Notes For Parents (1979 Version)

Notes For Parents (1979 Version)

Caleb Gattegno  

Educational Solutions Worldwide Inc.

All materials described in this book are part of the Reading Lab and can be obtained from: www.EducationalSolutions.com First published in 1979. Reprinted in 2009.

Copyright Š 1979-2009 Educational Solutions Worldwide Inc. Author: Caleb Gattegno All rights reserved ISBN 978-0-87825-021-9 Educational Solutions Worldwide Inc. 2nd Floor 99 University Place, New York, N.Y. 10003-4555 www.EducationalSolutions.com

Table of Contents

Preface ........................................................................ 1 Introduction ................................................................3 Why Use Color? ...................................................................... 3 Some Truths About Reading ...................................................5 Some Do's And Don'ts To Make Your Job Easier And Your Time More Enjoyable......................................................7 Materials ................................................................................. 8 Section I: Making Sense Of Reading............................11 How To Begin: R0 .................................................................. 11 Introducing A Few Consonants: R1 .......................................14 Some Suggestions For More Games:.....................................18 Using The Charts ...................................................................19 The Word Building Tables.....................................................21 The Gap Game. ..................................................................... 22 The Gap Game Demonstrates: ............................................. 23 More Vowels And Consonants: R1 Completed ..................... 24 The Transformation Game ....................................................27 Summing Up ......................................................................... 30 Section II: The Study Of All The Sounds Of English.... 33 Forging Ahead: R2 ................................................................ 33

The Book Of Stories .............................................................. 35 More Activities ...................................................................... 36 Section III The Spellings Of English .......................... 39 Dealing with ambiguities ......................................................40 More Spelling Games ............................................................42 The Fidel (Phonic Code) ....................................................... 45 Looking Ahead ......................................................................46 Appendix 1 .................................................................47 Appendix 2 Key To The Phonic Code (Or Fidel)............................ 49 Appendix 3 ................................................................. 51 If Your Child Is Not A Beginner.............................................51 If Your Child Knows Something About Reading .................. 52 When Your Child Knows Even More About Reading........... 55

Preface

The author, as a parent, first tried these ideas on two of his children, and then on the children of others. The ease with which most students — many of them four years old or even younger — made sense of the written forms of speech through Words in Color encouraged him to let other parents try the same approach, using the same materials, with their own children.

Helping children learn to read is at the same time easy and difficult. It is easy because children who can speak have already done most of the work required for a quick conquest of the written code. It is difficult because adults who can read have, on the whole, no idea of what must be done to make someone else a reader. This ignorance, which is almost universal, becomes intermingled with pride, impatience and preconceptions, and often leads to a tension which obscures the issues involved in learning.

1

Notes For Parents (1979 Version)

To teach your child to read, you need not have taken education courses. If parents wish to take on the job, they should think of themselves as people who are willing to play certain games and use materials which are as new to them as to their children; they will then become more willing to accept mistakes and to try various ways of working with the materials.

Patience in learning is not a virtue, it is a necessity. To make mistakes is part of the learning process. A wise person, after all, is one who can learn from his mistakes.

2

Introduction

Why Use Color?

For the beginning reader who first looks at words, there is nothing to tell him how they should be spoken. Letters don't shout their sounds any more than sentences speak their meanings.

Color-coding provides the clue to this puzzle because it is unmistakable, it is easily recognized, and it does not change the traditional shapes of the letters. It is used on the word charts to identify sounds. Identical colors are used for identical sounds.

Example:

s ss

in in

us pass

The signs s and ss are the same color, which suggests that you should say them the same way. Therefore when your child later sees the word science on the chart and recognizes that the sc and 3

Notes For Parents (1979 Version)

ce are the same color as the s in us, he will produce the correct sound (because he already knows the sound associated with that color).

But look at another example: s s

in in

us as

By coloring the shape s differently in these two words, we give a clue which indicates that their pronunciation must also be different. On the charts you will find as many colors as are necessary to represent the 23 vowel and 35 consonant sounds of English. No special phonetic symbols are introduced.

Once sounds are known, color is no longer necessary and indeed the materials in the kit, except for the reading charts and the Word Transformer, are in black and white.

It may be that your child is already familiar with the alphabet or some of it. Of course the alphabet is extremely useful for looking up words in a dictionary or names on a telephone directory, but as a method for introducing the written forms of speech, it creates more problems than it solves; a knowledge of abc is of very little help in sounding out the word cab. The sign a, as you will see, appears in eleven different columns on the Fidel (Phonic Code), which indicates that it corresponds to ten different sounds in English, as in: pat, was, village, any, swamp, metal, father, all, late, care. (As you listen to yourself uttering each of these examples, you will hear that only in one of them 4

Introduction

does the shape a carry the sound we give for it in the alphabet.

Besides most letters never carry in a word the sound we give to them when naming the alphabet.)

Instead of the alphabet, here your work will be with the signs (letters or groups of letters) which stand for the sounds of English, each represented by a different color.

However, since reading has several other components besides decoding (which means going from print to speech) color does not solve all the problems of learning to read. The problem it does solve, it solves steadily and easily in a way that preschool children find within their reach.

Some Truths About Reading Every child who is ready to learn to read has already done two jobs that were much harder . . . all by himself! First he figured out the meaning which underlies the words we speak. Then he learned to connect the specific sounds used by people around him with specific meanings, and he learned to speak. In comparison to these tasks, reading is a simple matter. The child only has to match a system of signs with the corresponding sounds he makes when he speaks.

You will give your child all of the keys he needs for reading if you introduce him to six simple conventions: these conventions are

5

Notes For Parents (1979 Version)

inherent in the reading approach and therefore need not be learned as a separate series of rules.

1

Words are printed or written on a straight line. (In English, the line is horizontal, but in some languages it is vertical.)

2 We read from a given starting point. In English we read from left to right, and from top to bottom of the page.

3 Our language is made of words. Words are printed with spaces between them. The spaces do not match the way we pause or run our words together in speech, so we must often ignore the spaces when we read aloud if we are to get the proper rhythm of speech.

4 Sounds are represented by signs. In English, a sign may be a single letter or a combination of letters.

Unusual spellings should be carefully observed.

