How do you teach a child to read?

[littlemissbossy]

ok, this may be an obvious question, but how do you teach a child to read? my ds, aged 4, started reception in September and only knows a few letters of the alphabet but is expected to read (and I mean read the words himself!) at least two books a week (Oxford Reading Tree). When I spoke to the teacher about this at parents evening, she explained that they have no time to do individual reading in class so it must be done at home(which I understand) but I'm not a teacher ... and I'm not thick but I really don't know where to start and he's really struggling. So are there any mumsnet teachers who can give me some lessons on how to teach my son to read ... please??
TIA

aloha - I'm really glad youor finding the book so interesting! - I must admit, I found the initial parts fascinating but hard going...I found it easier once it started relating it to children! Let me know what you think once you've read the whole thing!

tamum - I do know where you are coming from. I guess what's probably pertinent to a more indepth discussion would be a definition of the word 'regular.' To be honest, I suppose a regular language would have only one spelling for each sound and that is where ours is certainly more complicated - you have already illustrated how one spelling can stand for more than one sound. o_e can be for 'oa' and 'u' sounds. ow can be for the 'ou' and oa' sounds etc.

Where I go with the 'done' examples is to teach o_e for 'u' sound in these words etc etc having already taught it for 'oa' in these words etc etc so that when sounding out an unfamiliar word,the children are aware that there a couple of choices. I always recommend tryingt he most common first and if that doesn't work, then try the alternatives.

However, word recognition does come into it to a certain extent, as it maybe easier for children to remember that when they see 'done' it says 'done' - but they will understand that it is still the d-u-n sounds with effective phonics training, which I think is important.

Of course whole word recognition is important, but I think it should come after an understanding of the component parts. You can't have children sounding out every word forever - it is essential to recognise whole words for fluency which we need to lead to comprehension, appreciation, examination of text, information gathering etc. But it has been proved that a secure understanding of letter/sound correspondences behind the whole word recognition is the key to successful reading for all children.

I actually like the history of language in the book, especially the reasons WHY our spelling is so complex - basically, Saxon spelling was absolutely easy - you sounded each letter in the word, but multiple invasions eg the French put paid to that - we changed the way things sounded but kept much of the original spelling. So 'Know' has a silent 'K" but the original word is 'cnowen', which sounded like K-now-en etc. Not vital to teach a child to read, but interesting nonetheless, I think.

tortoiseshell, there's no doubt there are some very visual learners who pick up reading very easily by looking and remembering. I learned to read like that. These children usually have the ability to assiilate, understand adn transfer phonic knowlegde and skills seemimgly effortlessly.

Phonics promoters would never say that other methods don't work to teach children to read - it's just that it should be used as the first choice as it works for those struggling readers and gives a secure foundation to all children. Those who are going to be able readers pick it up so unbelievably quickly that the teaching only really needs to be incidental.

It should be remembered, as already mentioned on here, that whole word recognition - although successful in the early stages of reading when a couple of hundred words only are necessary to make a good story - will eventually fail as the memory can only remember a certain number of whole words by shape - and we need thousands once we become accomplished readers.

Also, secure phonics knowledge supports spelling as well.

marialuisa - lmao
I remember my little sister having a similar moment sounding out 'f*ck off' sprayed on a garage door......

GeorginaA - you have highlighted an important point that I had neglected to mention - sounding is so much harder if you say this 'uh' sound at the end of every sound. It should be 'sss' not 'suh' and 'mmmm' not 'muh.' 'Explosive' sounds such as 'g' and 'b' have to have a small 'uh' as the sound leaves your mouth, but it should be very short.

Which brings me to an uinteresting discovery I made whilst reading the McGuinness book - the sound at the beginning of 'yes' and 'yoghurt' is not 'yuh' is traditionaly taught - the sound 'yuh' doe snot exist. If you say it slowly and listen really carefully, it is infact a very brief 'ee' sound.

The letter 'y' is a vowel letter. Always. I even wrote to Countdown and told them!!!

I also discovered, with the help of one of my classes, that 'qu' isn't a 'kwuh' sound either - but more of a 'coo' sound. Again, say 'queen' and 'square' really slowly and listen.

