Your Child's Reading ability

[Linda&Hanley]

I definitely don't fancy scenes of young children reading word cards and books for most of their activity time. As a playgroup teacher I firmly believe in learning through play, which is the philosophy guiding my own lessons. Yet if we're talking about 10 minutes reading cards and another 10 minutes reading books every day, then my question would be: why not give our children a head start when they can manage it so effortlessly, especially in considering the fact that like the acquisition of verbal languages, this window of learning doesn't open for long?

By the way, why should we teach children ABCs, numbers and shapes but not words if, to them, none is more difficult than the others?:flower:

Linda

 

[aussiegal]

I'm sorry Bubbly i just don't believe a child can 'read' at 12 months of age. They might have rote learnt what they 'read' back to you but that would be about it. Maybe and this is a big maybe, there are one or two kids who can but that would be about it. Next everyone will be telling me that my 18 month old should be doing my taxes this year.

The thing i find most amusing about Hong Kong is this incredible drive by parents to get their kids into all sorts of programmes, schools etc when they are so young. It's all about what they can achieve, which milestone they can reach ahead of schedule. And for this they are willing to pay big bucks and give their children schedules that would challenge many adults.

In Australia we are far more relaxed and give children more time to be children. My child is a normal kid I would say. Sat at 6 months, crawled at 8, walked at 12. At 18 months he talks all day long though i can't understand a hell of a lot.He has a good vocab however so i understand when he decides to use one or two words at a time. He understands a lot and can follow instructions well. He is well socialised etc But he can't read, he can't say the alphabet, he can't count to ten and you know what, I don't care. It will come. Both my husband and I are college educated and have successful careers. I'm pretty sure my husband didn't read at 12 months, i know i didn't. More than anything I want a happy child and one that doesn't kill himself when he's 16 because he has failed a test or kill others because he's never learnt to socialise. yeah, these are extremes and it's not bad to want your child to read early etc but people need to keep some perspective and make sure it's not at the expense of other important abilities.

 

[joannek]

cemily, if you keep minding who's kid can do what at what age & wonder if your child is normal to whether or not do those things at that age, you'll drive yourself nuts before your kid reach 7. as long as your kid reach all healthy milestones, healthy & happy, i think he's fine.

children who spent their first 5 years playing, imagining characters, pretending to be pirates & princesses, etc instead of writing in copy books & doing mathematics, in fact, score higher academically when they're 10, compare to those who spent went to academic kindergartens. i read it in one of the Waldorf Steiner books.

My friend told me that her daughter was illiterate at 6, when she started primary school, cos she went to Highgate House (a Waldorf schoo)l, where they don't teach character recognition. Her classmates who went to Montessori & other kindergartens could read & write at 6. So I asked her, by the 2nd year, did she catch up? she said, "yes". so does it matter if she could read & write at 6? no. but note that her teacher say she's obviously more confident & participate more in class than her peers.

so don't worry about whether who could read or write at 3 or 5!

 

[Poppy]

An interesting point to make also is that the 'Germans' and 'Swiss' are renound for their academic minds and their brilliant efficiency (now I know this is a sterio type, but steriotypes do come from somewhere).

Both of those nations do not start school until they are 6yrs old, and at kindergarten the emphasis is on learning through play!

I have a German husbnd who is incredibly intelligent, efficient and actually all of the steriotypes LoL

... Don't the Swiss have the actual highest rate of school performance as well - not sure where I heard that from, I will probably look it up (because I am a bit anal like that LoL)

xxx

 

[Poppy]

stereotype* (spelling was never my strongest ability LoL)

 

[Poppy]

Right ok, so kick me up the bum for not getting my facts right!

It is Finland, not Switzerland!

"...Foreign educators in droves want to visit Finnish schools for the simple reason that they are so good -- very likely the best on Earth."

"...Finland finishes first in the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) exams that test 15-year-olds in all of the world's industrial democracies. Finland also finishes at or near the top in many global comparisons of economic competitiveness: Internet usage, environmental practices and more. Finland, where the modern cell phone was largely invented, has more cell phones per capita than any other nation -- nearly 85 per 100 citizens.

"....... The Finns long ago decided that 7 is the right age to begin school, so in every grade the children are a year older than they would be in the United States. Six-year-olds have kindergarten (and a high percentage of Finnish youngsters come to school from state-run day-care centers, which are also generously staffed and supported). But according to Raili Rapila, a kindergarten teacher at Arabia, there is no pressure to begin reading before the first grade. Three of 10 in her class are readers, she said, but all 10 love to be read to, and are often, every day. "Social skills and learning to play are more important than reading" for the 6-year-olds, she said."

