Welcome to the Learning Reading Hub! Find information and resources to help your child become a fluent reader! All the information we share is based on modern science. Using the right techniques will make a huge difference in your child's reading success! Avoid teaching your child the wrong way! This can lead to a life of struggle with reading. Becoming a good reader is a gift for life! Avid readers are wiser and smarter! And, as a parent, you are the best teacher your child can have!
i started teaching my child to read at about 3.5 years old and he turned 4 recently. i would suggest entirely ignoring letter names as it's nowhere near as important as phonics and they are always getting exposed to the names subconsciously through the song everytime. everyone also learns the alphabet song anyway just like the happy birthday song. it speeds up the process to just say say whats this letter and have them answer with the phonic rather than the letter name. my 4 yr old has reached level 20. i also advise putting a pencil grip on your ipad stylus if you have one when they r doing the writing to get them used to a goiod grip at an early age.
That's awesome. Looking forward to hearing the results you get with your ESL students. While I don't think the app has been specifically created with EL students in mind, I'm pretty sure they can also benefit. Let us know!
Basically children need to learn to read English using a combination of phonics and whole language which is what Singapore has done with great success. If you were teaching Italian or Spanish which are perfectly phonetic, phonics would be a no brainer.
Yes, it's kind of a combination, but we don't want to just add a little bit of this and a little bit of that. That would be the balanced approach, and that hasn't been effective for many children learning to read English either. So this is how I would put it: Focus on building a strong phonics foundation, and introduce non-regular words little by little as exceptions, focusing on the patterns they have in common, and stressing out what makes phonetical sense in the words. For instance, point to the common pattern in "could," "would," and "should," or the common pattern in "sight," "light," "fight," "right," etc. Go slowly, reading instruction takes more time in English than in other latin-based languages, but nobody is in a hurry!
Thanks for your comment! Yes, it's an awesome app! We love it at home. The graphics are adorable, and everything is super safe. I am so happy to hear that it works well with your autistic daughter. I know some apps can be overwhelming for autistic children.
Not only children: I have been living three decades in the United States learning ESL. I even went to college for five years, high GPA, graduate Magna cum Laude. But even so, the English vowels are still a mess to me. Particularly when it comes to words that sound similarly, but not equally. Say: judge, church, charge, chart. Judging, charging. James, chains. Thus, does, All, old. Clothes, close. Lesson, lesen. Object, abject. Rut, rat, root. Senses, census. Than, then. Holy, wholly. Hall, hole. Further, farther. False, falls. Warned, worn. Drawn, drown. Wherein, worrying. Perdures, perjures. Where, were, wear. Four, for. Weight, wait. Hair, hare, air. Rounded, grounded. Diverse, divers, drivers. And, in, end, an. Outer, alter. The phonetics of English: I do not think there is a more complicated language the world over.
I know! It's really tough! The inconsistencies in spelling don't help either. On top of that, you have to add the fact that English has tons of homophones (words that sound the same but have different spellings-like 'where,' 'were,' and 'wear,' or 'four' and 'for') that deceive many ESL students into making distinctions in pronunciation where there aren't any. Vowels, in my opinion, complicate comprehension and pronunciation for non-native speakers. For instance, many ESL students struggle to understand words in isolation but do fine when these words are in context. Stay tuned for the next video I’m preparing-I think you’re going to like it! And, by the way, your list is great!
I've seen Amazon does not operate in Pakistan, but I assume you can still shop from Amazon US or UK, and get international shipping? Link to the product on Amazon US can be found in the video description. Otherwise, maybe on ebay?
It's very different. This is a program to teach your child to read (you teach the letters, the sounds, how to blend, etc.), while readability tutor is an app for children that already know how to read (at least they have to know the basics of reading). It helps them gain fluency and become better readers, by reading texts that are appropriate for their level while corrected by IA when they make a mistake. It's like if you were reading with your kid, and helping him/her when stuck. It keeps track of your child's progress, and moves him/her accordingly. It's got other extras (for instance, he/she can also definitions of new words he/she might bump into, which will help him/her increase his/her vocabulary), but that's what this app is in essence. If you want to learn more, I suggest you watch this other video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ymI31nd5XY8.htmlsi=BZE_UPL0_rCbnFM6
You are right! While most of the book (I'd say first 220 pages or so) is what you'd normally learn from K - 2nd grade (building reading foundations) the last pages of the curriculum -30 or so- cover prefixes, suffixes and compound words. These are more complex words, that you would normally read in 3rd and 4th grade. However, depending on your kid this might not be enough instruction. I would complement with other things (reading books - of course-, writing and dictation, spelling-focused activities) or even with Reading Pathways, by the same author. Hope that helps!
Thank you for the video. Does the app also teach the letter and phonix or you had to teach it yourself? Did you use a different app for that? What about handwriting?
Hi Sivan. Thanks for your question. Re: Letter sounds - I had taught a lot of this myself, and I didn't start completely from scratch. However, your child will be tested on this when he/she first starts using the app, and if he/she needs learning the sounds, the lessons will start with that. Phonics - the app teaches phonics. Handwriting - there's letter and/or word tracing in every lesson (your child will do this part using his/her fingers). There are also worksheets included on the program that you download and print out. However, this is not a handwriting program, in my opinion. You'll likely need to reinforce this part. Hope this helps!
