introduction
In speech/instruction/discussion/interaction with the
child, you must establish the distinction between the
name of a letter and the sound it usually makes (see
also alphabet).
The vowels a, e, i, o, and u, are presented first. Letters
are spoken of as both having a name and having a sound.
Thus the letter ‘a’
has the name as pronounced when
you say the alphabet (e.g. in “late” or “slate”)
- [eɪ] [2]
- and the sound as in “cat”, “apple”,
etc. - [æ].
a picture (photograph) of a cat
Spending at least 5 to 10 minutes twice daily, once in
the morning and once before bed, take the child through
the first section: the vowels. Do
not refer to the pictures [example pictures to
follow] accompanying the letters as being the objects
they represent; they are, as you should say, “a
picture of an apple” or “a picture of a dog”,
etc. This increases precision and forms a better grasp
of reality.
Sound each vowel as follows below and point to each letter
as you so do. You may, if the child seems interested,
say also “apple” and “picture of an
apple” whilst pointing to the appropriate object
or picture and slightly emphasising the first sound, but
do this only after establishing that it is the shape/letter
‘a’ that makes
[3] the sound as in cat, not
that the picture of an apple is (represents) the sound
of ‘a’.
This process gradually builds up the association for
the child, who will be able to pronounce the correct sound
when the letter is pointed to and the sound is asked for,
i.e. “What sound does this shape make?” or
sometimes vary it with “What sound does this letter
make?” or “What sound does ‘a’
make?” (pointing to the letter).
The time taken for this accomplishment will vary from
child to child according to a variety of factors, the
main ones of which will probably be intelligence, concentration,
obedience, sufficient sleep and food, calmness in the
surrounding atmosphere, and the rationality of the person
supposedly teaching the child.
the vowel
sounds
Vowel sounds are the voiced part of language. The vocal
cords are used and the sounds are much louder than with
other letters/sounds in language (consonants). Traditionally,
the vowels are taught as ‘a’, ‘e’,
‘i’, ‘o’, ‘u’, but
I prefer to add ‘y’, as in ‘a’,
‘e’, ‘i’, ‘o’, ‘u’,‘y’;
because ‘y’ is also widely used as a vowel
sound, as in “by” or “my”. Therefore,
you may think of ‘y’ as both a vowel and a
consonant (as in the word “yacht”).
I find useful to teach the vowels to children as:
a,
e, i
o, u, y
Thus giving a simple rhyme and aiding memory. Read also
at this point the section counting
with things.
There are other letters that
sometimes function as vowels.
The vowels sound as follows:
- a as in apple, [æ]
- e as in elephant, [e]
- i as in indian, [ɪ]
- o as in ostrich, [ɒ]
- u as in umbrella, [ʌ]
Vary the order.
Remember to focus on the letter, rather than a picture,
and sometimes cover the picture to remove associations
with pictures. The purpose is for the child to associate
the sound with the letter, not with the picture. A picture
is an indirect link to the real world. Therefore, also
establish direct links to the real world, such as a real
world apple, or a real world cat, again establishing the
pointing nature of language.
When the child can sound each of the vowels correctly
for about 5 to 10 times - do not bore the child
by unnecessary repetition, but be sure that the child
can do the sounds reliably and not by chance -
proceed to the ten consonants in the
next section.
You can check the child’s progress by maintaining
records. Bear in mind that the child will have ‘good’
days and ‘bad’ days in reading. One day sounds
thought to be committed to memory the previous day seem
to have been forgotten, and so forth. Be patient - this
seems to happen with many children and is probably a mechanism
of learning that we do not yet fully understand. Do not
lose your temper or become irrational. However, a little
pushing may trigger the memory or make the child put more
effort into its work.
the
most common consonant sounds
The ten consonants should be taught to sound as follows:
- s as in squirrel, [s]
- m as in monkey, [m]
- f as in fox, [f]
- r as in rabbit, [r]
- n as in nest, [n]
- g as in goat, [g]
- b as in bear, [b]
- t as in tiger, [t]
- p as in pig, [p]
- d as in dog, [d]
These should not be sounded as [sə],
[mə] etc.: consonants
are whispered.
