Better Learning Methods?

Tenshinai wrote:

Many of us probably know at least one functional illiterate.

Ehm, no? Don´t think i´ve ever met an adult that is illiterate. And very few above age 9.

Raise that to 12, maybe 13 or so if including people with severe mental handicaps.

Goody goody, gumdrops. Could you add a few paragraphs on what literacy teaching methods your schools are using? My wife, while a grade school teacher, used phonics. I particularly like her story about the student (Charles something) who was convinced he could never learn to read. He was seated as close to her desk as possible so he had to do the work. About half way through the semester, he looks up at her, and exclaims, with a surprised expression, "Teacher, I can read!"

I particularly like her story about the student (Charles something) who was convinced he could never learn to read. He was seated as close to her desk as possible so he had to do the work. About half way through the semester, he looks up at her, and exclaims, with a surprised expression, "Teacher, I can read!"

Nice.

Goody goody, gumdrops. Could you add a few paragraphs on what literacy teaching methods your schools are using?

Eh, nothing fancy that i know of at least?

As i have zero knowledge myself on the subject, after some googling it appears the most common method in Sweden is the "synthetic", but it´s not all prevailing.
http://www.google.se/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0ahUKEwiDwcHWkIrRAhXBCywKHd4-DHwQFggmMAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.parnet.fi%2F~finra%2F3rdBaltic17th%2FPRESENTATIONS%2FFredriksson%2520%26%2520Persson_Initial%2520literacy%2520teaching%2520in%2520Sweden.pdf&usg=AFQjCNHeOhuV7tE-CJWBUcsbtEpNoWdCbw&sig2=Yx3iPpxA9YxRU3K4E47qyw&bvm=bv.142059868,d.bGg&cad=rja

As mentioned in that link however:
"Most children seem to learn to read whatever method the teacher uses
– as long as the teacher knows and believes in what she is doing and
can motivate and stimulate her children."

Personally i started reading well before beginning school, while my best friend was an outlier in the other direction because of fairly harsh dyslexia, he was still reading "ok" but very slowly after 1st year in school.

Um, if you're doing a long URL, then use the URL button but modified to [ URL = {insert web address here} ] name of link [ /URL ] (remembering not to include all the spaces that I did).
That will stop your post from extending off the edge of the screen as well as looking neater.

It can also be used in signatures...

Michael Everett wrote:Um, if you're doing a long URL, then use the URL button but modified to [ URL = {insert web address here} ] name of link [ /URL ] (remembering not to include all the spaces that I did).
That will stop your post from extending off the edge of the screen as well as looking neater.

It can also be used in signatures...

I tried it, but it came out not working when i did, so not much choice in the matter.

Tenshinai wrote:
I tried it, but it came out not working when i did, so not much choice in the matter.

Hey, it worked!
It was probably the square bracket. They tend to trip people up.

Tenshinai wrote: snip

Goody goody, gumdrops. Could you add a few paragraphs on what literacy teaching methods your schools are using?

Eh, nothing fancy that i know of at least?
snip
"Most children seem to learn to read whatever method the teacher uses – as long as the teacher knows and believes in what she is doing and can motivate and stimulate her children."
snip

Thank You. There does tend to be a strong link between some significant adult's assuming a child can learn and the actual learning that takes place. This may be one reason why in the USA, home schooled children average better than public schooled ones.

BJ told me after the former post that a retarded child in the same first grade class taught by the sandpaper letter technique was able to learn to at least sound out the more phonetic words > a beginning

Tenshinai wrote:You got the first word because it was meant to get you to learn to spell(and pronounce), and it is a drastically more difficult word to learn.

Because of science fiction I decided I was an agnostic at 12.

I had no trouble spelling the word. But the meaning is even more stupid than the word. They should have used

PNEUMONOULTRAMICROSCOPICSILICOVOLCANOCONIOSIS

Our stupid concept of education makes the spelling of words more important than the reality behind the words. We must spell correctly to give other people the impression that we are "intelligent". So we get this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0wk4qG2mIg

I thought that was hysterically funny the first time I saw it on television in the 80s. Then it occurred to me that the reason I knew the cause of the seasons was the result of reading about orbital mechanics because of my science fiction reading making it interesting. I never got that information from any class.

um

My mother taught me to read by the time I was four. I don't even recall the lessons. But no one gave me any ideas about what to read after that. I did not stumble across science fiction until 4th grade.

Now my first SF book is in Project Gutenberg:

Star Surgeon (1959) by Alan E. Nourse
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/18492
http://librivox.org/star-surgeon-by-alan-edward-nourse/
http://www.sffaudio.com/?p=1299
http://www.amazon.com/Star-Surgeon-Alan ... 1598180657

But with all of the talk about education on the Internet I do not encounter many people suggesting Project Gutenberg.

Black Beauty (1877) by Anna Sewell
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/271/271-h/271-h.htm

The Wind in the Willows (1908) by Kenneth Grahame
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/289

The Boxcar Children (1924) by Gertrude Chandler Warner
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/42796/42 ... 2796-h.htm

David and the Phoenix (1957) by Edward Ormondroyd
http://librivox.org/david-and-the-phoen ... rmondroyd/
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/27922/27 ... 7922-h.htm

The Fourth R (1959) by George O. Smith
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/18602/18 ... 8602-h.htm

I learned about David and the Phoenix from David Weber. LOL

um

Because of science fiction I decided I was an agnostic at 12.

I had no trouble spelling the word. But the meaning is even more stupid than the word. They should have used

PNEUMONOULTRAMICROSCOPICSILICOVOLCANOCONIOSIS

That´s beyond casual reading even for me, and my native language has the "advantage" that you can put words together almost freely, so i´m used to weirdly long words already.

Then it occurred to me that the reason I knew the cause of the seasons was the result of reading about orbital mechanics because of my science fiction reading making it interesting. I never got that information from any class.

Really? Huh... IIRC i think we went over that first time in 2nd or 3rd grade(age 8 or 9) or something(and then in detail maybe 7th grade?).

My mother taught me to read by the time I was four. I don't even recall the lessons. But no one gave me any ideas about what to read after that. I did not stumble across science fiction until 4th grade.

Nice. I don´t think anyone here even thought about doing that so early.

I started learning from my mom reading to me and then pestered my parents and elder brothers to read the subtitling for me, which is why i started learning a little English, German and French almost from start as well.
1-2 years of that and i started reading more and more and was reading quite well from around a year or a bit less before i started school, no teaching needed.

But i´ve always been a natural at languages, so that´s not average.
And if there´s one thing i know, it´s that language development is VERY individual, my eldest brother barely spoke at all until he was 4 years old, then suddenly started talking perfectly(and waaayy too much), middle brother was about average, while i was simply early, completely different despite being full siblings and similar environment.

But with all of the talk about education on the Internet I do not encounter many people suggesting Project Gutenberg.

I have it bookmarked, but often forget about it, so, good idea to bring it up.
Lots of good reads there.

Oh, and to everyone, unless you´re linguistically inept, learn at least a 2nd language, even if it´s a small one, being able to read another bunch of books in the native language is a definite bonus just by itself, and being good with more than 1 language is also good for the mind.

My mom read to me at nap time every day. Then when I was 3. my brother was born and she didn't read to me any more, So I bugged her for the words I forgot/did not know as I read my Mother Goose Stories to myself.

Was kinda lucky my mother is Cajun French, even though a lot of words i learned do not conform to modern usage. Unfortunately, My father's family refused to pass their German to us grandchildren. Of course, I never heard my father actually speak German. My great-grandmother would talk to him in German and he would answer in English.