Developing an awareness of the inconsistencies of English spelling is one way to become a proficient speller, as well as a proficient reader.

5

In print, the signs can be switched around to form different words, just as sounds can be reordered to form different spoken words. (pat, tap, apt.)

6 Reading should have the melody that your child uses when he speaks, but the correct melody can only be found after the meaning of the whole phrase has been grasped. A fluent reader looks ahead, grasps a meaning for the whole phrase, and adds the speed and melody of his own speech, as well as the proper tone of fear, surprise, joy, anger,

6

Introduction

etc. Reading with melody helps the child to determine how sentences and paragraphs are linked together to convey meanings and ideas.

Some Do's And Don'ts To Make Your Job Easier And Your Time More Enjoyable 1

Introduce the signs by one of the sounds associated with them, not by their letter names.

2 Do not sound consonants in isolation, but only as part of a syllable.

3 Be aware that your child is learning to read — he is not yet a reader. Accept his mistakes as a natural part of the process of learning. When he meets words that he does not know, don't tell him. Let him struggle with his difficulties and learn to decode.

4 Repetition is deadly! When your child does not understand, don't repeat yourself; find another way of presenting the problem to him.

5 It is not necessary to spend the same amount of time each day. Learning is a cumulative process, and you will probably find that reading skills develop in relation to the quality, rather than the quantity of time invested.

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Notes For Parents (1979 Version)

Materials This kit contains: •

these Notes for parents

•

four reading primers: Books R0, R1, R2, and R3, which gradually present words using all the sounds of English with all their various spellings These books contain the Word Building Tables which show, in 7 progressive tables, the various spellings for each of the existing sounds in English — table 7 being equivalent to the colored Fidel or Phonic Code (also provided)

•

a Word Transformer

•

a set of colored charts, which include 20 word charts and the English Fidel (Phonic Code)

•

a Book of Stories

•

an illustrated storybook, Eight Tales.

Appendix 1 will give you more details as to how the different parts of these materials are connected.

The course is arranged step by step, but that is largely because the medium of print demands that things be explained one after the other, one at a time, in a single, linear sequence. There is no one way of working with Words in Color, no sacred order for

8

Introduction

introducing the materials, and no set length of time for any of the steps. Some will take minutes, others longer.

9

Section I Making Sense Of Reading

How To Begin: R0 Teaching your child to read with the materials in this kit begins with a series of games involving one vowel sound and its corresponding sign.

Suppose you start with the sound a as in pat, using page 1 of Book R0. With a pencil, point to a single a on the page, and say its sound once. (Remember you are not naming the alphabet, you are using the sound a as in pat.) Then point to another sign on the same page and ask your child: “How would you say this one?” Proceed pointing (silently), giving your child the opportunity to say the sound himself and to listen to himself saying it. Spend only a few minutes on this, just the time required for your child to be sure which sound is associated with the shape a. You now point to the other “words” on the page

11

Notes For Parents (1979 Version)

(groups like aa, aaa), and listen to your child read them; If a difficulty arises, point back to a single a and ask: “What did you say for this one?” then “How many of these do you see in this group?” (for example aa) “Say them as fast as possible” (because they are close together).

A number of different pointing techniques can be used already on page 1, taking advantage of the fact that there is only one sound in circulation.

1

Touch a single a a few times, varying both the number of taps and the rhythm. If for instance you touch a once, pause, and then touch it three times in rapid succession, your child is likely to say: a (pause) aaa.

2 This procedure can be turned around. Let him do the pointing and you produce the sounds following his pattern.

3 You say the “words,” and let him tap the signs with the same rhythm. For example: a aa; a aaa; aa a; a aaa.

On page 2 the statements above are written as “sentences” and your child can show that he is “reading” when he says exactly what you would say.

Page 3 introduces the sound which is heard at the beginning of up and its corresponding sign u. The first three lines do what was done on page 1 the last three lines mix the uses of a and u.

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Section I Making Sense Of Reading

Page 4 gives exercises in the form of “sentences” first with u alone and then with a and u. One new game concerns reversals: au reverses into ua, aau into uaa and uau into itself. When you see au don't say them as in the word auto, but remember that a sounds as in pat and u as in up — two distinct sounds which have been given two distinct colors on the Fidel chart.

1

Using the single signs a and u tap in rhythm (for example, aa, u) and ask: “What did I show?” and then: “What would the reverse of this be?” “Tap it yourself on the Fidel.” These games can continue as long as they are interesting for you and your child.

2 Point to one of the “words” on page 3 and ask your child to read it. Then ask: “What would the reverse of this be?” “Is it written on this page?” The answer can be “no.”

Pages 5 to 10 introduce successively three more vowel sounds: i as in pit, e as in pet, o as in pot, and allow each new sign with its sound to be integrated with those learned earlier.

At this point your child may want to start writing the signs he knows. Don't worry about legibility and neatness. Let him write and read back to you what he has written.

Other games may occur to you, such as oral dictation: you say a “word” (aiio) or a “sentence” (aai uu oei) and your child, if he holds it, can say it, or write it and say it.

13

Notes For Parents (1979 Version)

At the top of the Fidel chart on the left the 5 signs with their respective colors are given, and listed with them are all the other spellings which represent these sounds in English. You do not need at this stage to tell them why there are so many. But if you must, let them repeat the same sound every time you touch any other sign in the same column (and with the same color).

Introducing A Few Consonants: R1 At the beginning of R1 you will find Table 1 made of the five vowels studied and four consonants with eight spellings in all.

Note that s appears twice on that page. This is because its sounds differently in is and in us.

Consonants are never sounded in isolation, therefore always combine them with vowels to make syllables that can be spoken.

From the start, the “brown one” (the shape p, in brown on the charts or on the Transformer) is only sounded when it appears with one of the vowels already met. Page 2 suggests the following games: 1

Point to a vowel (for ex., a) and ask your child to say it. Then sliding your pointer quickly from a to p say: “a followed by this one is called: ap.” (Don't tell him that it is ap as in apple.) Say it only once then point again and let your child say it. Then slide your pointer from each of the other vowels to the p. (Just point at the consonant, don't name it.)

