如何幫子女記(串)英文呢?

Jokey2828

Hi jumama,

You are welcome.

Jokey2828

ALAL

Dear Jokey,
It seems you know where the problem lies. My son is studying in Chinese kinder teaching very simple English.

Hope you will share with us ways of teaching English for children, either in Letterland topic or here.

Thanks.

Jokey2828

Dear ALAL,

Sorry for the late reply because my Internet was down for the last few days.

As I do not have any experience with a kindergarten with Chinese as the medium of instruction, I do not really have much to say.

By the way, an English kindergarten is not without its drawbacks. My child's teacher does not only correct her spelling, but also her writing and penmanship. (I once visited an international school, and saw its 6th graders doing more or less the same thing.) No wonder, many children in Hong Kong lose their confidence and hate school. What a poor sacrifice to the local education system!

If your son does not accept that there are many English words to which phonics rules do not apply, you may show him the examples. Tell him that “one” does not begin with "w", and he won't hear "b" in "debt" etc.

I think there is one more important thing to tell your son: the same letter may not always carry the same sound. For example, you may talk about the sound "ou" as in words like "four", "flour" and "you". Also reinforce him that he can only remember these words by rote memory.

Hope that it may help.

Jokey2828

ALAL

Thanks Jokey,

Another problem in teaching my son is that I am not as knowelgable as you in phonics.

Jokey2828

Dear ALAL,

I only started to learn phonics when my child was born. So I don't think I am really knowledgeable in this field.

But I do have many resources for myself and my child. I also like looking up the dictionary.

If there is any specific area you think I may share, please let me know.

Jokey2828

Jacqueline

Dear Jokey2828,

請問什麼是Letterland Phonics ? 市面上有無vcd是教此Phonics呢 ??

我囝囝現讀K.2, 他老師說他認英文生字較差(如沒有圖畫的話), 請問有何方法令他易記得呢 ???

thank a lot !!!!

Jokey2828

Hi Jacqueline,

There are 3 main methods of teaching a kid to read:

1. Phonics;
2. Sight words;
3. Story context.

You may find an introduction of Letterland Phonics in detail in another BK forum教育小組.

Many English words cannot be segmented by using phonics rules. A child can only remember them as sight words by adopting a "look-say" approach.

The last method to learn to read is through reading. You may find many graded readers that fit your child's reading level or interest in the market. Oxford Reading Tree is one of the most popular choices among BK moms and dads.

If you find any of these methods useful to your son, please share your experience with us.

Jokey2828

sandycat

ALAL 寫道:
Jokey,

照我理解，ESF的學校從來都不會改正學生的spelling，他們認為小朋友大了便會自動更正wrong spelling，然而他們卻很注重writing for meaning。'  this information is very inspiring.

I have some question in spelling by using Letterland. My son is five. He has learnt the sound of 26 alphabet. So he OK in spelling simple word like cat, dog, pig. But he is studying in normal kinder and now he has to learn words like 'teacher'. But he is not taught 'ea' and 'er' yet in Letterland. He become quite confused why some words can spell by using Letterland and why some cannot.

Grateful for your advice.  

Hi ALAL,

路過撘口請見諒，我個仔K3讀本地幼稚園，也有妳一樣問題，佢地K1-K2其實已教a-z單音併音，我問過學校學校話今年才教雙音，但佢地亦已開始讀/默較複雜的字，我覺佢地教併音好似未能跟所學生字配合，但跟學校了解過佢地話因要顧及各學生程度併音進度有限制，我亦明白這是為什麼有學生要到外面學併音
我亦想比個仔去外面再學併音，因佢進度唔錯佢亦好鐘意Letterland內人物，主要佢地學開Letterland地方亦唔多加上又怕與明年小一併音(唔知用什麼Letterland, Jolly,etc)不一樣怕不太涵接，另邊度教得好都係問題。

ALAL

thank jokey,

sandy,
how do your kid's school cope with the problem?

eviepa

I took a glance on this topic.  I was wondering why you guys want your kids to spell English words so soon?

Here was my experience:

I started to dictate words in about mid-2003 when my daughter was at Primary 2, staying at home avoiding SARS.  The scheme was aparently very successful because my daughter can memorize the spelling of several words every day - a staggering several words per day!!

However after about 2 months, I realized that it was a complete failure.  Take an example, my daughter knew the pronounciation of "Chair", and she understood what chair meant.  After my scheme, she could spell "c-h-a-i-r chair".  However when I pointed out the word "chair" from a book, she could not recognize that "c-h-a-i-r" pronounced as chair and meant chair.  I stopped this scheme abruptly because it did no good to my daughter.

Later on I tried another method:  reading.  It has been a smesh success.  My daughter, thought has a reasonable listening ability - thanks to my domestic helper and the NET teacher at her school - could not read any English in the on set of 2004.  

Starting from Jan 2004, I had been spending about half an hour every day - virtually every day.  Up till now, she read through more than 400 English books.  In Jan, she had to struggle with basic words, like myself, there, that.  But bit by bit, little by little, she caught up in an unbelivable manner.  In less than a year, though she is now primary 3, she can score high marks in Primary Six's comprehension; thought I did not have any dictation with her after the short lived, futile campign (neither did her school), she can spell a lot of words ( I guess more than 500 words).

Maybe one thing can help her spelling: when she graduated from kindergarten, she can't spell even cat, dog, apple, but she had a good grasp of phonics.

All in all, my advise is that, reading come first, spelling is secondary to reading.

Jokey2828

Hi eviepa,

Thank you for your sharing.

As I have said earlier in this topic, the local kindergarten education is somewhat ridiculous. In UK and US, parents and teachers cherish reading and not writing (not to mention spelling) in early years. But in Hong Kong, spelling comes first. Since this is a hard fact of life in a kindergarten, what can we parents do?

I also agree that reading and writing reinforce each other.

Jokey2828

eviepa

mocha 寫道:
I suggest, If your kids are still young, kinder kids, spend more time to recognize (認字) those words before they really spend time on spelling.

Hi mocha,

I suggest that not only kinder kids, but also kids before Primary 3.  Too much emphazise on spelling can only lower the initiative of the kids.

In HK, all primary pupils dictate every week.  But finally, I guess an average Primary graduate recognize less than 1,500 (if I am wrong, correct.  But I do believe this figure), i.e., less than 1 word per day.

Hard work, low return!

Parents, do you want you children follow this course?