Why Not Teach Reading Early: a Blog Collaboration - Part 2
June 20, 2007 12:57 pm
So, this is the second part of our collaborative effort!
The first part of this two-part post is on The New Parent’s blog. There we introduced the idea of, “why not start to teach reading at an early age?” Here we discuss some thoughts on how.
Let us know what you think!
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Knowing that the Angel is ready but wondering if it’s too young to introduce reading, the alternative dad feels that introducing words may cause confusion. Furthermore, he is unsure if my personal observation of her readiness is indeed her readiness to read or if she’s merely interested in words. So will understanding words at such an age cause a child more confusion?
Well, TNP, recently, I’ve been spending time teaching a friend’s son, who is learning English as a second language (ESL). I go along with his school curriculum which uses phonics to teach reading. I am so impressed with the way that he can read words (even though he is unable to understand them) because of phonics. I’m swayed toward using phonics to teach the Angel. In fact, the Angel has picked up all her letters and phonics through three means - Touch & Discover Alphabet Town
Anyway, her exposure to all those have all contributed to her learning all the letters and sounds (I was surprised to discover it myself one day), when she pointed them out to me herself and sounded them out. But we have fossilized at that stage, because of my holding back to teach her reading. At the same time, because I have been spending a lot of time teaching and making resources for my friend’s son, the Angel has been picking up all our phonics. Is phonics the way to teach reading?
14 Responses to “Why Not Teach Reading Early: a Blog Collaboration - Part 2”
Hi AM–good teamwork! Our first collaborative effort is up.
Good work to you!
Hi New Parent, it has been nice working with you! Thanks for answering all my questions!
I’m glad I stopped by here. I like the idea of taking the best from both methods: sight reading and phonics. Good job on the collaboration.
Hi Revka, thanks for dropping by. Yes, The New Parent has definitely given a more holistic idea to teaching reading, from his experience and success!
I think that it is never too young to start teaching reading or anything for that matter. After reading ‘A User’s Guide to The Brain’ by John Ratey, I am convinced that our kids need stimulation. From birth. Whether that is teaching them to read or playing with water, it doesn’t matter. It just depends where their interest lies at that particular stage. I know a kid who knew all her alphabet and phonics at 18 months and I know a kid of 6 who still can’t read simple books. I guess I’m trying to say….every kid is different.
Hi Big Pumpkin, I agree with you, that every kid is different. I go along with my child’s interest and physical readiness most of the time, too. I totally agree, too, that kids need stimulation but I do believe that the kind of stimulation we give or condition them might also hone them in that particular area. Thanks for sharing the book, sounds interesting. I might give it a go.
i am a believer that kids should start reading early (except for that one sore point i mentioned in NP’s post) after all, almost everthing that teaches us anything requires reading!
anyway, my moms used to think me nutty for getting cairo a set of Dr Titzer’s “Your Baby Can Read!” when she was just a few months old, hahaha. now i know u 2 are not a big fan of the tv but i think the money well spent just for one point alone; that my moms no longer nag me for “pushing” cairo to learn at such a tender age because the “doctor and his baby girl proved it”, hahaha!
and AM, i have the leap frog magnets too and i think they’re cairo’s best toy ever!
great work you two… i look forward to more collaborated, inspiring pieces soon *wink*
Be warned about the dryness of the book - very factual and long-winded.
Phonics is a great way to learn reading unless you are a whole word learner and then it is sooo frustrating. Using both is a great approach. No matter which way you are wired to learn, you will benefit, learn, and build upon skills. Whole word learners will just skip over the phonics until they are able (if ever) to break words down. My almost 16 year old son is just now starting to “see” the phonics break downs. He doesn’t use them often, but he gets what we mean about phonics now. He is such a strong right brained learner that seeing parts instead of wholes has just not been there. It is interesting to see him do math, he can get an answer, but doesn not see the same means of reaching it as most others do.