It is very important when teaching
reading that you do not add the ‘-er’
or schwa sound - [ə]
-, or even more exaggerated, the schwa plus an 'r' [ər],
onto the end of consonants. Adding those extra sounds
will tend to confuse and cause the words to be synthesised
incorrectly. For example, if you teach your child to pronounce
‘c’ as [cə]
or [cər] and ‘t’
as [tə] or [tər],
then when they try to pronounce ‘cat’, it
will become [cəætə]
or even [cərætər]
(“ker-a-ter”), rather than [cæt]!
With this total of 15 sounds (5 vowels and 10 consonants)
the child can then be shown how to sound out approximately
150 words, which helps to satisfy the child and give
it a sense of accomplishment in fairly short order. A
full record should be kept with each reading session.
teaching
rationally
Records should be kept accurately and should not be distorted
by irrational emotional involvement. For example, you
may find yourself distorting your records because you
have convinced yourself - from some wish that the child
achieves quicker than it does, or simply by chopping corners
- that the child really does know something which it does
not. Such behaviour will not help the child.
It may make you feel a little better temporarily, but
will certainly be bad for the child. Adopting such an
approach will inhibit their ability to learn and in other
ways disturb the child. If you can not control yourself
and learn yourself, you are better leaving the
child to the fate of the state teachers, even though they
are, in our experience, almost invariably sub-competent.
Above all, be calm and quiet and patient, but do not
allow the child to misbehave, to take advantage of you,
or to be a nuisance. The child is getting something from
you, not vice versa. Neither over-push nor under-push,
find the balance for each individual child.
forming
words
When making words, do thus: say “Sound out this
word. What sound does this letter (or shape) make?”.
Point to the first letter of the word, use a pencil if
necessary to indicate the letter you mean. If the child
takes too long - what ‘too’ long means you
will have to learn to judge by working with the child
- suggest the sound softly until the child picks it up.
Repeat the sound and get the child to repeat. Then go
on to the next sound. At the end of the word, sound the
letters with, say, about a second in between:
b a t
And get the child to repeat the sounds in order on their
own. Next you repeat the sounds in order quicker and get
the child so to do:
b a t
b a t
b a t
b a t
Another method of joining is as follows:
b at
b at
b at
b at
And get or wait for the child to copy you. Then ask “what
does the whole word say?”. If the child waits too
long, coach it by sounding the word as "b at"
several times, each time gradually running the two sounds
together until arriving at “bat” and getting
the child to repeat after you. After some time (perhaps
a month or more) the child will usually catch on and be
able to sound words out in the way indicated.
the
rest of the consonants
When the child is fluent with the 16 sounds above and
has got the hang of sounding out the majority of the words
such as those listed,
move on to this section, which presents double lettered
sounds and the other ten single letter sounds (“c”,
“h”, “j”, “k”, “l”,
“q”, “v”, “w”, “x”,
“z”).
This should be done in conjunction with the
following section, which describes some of the sounding
rules of the English language. Remember that rules are
not universally consistent, but gradually teach
the child these inconsistencies starting with the most
common usage, by which time the child will be quite fluent
and probably able to cope with 1b to 3b of the Ladybird
Reading Scheme. Do not think the rules useless,
just because there are inconsistencies: the rules are
helpful memory short-cuts.
It is vital
to teach the child how to guess. The child’s spoken
vocabulary will be far ahead of its reading vocabulary.
English is pretty idiosyncratic in that its spelling rules
are not reliable, as in some other languages which have
been modernised and phoneticised.
When the child is finding difficulty
with compounding (“synthesising”/“blending”)
a word, you should teach them to guess whether it is a
word they already know. Ask the child what word it sounds
like and help if necessary. Teach the child to think about
what sounds right in the context of sentences e.g. “read”,
(sounded “red” or “reed” depending
on context).
You should also teach them that guesswork
is always unreliable, and is merely a help/assist. A child’s
experience in effective guessing will develop slowly and
steadily over time.
Sound the next letter combinations as follows:
- c as in cat, [k]
- ck as in sock, [k]
- k as in kid, [k]
- l as in lion, [l]
- h as in horse, [h]
Teach these sounds as you did the others and extend
the reading vocabulary as enabled with these extra
sounds. When these letter combinations are fluent, go
on to the next set, sounding them as follows:
- j as in jug, [dʒ]
- w as in wagon, [w].
It is very short [ʊ]
sound [4], not a hard
‘w’. Thus the word is sounded as ‘ooagon’.
Teach the child a soft ‘w’ sound.
