Reading schemes - what's best? Advice please.

[Anna8888]

Have decided I need to teach my daughter (3.2) to read in English, rather than waiting for school to teach her in French (at 6) and English (at 7).

What reading scheme should I buy?

Jolly Phonics is good. And I think I remember reading on here somewhere that the skills learnt are transferable - so once she can decode English phonetically she would be able to use it with her French (I am preparing to be disagreed with on this - I may be wrong but it sort of makes sense to me!).

Buda - you are quite right that you learn to read only once and that you then transfer the skill to your next language.

What's the difference between Jolly Phonics and Oxford Reading Tree?

ORT is not based on phonics.

Lots of UK schools use a mixure of ORT and phonics - DS's school does and it has worked for him. There are lots and lots and lots of threads on here about phonics! Some people feel that phonics is the only way to go.

There are also certain words that they start to learn in Reception (age 4) that they are expected to just learn and not decode. You can buy a magnetic set of them from GLTC etc.

I may be going against the grain but I still think that the Peter and Jane Ladybird books are great if combined with a phonic reading method like Jolly Phonics.
The Peter and Jane books run on the understanding that there are 50 words in the English language that are used 25% of the time. Once you've learned to sight read them you have a great start to reading lots of words that aren't phonetic.

Buda - thanks. I already have the first two sets of magnetic words - they are on our fridge - I bought them for my stepsons to learn English.

I did Peter and Jane, I think.

Easy choice -Jolly Phonics! www.jollylearning.co.uk
You'll find this booklet useful:
jollylearning.co.uk/Introduction_Web_2005.pdf Jolly Phonics guide -practical advice for parents and teachers.

For teaching French, have a look at:

www.leolea.org/ Leo et Lea. French synthetic phonic programme.

www.jollylearning.co.uk Le manuel phonique -For teaching French reading, writing and spelling. In the same format as The Phonics Handbook, Le manuel phonique introduces the main 36 letter sounds in French, with 'actions' for each one, and activity sheets

Thank you maverick - just what I need .

ds had ORT, useless (at least at the first initial stage)
dd mixture, also ORT, was soo frustrating to see her try to read but not able to as too many words too difficult to "sound out phonetically". She also use Ruth Miskin, it gives her confidence and pleasure to be able to read a book on her own.

madness - thanks for that.

The school does ORT for English (though of course it's a bit of a different quantity given that the children will have learnt to read in French first).

I am going to ask what reading scheme they use for French as, strangely, they didn't tell us at the parent-teacher meeting.