Job Discussion Forums

[LongShiKong]

I'm once again expected to teach phonics to kids with virtually no English. If phonics is used to help English-speaking primary students develop literacy skills--decoding words they already know--what's the point of presenting unknown words for each letter of the alphabet without expecting them to read such or similar words on their own? This is the 3rd private school I've worked for where this is the case.

Last summer, I took over (another school's) senior teacher's course with kids who'd done that for months to a year with the result that most couldn't even point to the letters of the alphabet unless sequentially presented let alone much of the 20 or so vocabulary pictures....and why not words, if it's a 'phonics' course!?!?

It's completely backwards! Conventionally, native English kids start with a set of 'sight words', the learning of which exemplifies the skills they'll independently* need to decode new words. Such sight words are usually clearly visible on classroom walls or within pocketcharts (apparently unavailable here in China even on China's own eBay). Without an initial group of sight words which students are expected to know and distinguish, there's really no point teaching phonics or is there? Most schools such as the one I'm working don't even have pocketcharts and they're not even available on China's eBay.

There's enough controversy regarding phonics instruction already (in English-speaking education) given the unconventional nature of English spelling and the challenge decoding presents to such a young reader, it just seems absurd to teach this to K and Pre-K kids with no English

* perhaps it's a cultural thing, Asians education instills dependency.

[Glenski]

Perhaps you could agree to teach the course anyway and just call it Introductory Phonics, but really doing what you want to introduce spelling and the most basic of sounds, and focusing on elementary language skills as usual but with an emphasis on pronunciation.

What does your employer have to say about his expectations from the course you've been given? Might not hurt to have a discussion, even if to show the error of his ways/thinking.

[DebMer]

Yeah, it does sound backwards. Everybody learns to speak before they learn to read. It must feel like an exercise in futility to the kids.

h.

[microbabe]

I teach phonics to pre-school and up to KG2 and am using flash cards,they are not too bad, however it is a nightmare. I have one class of 27 KG 1 kids. I am starting to run out of ideas. Some KG teachers at the school say us a DVD, shove it one and let them watch it. You can't do that all the time.

I've started doing basic spelling and letter tracing, not ideal. I have one kid in the KG1 class who doesn't speak at all. So when they do tests she gets zero. What is the point of testing them at such an early age they are suppose to be having fun at that age. We also have no resources to speak of.

The joys of teaching!!

[spiral78]

It's all too common that schools promote the mistaken notion that second language learners can successfully study using the same approaches used by native speakers. My first Czech teachers used materials from Czech primary schools, for example. We students were all English language teachers a d were able to make a coherent case that the target students for those materials already had a grasp of the language and it was poorly designed for real beginners. It is unfortunate that this isn't always apparent to those making decisions regarding materials and methods!

[LongShiKong]

My first Chinese textbooks were the same--stories written for primary students even though they were 'revised'. There were few resources then.

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Correction: my use of the term 'sight word'------

[naturegirl321]

I taught phonics to kids aged 4-5. We used Dr Suess and Dolch words. It works out ok, especially if the parents help out at home.

The kids were in English immersion though, so 8am to 5pm, with only a couple Chinese classes. I also taught privates to Korean kids in Peru, about an hour a week and the DOlch words and phonics worked out about the same as with the kids in immersion. I really think a lot depends on the parents.

[Chancellor]

Phonics vs. phonological awareness?

http://www.readingresource.net/phonicsversusphonologicalawareness.html

Phonemic awareness vs. phonological awareness?

http://www.k12reader.com/phonemic-awareness-vs-phonological-awareness/

[LongShiKong]