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How I Taught My Kid to Read

theatlantic.com

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Re: How I Taught My Kid to Read

#111

Post by jacobolus »

pfarnsworth wrote: post #98
jacobolus wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Time spent listening to hard books is for most children also more marginally useful than time spent trying to learn to read very simple books independently, especially at the earliest ages. Kids who grow up in supportive and highly literate households are going to learn to read sooner or later, without needing any excessive focus on drills. There’s nothing inherently wrong with spending some amount of time on phonics…

> Time spent listening to hard books is for most children also more marginally useful than time spent trying to learn to read very simple books independently, especially at the earliest ages. I disagree about introducing hard books, especially at an early age. Young children will simply ignore things they don't understand, they don't attempt to understand it. If they are inundated with words they don't understand, th…

We are talking about listening comprehension, not reading comprehension. Childrens’ listening comprehension is far ahead of their reading comprehension, and improves very quickly when they practice; if their school teacher reads aloud for 1+ hours per day, they’ll get a whole pile of practice.

By “hard books” I mean that school-age students (age 5+) have no trouble listening to real chapter books (say Charlotte’s Web or Matilda) instead of only short rhyming picture books. I’m sure your son could start handle listening to those when he was 3.5, but he’ll still get something out of listening to them at age 6, as will the slowest students in the class.

I don’t mean that we should be dropping Faulkner on a 2nd grade class.

Re: How I Taught My Kid to Read

#112

Post by sailfast »

mac01021 wrote: post #104
burfog wrote: post #15

You teach Russian or Spanish with phonics. You teach Chinese with whole-word. English needs a bit of both, since it is mostly phonetic. An on-demand approach to phonics works very well. The rules and exceptions are pointed out as mistakes are made. This avoids the boredom of drilling endless phonics rules and the long-term difficulty of whole-word. A common mistake with phonics is the accidental association of specif…

What words do New Englanders add and remove Rs in?

Note: I don't agree with the above poster's "speech therapy" comments at all and I'm assuming this question was asked in good faith (which can be a mistake)...

This kind of drop accent happens in all sorts of languages for what it's worth including Dutch (drop the 'N' at the end of things like Leiden and verb conjugation) as well as Spanish (Puerto Rican dialects) so

But for New England, I'd say it's mostly the lahng Ah that gets ya. (that's the long R). It's more common to drop whenever a word contains an "AR" sound. The classic example being: "Pahk the cah in Hahvahd Yahd"

But sometimes it's added: Examples: Draw(r), Idea(r)

Re: How I Taught My Kid to Read

#113

Post by quadrangle »

nkrisc wrote: post #65
benj111 wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't get your examples. babe, boob, Bob, bib, bub, bye, boo, bah all have the same B sound. It isn't like 'ate' and 'apple'. Or are you saying they will literally think B is 'buh'? But then any one of those examples will disabuse them of that idea???

Try making a pure "b" sound without any vowel sound. You can't really, as you end up making an aspirated vowel sound to make any sound at all.. So we often tell kids that "b" is pronounced like "buh," for example. The point is to tell them "b" with other vowel sounds so they don't associate it with only one. "B" is buh, bee, boh, boo, bah, bay, beh, bih.

It's possible to make a 'b' with no vowel. Start with the sound and never open your mouth. It's like an 'm' without letting any air out your nose. Hold it and your cheeks will swell, there's no place to release the air. You can do a tiny release and have no voice at that point.

But I still agree with you overall that the correct approach is to teach it by demonstrating what's common across all its uses.

Re: How I Taught My Kid to Read

#114

Post by tathougies »

WA wrote: post #38

On a side note: Please remember that teaching your kid to read should come from a place of curiosity from the kid itself. There is likely no advantage from learning how to read at an earlier age (than school) [1]. [1]: https://www.otago.ac.nz/news/news/otago006408.html

What about the advantage of your children knowing to read? I mean I was taught how to read in preschool well before I showed interest, and it let me be interested in books. I don't care if there's no 'advantage'. It gave me personally a few more years to enjoy reading, which is enough.

Re: How I Taught My Kid to Read

#116

Post by dyarosla »

Vrondi wrote: post #109
JTon wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> UK: "Reading-g." (Really. Every BBC presenter does the double-G ing on everything-g.) I had a hard time believing this one. It's subtle to my ears, but I'm a believer now. For those who are curious, check out the clip below [1]. You'll hear "hunting" & "willing" shortly after the linked time [1] https://youtu.be/kngB7PzsDzM?t=48

Nope, there is no second "g" sound in the clip you linked.

