Tutoring 6 year old child

Noozan

Can anyone point me in the right direction please?

I have agreed to tutor a friend's 6 year old child in basic literacy and numeracy and really don't have a clue where to start.

The child is 6 years old and English is her second language (she lives with her father and grandparents and noone in the houseehold speaks any englsh). I have recently interpreted for her father at a teacher parent meeting and the school says she is making very good progress. I have listened to her read and she has a good grasp of english. The teacher said she was able to count well, recognise alot of words and can do basic adding and subtracting up to 20, albeit with the aid of counting blocks. Her progress is no slower or faster than her peers. Her father was quite shocked at this as in kindergarten (in Hong Kong) children are generally able to read and wrire basic sentences as well as add and subtract mentally up to higher numbers.

So....where do I start?

I'd like to make it fun and interesting for her, so I thought about some number or word games so that she is learning and practising without really realising it.

I'm seeing her on Saturday morning so please throw your ideas this way! Thanks.

Sarahsaver

Singing is an excellent way of teaching, as if you learn anything by singing it you will remember it longer.
Throwing a beanbag to each other when counting, to see how far you can get.
I used to be a teacher - can you tell!?
I will dig out some more stuff later. By the way poundland often has literacy and numeracy activity books. I use these with my kids. They finish a page and I give them a sticker on a reward chart.
If anything, sounds like the rest of her family need to try and speak a bit of english with her.
Good luck and have fun.

Katgoddess

Does she watch tv or listen to the radio at home? Maybe listening to english at home would help her? Even if it is Neighbours.

bylromarha

I know it sounds a bit formal, but at school they'll be following the Numeracy strategy. Children can get highly confused if you teach them one thing in Maths and the school uses a completely different way. You wouldn't believe how many ways you can divide now!

Here's a link to NNS...it provides some examples of how to teach different things...these examples may spark off ideas which you can use as well. Click on the PDF files for examples...as she's 6 I didn't know if she was in year 1 or 2. Good luck!

http://www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/numeracy/teaching_resources/year1/

http://www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/numeracy/teaching_resources/year2/

Jay-Jay_4

Can you have a word with her teacher at school?

It sounds like you'll be doing what any parent would do if their child was struggling at school and if that was the case the first port of call would be to have a good chat with the teacher and ask specifically what you can and should be doing.

As someone else said, it's really confusing for children to be taught different ways of doing things and your methods ought to compliment the teaching method at the school.

Good luck x x x

Noozan

Thanks for the advice everyone.

Sarah - I would appreciate anything you can dig out There isn't a poundland near us but you just reminded me that there's a cheap bookshop in town where I've bought activity books for relatives in HK before. Will have a look in there this afternoon.

I agree that they should try to talk to her in english (as in, they should learn english too, after all, it is their choice to be in this country) but she is being taught to read and write cantonese at home so that she doesn't lose that side of her culture.

She doesn't get to watch alot of tv at home and it's usually chinese programmes that they have on in their house.

I thought about giving her a tape of children's songs and nursery ryhmes etc to listen to as she enjoys music.

I also keep hens in the garden and she's fascinated by them so I thought I could get her to collect their eggs, count them and maybe keep a chart to add up how many we get, etc

bylromarha - Thanks for the links, I'm having a look now!

Sarahsaver

I don't agree that 'different teaching methods confuse kids'. if a child is going to get confused they will get confused whatever, a different approach may be refreshing and enjoyable, or a challenge, rather than confusing. Extra help is better than no extra help. The Letts books I mentioned fit in with the national curriculum way of doing things.
I wonder if there are any out of school activities she could join in, like kids clubs and so on.
Who instigated the extra tuition by the way? The school or the father?
I'll be back...;)

Noozan

Sarahsaver wrote:

The Letts books I mentioned fit in with the national curriculum way of doing things.
I wonder if there are any out of school activities she could join in, like kids clubs and so on.
Who instigated the extra tuition by the way? The school or the father?
I'll be back...;)

I bought a couple of number and word activity books this afternoon so at least I have somewhere to start now....

She's an only child and doesn't really socialise with other children outside of school. Her teacher says she mixes very well with her classmates and plays regularly with 2 particular girls. There are no children near her age on her street and her father is very wary of letting her go to any friends houses to play and doesn't have any of her school friends over either. It was him that instigated the extra tuition - he felt that she was not progressing far enough (despite the good appraisal from her class teacher ) Actually, her teacher mentioned that she loved PE, dancing and drama and her father responded by saying he was glad to hear it because she never gets a chance to let of steam at home. Unfortunately, she is a little overweight and loves her food but I wonder if she snacks so much due to boredom?

She only really has adult company and is cooped up in the house. Her grandparents are her main carers and since they don't speak english, they don't really venture out very often. It's a vicious circle!

Anyway, I hope that by tutoring her I can maybe use an appraisal like a star or sticker when she does something well and give her little treats when she achieves targets; such as a trip to Edinburgh Castle (Free entry on 16 and 17 April, in true MSE style :j ) or swimming or anything that gets her out of the house!

Prudent

Sounds like she is making good progress! For the stage of language she is at I would recommend two websites for free materials.
The first, https://www.Starfall.com has a good phonics package. It starts with single sounds progressing onto to simple words gardually increasinging the level of complexity. There are online reading books (around 5 at each of the stages) with follow up matching games. There are superb downloads of each of the booklets (the down load link is at the bottom of some of the pages and is not especially obvious). I am a teacher and support children with additional needs. When I use the starfall, I do it in the following order: 1) Read the book online with the child (they love the animated graphics) 2) play the online matching games 2) Make some of the words using magnetic letters and a whitebord (which can be bought from ELC) 3) Let the child read and colour the downloded reading book 4) colour the work book 5) get the child to read book online to a friend.
I would also recommend looking at the site www.hubbard'scupboard.org. Go into literacy and look at the downloadable booklets. They cover a good amount of everday words, key sight words, maths language (e.g shapes) and topic vocabulary.

Do play loads of games. I buy most of mine from charity shops.
The bbc schools websites are also excellent for online games and printable sheets.
Hope this helps. Most of all have fun!

Sarahsaver

https://www.enchantedlearning.com
I have used lots of the stuff from there with my kids.
How about making sticky labels with her to take home, so she can label things in the house, and maybe her family will get involved with that.

sunflower_2

OMG

at first glance i thought the title of this post was

"torturing 6 year old child"

am sure some psychologist would have something to say about the goings on in my mind...

anyway - please do carry on...