Jj is for Jottings 61. Raising a Reader Part 1: The Baby.
There are various things parents can do to maximise their child’s chances of becoming a reader (i.e. someone who is proficient at reading, reads for pleasure and has no difficulty in using reading for information-seeking and the school curriculum.) We can divide this topic into 4 stages: Baby, Toddler, Emergent Readers and Early Readers. Question: What stage comes before the Baby stage? Continue reading
Jj is for Jottings 58. More Reading to Dogs.
The other reason for children reading to dogs (see previous article https://educatingalpacas.com/reading-to-dogs/) was intended to benefit the dogs, but turns out to be a two-way street, as you will see. The Humane Society of Missouri trains children aged 5-15 years to sit in front of shelter runs Continue reading
Jj is for Jottings 57. Reading to Dogs.
If you had your reading L plates on, who would you rather read to – a person or a dog? Young readers reading to dogs is an idea which originated in the USA in 1999, and is being adopted in Australia in schools and libraries. Different programs exist, but they are all variations on the theme. Continue reading
Jj is for Jottings 52. Reading to Children – Some Statistics.
Even the alpacas are worried about current trends.
Here are some disquieting (but not unexpected) statistics and comments quoted by the guest, who is very experienced in education, at the launch of “Aa is for Alpacas”:
Research by Angela Emher in 2013 of 1263 parents discovered that only one in four of them or 25% read to their children daily. They claimed that making dinner and doing housework, work commitments and exhaustion all interfered with the nightly routine of reading and sharing books with their children. From this same survey though 20% of parents though were worried that their own children read less than they did at a similar age. Is the bed time story being sacrificed because of busy lifestyle and at what cost to our future? Continue reading
Jj is for Jottings 51. Rhyming, Climbing, Miming… (Part 2).
Shanti says:
“When learning to rhyme just relax, like me,
Play games and have fun: it’s easy – you’ll see.
How do we explain what a rhyme is? I usually say that rhyming words sound the same at the end, and follow it up with plenty of examples. However, be prepared for some children to think that you are talking of only the last SOUND. You might have some extra explaining to do. The most important way Continue reading
Jj is for Jottings 49. Nasal Sounds – And I Don’t Mean Blowing Your Nose!
Nina is demonstrating how to say /n/: see – her tongue is up behind her top front teeth and of course the air is coming down her nose. She is actually starting to say “Nnnnina”. Clever girl.
When you have a head cold, people say you sound “nasal”, or “nasally”. In fact the opposite is true and you are in fact sounding denasal. Here’s how it works: Continue reading
Jj is for Jottings 48. One Letter Doesn’t Always Equal One Sound.
If you have read “Aa is for Alpacas” you will already know this, but just in case you haven’t… the letter x is actually two sounds /ks/. (Remember that the slashes mean the sound rather than the letter name/s.) The other thing you will know Continue reading
Jj is for Jottings 47. Minimal Pairs: Voiced vs. Voiceless.
You may not have noticed this before, but many of our consonant sounds in English come in pairs. The sounds are the same except for the fact that one uses the voice and the other does not. You’ll see what I mean when I tell you what the pairs are (with the first of each pair being the voiceless one): /p,b/; /t,d/; /k,g/; /f,v/; /s,z/; /ch,j/; /sh and the sound in the middle of “measure”, which does not have a letter to represent it/; and /th/ – voiceless, as in “thumb” and voiced, as in “the, mother”. A minimal pair is a pair of sounds or words that differ by only one feature, in this case voicing. Other minimal pairs may differ by a whole sound eg. beg/big; bat/bag.
Before we go any further, I should explain that the slashes (/ /) mark the fact that we are talking about a sound as opposed to a letter name. This is explained in more detail in the introduction to Aa is for Alpacas.
When teaching the sounds made by letters, many adults (including teachers) fall into the trap of adding the schwa vowel to voiceless consonants, with the result that /p/, for example, ends up as /pə/ i.e. a voiceless consonant, /p/, with a voiced consonant , /ə/, added to the end. It should be just /p/ followed by breath. Voicing voiceless consonants to children confuses them in the following ways:
Some children have difficulties with the voiced/voiceless phenomenon in their speech. It’s usually confined to voicing /p,t,k/ or maybe even just one of those, but it is remarkable just how difficult it makes them to understand when they voice all three of them. And it is quite difficult to remediate, too.
Please be aware of the voiceless sounds and given them a fair go – your child’s literacy will be much the better for it.
See also: https://educatingalpacas.com/more-minimal-pairs-voiced-vs-voiceless/
educatingalpacas.com supports the book “Aa is for Alpacas”. See Why This Book?
Welcome to my blog – Educating Alpacas. Does this mean that we are educating the alpacas – teaching them to count and so on – or are the alpacas helping to educate people? Although we do a little bit of educating the alpacas (see blog post “Halter-Training April), it is mainly that the alpacas are involved in helping to educate both adults and children. The starting point for this blog is my book “Aa is for Alpacas”, written out of desperation at being unable to find an accurate alphabet book which measured up to my standards and which I could recommend to parents to help teach sound-letter links i.e. the sound made by each letter of the alphabet. You cannot rely on this happening at school and, even if it does, children need to practise at home.
It is not only the lack of knowledge of sound-letter links which is tripping up children in the early stages of learning to read, but there are many other issues which I have observed during more than 35 years of working as a speech pathologist in education – issues which have arisen during this time and which are contributing to a decline in literacy in Australian children. These concerns are shared by experienced teachers. Via the medium of the blog and its accompanying Facebook page I set out to bring up issues which are affecting children’s learning, many of which may not have occurred to parents; some strategies for parents to implement with their children at home; pictures and anecdotes about the alpacas and their animal friends and neighbours; and any other vaguely-related issues which I feel moved to bring to people’s attention.
Since “Aa is for Alpacas” was the starting point for the blog, there are references made to both the animals in the book and to the information presented in the User Guide. This is the only alphabet book that I am aware of which has a comprehensive guide for adults reading with the children, and it also has a book-reading (click on the Video button at the top of this page) so that adults can check whether they are saying sounds correctly and not confusing the children with letter names. The book is aimed at 3-7 year olds, but can easily be used as a remedial tool for older children.
The Book Launch. This was in an educational supplies shop, Chalk and Chat, in Albury (New South Wales). Our shearer and his wife very kindly brought along two young, very well-behaved, alpacas for the children to meet.
Another view of the family cos they are so cute!
Jj is for Jottings 20. The Other Side of the Coin.
Last time I talked about the important role speech pathologists can play in literacy, and this is quite true. In theory, we can make a huge difference. However, as with learning any new skills or working to improve existing skills, practice is paramount. Continue reading
