I don't remember not knowing how to read, or learning to read. I do remember going to a Montessori school before starting "regular" school (which wound up bumping me to second grade at entry).
The amusing part of all of this is that there is only one time in my life where I experienced the feeling of being unable to read, and that was a visit to Tokyo. It's very weird to suddenly become illiterate for the first time at 31.
Periodically I reteach myself Hebrew. Sounding out the words gets interesting. And I usually don't know what they mean.
I do feel the frustration of not knowing, and it's a really neat feeling if I'm with someone who'll point to where we are in the book...to be able to match the words to the sounds I already know.
I had a book that transliterated English words into Hebrew letters. Listening to someone sounding out English and mixing up T/S/M and D/R and Z/V sounds very odd.
I like the idea of English words in Hebrew letters, at least for reading practice. Tav, Samech and Mem don't throw me as much as remembering which one is Bet and which Vet, or which is Pe and which Fe, and don't get me started on the vowels. I'm Canadian, so I have very unusual ideas about which English letters make which vowel sounds.
I meant "organic" in the sense that for most of us it seemed to be a natural, holistic process. Many of us weren't taught to read. I most certainly did not do Montessori anything; I just had Chomsky's Codex alive, awake and aware in my brain earlier than normal -- probably because while other kids were learning to walk, I was unable, so I had to have something to do. Incidentally, I do not remember a time when I couldn't read, but I do remember learning to walk. That's because I, uh, got things a little backwards and learned to walk around age 3 as well.
It was a very cool book; wish I could remember the title /author, as I'd give up and just buy myself a new copy. I know it's British.
Thing is, usually when someone's trying to learn to read they've got some idea of context and they've got some idea of what real words sound like. By doing this transliteration, the book preserves that and makes it so you're only learning to read and not also trying to do it in a new language where nothing is familiar.
Yeah, I'd agree - the whole teaching-to-read thing seems to be something that happens if the kid hasn't already figured it out on his own before age 4 or 5.
(no subject)
The amusing part of all of this is that there is only one time in my life where I experienced the feeling of being unable to read, and that was a visit to Tokyo. It's very weird to suddenly become illiterate for the first time at 31.
(no subject)
I do feel the frustration of not knowing, and it's a really neat feeling if I'm with someone who'll point to where we are in the book...to be able to match the words to the sounds I already know.
I had a book that transliterated English words into Hebrew letters. Listening to someone sounding out English and mixing up T/S/M and D/R and Z/V sounds very odd.
That's funny...
I meant "organic" in the sense that for most of us it seemed to be a natural, holistic process. Many of us weren't taught to read. I most certainly did not do Montessori anything; I just had Chomsky's Codex alive, awake and aware in my brain earlier than normal -- probably because while other kids were learning to walk, I was unable, so I had to have something to do. Incidentally, I do not remember a time when I couldn't read, but I do remember learning to walk. That's because I, uh, got things a little backwards and learned to walk around age 3 as well.
Re: That's funny...
Thing is, usually when someone's trying to learn to read they've got some idea of context and they've got some idea of what real words sound like. By doing this transliteration, the book preserves that and makes it so you're only learning to read and not also trying to do it in a new language where nothing is familiar.
Yeah, I'd agree - the whole teaching-to-read thing seems to be something that happens if the kid hasn't already figured it out on his own before age 4 or 5.
Wow. Were you crawling until age 3?