Mammy living in France needs help teaching kids to read

Cleite

Hi,

I'm hoping someone here can help me - I'm not a frequent user of Boards, so I'm not even sure if I'm posting in the right place.

Essentially, I would just like to know what books teachers use in Ireland to teach children to read and write. My daughter is 5 and my son is nearly 4. We live in France, so they are trilingual - English from me and the tv, French from Dad and general society, and Breton and French from school.

My daughter is keen to learn how to read, and my son also says he wants to, but more because he wants to copy his sister I think. Anyhow, I have started using 'Teach Your Child to Read' by Siegfried Engelmann and so far, with my daughter it's all going well, but even though the 'lessons' are very short, my son has a lot more trouble concentrating. I have also bought the full set of the Ladybird 'Key Words', but I'm waiting until they're a bit more advanced before using them.

So today I was looking for copybooks online (over here they are all like the ones I used to have for maths as a kid - squares instead of lines) and had a major 'duh!' moment, when I realised I should have just asked someone in Ireland what kids use in school instead of trying to re-invent the wheel...

I don't really have anyone in Ireland anymore that I can ask, so could someone on here tell me what they use for 4 and 5 year olds? My son has been in school since September, but they don't start teaching them letters until next year and my daughter, who is in her second year, has learned maybe 10 letters so far in school. She knows most of the alphabet in English already though and my son probably knows about 12 letters.

Sorry, I know this is very long-winded... I would just really love a list of books and or workbooks that would be suitable for each of them and even the name of suitable copies that I could order online. Even the name of a website where I can find lists myself would be good - the problem being that on schoolbooks.ie for example, there is so much choice, that as a parent I have no idea how to narrow it down and I don't want to order things that are too advanced/simple/duplicates of something I already have!

On a related topic, I'm trilingual Irish/English/French. The kids can count in Irish and they have a smattering of words, but it's not something I push. Does anyone have any thoughts on books/dvds with simple Irish that I could read to them? They often ask me what the word for something is in Irish (and the same question to their Dad re Portuguese - he's bilingual French/Portuguese), so I would just love to have some way to introduce Irish at the level they want - without frying their brains!!!

Any thoughts on suitable ages to start reading/writing in English and whether or not to pursue with the Irish are also welcome...

Thanks in advance for anyone who is kind enough to answer.

Love2love

Jollyphonics have both activity books and online support for parents and teachers. It's a really simple but they're not cheap. My daughter is being taught through Jollyphonics (she's now in 1st class) I bought the activity books for home which were about €16 / €17 each and there's a good few. Some also have CDs with them for the sounds / songs. The online support is great as it identifies words / sounds that are difficult for that particular stage and you can print them off as cue cards. It's colour coded so you can follow the stages easily.

Can't help with the Irish books unfortunately - I'm lousy!! My son corrects my Irish and thinks it's hilarious when I try read Irish as I read it as French! (Hubby is French!)

Cleite

Just had a look - they look fantastic Thanks for the info.

cazwhatever

The link below will give you a list of the Junior Infant books that are available to buy - some are little readers and some are workbooks.

http://www.schoolbooksireland.ie/store/filtered/c_108/s_Junior%20Infants/sd3_Junior-Infants/

- Edit - only saw your edited post there. The majority of the English workbooks are for letters and sounds in Junior Infants so you can't really go wrong.

When I taught infants a few years ago, we used the Jolly Phonics scheme mentioned in previous post. Introduce the sound, trace the letter etc. Then, as your child learns more letters, you can make simple 3 letter words that they can sound out (cat, mat, hat, dog, log etc.). Also then, teaching the sight words that can't be sounded out (the, happy etc.)

I loved the "Bob Books" readers for children starting to sound out words - such satisfaction when they would finish the book! I bought them on amazon.

Moved onto these readers when they became more confident.

https://www.fruugo.ie/oxford-reading-tree-level-2-more-songbirds-phonics-pack-6-books-1-of-each-title-including-free-teaching-notes-by-julia-donaldson/p-8018471-17326234?gclid=CJGQ6fnPqdMCFW4A0wodX3sDxg

Best of luck with it!

Cleite

Thanks - will definitely be looking into ordering the Jolly Phonics series online.

alexanderomahon

Jolly Phonics is a good way to go and the handbook is simple to follow, but you do need it to teach the programme properly. Have a look at Sue Lloyd's website, she co-wrote Jolly Phonics, it is very informative on the principles behind phonics teaching. http://tcrw.co.uk/

quadrifoglio verde

They'll be fluent on every European language if you keep this up.