This time let your child find out what to say for the resulting syllables: u followed by p, i followed by p, 14

Section I Making Sense Of Reading

etc. (up, ip, ep, op). Up is the first English word among these syllables, and therefore is underlined on that page.

2 Now the game of reversing these syllables can be played. By starting with the pointer on the p and moving it to any of the vowels, you give your child an opportunity to produce pa, pu, pi, pe, po. Let him show you where the syllable is printed on page 2. If he is stuck, you can help by showing him the syllable and then asking him to make it with the pointer starting with the sign p and moving it to the vowel sign needed for the syllable you showed him.

3 The Word Transformer may be used to vary this game. Dial the p (the brown one) and let it remain fixed on the left of the window. As your child moves the vowel wheel* he can produce different syllables. If he dials the brown one and keeps it fixed on the right of the window, the same game can work to form ap, up, ip, ep, op.

4 When you add the brown one to an already formed syllable (pa, pu, pi, etc.), new words are formed.

Give your child enough time to work at each new combination. He may produce easily pap, pup, pip, pep, pop, which are all English words.

Let your child read page 2 in R1.

5 New questions arise, such as: “What does a word like pip become when reversed?”

*

On the vowel wheel of the Word Transformer shape alone must be the guide to the sound.

15

Notes For Parents (1979 Version)

The next three consonants are introduced one at a time: t

(the magenta one — let your child find one in color on chart 1) through the words at or it;

s

(the “curly purple”) through the word is and

s

(the “curly green”) through us.

Immediately after one consonant is introduced you open R1 on the page reserved for it. For example, page 3 is dedicated to the t or the magenta sign. Let your child form the syllables with the pointer and pronounce them. Then let him reverse each of them to obtain the other set. Then on page 3 let your child take the time needed to read the syllables, the words and the English sentences. Pages 4 and 5 of R1 will introduce tt as in the verb putt and the two names pitt and pott, followed by twelve easy sentences using only p and t (and also pp and tt). Let your child read them. The flow of words in reading should sound like his speech. Do not accept halting reading in which there is a pause after each word. Just ask your child to “say it like talking.”

For the purple s on page 6 there is only one English phrase as is.

It is formed from the two English words that appear among the other syllables above.

Page 7 will make use of is and as with words already met thus far. Here again let your child take his time to read every sentence. First make sure that the words are read, then that they are read in groups so as to give a flow similar to that of the spoken language.

16

Section I Making Sense Of Reading

Pages 8 and 9 in R1 the other sound for s is introduced with two other spellings ss and 's. First syllables and words and then some phrases. The sentences on page 9 will give much experience.

With these sounds two games can be played at once: 1

Forming sentences by pointing at the words as, is and it in certain orders: is it

it is

as is

as it is

is it as it is

it is up

(using a known word)

2 By blending syllables, we can form new words and write them down or find them in Book R1. pat

pot

pit

pet

tap

top

tip

sat

sit

set

tess

pus

pass etc.

sup

sop

sot

sap

Plurals or verbal forms such as pots, pits, pets, tips, tops, can also be formed by adding the “curly green� to the end. Their

17

Notes For Parents (1979 Version)

reversals produce new words: spot, spit, step, stop are some of them, which occur on page 10 Book R1.

3 With these words, any new sentences can be formed. These could be formed on chart # 1 with the pointer before they are seen or read in the book.

A test of mastery of all that we have done can be obtained at once. Present to your child page 10 of that book, but upside down so that all the words are seen in a new way. If you and your child are on opposite sides of a table, you will see the words normally, but he will see them the other way round. If he can read this page as well as you, you can safely say that he has achieved what anyone could hope for: he is as good as the best of us in word attack, in the utterance of a short sequence of words, and in constructing a sentence from them. His mental equipment, thus proved, will serve him well in his progress in Book R1.

Some Suggestions For More Games: 1

Look at word chart # 1 (in color); again using the point of a pencil or a pen, again using the point of a pencil or a pen, touch several words in succession to form an English sentence. Your child waits until you have finished pointing and then says the sentence. Examples: pat is up, sit up pop, pat stops, pat stops at steps, etc. Make sure that your child has said the sentence with the speed and intonation of speech. Your pencil or pen can 18

Section I Making Sense Of Reading

be used to mark out this intonation; link quickly with your improvised “pointer” those words which are linked in speech: pat stops/at steps (the first two and the last two are linked quickly while there is a slight pause in between as indicated). There is no need for repetition, as some 100 sentences can be formed using only Chart # 1.

2 Let your child use Chart # 1 to create his own sentences. He can point to them or write them down.

3 Using the Word Transformer, your child can investigate: “how many English words can I find that are composed of two colors — or three, or four, or five colors?”

Using The Charts One of the colored cards is devoted to a display of all the sounds and spellings of English; we call this card the Fidel, or sometimes the Phonic Code, in which each color represents a sound. The other five cards are devoted to the display — on twenty Word Charts (two rows on each card)* — of over seven hundred words of English, color-coded to allow students to decode new words by themselves, thus making them autonomous as readers.

*

If the five cards are laid side by side the top row contains charts 1-10 and the bottom row charts 11-20.

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Notes For Parents (1979 Version)

To help children is to let them reach the root of their difficulty and cope with it. If parents provide the answers, they do not help their children; they only are proving that they themselves can read.

The Fidel will be used mainly after a number of word charts have been studied; the learner will have finished Book R2, and met practically all the sounds of English. The uses of the Fidel are many. Since table 7 of Book R3 covers the same material in black and white, what is said of the tables can be applied to the Fidel. But there are more uses of it which will increase your child's powers. For instance: Can one make a simple sentence using words which, when written, display all the various spellings in any one column? (Of course this is a challenge parents may want to attempt before inviting a beginner to share it. Other children in a family may be involved in such games, making this kit into a language games kit.)

The word charts from No. 1 on suggest that we make sentences with some of the words on one more of them. A restricted language challenges creativity. An expanded one provides relief and opportunity. Both challenges together will educate one's linguistic powers and should be attempted in turn. When all of the charts have been studied, your child will have been exposed to the whole of English as is the case of his exposure to spoken English that the home environment, including radio and TV, normally offers.

