•  On Dec, 18, 2022
•  Tutoring Primary

Missed the Literacy Bus NAPLAN results for 2022 confirm the trend: for ten years literacy results indicate students have failed to progress between Grade 4 and Year 7. Australian schools are good at teaching early literacy. By Year 4, students can decode the text on the page; answer questions relating to the chronology of stories; […]

•  On Nov, 28, 2022
•  Tutoring Primary

Developmental Language Disorder Developmental Language Disorder, or DLD, is the subject of two recent research studies. Well reported on the internet including in The Conversation. The term replaces Specific Language Impairment. This change is found in the DSM-V (English) and does not necessarily apply to medical terms in all languages. DLD means a person has an […]

•  On May, 08, 2022
•  Tutoring Primary

The 3-Point Principle is: Model the letter. Work on a couple of problem letters per week. Say: All downstrokes are straight, all upstrokes slant to the right.

•  On May, 08, 2022
•  Tutoring Primary

You could find that Grade 3 material is being taught as if it is Grade 2. And children are being assessed for Grade 2 on Grade 3 materials.

•  On Sep, 14, 2018
•  Mary Keating

Read the text twice with your child. The first reading is for decoding. The second is for comprehension. A learner-reader cannot be expected to decode and comprehend well on one reading.

•  On Aug, 05, 2018
•  Mary Keating

A further 13% of 4th graders in Australia scored at the Low Benchmark. So 20% are reading at or below the Low Benchmark. Influencing these results is the rate of tiredness and hunger on arrival at school.

•  On Aug, 03, 2018
•  Mary Keating

Good readers can skim and scan for general ideas but they must learn to read carefully for detail.

•  On Nov, 22, 2017
•  Mary Keating

Children often don’t know where to start writing a letter. For letters that are written in one stroke, children often write them in three separate strokes to make it ‘look right’ afterwards. Here’s how to help them.

•  On Jun, 25, 2017
•  Mary Keating

Whole Language Theory Whole Language Theory dominated literacy teaching. In the 1960’s the movement towards the whole language approach to teaching literacy in schools gathered strength. Many schools still teach based on whole language theory. Children are taught to learn words only within the context of text to anticipate ‘what comes next’; to recognise words […]

•  On Jun, 18, 2017
•  Mary Keating

Cursive Script – the Debate Cursive script is considered a waste of teaching time in some education circles. Associate Professor Dr Misty Adoniou said in early 2015 in The Conversation, available on line “The research doesn’t find any benefits for cursive writing.” https://theconversation.com/profiles/misty-adoniou-107235 She added the following, “Cursive writing is cute, and nice, and decorative if you’ve […]