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start late? |
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of them starting school at
age five have an English reading equivalent of three or four. Now many of them are
catching up within a few weeks. All it takes is four minutes a day and a great link
between school and home.
The entire scheme is common sense and simple. When each
child starts school, teachers check his or her level of understanding. If Bobby can
recognize his own name and other words starting with "B," but he can't manage
those starting with "P" or "W" or "K," then the teacher
works out a personalized daily list of words - beginning with those letters. Those will
include the recommended first 300 most-used words in the language, and others well-known
to the child, such as family and local street names.
A new list of words is provided each day, handwritten
on note paper. The list is taken home for study, and a carbon copy kept at school. Each
morning, the teacher spends only four minutes with each child to check progress - and
provide encouragement.
But the big extra ingredient is the home involvement. A
"school neighborhood worker" takes home the first list with each child, and
explains to the parents, grandparents or brothers and sisters just what Bobby needs to
learn - and how only four minutes a day is needed for him to flourish. If the parents have
difficulty with English, a neighborhood volunteer is found.
Educational psychologist Donna Awatere, now a Member of
Parliament, played a big part in developing the program. She says the home-link is the
real key. "It's only half as good without that."14
Another key is the "positive reinforcement" that comes from daily success. While
the program started over 18 years ago for five-year-old new entrants, it is now being used
successfully in other schools for older children. As well as sending a new reading list
home to parents each night, some have brought parent-helpers into the school. At Bruce
McLaren Intermediate School in Auckland, for instance, 12 parents help out part-time.
Even senior reading teacher Beth Whitehead was a bit
reluctant when asked by her principal to introduce the program, saying "What can you
do in four minutes?" But she tried it out. "I soon thought I'd show it wouldn't
work. But when I started it, the children just zoomed in their reading. They were
absolutely amazing."15
Whitehead stresses that the program is built "on
praise and positive reinforcement of everything that the child does correctly, however
small".
Contents Page Preface
Introduction
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