Learning is FUN 2: Phonics, the Pinoy way

After Gabriel's review of alphabet sounds and big&small letters, my sister-inlaw, who is becoming my mentor on these lessons, suggested I started him with the traditional a,e,i,o,u sounds. This was straight forward repeat-after-me technique. I just wrote the letters on a paper and stuck them to the wall for our visual aids. Everynight and every morning, i ask him to recite what's on the wall then add a few more depending on his mood and his attention span. By the time we were on the 6th letter, he already got the rhythm. Since he knew the letter sounds, he was able to recite the syllables without me reciting them first. He had difficulty recalling the letters S and G at first and looks at me for help but eventually he got them too. He still forgets the letter Y and says it like 'why', 'whey', 'wheey', 'woy', 'wuy' - makes me laugh everytime! but i just say 'ya' and he finishes the whole set.

Here's a video of him when we were just starting:)

After a few drills, i thought i'd test him by separating the syllables. I wrote each syllable on a paper, sort of like a flashcard, and tried asking him to tell me the sound. Some he gets, but most - he just takes a card from my hand and point it to the same syllable on his visual aids on the wall - then that's the time he recites it. I tried writing different syllables on his blackboard but he is still having difficulty without them being in the 'batch'. What we found easier was, to write the whole batch and erase one syllable at a time while he recites the remaining syllables.

I thought i'd make it more fun and infuse a little bit of outdoor physical activity so we tried - HOPSCOTCH! The idea was to write the syllables on the different boxes, then he has to recite them before stepping on that box. I was really excited, i thought he'd enjoy it and get it right away. He didn't :( He just went away and jumped on every box, even stepping on lines. haha. We tried it several times, he even looked for his own 'stone'. He was playing the game but was not reciting the syllables. But i wasn't bothered, at least he was having fun and exercising at the same time. :) He then went back to playing his favorite hullahoops. Oh well, maybe he'll get it next time. :)



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