- v as in van, [v]
- qu as in quilt, [kw]
- y as in yes, [j]
- z as in zebra, [z]
- sh as in sheep, [∫]
- ch as in chick, [t∫]
- tch as in thatch, [t∫]
- ng as in sing, [ŋ]
- nk as in pink, [nk]
- th as in thank, [θ]
- wh as in whip, [w]
- cks as in tacks, [ks]
- x as in fox, [ks]
When these sounds are fluent and words containing these
sounds are reasonably easily achieved, we suggest you
move to higher numbered books in the Ladybird B series.
Unfortunately that
scheme is strongly sexist and trite. Jane the little
girl helps her ‘mother’ make tea, Peter the
little boy, helps ‘daddy’ paint the window
frames or Jane picks flowers whilst Peter (the lucky little
so and so) builds a boat. Apart from this, we also object
to the cosy, hunky-dory picture of a nuclear family which
is reinforced at every point. Whether you mind
this is a matter for yourself.
In the late 1970s, Ladybird attempted to level with modern
times by introducing the odd coloured person into street
scenes and the like but s/he is never invited into the
house. It is possible to annul the sexist and nuclear
family tripe with the use of a little Sno-pake or Liquid
Paper (typist’s correction fluid, obtainable from
stationers), and to insert minor amendments to the text
which remains still very useful.
Of course there are many other schemes available, and
you can even make your own. We refer you to the Ladybird
books as they are easily available and linguistically
well organised - they can be used as cribs and a reference
source of things to think about in your own teaching.
Of course, at some point your child is going to decide
“I want to read about football”, or “I
want to read about pandas”, or even “I want
to read about wizards” [5].
At which point you can introduce them to libraries and
teach them to research and follow their own interests.
Do not bore or undermine the independence of the
child by trying to force them to be interested in your
interests. Beyond basic literacy, numeracy and social
skills, it is up to the child to decide what they want
to learn and do with that learning.
reading
independently
I identify a stage in children’s reading which
I call “reading on their own”. This
occurs at a level of around the average
eight year old’s reading skill [6].
By this time, it is important that the child is thoroughly
familiar with the alphabet and can recite it fluently.
This can be started as a game way back amongst three or
four year olds. It doesn’t have to wait until the
reading stage. Learning the alphabet is a vital skill,
contrary to some fashion-driven teachers. Without it,
you cannot fluently use a dictionary, or an encyclopaedia,
or a catalogue, or any of a hundred other services.
By the “reading on their own” stage, the
child should not need much more than guidance from a teacher.
They should be able to look up words in a dictionary and
ask for help when they come across an unfamiliar word
or concept. Developing independence is a vital part of
any serious education. The prime task of a teacher is
to help the learner gain independence from teachers. The
child should be taught to use dictionaries, encyclopaedias,
and above all libraries, including the Internet/Web.
There are also cut-down and large print childrens’
dictionaries available, though I am inclined to haved
a child transitioned early to something more challenging.
reading
schemes
While there are many reading schemes available, I am
using the Ladybird system as context only because it linguistically
well-structured and widely available in the UK. In any
educational bookshop, you will find a great range of schemes.
These schemes are immensely profitable to the publishers
and many a teacher will swear that whichever one they
use is far and away the best, but
in fact you can work with almost anything. In days
of past poverty, responsible parents teaching their child
to read would even resort to cutting out the letters from
newspapers and forming them into words.
As with so much in the educational area, American books
are often in advance of the British market. Along with
the Ladybird system, I highly recommend Reading
with Phonics, Teacher's Edition, by Julie Hay and
Charles E. Wingo, and published by Lippincott. The book
is now out of print, but it is still widely available
secondhand in various editions.
Another useful subsidiary for phonics practice are the
Dr.Seuss books. They have a nice surrealistic twisted
sense of humour, which is often very appealing to brighter
children (I have known rather serious young people being
‘offended’ by the ‘idiocy’, but
this of course sometimes an opportunity to teach
more of a sense of fun!). There are large number of Seuss
books, they are not cheap and are not all at the same
level of difficulty, so look at them carefully before
parting with the hard-earned.