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Section I Making Sense Of Reading

The Word Building Tables The Word Building Tables reflect, perhaps more than any of the other materials, the novelty of the approach. They contain no words. Instead, each table presents a set of signs corresponding to a given set of sounds. By glancing at the successive tables, one can understand the organization of the Fidel. Table 1, for instance, tells us that the printed signs correspond to seven different sounds: 5 vowel sounds a, u, i, e, o and four consonant sounds p pp

t tt

s ss 's

s

That t and tt are in the same column indicates that they are different spellings for the same sound (as in pat and putt for example). This organization is maintained throughout the tables. Each successive table introduces both (1) new sounds which appear in new columns and (2) new spellings for the sounds already met.

The pointing and sliding techniques mentioned when introducing the consonants can be used with the Word Building Table. You can let your child take the pointer and ask him to make up as many words as he can using Table 1. Then ask him to compare his list to those words contained in Book R1, and word chart #1. Did he find some words Which were not on the chart or in the book?

21

Notes For Parents (1979 Version)

The Word Building Tables are a tool with a number of useful characteristics: •

They present a sequence of restricted languages.

Therefore, any student can master the techniques of generating words while still working with very few sounds and very few complicated spellings.

This same technique of making words will be used when he has been introduced to all of the sounds and spellings of English.

•

It offers your child tools to generate words found in the primers or on the charts.

•

It gives him a progressive record of the sounds and spellings he knows.

Once your child becomes acquainted with the Word Building Tables' special features, he will be ready to use them in his work.

The Gap Game.

This game is played to develop insight into word formation.

Look at the word pat. If we replace p by a gap it will look like _at and three words can come to mind: pat, sat, tat. If we replace a by a gap we get p_t and four words come to mind pat, pit, pet, pot using the known vowels. If we replace t by a gap we get pa_ which brings to min 1 pap and pass as well as pat.

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Section I Making Sense Of Reading

You can play this game for hours just starting with any word already met and creating a gap for which perhaps there is more than one answer.

For example: stop, can call for four places for a gap: _top, s_op, st_p, sto_ only the third providing alternative words when using the vowels known: stop and step. The word stock or store will not come to mind at the stage we are at now.

The Gap Game Demonstrates: •

that signs can be taken out of words, from any place, and the words can still be evoked by the learners;

•

that the student's image of words is flexible enough so that an incomplete pattern can bring to him a number of answers;

•

that the same word can provide answers to a number of differently formulated questions;

•

that not all questions have the same number of answers. There is no obligation to start with the first column; any example can be a starting point.

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Notes For Parents (1979 Version)

More Vowels And Consonants: R1 Completed Let us assume that you have worked well with chart #1 and that you want to proceed further. You look at chart #2. There are only four new elements on it.

On chart #2 there are two signs that some beginners tend to confuse and which we do not introduce by name, but by color: the tangerine three-legged m and the lilac two-legged n. We suggest that they be introduced one at a time. If you choose to introduce the two-legged one first, you can do it in one of many ways. Here is one: point to in on chart #2 and make sure that your child sees that the word begins with a pink one, like it and is on chart #1. When this has been acknowledged, tell him to say in for the word you are pointing to and then point to a sentence that contains this new word, such as: pat is in or is it in a pot.

Then point to an (knowing that at and as have been read on chart #1 and in on chart #2) and see if your child can read it.

This exercise, if completed successfully shows that your child knows what word attack is, and that he is able to solve new problems that confront him.

If he hesitates, work on the beige a first. Be sure that he recognizes it from chart #1. Then go back to in. Point out that an and in both end with a two-legged lilac. Ask for that sound to be pronounced immediately after the white one.

If your child decodes an by himself, he can then move to on.

Touch again in or an and then on, to see if he can say the o followed by the two-legged lilac. If no satisfactory response 24

Section I Making Sense Of Reading

comes, but interest is shown, since he may need help with the first sound, take him to chart #1 and have him listen to his voice when he says top, pot or stop, all of which contain the same white colored sign. Then touch on again.

If your child gets stuck on an or on, or is not in the mood to give an answer, you may want to introduce the three-legged one through the word am. Or, if he has successfully gone from in to an and on, you may then give him am. On chart #1 we moved from at to sat or pat and from it to sit or pit (by addition).

Which words on chart #2 include am? Can your child decode them? Usually sam and pam are produced readily. If we reverse pam we get a word which is also on chart #2. Can he find it?

After decoding one or two new words, make sentences with your pointer in order to give an immediate opportunity for practice and use of these new words in a way which calls upon their meaning. pam is in, is sam up, pam sat on a map, sam sips pop, etc.

Then other words such as mat, mop, mops, net, ten can be decoded and used in sentences. To arrive at miss for example, you might look for an appropriate word in chart #1 and follow the sequence: pet → met → mess → miss; for mumps: up → pup → pump→ mump→ mumps for must: at → pat → past → mast → must men comes from: an → man → men or: net → ten (by reversal) →men

25

Notes For Parents (1979 Version)

Ten gives tent and then sent. Tim and tom come from tip and top and so on.

The techniques will be the same as you move from chart to chart. Therefore the explanation given here won't be repeated in section II. Keep in mind that decoding comes first and must be the learner's responsibility.

Reading is a skill. To know what it requires takes only a short time; the time needed for practice varies from child to child.

Some children need only a few exercises, others require more.

This is no measure of their brightness but rather a measure of whether they are with the challenge at once and all the time, or only occasionally. Most children will learn to read well if adults learn to sense and follow the inner movements in the learner.

In Book R1 table 2 is on page 11. It introduces the signs m, mm, 'm; n, nn; y among the consonants for three new sounds and adds o; e and y as new spellings for some vowels already known.

It adds two new vowels: a and I. The first is the indefinite article and the second the first person subject pronoun.

Pages 12 and 13 use new sounds and signs in a manner similar to those already known, that is we form syllables then words and then sentences. Word chart #2 has already provided examples of words with their colors to indicate the sounds.

Pages 14 and 15 introduce in a similar way the rest of the consonants of table 2 plus two new spellings of vowels.

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Section I Making Sense Of Reading

Page 16 closes Book R1 by providing a good number of long sentences. Let your child read them as before, paying attention that the flow of words resembles speech.

