Is reading instinctive or natural? A revisit.

 

Dyslexia advocates somehow find out that there is a strong objection to their theory and start propagating through whatever means they can. Here is one such YouTube video that surfaced a few days ago. LINK

Interviewer: Ashlie Thomey, A Dyslexia Specialist

Interviewee: Pamela Taylor, Creator of Lexia Heroes.

I listened to the YouTube video by Pamela Taylor who spoke like she is an expert in brain study.

Dyslexia in China (Part 2)

 

                                            Looking without seeing- the researchers of the 

                                               Pilot project below looked but did not see.

                                    

This is a continuation of my post yesterday. LINK

This is an important topic and I have highlighted sentences I want to elaborate on in my next post.

Ego or stupidity

 

The following email from James Chapman, in 2010, fortifies the saying by Charlie Munger that the Human mind is like the human egg.

One of my first emails disagreeing with a Phonological Awareness Deficit being the cause of dyslexia was to James Chapman. He and William E. Tunmer had jointly produced a paper stating that dyslexia is caused by Phonological Awareness Deficit.

This is a clear case of researchers who have written something and when evidence to the contrary is produced they refuse to accept it.

Tones in Mandarin

 

At the onset, I want to say that I want to learn to speak Mandarin the way it is intended to be spoken. I want to learn to speak it with the correct tones.

Recently, I joined several groups on Facebook to share experiences learning Chinese.

In most groups, beginners and intermediate learners complain about tones being the most difficult to learn in Mandarin.

Pīnyīn Rìjì Duǎnwén by Zhāng Lìqīng

                                                                    

To follow up on my previous post I decided to check on books in Pinyin and immediately found one written in 2010.

This book of short stories is entirely in Pinyin. It does not contain even one Chinese character.

The entire book is available for free on this site. LINK 

I read the first chapter - Dàshuǐ Guòhòu. I could read and comprehend the entire chapter. Anyone who has attained HSK level 4 will be able to read it.

Pinyin Chart - Purple Culture

 

 

Click for a clear view of one of the many Pinyin charts above online. LINK

Click on the sound files of any of the letters on the first line. b p m f d t n etc. 

This is how many teachers in China and Taiwan teach kids to read in Pinyin. Like kids who are taught English letters with extraneous sounds the intelligent kids who cannot make sense of how ‘bo-ai’ combines to make bai; ‘mo- an’ combines to make man; ‘fo-ang’ combines to become fang; ‘lur-ei’ combines to make lei, shut down/disengage from learning to read.

Pinyin Misunderstood (Part 2)

 

The following is from Quora, posted one year ago.

What are the disadvantages of teaching Chinese using Pinyin instead of learning all those Chinese characters?

Somnath Mukherjee answered: MSc. from Dr. C V Raman University

There are a few disadvantages to teaching Chinese using Pinyin instead of learning all those Chinese characters.

Pinyin is not a perfect representation of Chinese pronunciation. Some sounds in Chinese cannot be represented by Pinyin and some sounds in Pinyin can be pronounced in different ways depending on the context. This can make it difficult for learners to develop accurate pronunciation.

AI on Bopomofo (Part 3)

 

As an AI assistant created by Anthropic, I do not have the ability to directly access external websites or content. However, based on the information you have provided from the blog post, here is my response:

It seems you have identified an issue with how some teachers are incorrectly teaching Pinyin, the Romanized phonetic system used to represent the sounds of Mandarin Chinese. Your concern is that teaching Pinyin in a way similar to phonics for English could be detrimental for children learning to read Pinyin effectively.

A few suggestions on what you could do in this situation:

Pinyin Chart

 当局者迷,旁观者清

 dāng jú zhě mí, páng guān zhě qīng 

When I thought of writing about the following chart the above proverb came to mind.

When you are playing chess, sometimes it’s not easy to make good a judgment since you've been so indulged in the game. Whereas, a person who sits next to you may have a better view or understanding of the situation thus to make a better decision than you. This proverb tells people that being involved in a matter may not guarantee a comprehensive overview of it due to too much concentration on gains and losses, while the onlookers, who have a calmer and more objective attitude, have a better grasp of what is going on.

 

The above is one of many Pinyin charts you may find on the internet.

Click on this link to see the chart clearly. LINK

On the top column you will see letters bpmfdtn until the end which is the letter r. 

On the left hand you will see letters i to the last cell down which shows un. 

There are no sound tracks for the letters b to h at the top. All other cells including the green column on the left have sound tracks. 

Learning Chinese

 

I have been away from social media for about 3 months as I was busy doing some important work.

I have finished my work and now would like to write my experiences on learning Mandarin. I hope my new blog will encourage non- Chinese who want to learn Mandarin without having to learn to read Chinese characters. 

Many Chinese teachers who are on social media to earn money tell us that it is impossible to learn Mandarin without learning Chinese characters. This is untrue. Now, it is so much easier to learn to speak in Mandarin than it was 50 years ago.

Those who are interested to learn how I am learning Mandarin are welcome to follow me on my blog at

https://luqmanchineselearning.blogspot.com/

Click here. 

Dyslexia- A convenient term for reading difficulties in general

 

Following my last article, I would say that there is no reason why most dyslexics cannot read well with the right instruction.

People often accept dyslexia as an incurable disease. From my experience of teaching dyslexic students, I have found that all my dyslexic students can read if taught in a way suitable for them.

Dyslexic children who could not read but can read as adults

I have read many articles about adults who were unable to read in school as children but have learned to read when they were older.

The questions that arise in my mind are: “Why is this so? Why is it that they could not read when in school but are able to learn to read when they get older?” I believe the answer is simply that as an adult they can reason out and realize that they have been trying to learn English in a logical way when many of the words are not spelt logically. When this realization sets in they have no problem learning to read in English. There is no underlying reason (except perhaps that they had not been taught the way they should have been taught) as to why most of them had not learned in the first place.

A little each day.

I taught my children Mandarin while driving them to school, and back. I found that it took me about 25 minutes each way. When I picked them up from school, the first thing I'd do was to ask them about their day. After that I’d teach them Mandarin. I told them that they were simply wasting their time, their ‘life’, looking out the car window, not looking at anything in particular, while I was driving.

Dyslexia - Malay, Mandarin and English

Bahasa Malaysia (The Malay Language)

This is our National Language and all students have to learn this language. The only letter that represents more than one sound in Bahasa Malaysia is the letter ‘e’. It can be pronounced ‘er’ or ‘ay’.

Dyslexia - A Different Perspective

 

In 2004 one of my neighbours asked me to tutor his son. I said that I have not given tuition to any child and asked him to look for a proper tuition teacher. He replied that since my children have done exceptionally well in school I should be able to help his son. After much persuasion, I agreed to try. After three lessons which were nerve racking he told me that his son was dyslexic. His son John (not his real name) had just completed a year in a public primary school and was going to be transferred to a private school in Kota Kinabalu and would be placed in primary one as he could hardly read. I had not heard the word dyslexic and checked the internet to learn about dyslexia. Having checked a few sites I took it up as a challenge to teach John. By this time I had taken a liking to John as he was a jovial child.