Ronald Said:

Where can I volunteer to tutor/ teach reading to young children in Queens, NY?

We Answered:

access this link for volunteer teaching reading in Queens, and other NYC boroughs.

Stephen Said:

studies on best age to teach reading?

We Answered:

don't teach too late or he/she will be behind other kids

Derek Said:

what to do to get a job reading to kids teaching children to read write assistant t.a teacher?

We Answered:

The specific requirements depend upon the age of the children, the school, and the state.

At the elem school where I work, the teacher assistants only have to have a high school diploma and some experience working with children. They post their job vacancies on their website. You might try looking at the websites of school systems near you to see if you see anything.

At some pre-schools and daycares, you don't need special training to be an assistant. At others, it would be good to have your associate's degree (2 years) in early childhood education or at least some classes toward it. You can probably take some of these classes at your local community college. Look through their website to see what they offer.

For jobs with pre-school kids, just look through the classifieds. The ads will let you know if they are looking for any special training. Around here, they always seem to be looking for help, so hopefully it's the same in your area and you can find a job soon!

Bertha Said:

where can I submit an article on teaching reading in the UK?

We Answered:

I am assuming you are a teacher, you could try TES and there are a number of Primary Education journals which accept unsolicited articles. You could try Reading On-line, www.readingonline.org There is a list of journals here http://www.leeds.ac.uk/bei/journals.htm

Many of these journals are for research papers rather than personal accounts and tips. The various Unions (EIS in Scotland and I think the NUT in England ) also have periodicals that publish useful practical accounts.

You could try http://www.literacytrust.org.uk/links/sc…

I have already mentioned the Times Educational Supplement, but I have a feeling that from time to time it has adverts in it for journals for Primary School Teachers. That may be your best bet.

The other thing to remember is that some techniques are very tied to the person using them. They may work for you but not for other people. I get very frustrated about that!

Good luck

Dwight Said:

Which is a better way to teach children reading: phonics, or sight words?

We Answered:

When you research reading methods, you will discover an intense debate between the phonics and whole word reading camps. I occupy a place in the middle ground that heavily favors the phonics system as primary.

Some are concerned that phonics takes the spirit out of reading and disassociates a word from its context. The fact is that they are forgetting that phonics is just ONE COMPONENT of a reading skill set. It's not meant to teach contextual definitions or to show you how to use a word. It will give you confidence and skills you need to decode how a word can sound and to more easily recall it for spelling because you know what sounds go with which letter combinations. It's also much easier to focus on contextual definition when you have an idea of what the word sounds like. Then, in order to more quickly process and utilize a word in the future, it's important to memorize it, as in whole word reading.

I think the two systems go together, but I believe phonics should precede whole word memorizing, unless the whole word totally defies phonics rules. I also think some very common little words should be memorized to make transition into reading passages more easy, like of, was, is, the, but, and, etc.

I am not trying to put myself into the great debate, but I'm trying to make the point that I have found phonics instruction to be a very helpful and important component of literacy education. I will share a brief illustration of my experience with phonics and a sight reader.

I have a little sight reader I am tutoring using phonics methods. He's an English-speaking second grader who enjoys books but is now getting behind grade-level in his reading skills. He knows a lot of words, but when he comes upon a word he doesn't know he guesses based on context if he thinks he understands it and by using the sound of the first letter of the word. Sometimes he guesses right. Other times, he's not sure what to guess and just gets nervous and frustrated.

It was interesting that my little sight reader could not read easy uncommon words, but knew a good set of common words. At the beginning of our time together, he would look away from a word when he was trying to figure it out. I can understand why his teacher said he lacked confidence when he was reading. The books are getting harder, and he's getting stuck with a memorized vocabulary that is not able to keep up with the amount of new vocabulary that's presented to him in his readings. He lacks an important skill needed to expand his vocabulary beyond his memorized word set. He needs to learn how to decode an unfamiliar word.

It is taking time to retrain him to think phonetically when he comes across a new word, but he is getting better as we utilize a system of diagramming words phonetically. His ability to easily memorize words will come in handy, too, for eventually the new words he is sounding out, he needs to memorize in order to make future recall and processing easier.

I have been reviewing all the phonics rules with this second grader for about 12 hours now of tutoring. We diagram words together to decide what sounds we will apply to which letters. Then we sound out the word. His confidence is improving. He is no longer looking away from the word when he is confronted with a "big word" he doesn't know. He is getting quicker to recognize "Jumping e" (Vowel Consonant Silent E rule) and "Bossy R" (er, ir, ur, or, ar sounds), as well as other phonics sounds. His father, who has sat near us while we work is very impressed with his improvement.

If you are interested in some more ideas (or in the diagramming system) of teaching phonics rules, you can visit my website at http://www.taskwhiz.com/phonics.aspx

I hope this helps give you some food for thought.