/brands (ORT, other non-fiction readers, code cards or phonics products from other brands, etc) in their stands.

Cheers.

easter123

我是一個過路人 ,見許多媽媽談論LETTERLAND,我也有興趣知,但是學校不是 也有phonic學嗎? 不會令小孩confuse嗎?

510

我覺得如果學校本身已經有 phonics class, 可以 check 番係用緊 (或 based on) 邊 D materials.  如果學校係用緊 Letterland (e.g., York), 家長識 Letterland 當然有幫助; 如果用緊其他 products (e.g., Jolly Phonics, 自行編制

Jokey2828

最近囡囡學串"cloudy"，為了幫她記得"OU" sounds /au/，於是便打開Letterland Programme Books 找個故事講給她聽。不過就真的覺得那故事麻麻﹕明明沒有"W"字，卻不知為何找來個Wicked Water Witch，硬說成Wicked Water Witch 為要吃Oscar Orange，於是趕Uppy Umbrella 出個"U"字，然後躲藏在"U" 字裏面….. 結果囡囡只記得"OW"，卻不記得"OU"。

為了幫她記得OU的/au/音，最後我只好用隻碟(O)打隻杯(U)，說他們打架，打得/ou/、 /ou/地叫。

因為我甚小看Letterland的故事書，請問那裏有更詳細的介詔呢﹖

Jokey2828

Jokey2828

Here are some tips from DGJS' headmistress on English spelling and writing:

* Spelling and writing come after reading and not before.

* The child should not be made to learn the letters in the alphabetical order with 'a' first and 'z' last. Teach the letters as they occur in the word the child happens to be learning.

* Teach the small letters first.

* Make sure that the child knows the order of the strokes in each letter.

* Train the child to leave more space between words than between letters.

* When the child spells a word, she should say the word aloud first, then spell aloud, then say the word aloud again.

* When a child copies a word, she should copy the word as a whole in one go so that she is learning the word and not separate letter.

* When practicing dictation, try dictating in short phrases. Do not dictate word by word.

Jokey2828

510

我囡囡就唔係咁鍾意隻 DVD (Once upon a time in Letterland); 我本身就用 frieze 介紹 Letterland D characters 先o既, 我估你亦可邊睇 DVD, 邊介紹 characters 同佢地 D sounds.  同時亦可開始用下本 ABC 講下故仔. 純粹八下, 你係用 traditional characters 定係 new characters?  The new editions seem to be more colorful.

hellosharon

Re : Jolly Phonics ** hi, I just help my friend to sell 1 full set Jolly Phonics book with exercise, because her son had changed the school after full payment, so that all are brand new. if any one interest, please contact me.

http://hk.page.auctions.yahoo.com/hk/auction/1109047542

But, I don't know it is good or easy to learn or not, because no experience before.

ChristineMother

I am interested in jolly phonics, how much would your friend sell?

hellosharon

hi, Christine Mother. my friend would like to sell it in $980.00 full set, volume  1-7, you can see the web site as below :

http://hk.page.auctions.yahoo.com/hk/auction/1109047542

if any question, please contact me, thank you.