Again, it is really interesting to hear of your experiences as parents. Everyone has joked - I bet your dd has got a jolly phonics frieze in her nursery already. Well, she hasn't. But she does love books. I shall leave it up to her when she is ready to learn to read - but when she is, she shall be doing it right!

GeorginaA, also - it is quite sad, really, that you say you want to be able to teach your ds to read. After all, what on earth are our schools for??! It's a pathetic state of affairs when we can do it better at home...

aloha - that is the interesting stuff and I do tell my kids. Liek the word 'two' - has a 'w' in because in Chaucer's time, they used to say 'twoa.'

Meant to add before - yes, 'yacht' can only be learned by sight. Stupid word.

Very interesting. Thanks Catflap

It is and it isn't sad, really, that I'd like to teach my ds1 to read, although I understand your point. Reading is such a big part of my (and dh's) life, that I feel it's something really special I'd like to share with my boys.

It's inherently very selfish of me too, of course. But I think it's going to be something I look back with fondness when remembering my boys when they were small.

I also can't wait for ds to read, not because I want to push him (honest!) but because I love reading so much and ds already loves books and I want him to have the sheer pleasure of always being able to entertain yourself as long as you have a book.

GeorginaA - you're right; from that point, it's quite exciting! I wish you lots of fun and success! I know just from doing it with so many - albeit, other people's - children, how rewarding and fun it can be.

I wonder if I will in fact want to teach my dd when the time comes...???!

Introduce your child to books at an early age. I am encouraging my young baby to look at books with his father (we are both teachers). Read to the child, show the child how to turn the pages etc. Introduce the child when they are ready to phonics good flashcards or flashwords etc that are used in Nursery classrooms Jolly Phonics in local book shops are one of the phonic schemes that I use. A lot of school are adopting this scheme for 3 years olds. Hope you have fun reading with your child.

Catflap, can I ask you a question. The phonics reading schemes such as Jolly Phonics put a lot of emphasis on writing. My ds is uncoordinated and finds it near impossible to follow a thin line with a pen. Does that mean that according to the schemes he couldn't being to read either?

Hi aloha - how old is your ds?

You're right, the JP scheme does use writing a lot - to support the letter sound learning, as you need it for reading and writing.

However, being ready to learn to read and developing fine motor control are very different - and as far as I am aware through experience and reading - unrelated skills.

To help match sounds and letters, you can use magnetic letters, letter cards (JP do both) or write in big letters with crayons and markers.

HTH

One of the major criticisms that my teacher friend has of JP is that the font used for the workbooks is often too small and fiddly for the developing motor skills of its audience. ds is 6 and has motor skill issues similar to Aloha's ds (not that we realised so young) and still has problems with it. His OT uses media other than paper and pencil - writing with finger or stick in wet sand, making letters out of playdoh etc - to help reinforce it and we use magnetic letters and Megasketcher at home too. However she has commented recently on how good his letter formation with a pencil is despite his problems, undoubtedly helped by his enthusiasm to read.

He's only three. Bright as a can be IMO, but definitely klutzy.

Oh good... I was wondering about that... ds (3 yrs 6 months) is verging on pencil-phobic - completely uninterested in that side of things! Will try crayons or drawing in sand I think... good idea!

Don't worry about emphasing your child to write. JP books are very small and fiddly to use. You can obtain flashcards or large book which has a cd of songs on. The child learns to recognise the first letter 's' phonetically and sings along to a song that they learn. I have taught this method to three years old and many other schools I know use this method, we concentrate on the first letter 's' for the first few weeks and gradually move on. Early Years educators that I know of don't recommend getting the child to write the letter that isn't part of reading, just getting the child to recognise letters if the first step, remember don't rush the child they are very young and learn better through songs and experience and playing, make it fun for them.

Catflap, am really enjoying your posts on this. Was also very interested in the sounds you discussed. DS (15 mos.) took me by surprise the other day by picking up a Q refrigerator magnet and saying very clearly "Coo". We had not worked on this at all, he just picked it up from the readings in his ABC's book. I'm glad I didn't try to "correct" him as I would have actually been the one who was wrong!

Aloha - don't worry about the writing at all: do it for him, or make some letter stickers for him to put into the books.

