Skip to main content

Kick start your Child's English Skills for school


It a usually agreed fact that knowing basic English before the kids start school will boost their morale and make life so much easier for them in an English medium school.

Kids in Chennai grow up for the first 2 to 3 years hearing a speaking their native language which could be mostly Tamil and sometimes a variety of languages based on what their parents speak.

So when on the first day of school the teacher starts to dish out instructions in English the little one who are not comfortable with the language lag behind significantly. This lag may take years to overcome.

So with a little bit of help from you and the below interactive sites, we can make their lives a lot easier as they start school.

The best FREE online resources for teaching your kids correct English are as follows

http://www.starfall.com/
By far the most comprehensive site for learning English, the colourful presentation makes it a big hit with 2-4 year olds.

www.rif.org/leadingtoreading
After Starfall this would be the best site for self navigation, highly recommended. Check out the finger play section (Action and singing for popular nursery rhymes).

http://www.childtopia.com/
This is an excellent site for playful learning, the below twos will enjoy it even more. A place for listening and reading comprehension.

http://www.literacycenter.net/
This gives basic alphabets, numbers, shapes, colours and time telling. Also shows you how to write the alphabets.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

LKG Admissions @ SBOA School and Junior College 2012 - 2013

I'm putting my second child in SBOA this year, and the first round of admissions are in progress. My! the fees have gone up this year, but looking at the other schools, including Matric schools, SBOA has managed to keep the fees lower than the city average. The admission process was smooth and quick. We finished meeting the Principal in about 30mins from the time we got there. All that's left is, to pay the fees and start the joining formalities. I'm glad that my kid got in, as I already have another child studying in 1st Std in SBOA. She enjoys going to school. At 50 kids a class, it is a crowd but their systematic way of doing things more than makes up for it. Good luck to all those applying for admissions @ SBOA this year.   For more info check at the below site http://www.sboajc.org/admission.html Photo courtesy Stuart Miles @ freedigitalimages.net 

LKG Admissions @ SBOA Junior College 2014 - 2015

So the little one is ready for LKG and you are hell bent on finding the right school. Maybe you have narrowed down SBOA School and Junoir College, Anna Nagar or it is on your list of schools to consider, either ways you would need to pick up an application first. From 2012 the applications can be downloaded online and the registration fee needs to be paid at the time of submitting the application. Usually the applications are issued by the mid of January for the current year admissions. You will have at least 2 weeks to prepare your application and submit it. The documents requested to be submitted along with the application would be The birth certificate of the child (With the name entered) An Address proof (Could be the childs passport, family ration card, gas bill in the name of the father or mother, etc...) There are around 1000+ seats available, but unfortunately the demand is disproportionately high.  The below website is where you can

Pre-kindergarten Skills

So having got a seat in a good school for our 3 year old, what would the next step have to be? The practice in Chennai these days is to put the kid in pre -school or play school by the age of 2, so most have acquired skills for kindergarten already. Now what if you have chosen not to put your ward in a pre -school? (we did not send her to a pre -school).....Well you have to just rely on yourself to do the pre -KG tutoring . The basic skills they are going to need would be Adequately toilet trained and need to indicate in advance Can speak clearly for the classmates and the teacher can understand ( at least in the native language) Can listen to and follow instructions Know some basic manners, like please and thank you An enthusiasm to learn new things So I guess most kids would have mastered at least 4 out of the 5 points above. Apart from these other skills that your ward could use are alphabet recognition Number recognition Basic Colours and Shapes Using the c