| ck, horror, you wouldn’t dream of teaching a tiny | | | | recommended the teaching of phonics.Sadly it is a |
| baby! And yet you do. Every waking moment. You | | | | watered down middle-of-the-road system called |
| teach him to recognise everything in his nursery, home | | | | analytic phonics’ where phonic sounds are |
| and, as his world widens , his environment. As this | | | | learned but the same old damaging guesswork texts |
| powerful bonding between you and your baby grows, | | | | are still used. |
| so does his knowledge. As you teach, he learns. | | | | Still, as a specialist in phonicsI applaud the fact that |
| But, you argue, That’s not teaching. | | | | children are at least learning that words are made up |
| That’s just being with my baby. | | | | of sounds, a small step in the right direction. |
| Be assured, it is teaching. It is as valid as the teaching in | | | | There are, however, many teachers and Heads of |
| any Nursery, Playgroup or Pre-School. You are your | | | | Schools who refuse to embrace the phonic system. In |
| child’s first and finest teacher. You know him | | | | the face of all the evidence to prove that phonics - the |
| better than any teacher ever will and, importantly, he is | | | | system by which I was taught and by which my 96 |
| having one to one tutoring in the safest place on earth. | | | | year old mother was taught - is the only successful |
| Now, accepting that you do teach your baby, why do | | | | way to teach all children to read. Look and |
| you think it’s wrong to teach him or her that | | | | Guess’ is easy and, though it fails a chunk of |
| this a picture is an a’ but proactive to say | | | | the population, it’s fast and simple and that is |
| this picture is a puppy.’ Why is a colourful | | | | why these people refuse to switch. |
| kite good but a colourful k bad? | | | | And here is where your baby takes centre stage. |
| Babies are spontaneous learners and this period of | | | | Just one teacher who encourages him or her to guess |
| brilliant potential is constantly undervalued and lost. | | | | at words, whether by searching the picture for clues , |
| WHY TEACH A BABY? | | | | by memorising it from another lesson or contextually, ie |
| For forty years I have witnessed the crippling damage | | | | fitting a suitable word into the sentence, will do years |
| wrought by Look and Guess’ reading | | | | of damage to your child and its future. |
| methods. For forty years I have gathered one | | | | By age 14 he will read biblical’ for |
| damaged child after another. All were emotionally | | | | biographical’ lands’ for |
| scarred from having been expected to commit to | | | | lends’ banker’ for |
| memory every word in every book they read. New | | | | embankment’. To escape this damage you |
| words could only be guessed at. Their reading aloud | | | | can start in your baby’s nursery. |
| was hesitant and meaningless, while silent reading was | | | | Place the letters of the alphabet around the nursery |
| like trying to decipher a foreign language. By age 10, 11, | | | | and then bid a cheery good morning to |
| 12, 13, 14 and onward they constantly bombed out at | | | | a’ or b’ on the walls or |
| comprehension of any text, no matter how simple. | | | | c’ on the floor or d’ sitting on |
| These children had no effective catalyst to turn a | | | | teddy’s nose. This tiny beginning is the start of |
| hotch-potch of letters and words into meaningful | | | | your child becoming a super reader. |
| information. | | | | Synthetic phonics, which I have taught continuously |
| Ridiculed daily by peer groups - and might I say | | | | since Training College in New Zealand in the fifties, is |
| frequently by teachers - they are marked as remedial. | | | | simply fast phonics to fabulous reading. Babies and |
| At best they drift into dead end jobs, forever | | | | pre-schoolers can have a painless path to early |
| intimidated and fearing rejection. At worst, though | | | | literacy with fun and laughter. |
| never overcoming their inhibitions, they develop a | | | | For those who have decided on home schooling, your |
| truculent resilience to authority and end up before the | | | | child’s successful reading is vital to achieving an |
| Courts. These were not dumb, stupid or slow children, | | | | excellent standard in every subject. Children |
| they were all bright but those vital early years were | | | | don’t come with operating instructions, parenting, |
| never harnessed - they were never taught to read | | | | though wonderful is a course with many obstacles. |
| and so never developed the skills of thinking, | | | | Your child’s reading need not be one of them. |
| comprehension or critical analysis. Every | | | | MY NEXT ARTICLE |
| slow’ child I have rescued has turned out to | | | | Commercial alphabets have for many years been the |
| be a very bright child who had been living in a totally | | | | subject of huge controversy between me and |
| incomprehensible world. | | | | shopkeepers. I have approached them in Australia, |
| HOW DOES THIS AFFECT YOUR CHILD? | | | | New Zealand and here in the UK over disastrous |
| In spite of the fact that our children in the UK start | | | | alphabet charts. I have found w for whale’, |
| school earlier than in any other country in Europe and | | | | i for ice-cream’, x for x-ray’, x |
| are tested ad nauseam a huge percentage cannot | | | | for xylophone’ and c for city’ to |
| read or can read only haltingly. Whilst denying the | | | | mention just a few. All wrong and totally detrimental to |
| blatant evidence that standards have been dumbed | | | | the new reader. |
| down, our Government has, at last, recognized the | | | | In my next article I shall give you the perfect alphabet |
| cause of the UK’s literacy problems and has | | | | which leads your child straight into reading. |