The home schooling
movement in America is considerably more developed that
in Europe, as parents vote with their feet against state
‘education’. The estimates run to well over
two million children currently in home schooling. A good
proportion of those who involve themselves in home schooling
do so because they have rather fundamentalist ‘religious’
or ‘political’ beliefs, which they wish to
ram into the heads of the young. Thus, the McGuffey readers
- from 1879! - which Henry
Ford learnt from as a child, with their ‘moral
tales’, ‘improving reading’ and structured
‘correct’ grammar, are now heavy sellers in
the United States.
teaching
notes and pronunciation rules
It is not necessary for the child to be specifically
taught all the details that follow, but it is necessary
for the person teaching to be aware of these details:
- Always explain the meaning
of the words the child is sounding out, and check
for feedback
after your explanation. It’s no use the child
just saying “yes” and you not knowing whether
you’ve been understood. You may as well not bother
teaching in the first place if you do not check your
success or failure.
- Repeat stilted sentences properly
after the child has read them out loud, so the child
can hear how it ‘should’ sound and get a
sense of the rhythm of the language and is better able
to understand the meaning. It is difficult for the child
in the early stages to concentrate on both sounding
and comprehension.
- If there are two
vowels together, or only one consonant between,
very often the first vowel says its name and the second
vowel is not sounded. For example, “real”
and “gate”. However, if
two consonants intervene the first vowel says
its sound. For example, “rabbit”.
- The [k] sound has 3
written representations:
- c before a, as in
“cat”
c before o, as in
“cot”
c before u, as in
“cut”
- k before e, as in
“kept”
k before i as in “kid”
- ck after a, e, i, o, u
and usually at the end of a word e.g. “sock”,
“sack”, “rock”.
- q is never used alone,
it is always followed by u and then another vowel. It
is sounded [kw].
- y has two sounds: the
name of the letter ‘i’ - [aɪ]
- as in “my” and the sound of the letter
‘i’ as in “yes” - [
jes] or [ɪes]
[7] - and “funny”.
- ‘wo’ has four sounds:
[wʊ] as in “womb”,
[wɪ] as in “women”,
[wə] as in “woman”,
and [wʌ] as in
“wonder”.
-
- ‘ch’
can begin a word, e.g. “chick”, or follow
an ‘n’, e.g. “ranch”.
- ‘tch’
comes at the end of words after a, e, i, o, u. For
example, “hitch” and “match”.
There are exceptions such as “such”,
“much”, “which”, and “rich”,
where ‘ch’ follows instead of ‘tch’.
Both are pronounced [t∫]
- ‘th’ is
sounded voiced - [θ]
- and unvoiced - [ð]
- as in “think” and “this”.
- ‘g’, ‘b’,
‘t’, ‘p’,
‘d’ are not
prolonged sounds, but are short, almost whispered sounds.
- ‘x’ is sounded
usually as [ks] [e.g.
“fox”], but sometimes as [kz]
[e.g. “mixer”], [gz]
[e.g. “exit” [8]],
and [z] [e.g. “xylophone”]
and as its name [eks]
[e.g. “x-ray”]. Generally if an ‘x’
follows a stressed vowel [e.g. with “exists”],
it has a [kz] or [gz]
sound. Remember also “tacks” and “tax”
sound similar but have different
meanings, point out this sort of occurrence.
- Plural endings: an ‘s’
makes an [s] sound or
a [z] sound - make sure
to distinguish clearly.
- Possessive case: explain
the possessive case; John’s dog means the dog
of John, the apostrophe and the ‘s’ is used
as a shortening to show possessive or ownership relationships.
The apostrophe is also used to
mark a missing letter, or letters, in shortened
forms. This is especially confusing with “it’s”
and “its”, where the form without
an apostrophe (“its”) is the possessive
and the form with an apostrophe (“it’s”)
is a shortening for “it is”.
- Teach non-phonetic words
as specials. There are about 145 non-phonetic words,
which are described as such because the vowels do not
behave as expected e.g. “cold”, “find”,
“piece”, “bread”.
- Teach ‘ing’
- [ɪŋ] -
as a syllable.
- There are some syllables that contain vowels whose
sound is changed by the letter r. They are ‘ar’,
‘er’, ‘ir’,
‘or’ and ‘ur’.
- ‘er’,
‘ir’,
‘ur’,
usually have the same sound as ‘ur’
- [ɜː]
in “hurt”.
- ‘or’
usually sounds as in “for” - [ɔː].
- ‘ar’
usually sounds as in “farm” - [aː].
- In the letter combinations ‘ai’
and ‘ay’,
the ‘i’ and the ‘y’ are silent.
For example, ‘rain’ and ‘play’.
