Zoophonics at Jurong West

[tamarind]

sean wife:

Hi Tamarind,


Can you share who you think is a good teacher at Moris allen?

Thanks!

sean wife,
My boy was taught by Miss Sally Ann Eagle, and I highly recommend her. Although my boy said she is boring, I have sat in her class before, and I think she is a very good teacher. She is the only teacher who truly understands my boy. I sent him there because I had to work in China last year (he has stopped attending now that I am back) He is already reading very advanced books for his age, I send him there purely for social interaction. His written work used to be quite sloppy at home, but in the class, his work was so neat and good, must be something to do with Miss Eagle.

But honestly, just sending to enrichment class is not helpful, if a child is weak in English. The best way to improve a child's English is to read as many story books as possible, and parents must read with them at home every day.

[tamarind]

dadelina:

tamarind,

You mean you sent your child to their branch at jurong west? cos a couple of times I called the branch and was put off by the lady who answered my queries. So always changed my mind in enrolling my girls. Btw, how abt the enrichment classroom at jurong west recreation centre? They also have phonics and language classes for diff levels. Anyone have any feedback?

Hi dadelina,
I cannot stand that lady too and I tried to avoid her. There is a young man at the counter and he is much better.
I haven't tried the enrichment classroom.
Actually I taught my boy phonics at home, don't need to send him to phonics class.

[sean wife]

Hi Tamarind,


Actually my kids (going to 3.5 yrs old in march) can read quite well for their age, partly on memory and partly on phonics. Thanks to your sharing in your blog and forum, they are completing 12b of P&J, and can read about 80% of the 3-letters and 4-letters words in your blog. Problem is I never really ‘teach’ them blending, and although they can read those words, they are not always willing to break down the individual sounds in the words. But they can read some new words phonetically even though they have not seen it before, so I am quite sure they get the idea of blending. I know the next stage should be to gauge them on spelling (but they can’t write their letters yet…), but if I just read them the word ‘cat’, I dun think they know how to spell leh…unless I breakdown the sounds for them, which defeats the purpose of spelling using phonics skill right? They are supposed to know the sounds in the word by themselves…

Anyway, they are currently in the elementary level of some enrichment class…recent feedback from teacher is that although they know their sounds and the requirement of that level, they probably can’t be promoted to the next level soon as their attention span is not long enough for the structured learning of the next level, and they are not always co-operative to complete their activities. I am OK if they are still enjoying their lessons, at the same time I am also worried if they will get too bored if they stay at the same level for too long, especially if they already know what is supposed to be covered in this stage. That’s why I am looking around to see if there are better options elsewhere…I know that it’s possible to keep a child engaged in the lesson even know he/she already knows what is taught (as in their berries class), but somehow I can’t seem to find the ‘ideal’ English enrichment around for them.

Sorry for the long post and thanks for reading…

[dadelina]

Hey Tamarind,

Thanks for ur reply - I thought I was being bias when I felt that way abt her. 'Glad' that I found someone who shared the same sentiment

Just to share, my K2 is a confident reader hence now, I'm thinking of exposing her to Grammer, Compre, creative writing etc... I'm quite confident in her progress and she is self-motivated.

However, my K1 (she's a quiet girl), she has short attention span and she tends to give up easily. And, when she doesn't want or she faces difficulty, she'll totally shut down and you'll end up forcing her (and she'll start crying, of course) - This is what I don't want to to... 'forcing' her. I did explain to her that when u know how to read, u can read any books. and she wants that but she wants me to read to her.

As for planting the love for reading in my girls (even my youngest who's turning two in march)... I'm happy abt it cos I've started reading to my girls before bedtime since they were very very young (think since babies) and hence, they have the love for reading. and now, bedtime stories is a 'must-have' for them every night

[LLTan]

Hi Tamarind,


Can you share why you were not happy with Zoophonics? My niece is currently attending the Jurong Branch and my sis seems happy with them. Just want to know from your perspective so I can also advise her if there are certain things that are not too good.

[apuppy]

Hi All,


My daughter is attending Enrichment classroom at JW stadium. I find them systematic, teachers are very nice and they will attract the students to learn as they are using computer projector which attract my daughter to learn very fast with a lot of handson.

I cant deny they help my daughter learn the basic phonics and she enjoys very much learning within a few months. They are using letterland thus I bot letterland and use roughly their method and completed 26 characters before they finished the premodule 6 months. I am requesting to hop to their 2nd level as my daughter know all the 26 alphabets already within 3 months.

Now crossing my fingers as this sat the in charge will let me know. But i cannot deny that parents also play a part to revise with them as I have seen her classmates didnt improve cause parents didnt revise with her and they forget the sound after 1 week.

