When and how did you learn to read?

gingin_2

I started to read when I started primary school, just as my children did. Maybe nursery taught us some phonics but I can't remember.

I have always read to my children but never pushed the learning of the phonics prior to school, because I just didn't feel they needed it. Both are very competent readers now at 7 and 10. Youngest enjoys books but prefers art more and eldest is on the "register of more able children" because of his literacy and reading ability.

faithcecilia

Blackpool_Saver wrote: »

I can remember being asked at 5 to read the Telegraph to family members because they didn't believe I could !!

There is a classic story in our family. My grandad took my dad and aunt to join the library when dad was 4 and my aunt 3. The librarian said they didn't allow children to join who couldn't read (this was in the 1950s). Grandad insisted my aunt could read, so the librarian opened a very basic learn to read book and asked her to read it, to which she confidently read

'This book is the property of 'anytown' library, please return by the last date below'

She was allowed to join:rotfl:

manda1205

meritaten wrote: »

amazing how this thread has attracted early readers! are you all like me and read at LEAST ten books a week?

Lol, not quite 10, but I do read a lot.
I cant remember what age I learnt to read, but my parents say it was before school age, I remember the village with three corners books and finding them very easy and also reading Enid Blyton books over and over, I was 7 or 8 by then tho. Now my DD is 6, she learnt to read at around 3/4, to begin with it was just memorising, and I didnt do the phonics thing with her tho, just read to her a lot with my finger under the words, lol. She is now as obsessed with books as I am.

faithcecilia

milliebear00001 wrote: »

A teacher's perspective...

Don't be fooled by the word 'phonics' - this is simply how children have always learned (and been taught) to read.

It rests on the principle (as I'm sure you know) that to 'decode' a word, you need to break it into the sounds the letters make - that's largely it! So, cuh, ah, tuh means cat. C, A, T (said as the letter name) means !!!!!! all to a child learning to read, which is why the sounds are more important than the names.

I was taught to read phonetically, as were/are most of the country's children throughout history. There was a brief 'blip' in the 70s/80s when it was thought that learning to 'sight' read (similar to the 'flashcards' beloved of some parents) was a better option. My younger brother was taught using this single method, and failed to learn to read reliably until he was about 10 after much (phonetic) intervention.

Signt reading is a red-herring and a spectacular, historically documented failure. Early reading (decoding) children have just picked up the 'code' of letters much earlier than most. No mystery, just a great memory and possibly a 'different' brain function. Nobody learns to read new words properly without knowing how to decode sounds by learning the rules of the letter code.

Ah, I was a 1979 baby and remember this style at school, however I could already read by then, but I am pretty sure this is also how I would have learnt at home. Maybe I am a freak of nature, but to me 'cat' was just 'cat', spelt CAT, cuh, a, tuh meant absolutely nothing, it was giving 3 syllables to a 1 syllable word.

tiernsee

I was reading before primary school but then when I started was taught ITA which was rather confusing and even more so when, at age of 7, I had to unlearn ITA and start again reading properly. Both of my children were reading by the time they started primary school, fortunately no ITA these days. My son reads when he has to but apart from Alex Rider books doesn't really enjoy it - my daughter reads everything and loves books, we try to get to the library every week and she collects their certificates and is looking forward to the new scheme when she turns 6.

mrcow

faithcecilia wrote: »

Has anyone (parent/teacher maybe) had similar problems when trying to help a child learn to read with the phonetics system?

Thanks

Nope

All my kids were early readers and were taught by phonics. It's a very easy way to learn to read. The whole learning the letter name thing follows quickly.

Not that it makes any difference. It's not a race.

As long as children are being brought up around a wide selection of reading material and are encouraged to explore and enjoy books, that's what actually matters.

Jinx

I learned to read probably through bed time stories... Like a lot of you I could read well before I went to school and have always loved books. My daughter is the same, a bed time story every night while she was small and by age 3 she would read herself a bedtime story and even now trains/airports/hanging around anywhere is the perfect opportunity to get a book out. I definitely think it stands children in such good stead for going to school.

Newly_retired

My sister was a year older than me. Each day when she came home from school she taught me what she had learnt. So when I started, I already knew lots! It was a village school, with one class for all the infants, one for all the juniors and one for all the seniors ( to age 14). I was moved very rapidly to Group 3 .
We moved house before I was 6 and at my next school I was put in Year One ( not called that, but I was not allowed to go in Reception.I really missed out on playing with sand and the Wendy House).
Soon after, I was moved up again. Presumably I could read fluently by this time - still aged 6. I remember being asked to take my birth certificate into school as they did not believe how old (young !) I was.
I was always with a group of children older than me. I had read all the books in my classroom, so I was allowed to read my library books, or had to help a group of slower learners in my class.
I was always a year ahead throughout school and ended up in some ways disadvantaged by it.
My granddaughter was longing to learn to read. She could "read" books from age 2 but it was only memory. She certainly knew if we said the wrong words. After her first day at school she asked her teacher "When are you going to teach us to read?" She made huge strides, using phonic methods.
Now aged 6 she has somewhat lost interest. I don't think she is being well taught now. I work with her from time to time and she responds well. I think her teacher is letting her stagnate rather than forge ahead. Maybe she wants to keep the class together.

faithcecilia

Newly_retired wrote: »

I was always a year ahead throughout school and ended up in some ways disadvantaged by it.


I think her teacher is letting her stagnate rather than forge ahead. Maybe she wants to keep the class together.

I can relate to these. My school wanted to put me a year ahead, but my dad had done this and feels it had not actually helped him, so my parents refused. Also, My birthday is late December, so they thought I was just that bit too young - maybe had I been September they might have agreed.

I always felt held back at primary school, and remember being ignored frequently when I had my hand up to answer questions. As I was a fluent reader, I rarely had the one to one reading time that other children had.

Newly_retired

I was often left to my own devices at school as I could do the work already. I was happy to read by myself.

Actually I was always a year ahead, which was not a problem, but I ended up two years ahead, as my Grammar school did a pilot scheme of my form doing 4 O levels in the fourth form. I went into the Lower Sixth at the age of 14. We were all too young to cope with the French literature we studied at A level. Just not enough life experience.