I think it sounds like hunt-in-guh and will-in-guh. Not sure about a "second" g, but there is definitely some kind of emphasis on the final g.

Re: How I Taught My Kid to Read

#117

Post by wccrawford »

JTon wrote: post #90
sandworm101 wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> It is common, particularly in New England, to drop or add an "R". The dropping and adding of consonants is one of the defining aspects of many accents. It isn't really incorrect, just a mode of speech. Texas: "Readin." Canada/Nebraska: "Reading." UK: "Reading-g." (Really. Every BBC presenter does the double-G ing on everything-g.)

> UK: "Reading-g." (Really. Every BBC presenter does the double-G ing on everything-g.) I had a hard time believing this one. It's subtle to my ears, but I'm a believer now. For those who are curious, check out the clip below [1]. You'll hear "hunting" & "willing" shortly after the linked time [1] https://youtu.be/kngB7PzsDzM?t=48

I hear them emphasize the "ing" slightly, but I don't hear a double G at all.

Re: How I Taught My Kid to Read

#119

Post by logfromblammo »

JTon wrote: post #90
sandworm101 wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> It is common, particularly in New England, to drop or add an "R". The dropping and adding of consonants is one of the defining aspects of many accents. It isn't really incorrect, just a mode of speech. Texas: "Readin." Canada/Nebraska: "Reading." UK: "Reading-g." (Really. Every BBC presenter does the double-G ing on everything-g.)

> UK: "Reading-g." (Really. Every BBC presenter does the double-G ing on everything-g.) I had a hard time believing this one. It's subtle to my ears, but I'm a believer now. For those who are curious, check out the clip below [1]. You'll hear "hunting" & "willing" shortly after the linked time [1] https://youtu.be/kngB7PzsDzM?t=48

My accent: "-ing" -> /ɪŋ/

Broadcast British: "-ing" -> /ɪŋg/

When I first hear the /ɪŋ/, my transcriber notes it as "ing", but then I hear the /g/, and it appends to get "ingg". When I switch accent modes, that /ŋ/ reads as just "n" instead of "ng", and the problem goes away.

If you do not process audible speech in part by transcribing it back to letter symbols, you will not hear a second "g". It is an illusion. You can determine whether you are such a person by trying to read from a book while someone else talks into your ear. If hearing the speech drastically slows your reading, you will probably also hear a second "g" in the Broadcast British accent.

Re: How I Taught My Kid to Read

#120

Post by ttcbj »

My wife and I (mainly my wife) used the book mentioned in the article [1] to teach both our kids (now 5 and 7) to read prior to their entry to kindergarten.

I cannot recommend it highly enough. It is so intelligently organized, each day building on the last. If you just read the intro chapter on amazon, you will see how clearly they thought it through

That said:

1. While teaching kids to read is good, I think the real goal should be teaching them to _love_ reading. My son is now a voracious reader, and both kids love books. The techniques we used to make this book fun include:

A. Finding something the kid really loves (e.g. tickles for my son, 'squeeze hugs' for my daughter), and pairing it with each lesson. Every lesson ended with a giant tickle or a set of squeeze hugs. You would think the kids would get sick of this, but ours didn't.

B. Massive positive verbal reinforcement. Excitement, joy, at the reading, amazement, wonder, etc.

C. Regular rewards, including little ribbons every 10 lessons, dinners out, and a huge celebration when they hit 100. Every 20-30 lessons we would do something crazy/unexpected, like rolling out a cake for breakfast (That was just fun, kids love a surprise cake for breakfast).

2. Our kids are very intelligent, but both hit a wall around 30 lessons. I think they were both about 4.5 years at the time. The book says any kid over 4 can run right through the lessons, but I don't know. For both kids, when we sensed they were hitting a wall, we decided to declare victory. We had a big celebration, and told them to book said we had reached a stopping point. Then we returned to it 6-12 months later and picked up where we left off. At that point, we sailed though the rest of the lessons.

All this said, having watched my son, I think the best thing you can do for your kid is make reading fun. The only way to develop a deep vocabulary is by reading massive amounts, and you cannot force a kid to do that.

So, as awesome as this book is, and as amazing as it was to participate in the process as a parent, the number one thing to do is not make reading stressful/negative. Kids will learn eventually, they don't need to learn early. The reason to take control of the process as a parent is to ensure that the experience is positive/filled with joy.

[1] https://www.amazon.com/Teach-Your-Child-Read-Lessons/dp/0671...

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