幫忙給一點意見 - 英文班

beckybecky

本人兒子九月升讀P.2. 他剛完成PHONICS的COURSE 在某補習中心.
現在我想給他讀一些Grammar Course & Oral, 因為他的學校要到四年級才有外籍老師教Oral, 所以我要自己幫佢找老師補習Oral先. 本來我想幫他報讀一間有Grammar及Ora學的Centre上堂，但間Centre話暫時無位要我等, 但又不知要等幾耐. 我同事話現在的上門補習其實重抵, 小朋友又不用出出入入浪費時間, 而且時間由自己定唔洗等補習社/Centre又話要夠人先開班..... 但我丈夫就擔心我個仔單對單補習成個鐘又無小朋友陪會坐唔定喎!!

請問各位仁兄仁姊有何意見給小妹參考. 去Centre補/補習老師上門好????

謝謝!!!   

Vernique2005

個人意見﹐讀英文一定要全面﹐不能只教拼音﹐拼音要加vocab, grammar 要連 writing﹐ oral 也要跟reading/writing並教才會好。 如果是到這類型的課程﹐應該不錯。

如果是單對單補﹐可以做多D activities,如要小朋友自製readers﹐先寫文再將寫好的變成回家讀的書。 可以玩D 數學游戲然後要他用英文對答等﹐這樣一個小時可能還不夠呢﹗

beckybecky

Vernique2005,

         衷心多謝妳的寶貴意見, 好有用.  但請問有沒有這方面的資料可以提供??? 因為家附近的Centre/補習社通常的課程都是安排小朋友分開學的.


  

Vernique2005

Hi!

你想上英文班的話﹐如果是P2﹐ 可以考慮下Cambridge的KET/PET啦﹗
你能自己教拼音嗎﹖能的話去買一本書﹐叫 The Complete Book of Phonics (by American Education Publishing)
ISBN: 1561892076

學校是中文學校還是英文學校﹖ 是英文學校可以開始試下英文寫作。

如果是想單對單學﹐考慮一下你最需要的是什麼先再選老師﹐學就要學些平時上學或到上英文班都做不到的。既然是單對單﹐最能令孩子的益的便是學寫作/會話﹐P2可以寫下句子﹐做下presentation或fun reading。畢竟grammar/
reading都可以自己花多點時間就會有進步。

Mayumi

Hi Vernique2005,

It's me again.  I would like to seek for some advice from you myself this time.  I bought a set of letterland phonics set for my girl, who is 3 years old now, few months ago.  However, after I had that bought, I found that her school will teach them phonics in way similar to Jolly one.  I dare not to go ahead to teach her the letterland one but personally like this program very much.  Would like to know, in your view point, if I teach her the letterland one at home whilst she learns the Jolly one at school, will she get confused and fall into any trouble?

Vernique2005

Hi Mayumi:

I guess the phonetics rules that Letterland teaches will be very similar to the ones that your girl's school offer.  Letterland does not INVENT the phonetics rules.  It's just one way of presenting it.  I guess it's more popular than others because it has very cute pictures.  In fact, the phonics book that I recommended a while ago also uses an approach that is very close to the Letterland's.  I guess you don't have to worry about it that much (unless your girl's school is indeed teaching her the IPA).  Many schools in Canada/US don't use the Letterland/Jolly phonics at all because they are rather expensive.  The book that I recommended only costs about $20CDN, and it has included information that K-2 students need to know.

From a teacher guide for phonics, I read that only 87% of English vocabs can be predicted by phonetic rules.  (The other 13% are often jargons or terms for certain professions)

I guess you may treat phonics as a very preliminary approach to recognizing words.  Phonology is only a very small part of linguistics.  Later on, your girl will need to learn about syntax/semantics if she wants to gain a more comprehensive view of the English language.

Mayumi

Hi Vernique2005,

You're right.  I want to introduce my girl phonics for letting her feeling the fun of reading and nurturing her reading interest.  It's better to make her feel fun before she reaches the stage like syntax/semantics.

May I know that if you such an expert have any kids?  If you have, would you share your approach of how to coach him/her/them?

Thanks & regards!

Vernique2005

Dear Mayumi:

Sorry that I missed your message! I cut my finger accidentally, so had to stay away from the keyboard for a while!    Well...I ended up going to speed boating instead of reading at home, which made me feel way better now!  

To be honest with you, I don't think I am an expert with young kids, but my sister is! (She studies children psychology in Canada) I consider myself more as a teacher because I often want to see that my students are all in good progress.  