Fair play on trying to nurture some Irish with them though.
I'd try an gum. They're the Irish language publisher.

http://www.forasnagaeilge.ie/fuinn/an-gum/leabhair-reamhleitheoireachta/

Link is also available in English.

I'd actually ring them and explain what your looking for though. They might have something more targeted for parents who wish to teach their children Irish, but have limited Irish themselves

Cleite

Thanks Alexander, didn't realise I needed a handbook as well!

Cleite

Thanks Quadrifoglio - I'm fluent in Irish so that's not a problem - but good idea to ring An Gúm to get a steer from them.

Xdancer

I have been using Jolly Phonics to teach my daughter to read English (she's 5, we live in Spain). I also found a great app called Teach your monster to read, and she loves it. She's learning all the sounds through playing.

Actually I would be interested to know what books they use in France for teaching to read. Our daughter is trilingual (Spanish/English/French) but have no idea what to use for French reading. She can read Spanish, just starting English, so I'll probably hold off on the French reading for another while, but would love to know what system to use.

uck51js9zml2yt

My eldest loved playing this "game" https://www.teachyourmonstertoread.com
Its free!

buzsywuzsy

oxfordowl.co.uk have free ebooks that are categorised for age or reading level that can be used once you register.

Cleite

That's a great link - thanks very much :-)

Cleite

Xdancer - you want to know what books they use for reading French - but that's exactly my problem... So far, she has no books at all that she brings home and in school, they haven't even taught them the full alphabet yet... To the best of my understanding, they don't really start the serious work of learning to read until next year, when she will be 6! Maybe I'm wrong, but I seem to remember being able to read independently already by age 6. It's all a bit confusing, and worrying!! I'll be honest, it freaks me out a bit that your daughter can already read in Spanish... Did she learn in school, or did you teach her?

Xdancer

She learned this year in school. She is in her 3rd and last year of infantil (equivalent to maternelle), but that's her teacher. Some teachers teach reading in second year of infantil, which I think is a bit young. A friend of hers in another school won't start learning to read until next year once he moves up to primary so it depends on the school and the teacher I think.

If I were you, I would focus on teaching her to read in English and leave the French to the school. Only if she is interested in doing so though. It seems to me that the skills are transferable despite the different languages.
Once my daughter started reading Spanish, she wanted to try reading English and French too and gave it a good go. It was a bit odd hearing her trying to read English with a heavy Spanish accent! She has a nice little Irish accent when she speaks

Cleite

I'm only focusing on English for the moment - their Dad can do his bit when it comes to supporting the French they learn in school! My two have lovely Irish accents as well:) - my son in particular comes out with some things in the strongest Dublin accent! (I only lived in Dublin until age 6 ) My daughter does half an hour of English a day in school (school is 4 days a week over here) and sometimes comes out with things in the poshest English accent - to the point where she actually started correcting myself and her brother on our pronunciation. I -nicely- but firmly put her right, but I had a job convincing her that she wasn't obliged to pronounce everything like her (French) English teacher!

Anyhow, thanks for the advice and support!

silverharp

its worth teaching them to read early, still remember junior going into 1st class with a Harry Potter book under his arm ;-) . he has basically gone through primary without ever having to learn spellings, just knows them from reading a lot early. Started with a series of phonics based books , then Dr Suess and straight into kids novels. probably didn't understand every word at the start but they learn exponentially at that age.

Sausage dog

Reading is the last element of English that I'd teach. It's very important that your child has good oral vocabulary, good rhyming skills, can identify syllables and blends in words before they ever see a word to read. Jolly phonics programme is popular in schools for learning letter sounds etc. There are lists of frequently used words eg. Dolch lists that will help your child with words such as the, they, said, he, she, after etc. These lists of words are vital and many reading schemes use repetition of these words in their texts. Also, have a look at some school websites as most will have school book lists on their sites and you can see what is being used. Publishers such as Folens, CJ Fallons & Edco publish reading schemes for primary schools. Hope some of this helps!

lostinsuperfunk

Our son used a site called Reading Eggs
He learned very quickly from it, and I would highly recommend it. I think the first month is free. It's Australian so it has a few Oz quirks but overall it's very good.
Also, PM sent to OP.