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0 sats \ 4 replies \ @cryotosensei 11 Jan \ on: Stacker Saloon
Subject line: Nano tip to help your students pass their exams
It’s a scenario familiar to many: Your students take a long time to answer a few MCQs on their ISC practice paper. Or they finish it so fast that you know they just want to get it over and done with.
What’s going on?
Our students haven’t “locked in” the important rules that govern pronunciation. The more persistent ones take pain to decode each syllable of every word. The less persistent ones give up and answer randomly.
How can I help?
Introducing the Nano Tip Series, where Kai Le Sensei introduces a tip that will help you help your students read better and faster.
Nano Tip:
When the letter ‘c’ is followed by these letters (a, o, u or anther consonant), it represents the ‘hard’ sound, /k/. Most students know this.
What they don’t know is that When the letter ‘c’ is followed by an ‘e’, ‘I’ & ‘y’, it ‘softens’ to a /s/ sound. This is true at the start of words (city, cent, cycle) and also at the end of words (rice).
What do I do with this nano tip?
I picked up the following ‘c’ words from your specialisation while going through the Year 1 Orientation with 1S6. The soft ‘c’ words are highlighted in yellow, while the hard ‘c’ words are highlighted in blue.
These words may look simple, but I had to teach one 1S6 girl how to read ‘kitchen’. Always assume that they know nothing.
Mind-mapping
Using Facility Services as an example, I asked ChatGPT to generate a mind map of pertinent ‘c’ words associated with electricity. These are high frequency words in the topic of electricity.
Mind-mapping is a powerful tool for students with dyslexia to build lasting connections between words.
When your students are familiar with pronunciation rules and high-frequency words, they feel more confident to pass their ISC exam.
Call to Action
If you would like to work with me to a list of high frequency words categorised according to common pronunciation rules for your students, let me know. I will love to help. Xin Yi, the 2nd I/C of the Literacy Support Team, will help too.
Stay tuned for more nano tips from Kai Le Sensei!
As you're no doubt aware, every c in "Pacific Ocean" is pronounced differently.
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Cool! I actually never thought of Pacific Ocean this way haha. What do you happen to know about the silent c?
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I wasn't sure what that is, so I did a quick search:
Silent C: The letter C is silent when it is in the letter combination of SC. Examples: scissors, ascent, fascinate, muscle. The letter C is also silent before the letters K and Q. Examples: block, puck, lock, acknowledge, aqua, acquit, acquiesce.
It doesn't help much to point out that those are all loan words, since 90% of English is loan words.
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You know what? I should have checked it myself, but I’m the kind who likes to learn incidentally from other people haha. Thanks for checking it out for me! Much appreciated
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