The first vowel is sounded following rule
3: say its name. You should treat the ‘y’
as a vowel in these situations.
- In the letter combinations ‘ee’
and ‘ea’,
the final ‘e’ or ‘a’ is silent
as in “tree” and “each”. Note
‘ea’ sometimes does not follow the
rule whereby with two vowels the first one says
its name. For example, in the word “head”,
the ‘e’ makes its sound not its name.
- With ‘ie’
and ‘y’, the
‘e’ is silent and both ‘ie’
and ‘y’ are sounded as the name of ‘i’,
as in “cried” or “fly”.
- With ‘oa’,
‘oe’, and
‘ow’, the
second letters are silent. For example, “loan”,
“toe” and “own”.
- When ‘ce’
directly follows a vowel, the vowel says its name, e.g.
“ice”, “rice”, “slice”.
When ‘ce’ follows ‘n’, the vowel
makes its sound, e.g. “mince”.
- ‘ou’ and
‘ow’ are sounded
as in “out” and “down” - [aʊ].
If they forget, try pinching the child to make them
say “ow!”, and make it into a game.
- ‘oi’ and
‘oy’ are sounded
as in “coin” or “boy” - [ɔɪ].
- There are some letters and combinations of letters
that are silent such as in “sigh”,
“high”, “daughter”, and usually
any ‘gh’ at the end of a word. There is
also a silent ‘g’ before ‘n’
as in “gnaw”, but then there is also the
hard ‘g’ as in “ghost” with
a silent ‘h’. The ‘k’ is silent
in “knot” and “knight”. In “doubt”
the ‘b’ is silent and in “write”
the ‘w’ is silent. You need to be aware
of these and point them out to the child.
- The combination ‘oo’
offers two different sounds:
- [uː] as
in “moon”, “soon”, “too”,
“spoon”, “goose”, “food”.
- [ə] as in
“look”, “took”, “cook”.
- ‘ew’ and
‘ue’ are spelling
variations of sounds already taught. Both are pronounced
the same as ‘oo’ in “moon” and
“soon” - [uː].
For example, “few” and “due”.
“Fuel” is an exception - it is pronounced
with an extra schwa sound: [fuːəl].
- Note the [z] sound
of ‘se’ in
“please”, “cheese”, “nose”.
- Note the [ f ] sound
of ‘ph’ in
“elephant”, “telephone”, “enough”.
- There is a generalisation for two
syllable words ending in ‘le’: if
the last syllable ends in ‘le’, the consonant
proceeding‘le’ usually of that last syllable.
For example it is “tric-kle”, not “trick-le”.
- The combinations ‘tion’
and ‘sion’
are sounded [∫n],
as in “station” and “impression”.
- Teach the child to sound out
long words by breaking them into syllables. If
necessary cover the other syllables with your finger
as the child works along the word.
words
and sentences using the first 15 sounds
These words and sentences are provided for practice,
and will be expanded in further editions. Many more may
be thought of or looked up in a dictionary.
We suggest writing the words on large sheets of card,
and placing such charts on a wall at child height. These
charts may be replaced as necessary and supplemented by
such children’s books as are available and appropriate.
| sun |
sit |
sip |
sum |
| sup |
met |
miss |
man |
| mud |
fun |
fit |
fig |
| fuss |
red |
run |
rip |
| rib |
rag |
rat |
rot |
| nip |
got |
gas |
gust |
| big |
but |
bust |
bed |
| bug |
bus |
top |
ten |
| tag |
pin |
pot |
pig |
| peg |
pop |
pan |
pat |
| den |
dot |
did |
dent |
| sat |
sap |
sand |
set |
| mop |
mat |
mess |
men |
| fog |
fed |
fan |
fat |
| rub |
rug |
rid |
ran |
| not |
nap |
nod |
nut |
| get |
gum |
gift |
bit |
| bat |
bag |
beg |
bet |
| tan |
tap |
tip |
tub |
| pup |
pun |
pit |
pen |
| pump |
puff |
dug |
did |
A man sits in the sun.
Sam fed the pig.
The pig nips Dan.
The gust got Met.
Sam dug the sand.
The rat ran.
Pam is in bed.
Rob made dots with a pen.
Peg mopped the mud off the rug.
The man had a nap.
The pup ran after the rat.
Bob fed ten figs to the pig.
Tom has a top and a doll.
