Phonics Bed
There’s been a lot of discussion recently on the ETJ Activities list about the letters b and d. When written in lowercase these can be very confusing for Japanese youngsters.Many young children go through a period of mirror writing. They write some letters backwards. A backwards c or s is instantly recognisable to an adult but a backwards b looks like a d and vice-versa. A child may have much more difficulty noticing. A child might have the sound and shape in their brain but somehow it doesn’t come out quite right.
I guess one reason for mirror writing is lack of muscle memory. Too much brain processing is going on while the hand is writing? If you want to experience this then try writing the alphabet out in mirror image. Not something I can do automatically though I can write with either hand.
Writing out the same letter many times in a row can help develop muscle memory. I think the way a child learns to write the letters help too. There are no fixed rules for writing the alphabet as there are for writing kana and kanji in Japanese. However when writing b it helps to start at the top and when writing d it helps to start by writing a c and turning it into a d.
With children under the age of 6 I’m not strict about writing letters. Actually I don’t really do writing with them unless they request it. I do various writing games with older children - d, f, i, j, p, t, x, y use two strokes, k uses three.
Some great suggestions came up on the list including doing a disco dance and using a thumbs up gesture with both hands as an aid to remember which letter is which. There was also discusssion about making a mobile and a phonics bed.
I’ve put together a few graphics on this which you are welcome to download if they could be of any use. If you have questions or comments please contact me. I’ll be happy to make changes to the graphics if people can think of any improvements.
January 17th, 2005 at 12:00 am
I love the Phonics Bed! I personally would like to have the head at the other end as it feels backwards to me. Start at the head . . . . I love the idea of the silhouette, and the use of the letter formation. As I usually ask my KG students to create their own letter shapes, I did a bit of research today in class. The most popular way of forming” b” and “d” was to extend the pointer finger (I’m one year old!), and then form a circle with the other fingers. I showed them the idea of the thumb and fist, but they preferred seeing a circle and line( or vise versa). Many also used both hands to make their letters, one for the line and one for the circle. That probably wouldn’t help them in remembering the difference between the letters.
Take care,
Kathy
January 26th, 2005 at 12:00 am
I never noticed - what a good idea! I’ve added a second file. Actually, I’ve realised that to make a cut out for a mobile both ways round are needed. Allowing children to experiment and find their own ways of doing things is important.