When I started teaching more than a year ago here in Sydney I realized thru my observations that they teach kids to read here differently. In Manila, it's thru phonemes (sound of letters) but here in Sydney, they use sight words! No wonder they are poor spellers :( I came across Year 3 and Year 4 students who can't even spell simple words correctly. I was comparing them with my former Ateneo students and Filipino students in general. On one of our BESA gatherings I was telling this story to some of the Nettes when one of the Nettes informed me that the reason why they do this is because Aussies speak different English. They have this twang and if they base their spelling on how they say the word, more often than not, the words will really be misspelled. That was a good reason and that explains it! Yes, I do agree, because unlike American English which is quite clear when you speak it, Aussie English is indeed different. BUt being a parent and a teacher, I knew that shouldn't be an excuse for my children to grow up not knowing how to speak English well and spell words correctly. So there was this mental note of addressing this dilemma when the proper time comes.
A few months back, we encountered this site Reading Eggs. It was supposedly a web-based program that teaches your kids how to read. We had a four week trial and Liam enjoyed it. Well, he just did not enjoy it when he has to stay on one stage before proceeding to the next level.He didn't have patience for that hehehe. Going back, I was able to see that it used a variety of techniques: phonemes, sight words, and repetition. When the trial was over I realized that I should continue to teach LIam how to read (and spell at that) using some of the techniques I learned in Reading eggs.
So here goes my experiment. I chose the word "the" for his first sight word. I got my flashcard, created 4 more copies and put the copies on different areas of the house -- cupboard, comfort rooms (within Liam's eye level), and Harry Potter door so he can easily see it and be remembered of his sight words. My house guests actually ask me after they use the toilet why there are flash cards posted on the wall inside the toilet, hehehe. I asked him first to identify the letters (which he does easily) and then I made the sounds of each letter then reading it altogether now as one word. I was and am in no hurry (especially after reading the book Raising boys, I know better now when dealing with little boys like him hehehe). Every now and then I would ask him. His first sight word lasted for three weeks before I introduced a new sight word. For the three weeks he has been dealing with the word "the" I was able to observe that he spells the letters first before reading it, well, better than not knowing how to spell at all right? And now I do random check on him if he has transferred his learning by giving him pamphlets or misalettes or magazines which might have the word "the". I point to the word and ask him to read it, as usual, he identifies the letters first before reading the word ( I wonder when he'll be ready to just read the word and not spell it anymore, but as I've said, I am in no hurry).
Yesterday, I grabbed his painting book and asked him to look for the word "the" I was ready to give up thinking there was no "the" word in the book, but lo and behold, he saw one and pointed it to me. Identifying the letters one at a time then reading the word as a whole. So I guess, my little experiment is working. Hopefully, when he goes to the big school his teachers will not feel frustrated like me whenever I see older kids not knowing how to read and spell coorectly ;)
New sight word: in :)