Ted has a tin tub.
Peg has a bat and a bus.
Tom spins his top.
words
using all sounds
| kid |
cup |
cod |
cot |
| hum |
hit |
ham |
hut |
| had |
mill |
tent |
milk |
| belt |
pant |
self |
tend |
| send |
self |
band |
hunt |
| lock |
damp |
pump |
fond |
| silk |
lift |
best |
find |
| pond |
help |
held |
belt |
| hid |
hat |
hem |
him |
| hump |
felt |
bump |
mist |
| film |
rust |
sand |
lift |
| hint |
land |
lump |
lamp |
| rent |
dump |
fund |
hand |
| sent |
bent |
sack |
pack |
| kin |
cat |
sick |
tick |
| rack |
deck |
ruck |
tuck |
| led |
leg |
lip |
let |
| bell |
sill |
fell |
doll |
| can |
kiss |
kit |
cap |
| pick |
rock |
sock |
sack |
| back |
neck |
dock |
lot |
| lend |
lad |
lock |
lag |
| tell |
bill |
sell |
fill |
further
words
| wink |
tank |
sank |
rink |
kink |
bank |
pink |
link |
chunk |
| bunk |
thank |
thin |
thing |
thud |
thatch |
thick |
thick |
thump |
| this |
thus |
than |
that |
them |
then |
which |
when |
whip |
| whisk |
tacks |
tax |
box |
fix |
fox |
six |
ox |
wax |
| mix |
pox |
block |
black |
blend |
bland |
bliss |
blink |
blank |
| clip |
clock |
clink |
clinch |
cling |
clap |
click |
clank |
clench |
| clang |
flesh |
flip |
fling |
flit |
flash |
flap |
flung |
flat |
| slip |
slam |
slush |
slid |
slap |
slum |
slash |
sled |
plan |
| plum |
plus |
plot |
plant |
plump |
plush |
plop |
glad |
glass |
| gland |
glum |
class |
skin |
skid |
scuff |
skip |
scan |
skill |
| skull |
scum |
smack |
smelt |
snip |
snag |
snap |
snug |
sniff |
| spank |
spin |
spill |
spat |
span |
spell |
spit |
stock |
stop |
| stub |
stuff |
stick |
step |
stiff |
swim |
swift |
swing |
swam |
| switch |
swept |
stamp |
smock |
cane |
hate |
mate |
bake |
shame |
| fate |
rake |
tape |
sake |
pane |
shake |
made |
lake |
take |
| same |
fade |
plate |
mane |
quake |
wake |
late |
game |
gate |
| tame |
gaze |
flame |
blame |
ripe |
hide |
shine |
like |
ride |
| pine |
fine |
kite |
file |
dike |
bite |
tile |
time |
mile |
| quite |
pile |
side |
wine |
lime |
dive |
tide |
life |
mine |
| time |
hive |
wide |
nine |
five |
stile |
smile |
spike |
spine |
Error: Thread 256 does not exist.
endnotes
-
In my view, no person with
any sense teaches a normal child to read using “look-say”.
Look-say treats the English language in a manner similar
to learning Chinese characters [Hanzi/Kanji/Hanja],
where every word has to be recognised and memorised
separately, but without the aesthetic appeal of the
Chinese ideograms.
The look-say method has been immensely popular with
poor teachers, because it gives the appearance of
quick learning as the first few tranches of words
are learned. However, it results in the child never
making an easy transition to reading independently,
it leaves the child with poor spelling even in adulthood,
and it encourages the child/adult to guess wildly
instead of attending carefully to what is actually
on the page.
I have used the look-say method with children of
very low intelligence as means of conditioning a basic
reading level for very simple material. This method
has been used in experiments with chimpanzees and
parrots.
The English language, as
stated, is not phonically standardised. Around
the early 1960s, an attempt was made to standardise
English, called I-T-A
(Initial Teaching Alphabet), using forty-four
letters (phonemes), with the objective that once the
child was moving along under such a scheme, the transfer
to standard orthography would easier.
I-T-A may have been a good idea had it become the
universal print medium, although that would make millions
of extant books rather difficult for the next generation!
See, for example, the
Han-gul alphabet, forced on the people of Korea
by King Sejong in 1446, which is acclaimed amongst
linguists for its excellent and scientific design.
However, I-T-A in its intended use suffers from similar,
but lesser, problems to look-say.