Your girl is very young, right?  I think the most important issue to focus on right now is not her academic achievement, but rather, her learning attitude.  To be honest with you, I don't see any merit in forcing a 5-year-old child to learn lots of English vocabs just to make sure that the child is "ahead" of others.  What you have to keep in mind is that one day, your child's knowledge will certainly surpass yours if you raise her nicely.  Therefore, the parents' role is NOT just to teach their children all they know, but also to make sure that their children know how to learn ON THEIR OWN and be independent.  Your approach in nurturing her interests is very good.  The next step could be teaching her the right values of doing correction.  You have to make sure that she's willing to fix her errors when she does something wrong--Interest + persistence = an established scholar  

BTW, why would you think that knowing phonics would increase a child's enjoyment in reading???
I found this quite interesting.  Do you mind telling me more about your viewpoint?

It's better to make her feel fun before she reaches the stage like syntax/semantics.

I kind of hold the opposite view.  Phonics is very systematic.  Once you know the rules, you won't go any further.  On the other hand, syntax/semantics are very creative! Reading is not just about saying the word aloud, but also about exploring its hidden meanings!  

Mayumi

Vernique,

Thanks for replying me although you have your finger cut!  It's not something serious, isn't it?  Are you feeling better now?

Your views are really good and the two elements of your equation (Interest + persistence = an established scholar) are actually what a lot of parents wish to find from their kids (or I should say that is what parents want to make their kids to be). Be honest, I like to be a teacher also but am not qualified academically.  Lucky I can be the teacher of my kid and I'll keep learning more and more for helping her developing herself (agree your point that we should develop their ability/interest to learn on their own but they'll definitely need guidance at their early age).

For the viewpoint of phonics helps raising a kid's reading interest, I just learnt it from some cases reported in some magazines/websites.  I found that those kids (2-4 years old) in the reported cases were all interested in reading words in a book (I mean they enjoy to read out the word but of course I'm not sure whether they know the meaning of the words) and I just want to develop my girl's interest in, at least, staying with the books more.  This is the fundamental I think - at least she loves book (treat the read-aloud time as game time).  Of course, I will teach her the meaning of the words she read.  She might feel syntax/semantics interesting in a later day (when she reaches a certain age) provided she has a good fundamental I think!

Hey, one more English question for you.  After the word "any", we should use "plural", "single" or depend case by case?  E.g. If you have any problem(s), please call me.  We should use "problem" or "problems"?  Thanks in advance for your free lesson in this question!

gaykid

雖然兩者各有好處，但我認為始終在家會比較專心，因為我知道有些比較活躍的小朋友真的較難集中精神，若去centre上小組課，未必真正學到野，這只是我的意見，給妳作個參考。

Vernique2005

Hi Mayumi:

Thanks! I feel way better now! The only bad thing with an injured finger is that I can't play the piano for long (even though I still play it). Indeed, my friend wouldn't bring me out for speed boating if my finger weren't hurt, so I guess it's not that bad!

After the word "any", we should use "plural", "single" or depend case by case?  E.g. If you have any problem(s), please call me.  We should use "problem" or "problems"?   

Hahahha!! You actually have a very seen sense on language.  This question strikes me very hard!  

I asked about that when I was in university, too!

This is what I gathered from my prof:
1) Grammatically, we should use a singular noun after "any," "every," "no one" , "none", "each".  On the other hand, we should use a plural noun after "many" "a few", etc.

2) Semantically, we may sometimes use a singular noun to represent the whole group.
Ex: A dog is an animal with 4 legs. (You know in your mind that "a dog" means ALL dogS)

Or, we can use "any" to suggest a possibility.....

Ex: Do you have any questions? (You know that the speaker assumes that people may ask quite a few questions)

This is different from a sentence like: "He can simply answer any math problem on earth."  (In this case, you mean that you can give the guy any ONE math question, and he'll be able to do it).

Does this sound logical to you?  I may go check my references for you later on and see if I can find a better explanation if you want.

Mayumi

Vernique,

THANKS a billion!

Mayumi

Hi cnr,

You may find the topics from the following locations.

Jolly:
page 2 of 教育小組 section

Letterland:
page 6 of 教育小組 section

pigfrog

雲廸媽,

請問間learning Centre在青衣哪裡? 謝!

pigfrog

BBee

beckybecky,

我囡囡都是P.2學了PHONICS Course,我個囡好鐘意自巳作故仔,畫下圖書,作下英文句子釘起自製一本小小的Reader話是佢的書店,成日要我扮買佢D書,又要讚佢D書好看,Grammar當然未得啦！佢自已話好想學Ｄ句子,我好想幫佢,又無時間,所以想給她讀一些Grammar Course & Oral,現在不斷揾緊. 之前我psot 咗兩次都無人回應
    
你講要等的Centre 可以PM給我嗎?
各位媽咪有冇好介紹? (九龍區)

Thansks!     

BBee

chanceiscoming

Hi,, I know one of the centre in Tsuen Wan.It has a good programme for primary students to learn and practice,Did you hear that before.?

I heard many kids study over there, and get an improvment after a few month. The lesson calls ENGLISH WORKSHOP.Each lesson is 2 hours.
Including grammar skill,oral conversation,
composition and comprehension. If you want to get more information of the centre,you can call them as well . 24928108 is the number of the centre.