Ukufunda has been carrying the weekly diary entries of a Grahamstown mom who volunteered for the Shine/Wordworks literacy programme for children in local schools, from Grade R to Grade 3. She was assigned to pay special attention to two boys who were still learning how to read. Here she continues her journey of learning and teaching. Because she doesn't want to take attention from the children, she chooses to remain anonymous.
Ukufunda has been carrying the weekly diary entries of a Grahamstown mom who volunteered for the Shine/Wordworks literacy programme for children in local schools, from Grade R to Grade 3. She was assigned to pay special attention to two boys who were still learning how to read. Here she continues her journey of learning and teaching. Because she doesn't want to take attention from the children, she chooses to remain anonymous.
"He fights with me and wants my food. He is my friend." My two boys seem out of sorts today but I'm pleased that we are having a conversation about normal things.
I decide to do some work on what are called "high-frequency words".
As the name suggests, these are words that come up often and mostly they are the kind of words that are not easy to sound phonetically — like "she", "we", "he", "them'' and "they". Children who are learning to read are taught to recognise these words on sight, without having to try and sound them out.
This makes for more fluent, confident reading early on.
I set a target of eight words for the boys. They seem like easy words, so I imagine we'll zip through them and get on to something more fun. The words include "I", "am", "up", "in", "mom"'. Aside from "I", pretty much the only one that doesn't work phonetically is "go".
The boys struggle with all the words — except "mom", which they recognise instantly. I beam but they are distracted and tetchy.
"I want to read a story," one says.
"Me too," says the other. They look around the room, desperate to find an alternative to learning the sight words.
After four repetitions of the eight words, they just can't get the words "am" and "go".
I am really puzzled. Convinced that concentration is the problem I try asking them to stand up and stamp in time to the words.
"U", stamp, "p" stamp — "up" stamp.
It makes matters worse. Then my mom instinct kicks in.
"If you can learn the eight words, we'll read a story."
Suddenly they are all focus and serious intent. After four more tries of going through the eight words "am" is still strangely illegible to them but they get the others.
"Good enough," I say. "Really good effort."
But they push the book away. They don't want the story until they've earned it by getting all the words right. I feel so proud of them.
Both have another determined go and both get all eight words.
We settle down to read a story about a frog that eats a baby — which is delightful and not as weird as it sounds.
The boys interact beautifully with the story. I hug them closely. "See you next time, teacher," they say softly.