Learning to read is one of the earliest serious intellectual
skills most younger children must acquire; I’m
all for a good bit of brain exercise in pursuit of
developing intelligence. Look-say merely turns the
reading task into a pointless and cumbersome memory
exercise, whereas phonics requires far more in the
way of analytic skills.
For more on this subject, and some technical detail
see the supplementary page, Reading
test and related information.
-
Using written English
words, or partial words, to demonstrate pronunciation
is unreliable at best, and misleading at worst. This
is especially true when the reading audience is global,
with a global variety of accents, as with the abelard.org
website. Thus we write pronunciation using phonetic
symbols, surrounded by square brackets and yellowed.
For example, [cæt]
is the British English pronunciation for the word
"cat". The linked page shows the symbols used for
English, with examples and mp3 files to demonstrate
the sounds.
For those having problems seeing
the phonetic symbols, please see this
footnote on the phonetics chart page.
-
“Represents”
or “indicates” in adult language. Your
mind should be clear on the difference and you should
wean the child into understanding that difference,
and gradually increase the person’s vocabulary
to cope with such refinements.
The letter does not ‘make’ anything.
The letter is not an active being. Humans may assemble
a chair. The letter is made by humans out of material
such as ink on paper or electrons on your computer
screen. By understanding fundamental logic of this
type, the learner will reason more clearly from early
on, rather than being confused.
To teach these difference effectively, use the concept
of pointing. You point at a tree, make the child aware
of pointing at a car, or a kitchen sink. Teach the
child that the words are like pointing - the words
are used to point at objects without you having to
raise your index finger. Likewise the letters indicate,
or point at, sounds.
Which sounds the letters point to is arbitrary, it
varies with local accent and amongst human languages.
The same applies to the way words are ‘made’
from letters.
The letter or shape ‘a’
may also be called, or thought of, or treated as an
object; just as an apple can called an object, or
a picture of an apple may be called an object.
-
The [ʊ]
sound and [w] sound
are very similar, and in normal speech you are unlikely
to notice the difference if someone were to start
substituting one for the other. However, the mouth
positions/movements for the two sounds are different,
which suggests there should be some hearable difference.
The sound [w] starts
with the lips together. The sound [ʊ]
starts with the lips apart and slightly pushed outwards.
However, these real differences are probably not significant
for any but the most careful speech therapists or
linguists, especially when dealing with a child having
difficulties understanding how to form particular
sounds.
-
See reality,
laying the foundations for sound education:-
“It is important that this learning is sound.
I would never introduce a young child to any fictions,
without making very clear to the child that it was
a game and checking to make sure the child understood
the difference between fiction and reality. That means
that I would never teach a child that Father Christmas
is a real entity who was likely to intrude on their
bedroom, down a chimney! If you teach the young falsehoods
about the world, how will you expect them to think
clearly? If you teach them falsehoods in among facts,
as if there is no difference, how do you imagine they
will not be confused? It has been known clearly since
at least 1930 that 'fairy tales' form a part of most
children's fears. Yet the casual foolishness continues;
even Plato suggested not teaching fictions.”
I have a list of some of the most
popular children’s fiction of the last century
here.
-
The Ladybird
scheme is numbered 1-12, with A-C at each level. Number
1 is the most basic, number 12 is the most difficult.
The ‘A’ books introduce the new material.
The ‘B’ books are revision of the same
level of material. The ‘C’ books include
writing and interactive exercises. Ladybird assert
that the completion of number 8 is equivalent to an
eight year old reading level.
-
The [y]
sound and [ɪ]
sound are very similar and with a word like “yes”
you are unlikely notice the difference should someone
substitute one for the other. However, as
above, the mouth positions/movements for the two
sounds are different, which suggests there should
be some hearable difference.
The sound [y] is somewhat
whispered, the tongue briefly goes to the top of the
mouth, and the mouth is mostly closed. The sound [ɪ]
comes from the throat, the tongue moves less and the
mouth is opened wider. However, these real differences
are probably not significant for any but the most
careful speech therapists or linguists, especially
when dealing with a child having difficulties understanding
how to form particular sounds.
-
“exit”
can be pronounced both as [eksɪt]
and as [egzɪt].
You may find that your child finds the latter easier
to say. I doubt, however, someone from the “every
word as a silver bullet” school of speaking
would approve!
-
Often explained to a young
child as “ ‘a’
says its name”.
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