Thursday, December 2, 2010
Teaching English to Young Children – Tips for Success
I believe in parents taking a very active role in educating their young children. The years before school are the most formative and parents can do so much to ensure their children realise their potential. I just wrote an article about introducing a second language to your very young child. See "Teaching English to Young Children".
Monday, November 8, 2010
Should you Teach Your Child to Read Before he Goes to School?
Teaching a child to read at a young age gives him a priceless and irreplaceable head start in life. Reading is the cornerstone of education and a child's reading ability will influence his school success dramatically. Learning difficulties, many of which stem from poor reading skills, can damage a school child's self esteem and affect his future achievement.
Children are programmed to learn and they thrive on stimulation. Ten to twenty minutes of reading a day, within an encouraging environment, still leaves plenty of time for play.
Parents concerned that learning to read is too challenging of a task for a pre-schooler, should remember that most children learn to speak by the time they are 3. Learning a language is probably the single most challenging intellectual task any individual can undertake, yet children do it without formal instruction, achieving the fluency that evades most adult language students. It follows that learning to associate letters with sounds is well within a young child's capability.
Research studies conclude overwhelmingly that early intellectual stimulation can have a positive, long-term effect on your child's brain development. For a fuller discussion of these studies, view the complete version of this article: "Teach your Child to Read Before he Goes to School".
From birth you should be talking to and explaining things to your baby. Reading to him can be a mutually rewarding activity and is a wonderful way of spending quality time together.
If your child is a fast learner you can help him realise his potential by introducing him to the joy of the printed word at an early age. This will lay the foundations for both a high achieving school career and a lifelong love of reading. If your child illustrates early signs of reading difficulties, your efforts may help him diminish such issues before he goes to school.
It can be difficult to teach your own child: emotional issues inevitably arise within any family dynamic. Interactive, self-paced, programmes for learning to read English are an excellent option. They allow children to repeat new material as many times as they need to, without wearing out the parent's patience.
Deborah Delin has been teaching English for the last twenty years, working on a one to one basis with children with a wide range of abilities. She has a special interest in dyslexia, learning difficulties and English as a second language (ESL). Deborah is the creator of Strivney English, a free, interactive, online programme for teaching phonetic reading to children. The website also offers a range of ESL reading exercises for young English language learners.
Children are programmed to learn and they thrive on stimulation. Ten to twenty minutes of reading a day, within an encouraging environment, still leaves plenty of time for play.
Parents concerned that learning to read is too challenging of a task for a pre-schooler, should remember that most children learn to speak by the time they are 3. Learning a language is probably the single most challenging intellectual task any individual can undertake, yet children do it without formal instruction, achieving the fluency that evades most adult language students. It follows that learning to associate letters with sounds is well within a young child's capability.
Research studies conclude overwhelmingly that early intellectual stimulation can have a positive, long-term effect on your child's brain development. For a fuller discussion of these studies, view the complete version of this article: "Teach your Child to Read Before he Goes to School".
From birth you should be talking to and explaining things to your baby. Reading to him can be a mutually rewarding activity and is a wonderful way of spending quality time together.
If your child is a fast learner you can help him realise his potential by introducing him to the joy of the printed word at an early age. This will lay the foundations for both a high achieving school career and a lifelong love of reading. If your child illustrates early signs of reading difficulties, your efforts may help him diminish such issues before he goes to school.
It can be difficult to teach your own child: emotional issues inevitably arise within any family dynamic. Interactive, self-paced, programmes for learning to read English are an excellent option. They allow children to repeat new material as many times as they need to, without wearing out the parent's patience.
Deborah Delin has been teaching English for the last twenty years, working on a one to one basis with children with a wide range of abilities. She has a special interest in dyslexia, learning difficulties and English as a second language (ESL). Deborah is the creator of Strivney English, a free, interactive, online programme for teaching phonetic reading to children. The website also offers a range of ESL reading exercises for young English language learners.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
ESL Listening Activities
I have just added a new set of video based ESL listening activities (see example) to Strivney. These exercises are designed to build vocabulary and improve listening, comprehension and spelling skills.
I am adding free, interactive ESL exercises to the site all the time. If you have an idea for a set of exercises which you would like to use with your children, please let me know and, if I feel others could benefit from them too, I will be happy to create them.
Monday, October 25, 2010
New Article - Teach your Child to Read Before he goes to School
One of the things which inspired me to create Strivney, a website for teaching phonics and English language to children, was my experience, over 20 years ago, of teaching my own children to read before they went to school. My son picked up reading very easily and became an extremely advanced reader for his age. I feel that this enriched not only his school career but his entire life. My daughter had severe problems learning to read. She showed the classic signs of dyslexia, being unable to differentiate between b and d and p and q. I worked with her on these letters every day and at times pulled my hair out, but slowly the problems resolved. I have since worked with many children with reading disabilities and am passionately convinced that much can be done to eradicate reading problems with early intervention, patience and phonics.
I just posted an article, "Teach your Child to Read Before he goes to School" which cites a lot of research which supports my anecdotal experience.
I just posted an article, "Teach your Child to Read Before he goes to School" which cites a lot of research which supports my anecdotal experience.
Thursday, October 21, 2010
New set of Interactive English Exercises - Clothes
View an example clothes exercise here.
You will need to register free to access the full set of clothes exercises and the rest of the resources on the website.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Addicted to Interactive Exercises
I am an unashamed addict of creating online interactive exercises.
This addiction started a few years ago when I was teaching a particularly challenged young ESL student on a one to one basis. She would moan and groan over her workbook, and most of our time was spent with me cajoling her into doing the work. This all changed when she was put in front of a computer screen. She became competitive, insisting on re-doing exercises she didn't get full marks for, and gave the interactive exercises her full concentration.
Challenged and gifted children alike are motivated by interactive exercises and this is what prompted me to leave the classroom, temporarily, and spend two years creating a website for young English learners called Strivney.
Strivney has two large sections which teach ESL young learners to read using phonics, and many more interactive exercises which teach English vocabulary.
The growing section of crosswords for ESL students is proving to be particularly popular.
Because the system keeps a personal score record and remembers where students finished their last learning session, registration is required. But it is simple and free.
This addiction started a few years ago when I was teaching a particularly challenged young ESL student on a one to one basis. She would moan and groan over her workbook, and most of our time was spent with me cajoling her into doing the work. This all changed when she was put in front of a computer screen. She became competitive, insisting on re-doing exercises she didn't get full marks for, and gave the interactive exercises her full concentration.
Challenged and gifted children alike are motivated by interactive exercises and this is what prompted me to leave the classroom, temporarily, and spend two years creating a website for young English learners called Strivney.
Strivney has two large sections which teach ESL young learners to read using phonics, and many more interactive exercises which teach English vocabulary.
The growing section of crosswords for ESL students is proving to be particularly popular.
Because the system keeps a personal score record and remembers where students finished their last learning session, registration is required. But it is simple and free.
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