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MBK
Beginner March 2003

When you learnt to read

MBK, 26 April, 2008 at 10:14 Posted on Off Topic Posts 0 53

Did you learn by way of Phonics?

I was chatting to a colleague the other day who is older than me and she was not taught in this way and until recently did not know what the phonetic alphabet was / is.

Just curious really I find it interesting after watching that Ch4 programme some months ago.

53 replies

Latest activity by LOOEEZ, 29 April, 2008 at 21:46
  • Carob
    Beginner February 2007
    Carob ·
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    I'm 34 now and when I was taught to read it was using phonetics.

    I read with my daughters the same way when they were little, I don't know any other way to teach reading/writing.

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  • HaloHoney
    Beginner July 2007
    HaloHoney ·
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    Can't remember. I was reading by age three though, so it was a bloody long time ago and early enough that by the time I knew I could read, I couldn't remember how I had been taught.


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  • English Girl in Bangkok
    Beginner August 2008
    English Girl in Bangkok ·
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    I wasn't taught to read using phonics (am almost 30) and until I started to train as a primary teacher myself, I was unware of what phonics were.

    However I do think using phonics to read is the most obvious way to teach reading and I have NO idea how I learnt otherwise!

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  • MBK
    Beginner March 2003
    MBK ·
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    See it amazes me that you can be taught to read not using phonics.

    Strange [shrug]

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  • English Girl in Bangkok
    Beginner August 2008
    English Girl in Bangkok ·
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    quote:Originally posted by MBK
    See it amazes me that you can be taught to read not using phonics.

    Strange [shrug]
    id="quote">

    But phonics only works to some extent as so many words in English cannot be sounded out phonetically so just have to be learnt by sight.

    Tbh it amazes me how anyone learns to spell and read in this crazy language that consistently breaks its own rules.
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  • MBK
    Beginner March 2003
    MBK ·
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    I get your point but surely there are 'exceptions to the rule' in lots of languages.

    In Thai for instance there are words that are the same but spoken with a softer or harder tone mean totally different things.

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  • Zooropa
    Super October 2007
    Zooropa ·
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    My parents got told off when I started school becuase they hadn't used phonics. Theer again I was lucky they had taught me anything - my mum confessed a couple of weeks ago that my brother and I both taught ourselves to stand & walk [V]

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  • MBK
    Beginner March 2003
    MBK ·
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    Zooropa I guess you cant remember how they taught you?

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  • Zoay
    Beginner September 2013
    Zoay ·
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    But little ones DO 'teach themselves' to stand and walk, don't they?

    I taught myself to read, aged 2, according to my mother, though she does admit to making leters out of plasticine for me.

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  • Pen
    Beginner July 2007
    Pen ·
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    quote:Originally posted by English Girl in Bangkok
    quote:Originally posted by MBK
    See it amazes me that you can be taught to read not using phonics.

    Strange [shrug]
    id="quote">

    But phonics only works to some extent as so many words in English cannot be sounded out phonetically so just have to be learnt by sight.

    Tbh it amazes me how anyone learns to spell and read in this crazy language that consistently breaks its own rules.id="red">
    id="quote">

    WSS 'ough' on words is a nightmare. (rough, thorough, plough, through etc)

    I can't remember how I was taught to read either. Probably a bit of both but I didn't have to read books written phonetically like some children. I think they did an experiment years ago with books written like that. (ie, coff instead of cough or somthing like that.) It must have been a nightmare as you'd have to relearn the word with the standard spelling as well. I think you can still get books like that.
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  • princess layabout
    Beginner October 2007
    princess layabout ·
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    No, it seemed to be having to learn to recognise whole words like "Peter" and "Jane" ?

    phonics works for a lot of children but not all.

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  • English Girl in Bangkok
    Beginner August 2008
    English Girl in Bangkok ·
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    quote:Originally posted by MBK
    I get your point but surely there are 'exceptions to the rule' in lots of languages.

    In Thai for instance there are words that are the same but spoken with a softer or harder tone mean totally different things.
    id="quote">

    Yes in Thai there are 5 different tones. So for example, the word "mai" has 5 different meanings depending on your tone. That makes Thai a difficult language to learn to speak, but the grammar and spelling of Thai is actually more straight forward than English. No tenses to worry about, and it is spelt phonetically which makes it easy to read once you've mastered the alphabet.