DS1 was not ready to write when he was clearly ready to read. He didn't start to write until a couple of years after starting to read, but soon 'caught up' with his peers who had been writing for much longer.

From this thread then.. do I understand rightly that Jolly Phonics are a fun way to learn to read?

Ds1 is 2yrs 9mo and wants to learn to read - he is always asking about "numbers" (all letters are called numbers for some reason..). We read all sorts of books - those that are "simple" with big type and few words and those with more of a storyline. He just loves to read! We have played matching games and looked at letters - have those foam letters for the bath - m for mummy etc.. He can also recognise his name, his brother's name, mummy, daddy etc...

I'm taking it at his pace and don't want to be pushy. I'd rather he was happy, relaxed and confident than getting upset about it all. I'm a very very avid reader and have been reading since I was 3, I want my boys to grow up being as excited and enthralled by books as I was/am (I've even collected some of my fave childrens books such as 'The magic faraway tree' etc.. for when they are older !)

I will be looking for the book you recommended catflap.

Any other suggestions??

have just read this entire thread - phew. Really interesting Catflap and I think I might get the McGuinness book just out of interest but also wanted to ask you a question. Is there a book that explains the phonetic sounds? or does the McGuinness book do that? I think I must have a mental block because I still have to work hard not to do the 'buh' 'cuh' type approach. So is it pointless to try and teach the alphabet? When i was at school it was the 'baby'alphabet 'a''buh' cuh' 'duh' and then somehow you moved onto the 'adult' alphabet A 'Bee' 'Cee' IFYKWIM. Are these pretty much irrelevant then?

Sorry, I think I'm being a big thick!

Hiya nasa - wow, that must have been quite a feat; reading the whole thing! - I hope you were enthused; it sounds like you were!

It's ages since I read the Diane McGuinness book to be honest - once it was all inwardly digested, I just set about putting it into practice and have kind of forgotten all the intricacies of it - perhaps aloha can confirm for me! - but I do believe she does cover phoneme pornunciation; I know that's where I became enlightened about the sound for 'y' in its initial position. I discovered the 'qu' sound with my class though, as we were dealing with it one day.

I find the best thing to do is say some words to yourself - with the sound you are focussing on at the end of the word - to hear the sounds in their pure form. So, when saying 'grass' you can hear it ends with a 'ssss' sound, not 'suh.' We don't say 'grassuh.' With 'stop', we finish with a silent 'p' sound, not a vocalised 'puh.' Many sounds have no vocalised sound; they are just 'whispered' - e.g. when you say 'hot' it is only the 'o' that has any loud sound; the beginning adn the end are just air sounds.

Incidentally, jabberwocky, excited though I was to hear of your ds pronunciation of 'q' I will just mention that do you think he was trying to say 'queue' as in the name of the letter? You will know if he is likely to mispronounce it this way. Sorry to appear negative - am just incredibly amazed and impressed if he really did hear the sounds like that - which is very possible; children don't have the pre-conceived sound training that we have had - but I thought I would just explore this possibility before becoming totally excited by his abilitites!! (My teacher assessment habits kicking in here, I'm sure...!)

I have no idea where the 'a, buh, cuh, duh etc alphabet originated. I guess it was when people realised sounds were important in words but diodn't explore it to its fullest and didn't listen properly to the sounds we really say. The thing is, this type of phonics training is in fact quite old so people have been getting it right somewhere down the line; just not sure what went wrong!

Teaching 'the alphabet' has different value depending on how you define it.

If you teach the letetr names, and presumably the order, perhaps by the alphabet song, you are doing no more than teaching children a song to which they rememebr the 'words' however nonsense like they appear! (I love the way we have discovered a new word - 'elemenowpee' and its various versions!) It rarely means much to children when they see the letters individually. The letetr names only serve to identify each letter by name - like we identify people by names. Sounds are what children need to be aware of and fluent in to read and write and to teach the letter anmes can only be confusing to most children.

To teach the capitals is also confusing as children experience lower case letetrs at school; in their writing and in books, with only capitals touched upon at the start of their names and sentences and at that gradual occurence, can be taken on board well.