He is in a carpentry program. He helped build his first house this past year. He does math all the time there, but it all makes sense since it is applicable to the skill. Give him the same math in a book/seat setting and he gets lost. This used to frustrate me, who is very detail directed. Now I understand the need to allow him to be whom God created him to be and how he was created to learn. He was the same with reading. Whole picture… He reads very well just didn’t get there by the same route I did.
Before Phonics, she was able to read simple words, then I introduced Phonics to her by enrolling her into a short class in community centres in Vancouver (coz I don’t know how to teach Phonics myself.) With no intention to catapult her reading capability, I just enrolled phonics for fun….
After that, her reading ability improved tremendously, she can make up and break down words even she may not understand some of the meanings that are too deep. But yes, combination of both is fantastic.
Hi Mom of Cairo, thanks for the encouragement! Yes, I believe children can be taught to read early, too, but I’m just thinking, if I teach reading at a young age, will my child be too focused on words instead of other aspects - such as pictures, etc. I want to hone the creative aspect before they get ‘lost’ when the child olny ’sees’ words. Personally, I have this ‘problem’ and so, I’m just thinking further about it and how I can, perhaps, combine both.
As for your sore point about getting bored in school, it actually hasn’t occured to me! I’m an educator and I’m constantly thinking about how children can be given different tasks to realise their full potential or to elevate their learning based on what they already know. Just don’t teach ‘textbooks’ to Cairo, let her learn what is around her.
Great to hear your thoughhts and ideas!
Hi Pam in Colorado, thanks so much for sharing your experience. What you have raised made me see that we must indeed introduce all the different techniques available, for example, to teach reading. Ultimately, one will learn easier using a skill that is more suited to one’s learning capacity, in your son’s case, seeing the whole instead of the parts.
It’s the same in school, when teachers teach different techniques, be it reading, caluclating, remembering, etc and let the children adopt the method that works best for them. It is when we close the doors to different approaches and insist that children learn a certain way that really kill the joy and understanding to learning.
Thanks for highlighting the difference in which we learn. It is a very good point to remember.
Hi Mel, thanks for sharing your experience with your daughter! Good job on her reading! It really sounds very much like what is happening to the boy I’m working on. It is easier to explain ‘big’ words once the child has acquired the skill of reading on her own.
Like you, I’m not very grounded in phonics - guess it’s because we were not taught in school. However, having witnessed for myself how a child can read almost anything (although sometimes without understanding), I know now how phonics can help a person self-read. Because of this, I have been trying out a lot of phonics program and I want to use one that I think will not only teach reading but spelling and creativity, all in one. I will share more on this later when I have tried out my method.
Thanks for sharing, Mel!
Hi Big Pumpkin, I can’t help but laugh out loud at your warning! I will scan through and extract information in point form if I get my hand on the book!
Hi Jas! This is a good joint venture with NP and I love it! Can’t comment more, got to go just to say “post more, it does benefit all”
Take care.
I too wondered what is the best way to teach reading. My daughter had 1 year of kindy and she started to read there. She was just coming to 4 years old then. She was given books with repetitive phrases and so learned to first read by sight. I later integrated phonics into her learning. I agree with TNP that when used in the right sequence and right timing, our children’s ability to read will explode.
Sight reading seems to give quick result for visual learner in the beginning stage, but visual memory has its limit and English has 600k words.
I prefer not to push the children to read quickily, but give them the neccessary foundation by teaching them the phonograms, starting them with spelling, they then spell their ways to writing, and reading is just the overflow of their spelling ability. You may check out this: http://joymontessori.org/2007/06/27/what-are-phonograms/
Hi Leah, thanks for the link and I will check it out soon. Like you, I too, prefer not to push reading. As my child is young, I’m spending time (soon that luxury will be gone) to see how she is developing. And because I’m not a flashcard person and believe in observing how my child learn and then ’smuggling’ skills to her, I’m still observing now but I’m somehow enjoying how her own reading ability is developing. Spelling comes first, do you mean? I have to go think about that but it is an interesting way of looking at it. Thanks for your insights.
Care to comment?