The Transformation Game This game creates a new word from a given word. It is one that children and adults enjoy very much after they have become familiar with the rules. It is surprising how involved people get when presented with the challenge of this game. The object of the game is to go from one word to another through a succession of changes, using only four operations, and making only one change at a time:* (s) substitution (of one sound for another) (a) addition (of one sound at the beginning or end of a word) (i) insertion (of one sound within a word) (r) reversal (of the sounds of a word) Each step must produce a legitimate English word. In most cases, there is more than one way to go from one word to another.

*

Again the basis for the game is not single letters but signs, each of which may contain several letters representing one sound.

27

Notes For Parents (1979 Version)

Examples: from at to sips

from up to tests

These exercises correspond to what we did as babies when we first learned to speak. They truly reflect the functionings of the mind. You can easily recognize this when listening to young children play with sounds — they make many words from just a few sounds, then they learn to create different words by changing the order of sounds and adding new ones. These exercises are new only in the sense that they have not been used systematically and taken advantage of in traditional teaching.

When we speak, no utterance is possible without the consent of our will. Therefore we must be aware of the order of sounds before we can utter them. This proves that all of us are equipped

28

Section I Making Sense Of Reading

with a profound understanding of how words are formed one from another.

The game of transformations enhances this awareness and prepares students to retain the written form of those words whose sound is familiar to them.

Give your child pairs of words for the game of transformation.

Increase the difficulty and complexity of the challenges as the game develops.

You can introduce transformations after your child has completed the study of Book R1. The exercise can be worked out orally or in writing. Starting with pat, ask him: “How would this word sound with the blue one instead of the beige one?� (pet).

Then ask him what other changes he can make (one at a time) to arrive at pits.

In the beginning don't insist on getting results, but rather make sure that the rules are clear and that your child understands what he is supposed to do. The transformation game is played throughout the program. You can go back to it and present new challenges whenever you see that your child needs this type of exercise or wants to play the game.

(Note that subtraction is not permissible in the game, although it is obvious that it can be used for word formation. It would reduce the interest of the game by making almost all challenges much too easy.)

29

Notes For Parents (1979 Version)

The Word Transformer can be used to illustrate the four operations of the transformation game; by simply turning the wheels you can show examples of substitution, addition, insertion and reversal.

Summing Up The materials used thus far have been R0 and R1; colored word charts 1 and 2, word building tables 1 and 2, and the word transformer.

At this point, although we have kept to a restricted reading vocabulary, the conventions of reading have been established.

Your child reads from left to right. He knows that signs represent sounds. He knows how words are formed and that when the forms change, the sound and meaning also change.

When part of a word is covered, such as p_t, he can fill the gap by using a, o, i, e. When working with sentences he can use his voice to change meaning: it is! it is?

In fact your child has discovered that sight can trigger sound (decoding) and that going from speech to the written word is an orderly process. From now on, as all the sounds and spellings of English are gradually introduced, there are endless possibilities for humor and imagination:

30

Section I Making Sense Of Reading

•

must mumps upset mom

•

mom mops up pop's mess

•

pat stamps stamps

•

is an ant in pat's pants a pest

One cannot fail to see how children who discover that the game of making definite sounds for definite visual triggers produces the secret of decoding English, suddenly break through into a vast new field, and the remaining tasks become much easier.

Your child is well on his way to becoming a fluent reader.

31

Section II The Study Of All The Sounds Of English

Forging Ahead: R2 In this section we shall mainly consider how to show your child that if he knows something, this can help him to know a lot more.

The materials used for covering the study of all the sounds of English are: Book R2, word charts 3-12, and tables 3-5.

Book R2 starts with table 3 on page 2 and 3, goes to table 4 on page 12 and 13 and table 5 on pages 22 and 23. On the pages between these tables the new signs of each table are introduced gradually. On one page there are usually just signs and words using these signs with specific sounds associated with them. On 33

Notes For Parents (1979 Version)

the opposite page there are a number of sentences making use of these words. These sentences are only examples. The word charts, used with a pointer, can serve you also as a source of a large number of additional sentences and your child can be encouraged to produce some so as to gain facility.

Pages 4 and 5 expand the language to include f, ff, 'f; d, dd, 'd; pages 6 and 7 the two th's and the spelling e of the sound of a met on chart #2. It comes in the useful word the which now makes its appearance.

Pages 8 and 9, introduce the three sounds of ed that forms the past tense of regular verbs.

Pages 10 and 11 correspond to word chart 4 in which are introduced l, ll, w; the spellings y and i for I; the sign a of was and the unstressed sound represented by u in until.

Following table 4, the pages 14 to 21 concern themselves with signs that appear in word charts 5, 6 and 7. No new approach is suggested since only new signs corresponding to either new sounds or to alternate spellings are introduced.

One innovation is the appearance of stories as continuous texts, contrasting with the pages containing independent sentences.

Page 21 gives two such stories which are a preparation for the Book of Stories.

34

Section II The Study Of All The Sounds Of English

The Book Of Stories It contains 40 short stories for continuous reading, and can be introduced when your child has completed up to page 21 of Book R2. The first twelve stories in the book are presented in the same manner as Book R2. The next 23 stories are, in addition, punctuated. The last five (after p.87) are printed in a normal Roman type, and capitals are introduced. You might have wondered why there were no capitals earlier in the program.

This is deliberate, since capitalization is not a fundamental part of the reading process, but only an additional graphic convention that is part of our historical heritage. The introduction of capital letters is postponed until the end of the work with the charts, with the exception of the first person pronoun I. The Book of Stories adds a new dimension to the reading lessons because it shows how several sentences can be put together to tell a story. Stories 1 and 2 use a restricted vocabulary. Even with this limited choice of words, the stories appeal because of their realism and sensitivity. There is a continuing theme in all the stories; they relate the everyday happenings in the life of a family of five children. They are also intended to permit vocabulary increase, and to provide material for the study of English.

35

Notes For Parents (1979 Version)

More Activities It is advisable to alternate work between the colored and the black and white materials. For instance, after spending some time decoding with chart #3, go to Book R2, and ask your child to read some of the sentences. Can he make some different ones? Can he think of or write some new words that are not on the charts or in the book?

