Teaching Phonics In A Fun Way

gracer

gracer

Legacy Member
Children, especially the preschool aged ones learn easily especially when they learn while having fun. I found it to be very effective to teach them in a way that they think they're just playing or having fun. My son learned his alphabet and their proper sounds by singing. At home, I initially taught him to read his ABCs and when he went to school, his teacher taught them on hoe to properly pronounce the letters when reading words or sentences. These were all done through singing and games.
 
Well it is always good when you can provide a little entertainment with the learning, especially when you are talking about the little ones. One game or little singing exercise that we use - I work with children, and many of them have speech issues - is an ABC song where you emphasize the sounds that the letter makes and use a word that you can act out. For example, "a, a, apple...b, b, blanket" all the while you emphasize the "ah" and "buh" sounds while doing a little hand motion to go along with it. Things like this can really go a long way in helping them learn.
 
I think it's also pretty much the same way as my son's teacher did when she taught them about the proper pronounciation of their ABCs. I really like it when he chants every new song their teacher teaches them even when he's at home. I must admit, even I couldn't help but sing with him and I eventually am able to memorize his songs too. :)
 
That's true about kids learning through singing. You definitely know they are absorbing and internalizing what is taught through these little songs when you hear and see them identifying the letters on their own or asking for assistance. A child belting out the little nursery rhyme and alphabet songs during bath time, when getting ready for bed or school, or just about doing anything, is just heartwarmingly cute.
 
I have discovered a new method of teaching the alphabet and other subjects which really entertains the learners. This is by making caricatures around the letters such that they appear like humans or animals without blurring the original form of the letter. This method can also be applied to drawings. This makes the learners intrigued and makes them to remember whichever concept I am teaching with ease. It also breaks monotony through comic relief.
 
TheaR said:
That's true about kids learning through singing. You definitely know they are absorbing and internalizing what is taught through these little songs when you hear and see them identifying the letters on their own or asking for assistance. A child belting out the little nursery rhyme and alphabet songs during bath time, when getting ready for bed or school, or just about doing anything, is just heartwarmingly cute.
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Oh that is so true. :) Every time I hear my little boy singing each new nursery rhyme that he learns from school, I couldn't help but feel happy and proud. These nursery rhymes are even so contagious that I would also hum with him when he sings. These are just some of the cutest moments between a parent and a child.
 
gracer said:
Oh that is so true. :) Every time I hear my little boy singing each new nursery rhyme that he learns from school, I couldn't help but feel happy and proud. These nursery rhymes are even so contagious that I would also hum with him when he sings. These are just some of the cutest moments between a parent and a child.
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It sure is. Ever get those "are you from Mars or Jupiter?" looks when you fail to know the song they're singing or understand what they are saying. Epic! These are certainly some little 'peeples' wired with their own personality, and once given the right foundation, they simply flourish beyond expectations.
 
Yes, I do get those kind of looks a lot of times. Lol! And I just find those moments so cute and funny. There are just those songs that I've only heard from him for the first time and he would always give me this "do you even know what you're doing?" look whenever I try to sing with him even though I don't know what he's singing. It's one of the perks of being a parent I would never exchange for any other thing. :) Children do learn easily especially if you teach them in a way that they enjoy. As a parent, it's hard to not feel proud about your child's accomplishments and new learning that he/she shares with you everyday. :joyful:
 
True, learning is more effective when it's fun. In fact, when I teach, I always make sure that learning is fun. As for singing to learn the alphabet, when I was a kid, I did remember doing that. When my own children went to school, they did that, too. In Thailand, learning the alphabet is inseparable from the learning song.

What the Thais do is to match each letter of their alphabet with an object which uses that letter as the first letter of its name. For example, the first letter of the Thai alphabet. It is "kor". Approximately equal to the English "k". This "kor" is matched with "kai", which means chicken. So the Thais remember the first letter of their alphabet as "kor kai".
[DOUBLEPOST=1471328442][/DOUBLEPOST]Here's a bit more information about how the Thais learn the alphabet.

When the Thais learn the English alphabet, they use the same method which they used to learn the Thai alphabet. So they learn the letter 'a' by remembering it as "a ant moot", 'moot' being the Thai word for 'ant'. The letter 'b' becomes "b ball born', 'born' being the Thai way of saying 'ball'.

Phonics do have a limitation.

In English, words are not always pronounced the same way as they are spelled. On top of that, words which are spelled exactly the same way are not always pronounced the same way. For example, there are two different pronunciations for the word 'read' with two different meanings.
 
This is so true! I am actually a homeschooling mom, and when I first started out (from kindergarten), we tried alot of book work and assignments, but until I realized that it was boring, they were not retaining any information. When I decided to turn learning into fun games is when they they REALLY started absorbing everything & I realized they were learning very quickly. This goes for all subjects!
 
Teaching Abc is really good if you can incorporate different techniques. Alphabets is much easier to learn if you will sing it. The tricks works even for old ones. I remember, memorizing a certain lesson by singing it.
 
I saw video around internet where the teacher sings the alphabet to the kids in a funny way. The teacher wears a mascot and plays a beat and each letter he pronounce an animal that starts with that letter then he will act like the animal that he is pronouncing and the kids burst on laughing while the teacher is doing the act. It is very easy to teach phonics in a fun way specially the kids is so easy to make laugh.
 
Mnemonics, songs, and the rest of them, are different attempts at bringing fun into school works and making learning easier.

Kids want to have fun all day long and wouldn't care if they don't have to sit in a place and learn some strange looking symbols called alphabet. It's fun they want, and having to sit there isn't a part of it.

But if they must be made to really learn, it is required we bring the fun into the learning process. It makes learning easier and school more fun.

Some teachers may be tempted to be strict and insist on zero fun, but the atmosphere this will create will hamper learning and make education difficult.

Fun should be a part of learning.
 
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