Top Ten Myths of Reading 5

Myth 5. Finish the whole alphabet before making words.

Truth: Instead, start making small words with known letters as soon as possible. Children don't have to know all 26 letter sounds to start blending some together. Try making simple 2- or 3- letter words with the sounds learned as soon as possible.

            Have you ever watched a child learn to throw a ball? He tries it a few times and his mind naturally adjusts his body to make the ball go higher, lower, further, and/or faster. Did he have to read a physics textbook to learn to throw a ball? Did he have to know the equations for initial velocity, gravity, force, angle, distance, or the trajectory of the ball? NO!!! Your child’s mind is a super-computer that makes internal learning leaps. It’s the same for reading, if given the right foundation.

            You don’t have to read a huge textbook on the mechanics of reading, nor have a teaching certificate, to teach your child, either. The Godfrey Method is simple, effective, and the child never forgets.

            For some great word lists, check out my blog on HELPS 2: http://www.thegodfreymethod.com/blog/home-early-learning-play-school-helps-2

Or find some great beginning words in The Phonics Color Code book on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Phonics-Color-Code-Platypus-Words/dp/1466249552/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1366890629&sr=1-5&keywords=shannah+b+godfrey

            What about words that don’t follow the rules? Many platypus words are spelled phonetically for the way they were originally pronounced. Over time, we have changed the pronunciation. For example, the British still say ‘been’ with a long-ē sound. Americans have gotten lazy and changed it to a short-ĕ sound.

Also, the verb ‘say’ has a form of ‘says’ which was originally said with a long-ā sound. Over time we changed it to ‘sez’ with a short-ĕ sound. Also, the past-tense of ‘say’ is ‘sayed’ but we spelled it as ‘said’ with a long-ā sound. Over time, we changed it to ‘sed’ with a short-ĕ sound.

Many platypus words were originally phonetic, but local dialects have changed the pronunciation, like how the South pronounces vowels differently than the North or West.

 

The Platypus

She has a duck beak, beaver fur, lays eggs, but is a mammal!

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Top Ten Myths of Reading 4

Myth 4. Teach sight-words.

Truth: Instead, teach only by sounding-out words. Phonics structure the brain properly for maximum, efficient reading capability. Phonics heals the dyslexic brain.

My illustrator Leah Shingleton says, “I have never met a phonics-learner who couldn’t sight-read, but I have met plenty of sight-readers who don’t know how to decode an unfamiliar word. As adults they must often guess and feel embarrassed.” This sad scenario can be prevented by teaching children to read early the right way.

My co-worker Dave was taught to read by the sight-reading method back in the 1940s-50s by the old ‘Look Dick, See Jane’ method. He can read functionally but always wrestles with new words.

Learning to read by memorizing the shapes of words is confusing, like trying to memorize thousands of hieroglyphics. NEVER do this:

Teaching children to guess based on context is one of the worst practices in schools and lowers self-esteem. Later, sight-reading will naturally follow sounding-out the words, but should NEVER be first.

The educational system has been going backwards for several decades, now. Many schools teach sight-reading in kindergarten. Several commercial early-reading programs are also based on sight-reading. If your baby can read by sight-reading now, he probably will struggle with reading as an adult.

Sight-reading has many names, like Whole Language. Don't be fooled. It can trigger dyslexia, too.
If you want your children to be their best, keep them away from the Whole Language method of reading. I focus on phonics often in my columns, and there is a very important reason for this. Successful children know how to read well- it is the foundation of everything else- and that is impossible with the Whole Language method. Why, you ask?

The Whole Language dogma is a pernicious propaganda that has nearly destroyed reading ability in all the English speaking countries; not just the in United States, but it also invaded the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, and possibly New Zealand. What surprises me is that the governments, universities, and public school administrators turned a deaf ear to those proclaiming that this emperor has no clothes.

(Of course, the children of the government elite attend private schools where proper phonics is taught.)

The Whole Language fiasco* convinced leaders and teachers that phonics was low-level sub-skills. It indoctrinated them to think that explicit, systematic phonics was lower-order thinking. This is completely the opposite of the truth, but several nations swallowed it hook, line, and sinker. Is there a purposeful, dumbing-down of future voters, here?

What the Whole Language doctrine put in place of intelligent phonics was a system of ‘natural’ learning (we know that even though language is natural to humans, but reading is not. It must be taught). Whole Language taught a ‘cueing system’ where looking at the context of the sentence helped the child guess at the unknown word. Yes, it said guess. What a slow, frustrating, error-filled process.

There is no more damaging method that guessing. My son is a perfectionist. If he guessed wrongly, he would be distraught, give up, and his self-esteem would suffer deeply. Luckily, his mother taught him phonics early and right.

