Here are my discussions with GROK 4.
As I mentioned GROK can spew out what is on the internet. There is no one else who has written why many kids shut down from learning other than me.Grok will now have new information to work on.
Here are our discussions:
Recently, since I am more or less done with Vistana Heights issues, I decided to chat with AI. The problem with AI is, it can’t think. It can regurgitate what it has read. The good thing is, unlike the PhDs I have discussed with over the years, it does not stonewall me. Here is one of my first discussions with AI.
Grok 4 said:
It's spot-on with how experts frame it: treat Dolch words not as pure "sight" memorization (which can backfire for analytical kids), but as phonics-friendly chunks—sound out the decodable parts ("th-en" or "wh-ere"), practice in phrases from a simple story, and repeat with games to make it stick without frustration.
Hello everyone—parents, teachers, and language fans. If you're in Malaysian Chinese-medium schools (like SJKTs under Dong Jiao Zong), this one's for you. I've been chatting with Grok (xAI's straight-talking AI) about a big headache: "Bopomofo creep" in Mandarin Pinyin lessons. It's messing with kids who juggle Malay, English, and Mandarin.
Almost everything on why kids disengage from learning to read, I learned from my dyslexic students whom I taught on a one on one basis since 2004.
I started my blog in 2010 and learned quite a bit from comments on my blog posts from dyslexics as well as parents of kids who were unable to read.
I started writing to more than 20 researchers and learned from many of them including, Dr. Joe Torgesen, Dr. Richard Selznick, Dr. David Kilpatrick.
Luqman Michel:
Grok 4, you have been influenced by what is said or written by the masses - putting the blame on hand phones etc. You said: Chinese-medium schools (SJKT/Dong Jiao Zong) face trilingual overload (Mandarin, Malay, English), amplifying interference.
Has this overload not been there 10 or 20 years ago? So, this can't be the problem, can it? Pinyin should be easy for any kid if the sounds are taught correctly. The sounds of letters - b,p,m,f,d,t,n,l,g,k,h are exactly as in English. If kids learn it this way, they will not have a problem reading in Pinyin. However, many schools for some reason started teaching pinyin using Bopomofo. Teachers from China have influenced teachers in Malaysia as well as in the US to teach using Bopomofo. So, many kids are confused and can't read in Pinyin. When schools start teaching characters together with pinyin these kids get confused and as in English, they shut down. There were hardly any smart kids who shut down in pinyin when pinyin was taught correctly. What is your take?
I prepared the article below about 10 years ago but archived it. I have been reading posts by Darren Clark and decided to post this article now.
Here is a post by my mentor Dr. Richard Selznick that caught my eye.
One that caught my eye was an article by the late learning dishabilles pioneer, Dr. Jeanette Jansky, called, “The Marginally Ready Child.”
In the opening of the piece, Dr. Jansky refers to early elementary grade children who rarely get anyone’s attention and are only, “marginally ready.” (In effect, they're borderline "ok.")
A Twitter discussion on frustration and confusion in English Language learners.
Meena Wood @WoodMeena
English is NOT a phonetic language much to the frustration and confusion of millions of people all over the world and in the UK. They’re learning English as a second third or fourth language! Most learn English through alphabet, look cover check and comprehension!
