3 days ago, after my K1 boy finally finish all the 3 letter words, I was getting him to revise it himself, reading out loudly to me while I do my work (not the idea way to teach but since he is very enthusiastic, I let him be). He quickly finishes all the ‘a’ vowel letters and than it suddenly dawn upon me to start the Key Words with Peter and Jane series.
Revising on his own
So I took book 1a and started with him. He showed interest so I started to get him to read, telling him those words that he does not know how to read and teaching him to sight read some of the words.
We managed to go half way through the book before I stopped to let him continue the next day. The next day, he managed to read through the entire book 1a and both of us are very happy about it.
I did realise that there are certain words which he has read many times and will still sometime forget how to read them. I was feeling anxious till I read Tamarind’s blog again on how to use Key Words with Ladybird. Key thing to note is that I need to be patient and not worry about words that he may have read but forgot, just give him some time to think and if not, tell him the word the move on.
This is much like the way I use 基本汉字500 but somehow I became more impatient with the English book. By the end of 1a and 1b, they would have read the words so many times that it will help to make it stick. Even if it doesn’t, he will definitely come across the word again…and again. So I have to learn to relax.
Today, I wanted to go through book 1a with him again to reinforce the learning, but realise from reading Tamrind’s blog that 1a and 1b uses the same words to form 2 stories. So when my boy asked to read 1b instead, I readily agreed. In 2 sittings, we managed to complete book 1b and he was on cloud 9 with all the praises.
I also realise during the 1st sitting, he was reading it very fluently, whereas during the 2nd sitting, he begin to stumble a bit but still managed to get through after some prompting.
So, I learn that kids can be inconsistant, after all, they are only starting to learn to read for the first time, so we need to give them time to learn, be patient, and move on. As he comes into contact with more words, and trusting the way the series presents itself (after all it have been used to teach kids for around 40 years!), he will eventually learn to read fluently.
