We surround the child with spoken English, encouraging them to use any words they pick up and ignoring all mistakes. We read books aloud, ask questions and constantly encourage responses. A child may start with one word, for examplewater, but by day 3 he can say, "Me water," and by day 5, "I want water." Language grows from small beginnings as the teacher constantly prods the child to use single words and to make longer utterances as he learns. When the child is using English, we do not correct errors in pronunciation. We see such mistakes as the act of practicing a new skill. By trying out his new English skills, the pupil will improve on his own. If he is corrected each time, he will become reluctant to keep trying.
We do not teach English by having the students memorize words. Instead we start by teaching phonics, which is the study of the sounds that letters make. Phonics provides children with a code: pupils learn individual letter sounds and then learn how letters work in groups. As students progress in phonics, they can read new words on their own because they know how individual letters probably sound.
English-speaking students are also taught phonics, but phonics is particularly important for second-language learners. We start teaching the sounds of the alphabet to pupils unable to speak English from the very first day they set foot in the classroom, no matter how few English words they know.
I was amazed to find that primary-school teachers in China do not use phonics in teaching children how to read. It seems a gargantuan task to teach a pupil to memorize every word he needs to know, much as if the child were being asked to shovel a huge pile of sand, with the shovel shut away. Phonics is a code that unlocks word construction. It empowers the child to learn by putting small pieces together.
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