Then Whole Language goes on to say that children can get others to help them guess, called cooperative learning. They ask the question, ‘What would make sense, here?’ They see what letter the word started with and how long it was, and guess at possibilities from the limited words that they learned by sight-reading. How horrible! And it doesn’t help them with isolated words, such as signs, where there are no pictures, clues, contexts or cooperative partners. The children are confounded and confused. Basically, a Whole Language reader is still illiterate.

True comprehension and 'meaning-making' come from decoding a word properly by phonics, getting it right in a short amount of time, knowing what it is, and knowing the rest of the sentence words with confidence. Not from guessing.

Take a look at spelling bees. Most winners of spelling bees spell by phonics. They are able to hear the sounds in the words and take them apart. They can build words from root words, adding prefixes and suffixes, so they can also deconstruct them for spelling. Phonics makes it easier to remember which spelling goes with which homonym, too. These children don’t have to memorize thousands of sight words.

They have been able to make sense of words on a foundation of phonics rules, and can decode new words, with only about 42 sounds. That is just sheer genius. It is higher-order thinking. It even makes it easier to remember irregular spellings.

Have you or your children ever taken piano lessons? Students are taught each note’s name, sound, place on the piano and in the musical staff, individually before putting them together into chords, measures, and complete songs. Once those are mastered, they can move on to more complex pieces and learn to add nuances to the music with soft and loud, slow and fast, slurring or staccato, etc.
Wouldn’t it be ridiculous to learn piano the Whole Language way? The piano student would have to learn whole songs by sight, guess through context, cooperation, comprehension, and meaning-making. How many whole songs can a child memorize by sight? Not many. But any student who has a foundation of individual notes can build up to any and every tune out there. It is the same with phonics and reading.

*Whole Language at the Fork in the Road, Cathy Froggatt, Former NRRF North Carolina Director, Right to Read Report, February 1998

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Top Ten Myths of Reading 3

Myth 3. Wait until the child is older, can talk, goes to preschool, etc.

Truth: Instead, start phonics as early as 18 months or younger. TGM picture-letter phonics cards can and should be used with young children and preschoolers. The earlier their minds are stimulated, the better. It is best to teach the picture-letter phonics cards before kindergarten, but they can help older children come up to speed, too.

 

            The learning window of ages 2 to 5 years old are so important to catch and take full advantage of before they’re gone. Learning phonics the right way now prevents dyslexia and increases the child’s capacity to learn for life. My son, River, has proven the statistics wrong. He should have learning disabilities because of his birth mother’s lifestyle choices, but he doesn’t. His IQ is 116, above average, because I taught him phonics early the right way. This helped him get ahead and stay on track.

            With TGM one young boy, Datan, learned to read so well that he started reading his books upside down for more challenge. His mom took that as a cue to insist that his teacher move him up in reading level at school!

            Dress your child’s mind for success with The Godfrey Method. Single and low-income parents can help their kids beat the odds, too.

            Even if you send your child to preschool, you should still use TGM at home. A wonderful preschool teacher, Karen Munns, started using TGM in her preschool and the picture-letters worked far beyond her expectations. She has been teaching preschool for over 17 years and this was the best program that she has used for helping the children associate and remember the sound that each letter makes. She said that they learned faster and easier than any students ever before. She recommends that parents get this and use it with their children at home to reinforce what she teaches at preschool.

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Top Ten Myths of Reading 2

Myth 2. Teach the capital letters.

Truth: Instead, teach only the lower case letters, at first. They are the most common in written language. Young children don’t have to know capitals to start reading. And many capital letters don’t look anything like their lower-case partners. Children easily pick capitals up later, too. Never start with them. Again, Keep it simple for success (KISS your child).

            Young children are hungry to learn new things. Children make all kinds of learning leaps if given the right foundation. One mother taught her preschool daughter Kaitlyn the lower-case-letter phonics using The Godfrey Method. Then Kaitlyn taught herself which upper-case (capital) letters match the lower-case ones by playing on the computer. Her mom opened a blank word document for her to play ‘typing.’ All the letters on a keyboard are written in upper-case letters. So as Kaitlyn pushed an upper-case key, a lower-case letter would show up on the computer screen. She quickly figured out which upper-case letters to push for the lower-case letters desired.

     The largest problem I see with early reading programs is always teaching the capital letters with the lower-case ones, simultaneously. No, no, no! Wise parents will give their children a jump-start to reading by following The Godfrey Method starting with "A Funny Boy Was Prince River" and building from there with the Spy Code spelling rules, as found in previous blogs.

     The next biggest problem is using electronic or software programs to teach young children. No, no, no! These separate the child from the parent for key bonding moments while learning. They can also induce ADD, ADHD, Epilepsy, Dyslexia, and several other problems in a young child's brain.

     Hold your child on your lap or next to you on the couch and have a joyous time discovering early reading the right way - together!

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