I live in the U.S. How do pre-school teachers introduce reading in class in the U.K.?

Question

Do you teach actual reading skills? How and which ones? Or just sight words and if so, how and which ones? Can you refer me to some books that give info?

I;m in my last leg of getting certified to teach pre-kindergarten students. I am passionate about reading, and have lots of ideas of how to get these kids started in reading. But since Madonna moved to England so her kids could go to English schools because she says "they are better than U.S. schools" (and she is no doubt correct about that!), I wondered what pre-K teachers in the U.K. did to teach reading to 4 year old pre-K students. Thanks!

Answer 1

We use phonecs by teaching rhymes and sounds and we help them to write their name and encourage them to use books.  

I have a little red riding hood book that i read and I encourage the children to say the rhyming word.  We often play I spy and I ask them for things in the room.  We obviously have the alphabet up on the wall and I sometimes point to letter and ask what sound they make (this is phonecs) we also have a game called farmer farmer where they ask to cross the river and I say only if your name begins with the letter...

Finally they have name cards and we see if they can recognise their names and encourage them to write it also.  We have the book corner available at all times and children are encouraged to look at books both with teachers and alone.

Answer 2

In the UK they use phonics so they split down the words that you reading so for example is you wanted to read the word 'spelling' then you would go sp-ell-ing etc, you break it down.  This method works for most people although I personally found it annoying as I could read well before I got to school, some children need a different approach (you start school in the year you are 5 in the UK, so that is when you generally start being taught how to read).

Answer 3

Well in our Foundation Stage curriculum for the pre-schoolers (3-4yrs) we dont actually have to teach reading of words...we encourgae children to have interest in books, print and symbols, we encourage them to talk about thep ictures, the structure of the story, imagine how they would feel if they were characters, make predictions etc. We do encourage them to look at letters and words, and letter sounds but we (or I) dont focus on getting them to read. For 4 year olds I think a bit more empahsis goes on letter sounds but not on the actual task of reading sentences and words...of course if a child has the interest and ability then I tend to encourage it!

You could look up "Foundation Stage" on internet sites to see info on out 3-5's educational system, or contact surestart, education department (government) for info sure they'd help you.

(PS: Books wiht repeated phrases like "Bear Hunt" is good because children remember the phrase and sometimes pretend to read the book, and i think subconsiously they probably take in the words for future reference!)

Answer 4

At school they usually use a mixture of look and say (sight vocabulary) and phonics.  The sight vocabulary is built around familiar and frequent words.

Before I became a Primary School teacher I taught my own children to read (starting no 1 at 11 months No 2 at 7 months). The only way it works is by not hurrying them at all.  I think you really need a kindergarten teacher to answer this one.  Remember in Scandinavia they don't teach children to read until much later