After five years of teaching, I decided to give myself a break from kids and school. The reason is simple, I know I was not the rookie teacher anymore, but still I often wonder how much kids learn in my class.

 

It seems very difficult to position yourself in public primary school. Kids who are good at the subject usually attribute their performances to the cram school. Kids who lag behind have limit access to english learning, and you really can't help them as much as you can.

 

Comparing to the prior experiences of working in the media, I found it is extremely challenging to have a sence of achivement in English teaching.

 

But as time evolves, I gradually learned my blind spot in teaching English. There are a lot of things we, adult, take for granted in learning another language.

 

Take practicing the onset and rimes for example. I remembered the kids seems very confusing when I ask them to find the middle sound of the word they heard. Also, there are kids fail to distinguish between letters and words. These confusion are obviously due to first language interference. The problems may seem small, but that's when the kids start struggling in understanding the new system.

 

The book I'm reading now have a very interesting and concise way to teach kids learning the concept of "beginning, middle and ending sounds". To make it easier to read, please find the 2nd reading notes from <Sound linkage>.