Letter Land

行行媽

Hi 各位,

我重未開始正式教我BB(19months) letterland, 不過我都買左部份products, 我好同意marieyuen話, 沒有本handbook, or teacher guide真係有d難度。 我想提供下香港重有邊到有letterland 2003 new version 買。

(1) ABC book (2003 new version)   香港圖書中心 $65.
(2) Letterland Learning At Home Alphabet Sounds activity book (2003 new version)    香港圖書中心, Dymock   $3x - $4x.
(3) Letterland Learning At Home First Reading activity book (2003 new version)    香港圖書中心, Dymock   $3x - $4x.
(4) Letterland Learning At Home First Handwriting activity book (2003 new version)    香港圖書中心, Dymock   $3x - $4x.
(5) Letterland Learning At Home First Alphabet
activity book (2003 new version)    香港圖書中心, Dymock   $3x - $4x.
(6) Letterland Learning At Home Building words
activity book (2003 new version)    香港圖書中心, Dymock   $3x - $4x.
(7) Letterland Learning At Home Reading words
activity book (2003 new version)    香港圖書中心, Dymock   $3x - $4x.

我就選擇新版因為便宜d, 好奇怪同一本書在Amazon, new version係便宜過old version的。

Jokey2828

Dear Marieyuen,

Thank you for your information and opinion, which are very valuable and useful to me. I will surely re-read them in detail.

My child is older than yours, and we are only at the starting point. So I think it is a good idea to have other users' comments on the programme as well. Of course, I have no disrespect of you.

I think Programme One is right for my child. Yet, to buy all the materials is just too expensive. So, what is the minumum package?

You know, the price of the old and new editions is another issue I have to consider seriously.

Anyway, thank you again for your information and opinion.

Jokey2828

Jokey2828

行媽媽:

Thank you for your information. Where is 香港國書中心? 如果新舊書一起用，效果好嗎?

Jokey2828

行行媽

Jokey2828,

Sorry, 打錯字都唔知添, 應該係香港圖書中心, (中環, near環球大廈, 地庫), 佢的姐妹書局係辰沖(唔知有冇錯別字).

我覺得新舊版一齊用都無咩問題, 雖然我唔知handbook點講, 不過就算你話d舊人物搬左(from letterland), 我估小朋友都唔會唔接受掛, 另外新版都重未有story book or reader, actually I will use both versions.

Jokey2828

Sorry 行行媽:

不是你打錯字，而是我睇錯字。

Jokey2828

kctammy

Jokey2828,

How old is your daughter?
The sales lady said that the primary  schools will have phonic lesson from 2004 onward.

Jokey2828

Sorry kctammy,

Do you mean that the primary schools in Hong Kong will have phonics lessons from 2004 up? In that case, we don't need to bother a kindergartener's phonics skills? Please enlighten me!

Jokey2828

kctammy

Jokey2828,

那個sales是這樣說的,你可以check o下。如果是真的,而你的女兒又快上小學(因為我見你說你女兒比較大),你可以等她上小學後才學phonic,或者到時才買學校用的教材在家配合。如果你心急想現在開始教,也不需買全套Letterland,等上小學再配合學校的方法。

Jokey2828

Dear kctammy,

Thank you for your information.

Jokey2828

charis

昨天我也到letterland的showroom，看一下教材。因為showroom沒有新版的書，又不知要等多久，於是買舊版的便算，包括early years handbook, ABC book and Software。我也和從未接觸過phonics的小兒(他五歲多的了)，看了Annie Apple。不過有些問題，想請教一下大家啊：
Annie Apple，不是說"ae"(即是似ant, arrow,apple)音的嗎﹖但我聽Alphabet song，唱的卻是"Annie Apple she says 'ah'."(輕輕的，似arm,around)的啊﹗請問一下各位，應該是那一個才對的啊﹖
又：marieyuen快要生bb吧﹖祝你順順利利，身體健康，bb和大人都精靈活潑啊﹗

Jokey2828

Dear Charis,

I have the same query as yours. It is also noted that the word "says" is sometimes pronounced /seiz/ and sometimes /sez/. In "Annie Apple", it is /seiz/; in "Bouncy Ben", it is /sez/. I have already sent an e-mail to Letterland for clarification, but so far there is no response.

A look of any dictionary will tell us that Annie Apple should say /ae/.

Jokey2828

charis

Dear Jokey,
Exactly.  When I hear the song, I realized the sound of the word 'says' is sung as '/seiz/'.  But to me, this questions is not as serious as the pronounciation of /ae/ or /a/.  :(
Thanks for the reply.
Charis.

Jokey2828

Dear Charis,

I agree that both /seiz/ and /sez/ are OK, although the former is non-RP. But when I teach my child to read (I mean looking at the word "says" itself), I have difficulty in explaining to her why the same word is pronounced differently in different songs. I have to go to a more complex idea that some English words are irregular. And most important of all, how can a renowned phonics programme like Letterland allow such inconsistency?

Thanks for your sharing.

Jokey2828

charis

Hi Jokey2828,
I went to the showroom today, and the sales there told me that the British way of pronunciation is /a/ instead of /ae/.  So most of the words would start with the sound /a/.
I will try to listen to the cassette 'early years handbook' to find out more.
Charis.

Jokey2828

Dear Charis,

I can't agree with the sales girl. I looked up the Longman Pronounciation Dictionary. It says the 'strong' pronounciation of "A" is /ae/ as in "cat" /kaet/ ('short A'). No doubt, the British short A is /ae/. If we take the sales' words, how can we pronounce Annie Apple as we do everyday? And then there must be a problem with the singer when she sings "Annie Apple" as /aeni  aepl/.

Look forward to your further sharing.

Jokey2828

charis

Dear Jokey2828,
I listened to the first few parts of the "Early Years Cassette" this morning.  The teacher/instructor in the tape does pronounce /a/ instead of /ae/.  And "Annie Apple" is really pronounced with "/a/nnie /a/pple", and so as the other words "arrow", "ants", etc.  
I don't know whether this is the way of british accent or not.  I hope I can have a chance to ask some native British.
Keep in touch!
Charis.

charis

原來..../ae/的正確發音，不是我平時以為的那一個﹗
我又參考了賴玉華博士寫的<擺脫廣東腔 - 國際音標學習手冊>，原來letterland教的/ae/(short a)，是很正確的﹗

Jokey2828

Dear Charis,

Thank you for your sharing.

Jokey2828

marieyuen

終於收到letterland有關於new characters的回應，回應如下：
Dear Marie

Thank you for your email regarding the new Letterlanders.  Many considerations were taken into account in making changes to some of our characters.  They include some political correctness points.  Our concern to be as supportive as possible to teachers in all parts of the world was highest on our list.  We also saw a need to move with the times.  For example, since the advent of digital clocks and watches that don’t ‘tick’ some children no longer have the word ‘ticking’ in their vocabulary.  Hence the shift to Talking Tess.

The attached transition stories for character changes may be useful.  These will be added to our website, www.letterland.com shortly.  Meanwhile Lyn Wendon, the originator of Letterland, would be glad to hear from you further, given your daughter's strong familiarity with the original characters. What are her reactions to the changes? Her opinion counts!  She may even have some better ideas for some of the changes.  Children are often leaders in the realm of imagination!  Also how much do you feel she has benefited from Letterland?

If you would like, too, to give us your postal address, we can keep you up to date as more new publications become available based on the new art style.

Best wishes

Amanda Brown
Letterland International Ltd

Sarah

請問Letterland Showroom在那裡？