Use the games previously suggested that you think are most appropriate to meet your child's present needs.

One chart after another will increase the ease of doing every one of the things presented so far. There will be more challenging sentences (longer and faster) to make, more use of one's imagination, more observations about English. The approach remains the same: the development of decoding into word attack through transformations, making sentences by pointing at words, reading from the corresponding pages of Book R2. The Word Transformer will not be needed after charts 3 and 4. You can use the Fidel (Phonic Code) by asking your child to show you which columns, and which spellings in those columns, would be needed to form a particular word he knows.

When you reach page 24 in R2 your child is already a long way on the road to becoming a competent reader and to becoming a good writer of the words met thus far and of the sentences that can be made with them.

36

Section II The Study Of All The Sounds Of English

Between pages 24 and 48 we cover a huge ground. If you work systematically and give your child the time needed, there is no doubt that he will not find the tasks beyond him.

Systematically means that the even numbered pages are used to know thoroughly the new sounds and some of their corresponding spellings by examining carefully the words on those pages. Perhaps you can use the gap game to help ensure that all the words on those pages are retained as images. The game of transformation will add its contribution also. But the making of more sentences and complex sentences with the words on the charts will give greater familiarity and lead to variety and personal satisfaction.

The stories in Book R2 and in the Book of Stories will make reading fun and help widen one's knowledge of the language as it is spoken and written.

37

Section III The Spellings Of English

By now the major part of the challenge of reading has been mastered. Your child is aware that the reading habits acquired so far give him an increasing power over the written language; he has gained in his reading that sense of independence which he had already shown in his use of the spoken language.

The next job for your child to tackle is spelling. You can help him by using Book R3, charts 12-20, tables 6 and 7 and the Book of Stories.

You will find many fruitful ways to enter into the study of these materials with your child.

The remainder of the word charts in particular open up a number of possibilities. If your child is working easily with charts 1-12 and now sees the relationship of the colors on the

39

Notes For Parents (1979 Version)

Fidel to those on the word charts, you may find it exciting and fun to work out most of the words on these later charts before doing much work in Book R3, and the Book of Stories.

Dealing with ambiguities From chart #2 onwards, we met the two main ambiguities of written English:

•

•

one sound can have many spellings

•

one sign (spelling) can represent a number of sounds

we encountered examples of both: us

pass

different spellings for the same sound (therefore the same color) is

us

different sounds for the same sign (therefore different colors) There were many examples of these ambiguities. On chart #2, we met a yellow a (as opposed to the beige a met earlier); and we found on chart #3 that e in the is the same shade of yellow as in a since they sound the same. On chart #3 we met the f in if

40

Section III The Spellings Of English

and the one in of in two different colors. The same was true of th in this and th in thin or y in fifty and y in yes.

Having learned from the start that these ambiguities exist, and that they are clarified, on the charts, by color, your child can then proceed to the study of all the spelling ambiguities of English. Chart #15 shows him, for example, a number of words in which the sign ea is colored differently: pearl, tear, lead, great, heart, etc. And on chart #16 he will find: tough, cough, though, thought, through, etc. Use the corresponding black and white material (Book R3) as well as the special games already introduced to practice the newly acquired knowledge.

One game which is easy to play together is to choose a color (sound) on the Fidel chart and then together “hunt” on charts 120 for all the words that contain this color. As each is met, your child can try to figure it out with what he already knows about how to use the colors, since he has met all the colors, in simply spelled words on charts 1-11. For example, a hunt for all those with the red (like the vowel sound in the word we) will yield — be

field

near

seize

see

the

here

scheme

sleep

lead

weird

key

feet

tea

sweet

between

knee

zero

these

tear

yield

41

etc.

Notes For Parents (1979 Version)

More Spelling Games To be good spellers, children must learn to look at words and make good photographs of them. It is a necessity. But rather than use repetition that takes away concentration and awareness, proceed with a variety of exercises which complement each other.

Looking at words in different ways helps us to form correct pictures of them, pictures which we can then call to mind at any time. The gap game (explained earlier) invites us to make such an exploration. Related games can be invented which will prompt your child to examine words carefully. For instance, if we look at the top part of a word, does it still suggest the full word at once? Are there other words that defeat everyone?

Using printing type, try to read the following word, which you know well: laughing (top part) or laughing (bottom part). If you are challenged, produce others by cutting through the middle words taken from your newspaper and stick them on white paper, asking your child for the answer. Keep halves of the same word well separated.

Another related game consists of presenting alternate soundsign combinations and to ask for a word they evoke. Example: ___au__i__ may not easily evoke laughing, while l___gh___ng may. Naturally we start with words connected with the charts to establish the rules of the game, and we do not ask for the more unusual spellings to be evoked at once. But the aim is to educate the perception of the student so that he can 42

Section III The Spellings Of English

form in his mind clear and durable pictures evoking the less common spellings in English. s_r_t and f_eigh_

_t_aigh_ and _r_t

are complementary patterns.

The game of transformations can also be continued, with more and more challenging pairs that, at first glance, seem to have nothing to do with each other. To make the game more interesting, and more in agreement with the requirements of English, we must introduce a new rule, called the rule of equivalence. There are two types of equivalences: •

vertical equivalence: you can go from water to daughter by substitution of d for w. The change in spelling for the vowel sound a augh is a vertical equivalence allowed since the brown a and augh appear in the same column on the Fidel.

•

horizontal equivalence: you can go from lot to loss by substitution of ss for t. The change in sound for the shape o does not count, since the spelling remains the same.

Examples: from is to pass

43

Notes For Parents (1979 Version)

These examples show that two kinds of changes are allowed without being counted as changes — and why extra change in sound allowed because sign is identical

extra change in sign allowed because sound is identical

These two rules are necessary, since without them the game, played in English, would more often than not lead to impossible problems.

Another game that can be played consists of covering any one of the words on the charts, lifting the cover for a very short time and asking your child to say which word was covered. The shortness of the showing could be a kind of measure of how good his images of words are. This game will reinforce his power of making photographs. If he is asked to put down the word rather than say it, he can then compare his production with the word when it is uncovered.