I really don't care what you call it. Just make sure the kids know how to read and write before highschool. I couldn't believe the spelling errors in my homeroom in highschool when I made them to start keeping a journal I read once in a while. Words like Occasion, demonstration they'd spell like Okayshun etc in highschool!! This were kids born in 2004/2005 idk how American literacy deteriorated so fast but at least help these 2015-2023 babies read you've already messed up the 2000-2010s. US do better. Fact that I as a non American seems more concerned than Americans is also concerning. Y'all so stupidly concerned about trying to divide on skin color or whatever you're falling behind the entire English speaking world on English literacy. News flash every country has people with different skin it doesn't stop us from teaching and learning especially fundamentals like knowing how to read and write.
Some interesting points you've got there! Thanks for sharing them. I feel that at least it's become super obvious that there has been a real problem with literacy for decades, and we can't keep looking the other way. Unfortunately, not sure that parents are aware of this problem, and that's the whole point of this channel, and videos like this one, actually. The consequences are far too serious. Students who don't read well by the 3rd grade are 4 times more likely to be high school dropouts. Besides, they are also way more likely to feel frustrated, distracted, socially isolated, and even present aggressive behaviors. Also, 2/3 of students who can't read proficiently by the end of 4th grade will end up in jail or welfare. One huge problem is that old habits die hard, and teachers need proper training on things like phonics, grammar, or orthography. I know that many states now require that teachers get training on the science of reading, so that's progress. Let's hope things continue to improve. In the meantime, while we are in this transition, parents need to be aware of this and take action. This may mean getting more involved in their children's learn-to-read journey, learning about English phonics, and supporting their children at home. That's exactly what I did, and it truly paid off.
As mentioned in the video: 📚 "How to Teach a Child to Read from Scratch Step-by-Step/The Simple Formula for Reading Success" book (on Kindle): amzn.to/3WqlgCW
Hi! Austin Butler here, I'm the founder/CEO of teaching com, which makes reading com (I can't put the actual domain name or it gets marked as spam!) Anyways, I wanted to thank you for the two amazing videos you made about us! I'm so glad you found them to be valuable!
Thanks so much for saying this! Funnily enough, the reason I turned to AI for voice over in this video is that I was down with a throat infection! But it's so good to hear you prefer my real human voice!
📌 To watch the entire video on How to teach your child to read with phonics, go to ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-xoBIcKIMz9U.html 📖 Link to the mentioned book "How To Teach a Child To Read from Scratch Step-by-Step?": amzn.to/3TfCihJ
This is so funny!! I love your content so much and came to check out this video to see what you recommended. I realized that this is the same program I used to teach my son how to read years ago!! IT IS AN EXCELLENT program and worth every penny! This discovery made my day! 🙂
I've been going through this exact issue with my daughter! I've been trying to point out how she *actually* says "can" vs. when she sounds it out and clearly doesn't understand what word she's saying. I've been jokingly doing a British accent to say "cehhhn" and then showing that she says closer to "cay-an" which she thinks is hilarious but is still a journey every time we encounter a new "an" or "am" word.
That's a funny coincidence! Even though it's not surprising. It's amazing how kids pick up on these subtle nuances in pronunciation. This is one of those things that most of us (adults) don't even notice until it's pointed out. Then we understand why our children struggle with these words, and we can help them out. Your approach with the British accent sounds like a clever way to make it fun for her. Best of luck, and keep up the good work!
I don't think it does for the time being. However, if you go to their website (bit.ly/readingcomapp) and scroll down to where it says "download now" and "coming soon," you can click on the "email me" button to get notified when available on other devices. Hope that helps.
There used to be another software called Reading Buddy, but I think it does not longer exist. Plus, it wasn't really an app, it was a software you had to install on your computer. Other than that, I don't know of any other apps that use AI to detect words as you read and give you instant feedback.
This is the BEST way to teach blending. I do not give kids 3 letters until they can blend 2 letters, 2 sounds. Going through the blending pages teach kids to blend. This method teaches reading a word only 1 time, blending as you go. After they can read short vowels, I take them back through the blending pages using long vowels. Phonic Pathways does have decidable sentences. There is some reading practice. USE this method to teach BLENDING, no matter what phonic program or method you use. I've used this successive blending for over 20 years, And I'm still using it.
That's awesome! I also love successive blending (or blending as you go - I know it has many different names!). This is combination with continuous blending.
I want to explain the so-called standoff or controversy between phonics and Balanced Literacy. In my opinion there is no controversy, as Balanced Literacy is useless and should be called schizophrenic illiteracy. Let's do a simple thought experiment. A child is reading across a line of text and sees a fairly large word coming up, something with six or seven letters. The child thinks, I wonder what this is…Oh, is this one of those words I was supposed to memorize?….Hmmmnm, starts with a d…..What word goes in this sentence?? After a minute the child gives up on that strategy and thinks,“Or maybe I am supposed to decode this word,,,De…..?… No, now I am supposed to guess…” All of this is what they are trained to do. Now in practice, the child may get the right word after a minute or two. But that means nothing. Every word is like this. A time-consuming puzzle. It's hard work. There's no guarantee of success. If they don't get this word, then all subsequent text may make no sense. This is not reading. This is not something anybody would willingly do. The so-called experts have turned reading into hard labor because they won't teach the child to read quickly and speedily with phonics. Normal reading speed is several words a second! This child just wasted 100 seconds and got nothing and you want them to do that again and again and say, Oh yes I love reading. No. they don’t. Millions and millions of children say exactly the same thing, "I don't like books. I hate reading.” Translation: nobody has ever taught these children to read. I've made many videos trying to explain this evil controversy. I'm very fond of this one because of the intense music. I think when a kid can't read, the whole world starts to sound like this. Or just turn it down. It's still 7-1/2 minutes that will tell you more than you dreamed possible. (How Dolch Words Cause Illiteracy and Dyslexia) ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-SCNDFTBkPBQ.html