    There are a lot of exceptions to rules in other languages, but what I think makes English tricky is the fact it derives from so many other languages. I'm not saying English is the hardest language to learn, I'm just speaking from my own experience of teaching 2nd language learners how to read and write.
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  • barongreenback
    Beginner September 2004
    barongreenback ·
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    No. I was a precocious little sod and my Dad read to me from an early age from the ladybird books. By 18 months I was reading them myself. I'm not a great fan of one size fits all systems anyway as different children have different needs.

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  • alleroo
    Beginner January 2007
    alleroo ·
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    Apparently I kind of started teaching myself to read by sight before my parents started teaching me to read phonetically
    my mum told me that I even before I could talk properly I would sit with books and recite the remembered stories back to myself, making similar sounding noises before I could talk, and getting most of the words right when I could.
    They then started to teach me phonetically and by the time I was at nursery I could read pretty well.

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  • Orly Bird
    Beginner April 2007
    Orly Bird ·
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    quote:Originally posted by MBK
    I get your point but surely there are 'exceptions to the rule' in lots of languages.

    In Thai for instance there are words that are the same but spoken with a softer or harder tone mean totally different things.id="red">
    id="quote">

    Is it a tonal language, then ? If so, that's not quite the same thing.

    I was taught by breaking the word down into smaller chunks. That's phonics, right ?
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  • English Girl in Bangkok
    Beginner August 2008
    English Girl in Bangkok ·
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    quote:Originally posted by Orly Bird
    quote:Originally posted by MBK
    I get your point but surely there are 'exceptions to the rule' in lots of languages.

    In Thai for instance there are words that are the same but spoken with a softer or harder tone mean totally different things.id="red">
    id="quote">

    Is it a tonal language, thenid="red"> ? If so, that's not quite the same thing.

    I was taught by breaking the word down into smaller chunks. That's phonics, right ?
    id="quote">

    Yes, has 5 different tones - rising, falling, high, low and I think the last one is up and down. It makes it particularly hard to learn to speak!
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  • Hoobygroovy
    Hoobygroovy ·
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    I really cannot remember, it's so long ago. My parents must have taught me because I could read by the time I went to school and I remember thinking the Janet and John books they used were really boring. ?

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  • Pen
    Beginner July 2007
    Pen ·
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    quote:Originally posted by barongreenback
    No. I was a precocious little sod and my Dad read to me from an early age from the ladybird booksid="red">. By 18 months I was reading them myself. I'm not a great fan of one size fits all systems anyway as different children have different needs.
    id="quote">

    I found some of my own Ladybird books a little while ago. I couldn't believe it! I have Tootle the Taxi where all the vehicles have names and faces. Not unlike Bob the Builder vehicles of these days.
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  • Tilly Tomato
    Tilly Tomato ·
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    I could read before I went to school and I picked that up from my mum reading to me. She did the same thing with my brothers and they were not interested so she left it.

    In school I vividly remember sitting on the carpet and having flash cards held up and all having to chant the word back. I didn't have a clue what phonics was until I trained as a primary school teacher and it is is now one of the things I enjoy teaching the most!

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  • MBK
    Beginner March 2003
    MBK ·
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    I see what you mean about Thai [disclaimer] I dont have much knowledge but find it a really interesting language.

    I totally agree its not a one size fits all deal I was just interested as my colleague was unaware of any other form to be taugh as was I re Phonics.

    I rememebr having flash cards and reading away to myslef from a very early age.

    I also remember that 2 headed Sesame St monster saying 2 halves of a word and running them together.

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  • voddy vixen
    voddy vixen ·
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    I don't remember being taught phonics, more by memory (remembering whole words iyswim). Peter and Jane and other Ladybird books are some of the earliest ones I remember reading. Apparently I was reading before I went to school - my mum used to watch a programme called "3 little words" (a bit like Countdown I think) and she says I used to read things from the screen and that's how she knew I'd definitely cracked reading.

