Letter Land

Jokey2828

Jokey2828

Hi ALAL,

You are really a hardworking mom. Keep up.

I have most of the Letterland products. But I am too lazy to use them. Most of them are now just left in the bookcase.

"R" sounds /a:/. To deal with "eer", I just tell my child to pronounce /i:+a:/. Similarly, I deal with double consonants like fl, br, tr etc in the same way. The advantage is it is simple and straightforward to teach. For a child, it is easy to understand. For this reason, I find many of the picture code cards useless.

Yes, /s/ is found in ce, ci and cy, and also cae.

I think knowing the sounds of the letters is not the most crucial part of phonics. The most fundamental concept to grasp is to blend the sounds together – in such a skilled way that it becomes automatic. To this end, my child and I spent much of our time in playing phonics games (not Letterland's). As an illustration, I put the letter cards B+E+E+P together to make the word BEEP. Then I replace B with D to become DEEP. And then replace P with R to become DEER. I also let her read many simple books. Build up her reading confidence first before proceeding with more advanced readers.

Now my child is going to be 6.5 years old, and she is reading C S Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia. She is also good at dictation.

I hope this method can be of assistance to you.

AugSun

Jokey2828
I agreed with you that knowing the sounds of the letters is not the most crucial part of phonics.  How do you start teaching your child phonic at the beginning?  I am trying to use Letterland.  But the way you taught your child is also good.  Do you think the Letterland software HK$775 is good to buy to start with.  I am very lazy to read the Early Years Handbook to remember all the characters to teach my child.  As I don't know phonic, therefore, the symbol e.g. /a:/ is so difficult to me.  Can you tell us how to teach?  Many thanks

Jokey2828

AugSun,

I think parents are the best teachers. So if you do not know the sounds of the alphabet yourself, it would be very difficult for your child to learn them at home. You may consider attending an IPA course or sending her to a learning centre.

The CDRom and the Alphabet Song CD are about different things. I would say that for beginners, both are good. But if you only want either one, I would suggest the CD because you can play it anywhere and it is cheaper.

ALAL

Jokey,
thanks for your sharing.

You are not using the Letterland code card to play phonic games with your kid? Then what tools are you using?

Then does you teach your kid 'ir', 'er',' 'ow','ou',' 'tion'.. those pronounciation that are not following their individual alphabet sounds in Programme two?

AugSun

Jokey2828
IPA is teaching English Phonetics no phonics, do you meant that I should study phonetics before I teach my baby Letterland phonic or Jolly phonic?  Please advise.  Thanks.

tsztsz

我都想要35間letterland中心資料比我呀？

thanks!


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Jokey2828

Hi AugSun,

IPA is about the pronunciation of words. Phonics is about the relationship between spelling and sounds of a word. As an adult who knows how to spell, pronunciation is more important. As a personal experience, those who know IPA also know phonics. In fact, English is a tricky language. There are rules, and at the same time many exceptions. For example, there is a rule in Letterland called "silent e and the vowel man says his name". You may apply it to words like TAKE, LATE, HATE…. But if you apply it to words like HAVE, WERE, LOVE, MOVE … you are at odds.

Knowing IPA can avoid this pothole.

AugSun 寫道:
Jokey2828
IPA is teaching English Phonetics no phonics, do you meant that I should study phonetics before I teach my baby Letterland phonic or Jolly phonic?  Please advise.  Thanks.

Jokey2828

Hi ALAL,

Letterland picture code cards are too big to fit together to form a word. So I just use my printer to make plain letter cards. It is cheap and I do not have to worry that my child would rip or smear them.

I do not teach my child IR, ER, UR, TION, OU and OW according to the Programmes books.

As far as spelling is concerned, I have an experience to share. My child happened to be doing dictation on OW and OU yesterday – the words DOWN and ROUND. I made up an impromptu nursery rhyme for her:

(In a car)
Up and down, round and round
I found a big hound on the ground
Bound for market for thirty pounds

Up and down, round and round
I found a brown gown in down town
Sewn for the little clown in a deep frown
She said, “How can I make those funny sounds without half a crown?”

My child was happy to hear this rhyme. As she learnt that OU and OW have the same sound /au/, she also knew how to spell DOWN and ROUND at the same time. Without difficulty, she could also spell TOWN, GROUND etc correctly. And the memory lasts over time.

Hope that you find it useful.

ALAL 寫道:
Jokey,
thanks for your sharing.

You are not using the Letterland code card to play phonic games with your kid? Then what tools are you using?

Then does you teach your kid 'ir', 'er',' 'ow','ou',' 'tion'.. those pronounciation that are not following their individual alphabet sounds in Programme two?

ALAL

thank you Jokey,

My son's short term memory is very weak, and hence difficult for him to spell words. But this kind of children usually can remember stories well. This is why I stick only to Letterland because he can remember better than me the stories.

But years ago My hub bought a phonic box from Taiwan, seems good. It organise the sound according to 'a' , 'e', 'i',..  - 'a' cards include all short vowel and two sound vowel like 'ai' .. , and then 'sw', 'fl' cards..., and with sound lego.  I try teach my son blending with this box this summer.  Hope he likes this box.

It is a very tough to teach my son English. It is great to have your sharing and support.

AugSun

Jokey2828
Thanks for your advice.  I think before I teach my daughter phonic, I should learn phonetics, I found course at the IPA.  is it good to learn?

Jokey2828

Jokey2828

Jokey2828

Jokey2828

Hi AugSun,

Since I have not attended any course by International Phonetic Association, I have no comment.

May other moms help?

Jokey2828

Hi ALAL,

Phonics has little to do with memory. Children spell a word by listening to its sounds. Many Hong Kong children cannot master spelling because they rely on rote memory; and many gweilo cannot spell properly because they rely on sounds. Phonics strikes a balance between the two. As an example, I asked my child, “How many sounds does SENT have?” She said four: /s-e-n-t/. It is how a child learns to spell a word.

Sharing with you often inspires my thinking.

ALAL

Jokey,
by the way, do you know how to explain 'what'?
seems in Letterland 'a' just have sounds as in annie apple, Mr A, parachuted apples in p168 and yawning apple in p169 of program 2 teacher guide?

It is frustrating that there are so many exceptions. And I don't know IP symbol, that increase the difficulty.

Jokey2828

Hi ALAL,

The "a" sound in WHAT is only found in a few English words. I think that is why Letterland has not particularly dealt with it.

To teach WHAT, I started with telling my child that all question words begin with WH, except HOW. Then I told her the story about Wicked Water Witch and Hairy Hat Man. I did not explain the vowels because phonics does not apply to most of them.

All dictionaries have a pronunciation table, which shows you what sound each symbol represents. Esthers' Phonetics, IPA for Age 1 to 101 by Dr. Esther Y W Lai is also a good kit. It comes with a CD and a handbook to demonstrate the 44 sounds in the English language.

AugSun

Hi Jokey2828
Where can we buy the Esthers' Phonetics, IPA?  Does it mean that we can learn phonetics by ourself?
Thanks

Jokey2828

Hi AugSun,

Esther's Phonetics is a good source of reference. But if you know nothing about phonetics or International Phonetic Alphabet, you may find it boring and difficult to understand.

As I remember, the price is around $200. You may buy a set before considering a training course. It is available in large bookstores like Cosmos and Commercial Press.