Reading and Writing: Stella’s Journey (Part 1)

Stella was already reading when school started earlier this year. If learning the names of the alphabet is considered to be part of the process of learning to read, Stella had already begun her journey just before I started looking after her. Someone gave the Supergirl a wooden puzzle of her name for Christmas 2005 and according to her mum, Stella became interested not only with putting the alphabet pieces together on the base plate to form her name, she became curious with the names of the letters. They also used those cheap magnetic plastic letters to teach the other letters to her. By the time I came along, Stella already knew the names of at least 75% of the letters in the alphabet.

Stella’s mum has no valid qualifications in teaching literacy to young children but that didn’t hamper her enthusiasm to teach Stella how to read. She went about it through trial and error. For instance, Stella’s mum did initially buy a workbook to help Stella learn to read and write. The workbook was a poor choice because it was meant to be for older school children and the script used to teach handwriting is not the one used widely in Victorian schools. Furthermore, the then 3 year old just didn’t have the (very) fine motor skills to try writing letters on lines. That’s very restrictive for a beginner. There is however a thumbs-up feature in the workbook. Inside the front and back covers are instructions for the adult to teach the child how to make the sounds for consonants and short vowels. Knowing the names of the letters does not teach a child to read but learning the sounds can be mighty helpful. Stella’s mum also borrowed a good book on teaching reading at home from the library but she couldn’t re-borrow it because it went missing after she had returned it. Later, she came across an informative booklet while surfing the net and bought one for reference. Stella’s dad was also pretty involved throughout the whole process. One of his favourite things to do was to read to his little girl. This includes reading old books from his childhood. Teaching a child to read before school age can be seen as unnecessary but Stella’s parents weren’t hurrying her at all. They are not pushy parents. They have never forced her in my presence anyway. Her happiness is of the utmost importance to them.

Teaching a classroom full of new Preppies is a very different experience to teaching a child that you know since she was born. A learner’s personality is a factor to the outcome of any learning. In Stella’s case, she likes to take charge of what she would like to do rather than be told to do something. I realised not long after I started looking after her that if she was not interested, she would not comply willingly and nothing would be achieved. This is why even if her parents were pushy; they would only succeed in creating an unhappy little girl. She is a classic example of why children shouldn’t be forced to learn anything according to an inflexible schedule. There is a time for everything. Stella also has a strong determination and is able to concentrate for long periods. She probably inherited those traits from both parents. So as long as she had wanted to, she could stay on task to complete any work of her choice. Her Kindergarten teachers used to comment on this a lot. These useful abilities plus a very good memory make it easy for Stella to learn anything, especially things that attract her attention. All that does not mean her journey was a smooth one. There were bouts of frustrations that stifled her interest temporarily. During these ‘breaks’, Stella enjoyed other activities, developed her social skills, created elaborate fantasy play and played home made or store bought games with a bit of mathematical and thinking skills thrown in. There were also breaks that coincided with the family’s holiday or celebration plans. Learning to read didn’t consume every hour and every minute of Stella’s pre-school years. A balanced development in all areas was (and still is) just as important.

NOTE: I have decided to blog about this in parts. The next part will be about Stella’s bespoke learning. LOL