As you will no doubt be aware, nasa, clearly how we experienced teaching at school did work for most of us - you and I are reading fine - but there are so many illiterate adults that could have been 'saved' by more effective teaching and so many of this generation that could be heading the same way. ALdo, many of us do have trouble with spelling, as a very different skill from reading, and this could be improved for us with proper sound/letter knowledge.

(No, you're not being thick - people just don't have this information at their fingertips! We have been reading fluently for too long to think about it until it becomes relevant e.g. concern for our chidlren at school. Teachers don't have this information to hand either, although things are improving gradually - it is scandalous that the Government is not promoting reading teaching like they shouild be.)

mumto2boys, you soudn liek me - I still have my Faraway Tree at my dad's house, saved ready! You are right to encourage but not 'push'. CXHIldren often call all numbers and letter one or the other - I guess, to their new eyes, they are all just shapes looking fairly similar and they attach the label that they feel more comfortable with.

Yes, I think you can take it that Jolly Phonics is a fun way to learn to read! If you visit Jolly Learning's site they have case studies where teachers describe how popular it is. I have also had many parents use it at hoem - some of the resources are, I feel, more appropriate for more informal use at home.

Wallace - this is the message I began to you and had to save.... I have an ew power lead now so back on own laptop!

Hi Wallace - just realised I seemingly ignored your message as I think you posted it whilst I was typing.

THRASS is similar in some ways to what I have been describing in that it does advocate thorough teaching of all the spellings of all the speech sounds.

However, it does contradict some of the synthetic phonics proven methodologies....in ways my pregnancy brain has allowed me to forget right now. I'm sorry. I read up on it a long time ago, ordered the handbook and even investigated the courses but dismissed it quite soon after and much of the info has been lost from my memory...

I do know they use key words and pictures to support the spellings - e.g. there is a picture and word for each sound, based on the sound that is in the word that is allocated. I was most confused to see a message on the THRASS forum one time (when it existed) where someone asked "how do you THRASS-out the word 'commemorate?'" (I quite liked that phrase!) and to my amazement, the answer was something like (and again, I'm sorry, I can't remember the exact keywords and my handbook is in the loft...) carrot, lion, hammer, egg, mouse, lion, rabbit, cake, tomato. That baffled me. Then I found out that 'carrot' is for the 'ck' sound at the beginning of the word; 'lion' is rthe key word for the 'uh' vowel sound, as in the middle of the word lion, hammer is the key word for double m in the middle of a word etc etc. So as well as having to learn soudns and letetrs, children also have to learn these key words and their relevance AND all the alternative spellings are made available to the children for exploration and use right from the satrt in rception! - far too confusing.

You could always visit the TES forums and put in a search for THRASS - I know lots of teachers have talked about it there.

Oops.

Try this for the TES instead.....

Catflap - I have found all the information you have posted absolutely fascinating. I home educate my 4 girls and taught my older two to read using phonics (not a conscious decision, purely accidental!). They are both excellent readers now. I had thought about using OLT to teach the younger two to read, but after reading your comments will definately go with the Jolly Phonics books instead. I really appreciate the time you have taken to help us MNers help our children. xx

Ds sounded out a word tonight! ''Pat" . I mean read it, sounded out the letters and said the word, and looked very very pleased with himself. He recognises several words, his name, mummy, his sister's name, Boo and some others - and guesses from initial letter a lot (usually wrongly!) so this was the first time he'd ever spelled a word out like that. I was very excited! He likes the Jolly Phonics, and has quite a long attention span for it for a three year old, IMO. And I am realising where I was going wrong with sounding things out - I wondered why it didn't work for real words! I'm honestly, honestly not pushing him, and the book goes down the second he looks bored, but I'm really very thrilled.

Hard to say as far as ds's intent on letter name or sounds, catflap. However, even before I found this thread we had started doing some sounds for letters like "sssss" instead of "esss" for S. And doing a breathy hah sound instead of "ach" (don't know how to do that phonetically) for H so maybe he really is catching on to more sounds. After reading your advice I am going to concentrate on doing all the letters that way from now on. And, we have made an effort not to teach letters in order, as in the song, so that he really knows them and is not just parroting back a song.

Thanks again for all of the great advice.