Phonics?

[Niinstalls]

Do the primary schools in Oz (Qld in particular) teach phonics at primary? My daughter has started to learn using phonics and just want know if I should carry on with it? She will be due to start in Febuary, we're arriving in September.

Thanks xx

[mikearkwright]

Hiya, I just posted a reply but it seems to have disappeared! Apologies if it reappears and I repeat myself.

 

basically what I said was that from what I can gather phonics is taught, but less importance is placed on it and Aus is "behind" the UK.

 

all being well, we'll be in the same situation as you this time next year (in the process of applying for visas) and I plan to continue teaching my son phonics (he starts school in the UK in Sept but we do a lot of phonics at home) as it's a valuable tool for learning to read and might give him a head start.

[travelchic]

Carry on with it. What's to lose.

 

Debs

[SGHJLL]

The one our daughter's are going to teaches phonics. I don't think that Australian schools are behind, they just teach differently.

In the UK emphasis is put on reading and in Australia it is put on comprehension.

There are many children reading but not understanding what they are reading in the UK.

Neither way is better, just different.

Jolly phonics are used (a,a,ants up your arm etc. to those familiar with the teaching). Children seem to remember this system really well.

[LKC]

I would disagree that Australia is behind the UK in terms of education. It is just a different system, and things are taught in a different way. Our daughter's school don't use phonics, but as SJGJLL says, they are really hot on comprehension in both reading and writing. They do two hours of literacy every morning in kindergarten, and right from the very first day they teach them to write stories, because that makes more sense than writing out a line of letters with no meaning attached. Our youngest has been in kindergarten for two terms, and she is already writing wonderfully imaginative stories and her reading is coming along very nicely.

 

Having said that, if you are already doing it, it won't hurt. It just might mean that she has to learn again but in a different way.

 

ETA: I forgot to say, at our daughter's school, they place a real emphasis on sight words too and every week they both come home with a list of words to learn. Youngest gets about six words a week, things like because, and, I, the numbers, colours etc, which helps them with their general reading. Eldest (year two) gets 20 standard words, and then she gets a sheet of about 40 extras because she is in the extension program.

[Niinstalls]

Thank you so much for all your replies! My LO is 4, she has just finished pre-school here so I just want to keep something going until we get her into kindy or school. She loves writing and doing letter formations and will say c for car, etc so think I will build on her interest and use some of the resources I have. Thank you

[Alaska]

You will find that every school does it differently - well they do around here. In fact even different Prep teachers in our school use different systems! We were lucky that DS's prep teacher carried on with the same Jolly Phonics system that he started in Reception in the UK.

It really does vary from State to State and school to school to how things are done.

[calNgary]

I found the way children are taught in pre school, year 1 etc totally different to the UK. I think alot of it has to do with how they pronounce words here, letters are pronounced differently so it would be very difficult to Aussie kids with Aussie accents the English pronounciations as we did when teaching our kids phonics in the UK..

 

Cal x

[Loulouhew]

I have been volunteering in a few schools in WA and they use a system called Minilit/Multilit which is very similar to Phonics

[Tina2]

There is a great program called ABC reading eggs available on line which my grand children used prior to starting school. Uses phonic and gave our grandson a great start, he is now in an extension reading program and our grand daughter who will start school in Feb 2014 is now learning to read using the program. Kids seem to love it. http://readingeggs.com.au/

There have been some major changes in the education system recently and far more is expected of children when they start school, so phonics are being taught at a lot of pre school centres.

[Fisher1]

Literacy in the UK has swung back and forth so many times during the last forty years. Phonics were out, 'real books' were in. Then 'trendy teachers' were blamed for using real books and lowering literacy standards in the process - phonics were back in again. Most teachers use a combination of the two, since not all children learn in precisely the same way. Phonics (i.e. breaking down words into separate sounds) are all very well but they are not the be all and end all. If you look at the OECD survey of literacy standards across Europe you will see that Finland is consistently the leader in literacy - and they dont even start the formal teaching of reading until the age of seven. On the other hand, Finland has a very straightforward spelling system against the UK's cough bough dough enough through etc etc.

 

What to do? Well make sure that your child understands there are exceptions to the phonic 'rules' especially in big words. I found Jolly phonics really good when I was teaching but not in isolation.

 

One of the most important things you can do to help your child's reading along is use literacy with them every day. Read stories to them, sit alongside not opposite, and encourage them to say the words they know in familiar stories (little pig little pig let me come in) even before they can read.

 

Let your child see you reading, using cookery books and looking things up in the dictionary etc etc.

 

Remember - most kids learn to read in spite of the most ham fisted efforts to 'help' them. Enjoy it, its a lovely period of learning and SO fantastic when you realise they really can 'do' it.