    My son is taught using phonics and it's interesting to see him applying the technique when reading long/unfamiliar words. It does seem to have helped with his reading (either that or he's naturally talented in that field, like his mum ?), but spelling is another matter entirely. That's where I feel phonics falls down somewhat - Pen's example of the "ough" grouping is a good one. Frequently there is a point where phonics just won't help and you just have to know how something is spelt.

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  • MBK
    Beginner March 2003
    MBK ·
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    I think then there must be a point where phonics stops and memory comes into play.
    Does phonics not just get you used to the word and then you begin to recognise and remember the word?

    I remember the Peter and Jane books too and the other 'Read It Yourself' ladybird books

    Totally agree with the spellings.

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  • voddy vixen
    voddy vixen ·
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    quote:Originally posted by MBK
    I think then there must be a point where phonics stops and memory comes into play.
    Does phonics not just get you used to the word and then you begin to recognise and remember the word?

    I remember the Peter and Jane books too and the other 'Read It Yourself' ladybird books

    Totally agree with the spellings.
    id="quote">

    I think part of the idea is to help recognise letter groups so that when you see them within a word, you know the sound (sorry, probably not explaining this very well). Ultimately reading is about memory though isn't it? Once you can read a word, you don't conciously break it down, you just "know" it.

    I've tried to help my son with spelling by asking him to close his eyes and picturing the word printed in a book then "copying" it from his head, rather than just breakinging it down phonetically and potentially mis-spelling it.
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  • Pen
    Beginner July 2007
    Pen ·
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    quote:Originally posted by voddy vixen
    quote:Originally posted by MBK
    I think then there must be a point where phonics stops and memory comes into play.
    Does phonics not just get you used to the word and then you begin to recognise and remember the word?

    I remember the Peter and Jane books too and the other 'Read It Yourself' ladybird books

    Totally agree with the spellings.
    id="quote">

    I think part of the idea is to help recognise letter groups so that when you see them within a word, you know the sound id="red">(sorry, probably not explaining this very well). Ultimately reading is about memory though isn't it? Once you can read a word, you don't conciously break it down, you just "know" it.

    I've tried to help my son with spelling by asking him to close his eyes and picturing the word printed in a book then "copying" it from his head, rather than just breakinging it down phonetically and potentially mis-spelling it.
    id="quote">

    I think this is mostly right. There are some words like 'live' and 'content' that have two proununciations depending on the rest of the sentence though. (live tv, to live in a house, the content of somthing and to be content with something.) This all makes reading even more difficult as you have to read the sentence as a whole rather than just the word in order to sound the word correctly.
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  • MBK
    Beginner March 2003
    MBK ·
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    Complicated bloomin thing this reading lark eh!

    Having really thought about all the complexities I am no longer so surprised at the amount of people who can't read.

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  • Pen
    Beginner July 2007
    Pen ·
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    quote:Originally posted by MBK
    Complicated bloomin thing this reading lark eh!id="red">

    Having really thought about all the complexities I am no longer so surprised at the amount of people who can't read.
    id="quote">

    ? Yeah!

    It's easy to take it for granted but when you get down to the nitty gritty of learning to read and write the damn thing, it's really complicated and quite difficult to get it right all the time. It's no wonder people make mistakes.

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  • MBK
    Beginner March 2003
    MBK ·
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    Hmm I am quite chuffed I can read and write and spell (debabtable!)

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  • Hoobygroovy
    Hoobygroovy ·
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    quote:Originally posted by MBK
    Hmm I am quite chuffed I can read and write and spell (debabtable!)id="red">
    id="quote">Quite. ?
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  • MBK
    Beginner March 2003
    MBK ·
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    ?? D E B A T E A B L E - Debateable ?

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  • Pen
    Beginner July 2007
    Pen ·
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    I rest my case. ?

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  • MBK
    Beginner March 2003
    MBK ·
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    Oh I give up ?

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  • Platty
    Expert October 2026 South East London
    Platty ·
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    quote:Originally posted by MBK
    See it amazes me that you can be taught to read not using phonics.

    Strange [shrug]
    id="quote">

    I can't remember how I was taught but my daughter wasn't taught using phonics, I started reading to her when she was 3 and by the time she started reception at 4, and this is not being smug, she was top of the class for reading.

    I don't know how Mr Platty was taught but apparently he was reading newspapers at 6 ?
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