I have some experience using reading reflex to teach reading to English speaking kids. I now have a Hebrew speaking 2nd grade student twho knows very little English. I have him for one hour per week.
Would it be a good idea to use reading reflex as a basic framework for lessons enableing me to teach pronunciation, reading and writing skills as part of the program and language skills tangentially?
I know this is a “learing disabilites” forum. This is not a case of learning problems. Is there a better forum for asking this question? Don’t suggest Readamerica.net as I have already asked it there and got some help. I’m just interested in finding new sources.
Thanks
Andy
This would probably be a very effective method. The child probably reads Hebrew, and so transferring the reading skills from one language to another is usually quite fast. Hebrew is quite phonetic, although there is a weird thing about vowels (traditionally only consonants are written as in speed writing, but especially for beginners sometimes a vowel notation is added); anyway, the child is probably already very aware of phonics and will take to a phonetic pattern well. There will be a directionality question — Hebrew goes right to lefgt, opposite of English — but most children learn to deal with the two systems in a very short time.
One thing — many people using a phonics- based reading program want to use decodable readers that use only phonetically regular words. Unfortunately, this leads to unusual sentences and omits many of the most common but irregular or semi-regular words (one, come, some, etc.). A first-language learner knows these words in speech, so no problem. But for a second-language learner, you definitely want to use a series of texts based on word frequency so the child learns the words needed for speech as well as reading. I like the Ladybird Key Words, recently republished by Penguin, but many other “Dick and Jane” style books will do as well.