Should I Enroll my kids in Phonics?

There are so many programs targeted at pre-primary kids that promise to get your child to read by the time they get to primary school. Do these programs help children read? Most definitely YES.

Any program, or should I say, any intentional, consistent effort to get a child to read will definitely yield results. Phonics is also a clever way to break down words in English so kids can “sound out” words using the methods taught to feel more confident about reading out loud.

In fact, many second language learners are successful in learning English using the phonics system.

But I always hesitate when friends tell me they have enrolled their kids in a reading program because what you need to understand is that Phonics is an excellent method to teach beginning readers to read but it has many limitations once you get past the initial success.

1. My top concern is always that Phonics confuse Chinese Learners. Once children start to attend primary schools, they will be exposed to hanyu pinyin which is similar to phonics in method but the sounds each alphabet represents is different. So the child has to unlearn what s/he learned in phonics in order to learn hanyu pinyin. Many children get confuse in the process and their Chinese learning suffers.
   
2. Phonics method falls apart as the child picks up more words. There are more exceptions to the norm in English words when it comes to pronunciation and that can be difficult for children to accept (learn) if they are used to being heavily reliant on the Phonics system to read.
   
   For example, epitome is not pronounced as eh-pee-toe-mee but uh-pi-tuh-mee or cupboard is not cup-board but kuh-buhd, and don’t forget salmon is pronounce without the L sound …… the list goes on.
   
3. Phonics does not automatically make your child a reader. Many parents have high hopes that once their child can read, they will be breezing through books ferociously, right? Sorry to shatter your dreams, but that usually don’t happen.
   
   Children who did not learn to read organically, i.e. through their own motivation and exploration tend to not fall in love with texts/books even though they might be equipped with the skills to read. In fact, sometimes they can even regress from reading because they are forced to read when they are not ready.
   
   Reading readiness has a broad range. Most educators will determine that kids are ready by around 6.5 yo, but there are also many other factors like mental maturity and physical body development that come into play as to whether a kid is ready to read. Some kids are interested and will pick up a book at age 4 (my second child), and there are others who are not interested to read words even at age 7 (my first child). Some literature even suggests that children’s reading readiness can range from 4-11 yo.

But you’ll say “but my child needs to attend school, I can’t afford him/her to take his/her own sweet time to learn to read otherwise they can’t catch up with school work”. I totally hear where you are coming from because my eldest child struggled for months in primary one because she couldn’t read.

I am also not saying that you should not send your kids to reading programs, by all means kickstart their reading because it is necessary. But do know that enrolling in phonics program, is a start, a wonderful start to their learning journey, and it doesn’t and shouldn’t end there.

Once your child starts reading, there are still many things you need to do to get them to become a reader.

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