How do they teach 4/5 year olds to read in England?

[cameroonmama]

My dd is 6 and reads amazingly well, she was in a French school and so I taught her just phonetically spelling out the sounds of the letters, in English, for example, c-a-t is what?

Ds1 is 4 and goes to an english curriculum school here in Kenya. He has just learnt all his letters and their phonic sounds through 'Letterland' and he is very interested in sounding them out. The teacher has given him his first reading books and imo the words are difficult and not 'phonic' enough. For example You are too big. He is learning you, are and too by memory rather than phonetically. My instinct is saying that this is not a good way to go, but I am interested in what actually happens nowadays in UK primary schools. Also any tips on what to do with him to help him start off?

mine are using a program called read write inc. you can get materials for it online i think.

they said they chose it because it has a proven record for being a fast method for learning decoding and seems to make sense to most types of learning patterns iyswim.

i dont actually know how well its working for my just-5 yo as if anything, i think they may push him a little too fast/hard so i dont make him do anything at home atm. but my almost-4yo seems to be picking it up really well (much less pressure on him as hes younger)

The method is basically phonetic but with sightwords learnt for those common ones such as you and are to enable reading of simple sentences form an earlier stage than when all the combinations/phonemes have been learnt. Some words don't fit the simplest phonic rules (so "ou" can be "oo" as in you or "ow" as in found) and it could take a while for a child to learn all the distinctions so at elast this way you start the habit fo reading text. Some systems do focus more on whole words still though and it is hard ot see whether that is the direction your ds' school takes. Letterland is a bit old hat now but still used in some nurseries alongside Jolly Phonics etc

I am afraid things are a bit 'old hat' here sometimes.. Often its difficult to suggest alternatives and change as well as systems have been used succesfully for years.

I like the look of the read write inc, website so maybe will order some of their stuff for us to do at home.

Of course I may be expecting too much of him as his sister just took it all in her stride so easily. I don't want to turn it into something he doesn't enjoy, nor push him too hard if he isn't getting it.

4 is considered pretty young to be learning to read (unless the child is showiing interest of course).

My ds is 4.4 and has just started sounding out. For example b, b, b for boat

I think Letterland isn't followed any more but I could be wrong. I know dd did Ruth Miskin (RML) for a while. She liked it, I found it weird!

Um, at what age generally do children learn to read then? I'm hopelessly ignorant about all this sort of thing. Hope I'm not hi-jacking Cameroonmama. Following this thread with interest because I'm in the same position as you - I want to teach dd English at home (she learns in other languages at school). She's nearly 5. She already recognises a few words such as "the" and "and" etc. Is that too young to start?

I think you have to teach them when they show enough interest, so of course it will vary from child to child. DD was so interested from 4 that it was hard not to teach her. Ds1 is not as interested as she was but likes to sound out letters. The school has just started giving him books but I am not pushing him if he isn't cottoning on.

We only have a couple of weeks til the end of term here so its not too intensive, more a kind of a start to encourage them and boost their confidence.

Thanks Cameroonmama, same here really, I'm just incorporating 5 mins of "teaching" with her story every night and she's keen so far. Might do something slightly more structured during the holidays but at this stage following her lead. Like you though, not sure how they teach in the UK nowadays ...

The read write books look quite promising and I did use a phonics game from Elc with dd, I will try and dig it out. Where are you Counting? What languages is dd learning in?

Thanks Cat 64. That's really useful stuff. I know dd has memorised the look of some words - she's not actually reading them - although I try and spell out the sounds of the letters to give her a clue when she is stuck. But we are just keeping it all very light/fun at the moment. She enjoys it for about 10 mins and then asks me to go back to reading to her as usual. Will definitely focus more on the spacing of words on the page etc - thanks again.

Cameroon - We're in Belgium and she's learning Flemish and French. It's good to know your dd is reading well in English, having attended a French school. You must be doing a very good job!

my daughter will be using 'jolly phonics' when she starts school in september. We brought her the DVD which she enjoys watching and gives us a nice base to help her with sounding out the letters.

cat that's really helpful thanks, I don't want it to become an issue for both of us, he is already getting frustrated and then I lose my patience. Are you a teacher?

DS can already sound out the letters thanks to his Letterland system (a precursor to Jolly phonics) what I need is to help him to understand that when you sound out all three letters eg c-a-n it makes the word can. I know he is still very small, but he wants to try and bizarrely is writing and spelling out words d-o-g just having difficulty reading them.

I've just received the Jolly Phonics wall frieze and workbooks from Amazon.

DS is 3.5 and keeps nagging me about letters and reading so I thought I'd gently give it a go. He's not in school until he's 5 (autumn birthday!)