These are just a few quotes ... the full article you can find http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/23/AR2005052301622.html

xxx

 

[hkmama1]

Just let kids be kids in Kindergarten cause the pressure comes on in primary. Each child develops at their own pace and we should stop comparing our kids to others, that is the worst thing we can do for them. Easier said then done in HK, I know.....

My own son started reading books very well in his primary school life and at home because he just loves books. He started reading on his own accord and it went from there. The stronger the love the kid has for books the better....

 

[sherron]

okay I have to agree with Fee and would like to ask what is the point of children learning to read early? I do know kids who have taught themselves or who were avid book babies and showed such intense interest that the parents had to teach them because it was thing that brought their child the most joy.
Am yet to see a link between early reading and increased brain capacity or higher university grades or a better job after university.
I love to read and do read books, but one of my boys just uses books as a missile ( 3 yrs old) and the other (20 mths) adores books and pick them up to read to me whenever he can.

go with your childs giftings and let them learn to read when they have the desire to learn.

 

[Bubbly]

Perhaps I should rewrite my message.

My emphasis is really learning through play, so you can teach your baby to read, roll over, play music or whatever you fancy, but you should do it in a way that it is fun. That is something that I know has worked for me as I was brought up this way.

There is no 'right or wrong' way to teach a child because there will never be proof that it would have been better if you did this ot that for your child. I thikn at the end of the day, we all want our children to be happy and I am sure everyone has different views of what happiness means. So for a lot of parents in Hong Kong, they feel that by allowing their children to learn early etc. they have a head start in getting into better schools, which in turn will help them get better jobs, better salaries, therefore more comfortable lives... which equals happiness. So we cannot say that they are wrong in this sense.

I am still going to play with my baby using the Doman cards, since she really does enjoy them. It is not about having her read at 4 months, but it is an activity we both enjoy doing together

 

[run4fun]

True, no one is in the position to judge the "right or wrong" way of teaching a child, but whatever that you are doing to a child WILL have a LIFE-LONG impact on that child. We all want our child to have a happy childhood. Who doesn't? But if there is one thing in the whole world that parents want more than "the happy childhood", it must be "A happy life" for their children. Simply put, What we truly want is: A happy childhood that prepares them for a happy and desirable life.

Your formula here is: learning early (in a happy way) will lead to a head start, which will in turn lead to a better school, then better job, better salary and better life. First of all, let us not focus on head start. In any competition, the winner is always determined at the finishing line, not the starting point. And even if we could place our child ahead on the starting point, we cannot run the race for him. He needs to be mentally and physically ready and run the race himself. Better life and better jobs needed to be pursuit after by themselves. Motivation, determination are all part of the "early learning" that cannot be learned from just books and flash cards.

Another critical point that I must raise here is the definition of "early learning". What is "early learning"? "Reading early" alone is not "learning early"? I am 100% pro reading. I have a library of children's book at home, and I read to my kids every night. But knowing the information in an encyclopedia does not necessary mean you are wiser. And why is learn-through-play, hand-on learning and manipulative important? When you do flash cards, say, flash a child 10 dots on a card or the word "ten" on a card. The child might realize that 10 is more than 1. But will the child realize that 10 is longer than 1, or that 10 is heavier than 1? But the child who lines up toy cars at home might realize that. When you flash a photo of a "Stingray", how much other details could you force feed him? But a child who goes to, say Ocean Park, will have a photographic image of how the stingray glide in the water and how its habitat looks like and how it is in relation to all other aquatic animals. That is their own LIFE experience. It's like a film that they need to record in their mind map. you wouldn't want them to record in their mind a room with mom with flashcards after flashcards. Please don't deprive them their rights of experiencing life and viewing the world with their own eyes.

We want children to have a mind of their own. We want them to observe and draw their own conclusions. We want them to build their critical thinking, be creative and be problem solvers. You need to have experience in life. If we are constantly feeding them information, how do we expect them to be leaders and not to rely on us in the future?

Every little information that we provide them, we take away one chance for them to discover on their own. I understand that we must provide photos and explain at times. We can't bring them to the jungle or to all the world's monuments. But before you flash them the next time, think how necessary it is to flash that card.


p.s. Although I mentioned competition and race here, as a Montessori teacher, I believe that children learn more in collaboration than competition.