44

Section III The Spellings Of English

The Fidel (Phonic Code) The colored Fidel now appears as a “repository� of the regular as well as the irregular forms of English. You can play the game of finding one word for each of the spellings displayed in any one column. You can also, with the pointer, string signs together to form new words.

You can work with the various sounds of a given spelling. For example, ou is a spelling that is used for eight different sounds.

Ask your child to give you examples of words (on charts or elsewhere) in which the sign ou stands for the same sound as o in do, or a in all, or u in put, etc. On the appropriate page of Book R3 (you can tell by watching the signs given at the top of left-hand pages) he will find enough examples to become alerted to the different pronunciations associated with that spelling.

What helps your child at this stage is not drill and memorization but the fact that he is attentive to sounds and how they work, and aware of the demands of English.

The Fidel might look bewildering to you. You will probably soon realize that is not bewildering to a child if it is presented to him in a way that allows him to use his own powers of perception and discrimination. Asking relevant questions is more effective than trying to explain. He will become aware that the task is limited and manageable. This is the greatest service we can render him.

45

Notes For Parents (1979 Version)

Looking Ahead We have taken up the main task of the study of English for beginners. You have awakened your child to his powers and led him gently -but with the necessary caution and trust - to the state of knowledge that will allow him to feel that he is now free from the need for guidance. He wants to read on his own, for his pleasure, and to increase his knowledge. He wants to write about what he sees, what he feels, what he thinks, in order to have a testimony for himself or to share his experience with others.

We have provided two books for him to read: The Book of Stories which we have already discussed, and an illustrated one Eight Tales.

The book Eight Tales will occupy your child for some hours. If he read it avidly you will know that he has really joined the ranks of the competent readers. If he read in preference some stories rather than others, he is telling you something about his taste and his self education. If he is discouraged by the length, read a story with him by taking turns reading the successive paragraphs until he shows the desire to do it on his own. Or ask him to read to you and then discuss passages or the whole story once it is finished.

Our contribution — the most important we can make — is to give every child the means to realize that the transcription of speech is a process which is neither capricious nor meaningless.

46

Appendix 1

Comparative table showing how the different parts of the material are connected Books R0, R1, R2, R3 Books R0, R1

Colored Charts

New Word Charts 1 & 2

Tables in Books R1 R2 R3 Tables 1-2

Book R2

New Word Charts 3-12

Tables 3-5

Book R3

New Word Charts 13-20

Tables 6-7 Table 7

Corresponds to the colored Fidel (Phonic Code) The Word Transformer shows 19 different signs, corresponding to the level of page 10 and Table 3 of Book R2.

47

Appendix 2 Key To The Phonic Code (Or Fidel)

The keyword in each column gives the clue as to what sound the color stands for.

The number indicates on which word chart the sound first appears.

49

Notes For Parents (1979 Version)

50

Appendix 3

If Your Child Is Not A Beginner This kit is not intended only for beginning readers. It can be used also with those children who bring with them some experience in reading, and indeed this experience should be taken into account and made use of. You may use this kit to help your child.

1

sharpen his awareness of reading as an activity connected with speech;

2 make him aware (if he is not already) that reading is not without sense, that signs correspond to sounds that he himself already produces when he speaks; 3

increase his mastery of the complex spellings of English;

4 increase his understanding in reading.

51

Notes For Parents (1979 Version)

If Your Child Knows Something About Reading There are a number of ways to proceed with a child who already has some understanding of the act of reading. You may want to see whether he can isolate a sound when shown its sign in a word. (Only vowels, of course, can be spoken in isolation). Point to a word he knows, such as at on chart #1, and ask him to say it.

Covering the t, ask him to say the “beige one� by itself. If he says the sound a as for the name of the alphabet letter, ask him to say the word again and to listen to the sound he is starting with. If he then says a as it is sounded in at, point to beige ones in other words, and ask him to say them, thus establishing the fact that the same color triggers everywhere the same sound. Then he can look for beige ones anywhere on the charts even if he does not know the words yet.

You may then ask him to find, on chart #1 and other charts, words that contain at in the same colors as this word appears on chart #1. Ask him if he hears at in these other words. Pat, sat, mat, fat, that are some that occur on the first few charts. If these go well, see how many he can find on charts 1-11. This will give you an immediate measure of his awareness of how to start with various consonant shapes at the beginning of words.

You may play this same game with other words so that your child becomes aware that on the charts one color always represents one sound, and that different colors represent different sounds. For example, you may ask him to say us and then ask for the sound of the yellow u; to say it and then

52

Appendix 3

produce the sound of the pink i, etc.: and then to point to other words where signs of these colors appear, saying the sound of the sign each time it is found. One can also hunt for words containing it and us, etc.

Another way to see what your child knows, and how you can help him further, is to work with him on a series of words which are related by transformations. You may ask him the first four words on chart #1 (pat, pit, pet, pot); if he says them readily, you may try a series on another chart. Let us say that he has said pat for the first one, but says he does not know pit. Cover the p and point to it, asking him to say it. If he knows it, and he knows pat, he should be able to decode pit. Go to pat and cover the p ask him to say what he sees (at). Then uncover the p and ask him to say the word again and listen to himself. Point out that pat and pit begin the same way, and that he need only do the same thing with his lips to read the second word. After working on pat, cover the p of pit so that it shows again, ask him to say it, then uncover the p and ask him to produce the whole word. If he does, go on to the other words in the series, pet and pot. If he gets stuck on one of them (let us say, pet) look for another word which he knows which contains the blue e. Ask him if he knows men, or yes, for example. If you find one he knows with the blue e, ask him to say the blue e alone. If he does, point to pet and ask him to say the blue one there. Point out that the word begins and ends like pat and pit, which he knows, and that only the one in the middle is different. Or show him the syllable et in pet by covering the beginning and then uncover the p. If he is still stuck, try pot. Or you may want to attack the problem of transformation elsewhere and return to words with the blue e later on. As soon as your child has successfully decoded a word, 53

Notes For Parents (1979 Version)

make a sentence with it, using your pencil or pen as a pointer, and have him read it, making sure he uses the speed and intonation of speech.

