Is Learning to Read Unnatural

 

This morning I read an excellent must-read article written by W. Dorsey Hammond.

I don’t agree with him taking a few unnecessary punches at phonics but overall it is a must-read article.

The article says:

“The average child normally endowed and normally taught learns to read only with considerable difficulty.”

This statement is made by the white man who does not know how to read in any other language. A child taught to read in Malay will have no problem reading any word in less than 3 months of teaching.

My book, ‘Teach your child to Read’, can get any kid, with no acuity problem, to read in less than 4 months. The book is made up of 30 lessons with only about 5 to 8 sentences per lesson. 

Learning to read is a natural process – Thinking aloud

                                                                      

This is controversial, but as I said in the heading above I am thinking aloud.

I would define a natural process as a skill that is relatively easy to learn.

Educators on Twitter keep saying that learning to read is NOT a natural process. Pamela Snow copy pastes what others have said – ‘Reading is a human contrivance that has existed for only approximately 6,000 years (Snow, 2016)’.

The statement above ridicules the intelligence of humans. I called it an idiotic statement and a Twitter friend said, “I don't think it is productive to categorise opposing opinions as 'idiotic', especially when those positions are the generally accepted.”

Dehaene - How the brain learns to read?

 

This is a continuation of my previous post found here. 

Peter Blenkinsop, kept insisting that I listen to Prof. Stanislas Dehaene video and educate him on how a child learns to read.

Why Peter, who calls himself a consultant, wants me to explain it to him is beyond me but I shall try and describe what I have understood from the video. 

Peter asked me to listen to minute 14.30 of the video above which says: