TEACHER ZONE >> Articles and Research >> Think like a child
Think like a child
By Helena Rogers
The teacher draws a shape on the board. Then she tells her class: ‘This is letter ‘b' and it says, ‘bbbbbb.....'
‘No, it doesn't,' think most of the children. ‘That shape doesn't say anything. It's not making any kind of sound. It's just a drawing.' Some children will go further: ‘The teacher is saying ‘bbbbb', but what does she mean when she says the shape on the board is saying it?'
They then discover gradually and illogically, that the teacher draws lots of strange shapes on the board, all of which she declares make different noises. The children then find out that they are expected to remember the shapes, together with the noises that are made by the shapes. ‘Why? Why do the shapes make noises?' comes immediately to their minds, because most children will have no reference point to connect with these shapes. ‘Reading' isn't part of their lives yet.
‘Grandad,' says the five-year-old to his great-grandfather, ‘we had some new software at school today.'
‘Software?' says Great-grandad, ‘What's that?'
‘It's a game on a CD and we load it onto our computer.'
‘Ah, I see,' says great-grandad, having absolutely no idea what the child is talking about. ‘Software,' ‘CD,' and ‘loading to a computer' are completely outside his knowledge.
The five-year-old grandson has been using computers in some shape or form since he was old enough to press buttons and make something happen. It is common knowledge to him. Similarly, adults have been reading words since they were in primary school. It is common knowledge to them. But reading is not common knowledge to a child and computer language is not common knowledge to great-grandad.
Children have absolutely no idea what ‘letters' are or what they are supposed to do. Teaching letters and sounds to a child who has never actually learned any words, will leave him mystified until eventually he begins to put sounds together and make words - and this can take some time - if it ever happens for some children.
Unfortunately, however, at about the same time as children learn to make words with sounds, they will learn that half the words of the English language cannot be learned by putting sounds together - which is why so many children these days become discouraged with reading using phonics based methods, and why here at Reading Revival we believe phonics is important but only after the child has begun to enjoy the concept of reading. After all, phonics is a complicated business, even to us adults!
But should the adult, instead of beginning with isolated letters, present instead the word ‘dog' to a child; and should she then explain that this is what the word ‘dog' looks like when it is written down, the child will instantly have a picture in his mind that goes with the word. He will even be prepared to draw a picture of a dog and copy ‘dog' beside the picture. That makes sense. Likewise, the word ‘tree' will be understandable as the written representation of the tree he can see outside.
Having been presented with these words, the child may well remember times when he has seen words written down before. He will remember that his name is a word - whenever he sees it written down, he knows straight away what it means. He may see other words around his classroom - ‘door,' ‘pencils,' ‘chair,' - and suddenly they make sense. Now he has a much better idea why he has to learn words and will be more inclined to extend his knowledge of them. But then the next hurdle of the English language has to be overcome.
Not every word we speak can conjure a picture in the child's mind. So put ‘the' in front of ‘dog' or in front of ‘tree', or put ‘and' between ‘dog' and ‘tree' - and this will be completely logical to the child and he will find it easy to remember ‘and' and ‘the'.The first reading book of the Reading Revival Scheme consists of just twelve words - of which those quoted above are part. Teach the child those twelve words so that he can recognise them at sight and you will know that he can read the whole of the first book. But think like a child. He is not naïve enough to think that he can read at this point just because he has learned twelve words. Children are far more astute than we give them credit for. He will have experienced some short sentences, though. The adult will have taught him the words ‘tree,' ‘and,' ‘I,' ‘dog,' ‘can,' ‘see' and ‘the,' and may well have put those word cards down on the table in a special order: ‘I can see the tree,' or ‘I can see the dog.' The child will understand this and read the sentence (often with some delight) although he may question the fact that he can't actually see a tree or a dog, but will be magnanimous enough to let that pass.
He might well even look elsewhere for the words that he has learned by sight and will be delighted when he recognises any he knows, but he will also be sensible enough to realise that there are lots more words to learn yet before he can read everything.
So when the adult presents him with the first reading book of the Reading Revival scheme, he will be very apprehensive. It is a big step from a few words to a whole book. This is where the teacher may be able to infuse a little humour or ‘lightness' to the proceedings. She knows now that the child can read those first twelve words at sight and in any order and that, therefore, he will be able to read the whole of the first book with no trouble at all because it consists of only those words. So with a twinkle in her eye that the child will recognise - and so understand that what is coming is nothing to worry about - she tells the child, "Now here is the first book - and I can assure you that you will be able to read this. It won't be hard because you know all the words."
She may possibly be met with a doubtful look, but she can add with a big grin, " Honestly - you really will be able to read it! Are you ready to have a try?" and since the child has learned to trust the adult, he will look with wonder as she opens the first page of the book.
"Look at these words," she will say. "Do you recognise them?" The child may well look at them, but be unsure as to whether they really are what he thinks they are. So immediately the adult will find the same words on the word cards and ask him to read these. He will, and she will then point to the words in the book. "They are just the same," she says. "This one..." (on the word card) "...is ‘Look,' and this one.... (in the book) is ‘Look' do you see that? They are both the same." Having done this a couple of times with following words, the child will usually have no further fear and go on to read the whole book with no trouble at all - apart from showing you by his astonished eyes that he certainly didn't expect to be able to do that!
This is a defining moment. The child will never fear reading again. There will be times when he will forget some of the words he has learned, but the repetition in the Reading Revival books will give ample opportunity for practice and will build his confidence.
And now the children will understand what their teacher means when she tells them the sounds of the letters. They will notice the sounds as they read the books - even learning some sounds that the teacher may not actually have taught them. At last phonics will make sense. They will know why they have to learn the letter-sounds and will understand their usefulness - but they will have also understood that some words can't be sounded and will accept that fact.
So think like a child - and have a very enjoyable experience with Reading Revival!