Learning to read

HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR CHILD'S SPELLING AND READING (PART ONE) If your child can’t spell very well it must be a huge headache because you know everything we do in our country that has English as the official language starts and ends with the English language and if you can’t spell the words you might never pass WAEC and that means no university which might be a scary prospect. There are eight steps to fixing a child’s ability to spell but I will point out three or four points today, you will get the full points when we introduce our book HOW TO TURN YOUR CHILD INTO A GENIUS IN 8 SIMPLE STEPS LEARN SOUNDS FIRST I have always seen teachers I mentor have an argument, it has been the same argument we have in the office. We ask is phonics the best way to teach children how to spell and write? The mistake I have seen many educators make is try to teach children words first which doesn’t work because that is like building a house from the roof first. To build a house you start from the foundation and the foundation of words are the sounds and a huge chunk of words in the English language are spelt using the sounds. There are at least eight ways to teach this but let’s focus on using syllables because using them is the easiest way to show the sounds in a word which leads to spelling easily. SYLLABLES Syllables are basic units available in words that allow us to break them into definite sounds and here are some examples. The is a single syllable word Go is a single syllable word Tutor broken down is TU/TOR which makes it two syllables Parent broken down is PA/RENT which makes it two syllables Definite broken down is DE/FI/NITE which makes it three syllables Nigeria broken down is NI/GE/RI/A which makes it four syllables I could go on but the main gist is to help your child master spelling you must recognize the fact that syllable mastery is the 1st block in the building that is reading If your child can break down words into syllables then you are on your way so let me give you a list of words you can work with your child to break down. WORDS WITH TWO SYLLABLES Able, music, fifty, fourteen, party, picture, Monday, office, language, nature, Kelly, city, woman, twenty, sugar, husband, silver, seven, thirteen, Thursday, again, Tuesday, pizza, donate, country, pumpkin, Christmas, special, over, Angel, freedom, princess, people, water, future, Heaven, happy, sixty, Friday, Father, yellow, tiger, monster, lady, poetry, away, river, money, Ali, nothing, broken , forty, Sunday, circle, body, Mary, children, abate, sixteen, moment, birthday, alone, circus, person, lemon, morning. WORDS WITH THREE SYLLABLES Madison, musical, melody, basketball, imagine, Florida, mercury, initial, mystery, tomato, natural, Julian, calendar, library, weathering, equation, magical, violence, characters, Abuja, Cassava Canada, Jupiter, envelope, diamond, memory, together, Erica, adventure, energy, history, important, amazing, consonant, feminine, dangerous, masculine, forever, Indian, holiday, syllable, abdicate, media, chocolate, banana, Africa, happiness, piano, eleven, animal, Wednesday, challenge, Melissa, seventy, chipotle, celebrate, Jessica, potato, business, favorite, elephant, pollution, President, radio. WORDS WITH FOUR SYLLABLES Nassarawa, Osinbajo, January, undemanding, Virginia, Australia, irregular, aboveboard, information, Elizabeth intermittent, preposition, February, bullying, literature, secretary, Victoria, homecoming, independence, alligator, ordinary, syllabicate, alternative, technology, celebration, Carolina, maleficent, watermelon, appreciate , community, relaxation, salmonella, forgiveness, aberration, vegetable, eternity, belligerent, angelica, retirement, television and intelligence. Take the time and patience to break down these words like I did up there with your kid BY PRONOUNCING THEM SLOWLY AND PUTTING THE SYLLABLE LINES BETWEEN EACH SOUND and you would have taken the first step to good spelling. Remember patience is good especially if the kid is not getting it very fast.