Every night, as long as there are no surprises in our schedules, I try my best to read aloud to my two daughters before bedtime. Typically we read one text in English, and another in Chinese.

In the last few months, the girls have been attracted to a wonderfully written series of non-fiction books about animals. Together we have gone through a number of books in this series, and I have not been keeping track of them.

I started on the sentence, "Dawn is breaking on the African savanna."

My younger girl, who is 7 this year, exclaimed, "Mummy we've read this book before! I remember this line, dawn is breaking on the African savanna."

"Yes, we accidentally borrowed it again," laughed the elder girl, who is currently 9 years old.

Considering my younger girl sometimes does not look at the book when I'm reading, I am reminded of the importance of reading aloud to them and to my students. Casually I did not think that hearing one line from a book only once would leave a great impression on a child.

I suppose I need to be more mindful about what I say to them too.

According to research work by the National Literacy Trust, audiobooks offer easy access to a wide range of texts. Children are also able to access more of a book than reading alone, as the listening experience deepens their understanding of tone, pronunciation, accents, and dialects. Stories beyond the children's current reading level are also made more accessible when they are read aloud.

​Don't give up on reading aloud to children and students, even adult learners love listening to stories.
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Get It Right runs phonics workshops for parents and caregivers, as well as English Language lessons for children, teens and adult learners. Math and Science (primary) lessons are also provided. We work with local and international students, as well as students in public school and homeschool settings.
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Whenever I'm working with teen writers, I often find myself going through mountains of resources, hard pressed to decide on how to engage these brilliant young brains with strong opinions about the world.

Many of my teen students are too immersed in their own worlds, which tend to be rather narrow. One can say it is a sign of the times - afterall, these teenagers can hardly be blamed for an over-reliance on devices and the internet in 2024. How can I get my teen students to stay engaged and think more deeply, instead of just scrolling aimlessly through short reels of less than 30 seconds each?

Let's take our cues from real people around us, with real stories! Choose an article from the news portals. Pick a high quality video featuring the topic to be taught. Bring up a recent controversy, or what we call "gone viral". In this case, I had found my old book of TED Talks featuring Singapore speakers, so my teen students could relate to the local personalities and examples.

It might be hard to get teens to do homework, but everyone has an opinion, and teens even more so. Hear them out, let them air their points of view. Only when they have listened, watched, thought, spoken, and debated, will the writing come more naturally to them.

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Story sharing is an essential part of any language learning process. Looking at the political and social unrest around us in recent months, I have been sharing different stories with my students, with the hope of helping them understand a bit more about what is going on.

Lubna and Pebble by Wendy Meddour tells the story of a little girl Lubna, who had a precious pebble. Living in refugee tents with her family, she met a little boy just like her. One day, when she had to leave the tents, she thought about giving the boy something that gave her comfort in those difficult times.

The student has a precious item too, and he is often keen to tell me all about his possessions. Students of all ages are able to relate to Lubna's feelings. We all have something we treasure, and it gives us comfort and security, especially when trouble confronts us.

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June 2024 via Zoom online
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