[tamarind]

LLTan:

Hi Tamarind,


Can you share why you were not happy with Zoophonics? My niece is currently attending the Jurong Branch and my sis seems happy with them. Just want to know from your perspective so I can also advise her if there are certain things that are not too good.

When my boy was attending the class, at first he had a very good teacher. Then a few weeks later, they changed to another teacher and she was terrible. I could not stand her so I withdrew my boy. It all depends on whether you are lucky to get a good teacher who will stay on.

In any case, I prefer the native speakers at Morris Allen. I find that local teachers often make lots of grammatical mistakes when they speak. So if I want to spend money, I would rather my boy learn perfect English from the native speakers.

[tamarind]

sean wife:

Hi Tamarind,


Actually my kids (going to 3.5 yrs old in march) can read quite well for their age, partly on memory and partly on phonics. Thanks to your sharing in your blog and forum, they are completing 12b of P&J, and can read about 80% of the 3-letters and 4-letters words in your blog. Problem is I never really ‘teach’ them blending, and although they can read those words, they are not always willing to break down the individual sounds in the words. But they can read some new words phonetically even though they have not seen it before, so I am quite sure they get the idea of blending. I know the next stage should be to gauge them on spelling (but they can’t write their letters yet…), but if I just read them the word ‘cat’, I dun think they know how to spell leh…unless I breakdown the sounds for them, which defeats the purpose of spelling using phonics skill right? They are supposed to know the sounds in the word by themselves…

Anyway, they are currently in the elementary level of some enrichment class…recent feedback from teacher is that although they know their sounds and the requirement of that level, they probably can’t be promoted to the next level soon as their attention span is not long enough for the structured learning of the next level, and they are not always co-operative to complete their activities. I am OK if they are still enjoying their lessons, at the same time I am also worried if they will get too bored if they stay at the same level for too long, especially if they already know what is supposed to be covered in this stage. That’s why I am looking around to see if there are better options elsewhere…I know that it’s possible to keep a child engaged in the lesson even know he/she already knows what is taught (as in their berries class), but somehow I can’t seem to find the ‘ideal’ English enrichment around for them.

Sorry for the long post and thanks for reading…

sean wife,
A very important part of phonics is to say a word, like \"cat\", then let the child pick up the correct letters. A good phonics school should teach this right from the start. My methods at home also incorporate this technique. So kids naturally know what are the letters that make up a word when they listen to it.

For kids with short attention span like my boy, it is important to find a class that is as small as possible, and a teacher who understands them. I know some weekday classes at Morris Allen only has 2 kids In fact, every one of my boy's teachers complained that he day dreamed. The only teacher who did not think that he has any problem, is Miss Eagle from Morris Allen. She is the only teacher who understands him.

[tamarind]

dadelina:

Hey Tamarind,

Thanks for ur reply - I thought I was being bias when I felt that way abt her. 'Glad' that I found someone who shared the same sentiment

Just to share, my K2 is a confident reader hence now, I'm thinking of exposing her to Grammer, Compre, creative writing etc... I'm quite confident in her progress and she is self-motivated.

However, my K1 (she's a quiet girl), she has short attention span and she tends to give up easily. And, when she doesn't want or she faces difficulty, she'll totally shut down and you'll end up forcing her (and she'll start crying, of course) - This is what I don't want to to... 'forcing' her. I did explain to her that when u know how to read, u can read any books. and she wants that but she wants me to read to her.

As for planting the love for reading in my girls (even my youngest who's turning two in march)... I'm happy abt it cos I've started reading to my girls before bedtime since they were very very young (think since babies) and hence, they have the love for reading. and now, bedtime stories is a 'must-have' for them every night

dadelina,
Morris Allen has a creative writing class for P1/P2 which is quite challenging. The teachers told me that most kids find it difficult. I think this class is suitable for your older girl, but she must wait until she is in P1.
The K2 class is easy for my boy, I think your K2 girl should find it easy too. But compared to other enrichment class, the standard of K2 at Morris Allen should be quite high.
My boy used to have a short attention span too, he could only read one page a day when he was 3 to 4 years old. I asked him to read every word out loud, and whenever he hesitated for more than 5 seconds at a word, I taught him how to read it and quickly moved on. He built up his confidence very quickly this way because he did not need to try very hard (try 5 seconds only). By 6 years old, he can read many pages (200 to 300 words a page) without my help.

[ZuEn]

Hi appupy,

I am thinking of enrolling my girl at the Enrichment Classroom at the JW stadium too. In the midst of exploring and looking around. In your opinion, why do you think it is good?

Re: Zoophonics
I called up and the things that they teached for the pre-nursery seems similar ro what she learnt in her pre-nusery class now and I am wondering how that will help to "supplement".