The Bopomofo Shadow Over Pinyin

 

Why China's Kids Are Shutting Down from Reading—and How to Fix It

As a dyslexia advocate who's spent over a decade battling misdiagnoses and flawed teaching methods, I've seen firsthand how "curious, intelligent kids" get labeled as broken when they're just confused. In English phonics, we add extraneous sounds like "buh" for B, turning bright minds into shutdown cases. Now, imagine that same error infiltrating Mandarin's gateway: Hanyu Pinyin. Across my recent posts, a pattern emerges—many Mainland China schools are teaching Pinyin not as the clean, syllable-based bridge it was designed to be, but corrupted by Bopomofo (Zhuyin Fuhao) initial sounds from Taiwan. This isn't just a phonetic hiccup; it's a literacy crisis misdiagnosed as dyslexia, affecting millions and stifling China's next generation of innovators.

The Core Problem: Extraneous Sounds That Don't Add Up

Why So Many Kids Struggle with Reading

                                                               

 

Today I viewed a YouTube video which said that reading is not natural. Read the rest below:

Why So Many Kids Struggle with Reading (And What Needs to Change). For decades, we’ve been teaching reading the wrong way—and the consequences are clear. According to the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress, 40% of fourth graders in the U.S. are performing below basic reading levels. While some progress has been made, the reality is that many children are still falling through the cracks.

In this video, I explore:

Why do educators ask questions but not respond to questions asked?

 

I saw a post by Larissa Phillips @larissaphillip today 22^nd November 2025 and tweeted her.

Larissa:

Phonics-skeptics fuss over this sort of thing, but the majority of low-skilled readers who come to my adult literacy program can’t decode or encode even three-sound words that they don’t know. They can’t read words like rad or tot or zig-zag.

Couldn’t we all agree that it would be helpful to be able decode the 50-85% of English words that ARE phonetically predictable? Or do they propose just guessing on all of them?

I wish they’d talk to the people who are affected by this inability.

I can tell you exactly what they would say because I hear it all the time: “Why didn’t anyone teach me this?”

This was my response:

Evening News: Greg Ashman and the Silence of Educators

 

Preface to the Greg Ashman Series

This Evening News series examines the writings and claims of Greg Ashman, an educator whose views on literacy and reading instruction have gained attention in Australia and beyond. I have chosen to respond to his posts not because he is my adversary, but because he represents a wider pattern in education: confident assertions made without confronting the real reasons children fail to read.

Do Learning Styles Really Exist?

 

Lately, I’ve noticed a troubling resurgence of the learning styles myth—so this post couldn’t be more timely.

 

Why the Learning Styles Myth Persists

Intuitive appeal: It feels right. People are different, so it seems logical that matching teaching to a learner’s “style” would help. But feeling right isn’t the same as being true.

 

Evening News Special: Exposing the Dyslexia Industry's Silent Guardians – Part 2

 

Martin Bloomfield's Wake-Up Call and the Evasive Echo Chamber

If Julian Elliott is the evasive maestro, Dr. Martin Bloomfield is the unwitting spotlight – shining light on the dyslexia farce without realizing it. In his 2024 interview with Elliott, Bloomfield probes the "dyslexic" label's ghosts, only to get half-answers that circle back to square one. But here's the rub: After decades of "research," why are these pros still asking basic questions? In this Evening News follow-up, we dissect Bloomfield's chat, spotlight the dodges, and call out the broader academic blackout. Educators who won't reply aren't just rude – they're roadblocks to literacy for millions. Buckle up; the con unravels further.

Not All Emotions Foster Learning

 

We often hear the claim: “All emotions foster learning.” It sounds appealing, almost romantic. But is it true? My experience with children who struggle to read tells me otherwise.

 

Emotions are deeply intertwined with how we learn. They shape attention, memory, and motivation. Yet not all emotions pull their weight in a helpful way. Some emotions—curiosity, joy, pride—open the mind and expand learning. Others—fear, shame, despair—shut it down.

Evening News Special: Exposing the Dyslexia Industry’s Silent Guardians Part 1

 

Julian Elliott’s Decade of Dodging the Truth

 

🎭 The Master of Evasion

In the lucrative world of dyslexia research, where labels fuel billion‑dollar programs and “special interventions,” one figure has perfected the art of sidestep: Professor Julian Elliott. For more than a decade, Elliott has danced around the real reasons children struggle to read — and the silence from his peers is just as telling.

 

He admits dyslexia is “a severe and persistent problem with reading.” Fair enough. But if that’s true, why ignore the simple fix that has transformed over 80 children under my guidance?

America - Stop the Spin. Start the Screening.

 

Let’s get one thing straight: America isn’t talentless. It’s talent-blind.

 

We’ve got kids with Edison-level genius and Cruise-level grit—but we wait until Grade 3 to notice them. By then, the damage is done. The system has already mislabeled, misdiagnosed, and misplaced them.

 

That’s why I said it yesterday, and I’ll say it again:

Evening News: Revisiting a Quiet Exchange with Prof. Julian Elliott

 

Bridging the Dyslexia Divide: A 15-Year Reflection

Is dyslexia a distraction from teachable fixes? Educational psychologist Prof. Julian Elliott has long challenged the label. In a recent interview, he called out the “multi-billion-dollar business” of dyslexia and emphasized early, evidence-based support.

 

I agree—and I’ve seen firsthand how confusion, shame, and overload shut kids down. But I also believe the causes are knowable. Fixable. And often overlooked.

The Dysteachia Boomerang: Jo-Anne Gross’s Words Come Full Circle

 

A Decade in Literacy Advocacy

In the stormy world of literacy debates I’ve been both a quiet observer and, at times, a thunderclap. From my tutoring sessions in Sabah, I’ve long championed phonics over fairy tales and called out the “dysteachia” that turns eager kindergarteners into reluctant readers.

 

Now, the term itself has boomeranged back into the spotlight, landing squarely at the feet of Jo-Anne Gross (@RplusDyslexia), the Canadian dyslexia advocate who helped shape this conversation.

Evening News Jo-Anne Gross – The Blocker Who Sells Phonics Fixes While Silencing Alternatives

 

It’s been years since Jo-Anne Gross first hit the block button on me—LinkedIn, then Twitter (now X). At the time, it stung. But mostly, it felt like a badge of honour. Here was a self-proclaimed remediation expert, founder of Remediation Plus Systems, selling phonics-heavy interventions for dyslexic kids, suddenly deciding my free lessons and alternative views were too dangerous to engage with.

Fixing America’s Talent Pipeline

 

Stop Importing Brains. Start Mining America’s Own.

 

The U.S. doesn’t have a talent shortage—it has a talent blindness. For decades, we’ve patched our broken education system by importing foreign brainpower. That’s not a solution. It’s a symptom.

Evening News: The Truth About Reading—or the Truth About Misinformation?

 

When I saw the trailer for the documentary The Truth About Reading, I wasn’t surprised to see Faith Borkowsky and Emily Hanford featured prominently. That alone was enough for me to know: this film will likely perpetuate the same half-truths and misinformation that have plagued literacy discourse for years.

Breaking the Cycle: From Classroom Chaos to Confident Readers

 

Why Reading Is the Key to Ending School Misbehavior

In late 2025, teacher burnout is surging. Twitter is flooded with cries for help: flying staplers, constant disruptions, and a teacher shortage pushing schools to the brink. But what if the solution isn’t more behavior charts or segregated classrooms?

 

What if it’s as simple as this: Every child must learn to read fluently by Grade 2.