When your child has read several words, you may want to present him with their reversals. If he knows pat, point to tap and ask for it; if he knows pam, ask for map. If at any point he says one for the other, for instance if he says pat for tap, tell him that he has read another word and show both to him; ask him whether they are alike. Ask him to find the beginning of each word and start his voice there. If he has difficulty, cover part of the word; for instance the t of tap and see if he can produce ap (he should if he knows up) and then uncover the t and ask for the whole word. Of course, if he does not say the reversal of a word instead of the word when reading, there is no problem, and you can pass on to something else or play the game of deliberately reading words backwards and then finding the word actually uttered somewhere else. If he knows let, ask him to read it backwards. When he utters tell ask him to find it (sell, less, sick, kiss, etc. are interesting pairs where spelling changes).

There are other ways to approach working with a child who already reads. Say: “Show me something on the charts that you know.� When he has told you several, see if he also knows related words; if he knows run, ask him to read fun, sun, ran, etc. If he knows the, ask for the other words on that chart which have the pale purple th and see if he knows them. If he does, go on to something else, if he doesn't, help him to decode them by using what he knows already. Use continually what he already knows and the new words decoded in sentences by pointing or writing.

54

Appendix 3

If you are satisfied that your child knows a number of short words, ask him for some longer ones. If he has trouble with words where there are two or more consonants in succession, you may help him by covering part of the word. If he cannot read stand, cover the first two signs and ask him what he sees. If he says and, uncover the t and see if he can say the syllable formed: tand. If he can, show him the green s (one of the very few consonants which can be said in isolation), and ask what sound it has; if he has trouble, refer to us and ask him to say it, making the last sound long and listening to his voice. If he discovers that it makes a hissing sound, show him first the s in stand, then the syllable tand, asking him each time to say only what he sees. Uncover each part briefly and in quick succession, asking him always to say what you show; he should say s-tand with increasing speed until he recognizes it as a word he knows.

Then quickly point to or write one or more sentences using it such as stand up, I must stand up, etc.

When Your Child Knows Even More About Reading If your child already knows a lot about reading, you can quickly take him even further. It is not necessary to follow the charts in sequence; you can jump around, even introducing the most unusual spellings. Once your child understands that he must make the same sound every time he encounters the same color, he will readily decode even “difficult� words. You might try working on words containing one sound. Point to the word I (the personal pronoun) and ask him if he knows it. If he does, ask him to find other white/pink signs and to say the same thing 55

Notes For Parents (1979 Version)

for them. He can decode words with such diverse spellings as eyes, night, height, wild, as long as he knows that the color tells him to say the same thing every time he sees it. You can do this with any sound: the e in he, for instance; if he knows the word, ask him to say the red one alone, and point to a number of red signs, saying the same sound. He can then decode read, lead, sleep, guarantee, etc.

Spelling can be worked on in a number of ways. Using the Fidel (Phonic Code), your child may find all the columns in which a certain spelling appears (for instance, ea). Ask him to think of a word for each of the sounds rendered by this spelling. Can he make a sentence using only words with that spelling?

You can also use the gap game to increase his mastery of spelling. Give him the pattern _ea_, saying that ea in this instance has the blue sound (the sound of e in pet). How many words can he think of? Then give him _ea_, this time ea being red (the sound of ea as in sea); how many words can he find?

You can play this game with any of the sounds of this spelling.

You may also leave the game open; give him _ea_, and tell him that ea can have any of its alternate sounds; how many words can he find? There are other ways of playing with different sounds at once. At the top of a page, write a few words with this spelling, each having a different sound for it. The top of your page might look like this: head lean

great year heard

56

Appendix 3

Having made a list of words with this spelling in advance, read them aloud one by one, having your child place them in the right columns. This exercise will test his ability to identify sounds as being alike or different, as well as give him practice in writing words with the spelling in question. If he puts a word in the wrong column, ask him to pronounce the word at the head of the column, and then the one you have just given him, and to decide if the ea in both sounds the same.

The important awareness that a given sound may be represented by a number of different signs (or spellings) was mentioned earlier, and it is also possible to work on the spellings of a given sound, using the Fidel and Book R3, as well as the word charts.

You might ask your child to find all the words containing the sound for the red (for instance e as in he) and to decode them.

Since new spellings for a sound are not encountered all at once, but are introduced gradually, words containing them appear on different pages of Book R3: you may want to look for them and have your child read them. The sound just mentioned is represented by new spellings on pages 8, 10, 12, 14, 34, of Book R3. When your child has become acquainted with a number of words having these spellings, you can play some games to help him work on his spelling. The gap game can be played in many forms, using the same sound: _ea; _ee; _ee_; _ _ ee; _ea_; _ _ ee_; _e; etc. How many words can he find for each game? Can he propose other games? You may also put a number of different gap games at the top of a page, and ask him to propose words with the sound and put them in the right columns. You may put a number of spellings for this sound at the top of the page, in different columns: e, ee, ea, ie, ei, etc. and ask him to say words with the sound and write them in the right columns. Or you may 57

Notes For Parents (1979 Version)

propose some words and ask him to write them in the proper columns. You may work with the Fidel; taking the red column, ask your child, after he is sufficiently acquainted with this sound and its spellings, to give a word for each of the spellings in the column. Can he then make a sentence containing each of these words? Can he write a story using all of them?

Such exercises can be done with any of the sounds of English and their spellings, using the word charts, Book R3, the Fidel.

There are a number of gap games that can be made up by you as suggested or by your child to suit the requirements of the sounds or spellings being studied. The games of transformation is very useful in this respect.

To help your child achieve facility in decoding multisyllable words, you can create sentences using longer and longer words.

You can have him form words that are not on the charts by using parts of other shorter words which he already knows. The word hospital, for instance, can be created by using the beginning of hot, the end of criminal and putting the word spit in between.

Make him aware of different beats and stresses in different words, either by asking questions or by using your pointer. The correct or incorrect answers you get as you proceed will provide you with the information you need to choose the best route to solve the problem at hand.

All these games will help your child go a long way towards mastering all the skills, not only of decoding, but of spelling and expressive writing, and will do this job not through

58

Appendix 3

memorization, but in a way that is interesting and varied and engages your child's mental powers.

59