The Beginning Reading Method for Primary Schools

This year, my son is in first grade elementary school. My son is 6 years old. He had trouble reading simple Indonesian words.

One day, I observed directly what method used by the teacher to teach how to read Indonesian vocabulary. I saw there are two methods used by teachers.

Alphabetical Method

Source

I saw the teacher repeatedly introducing in alphabetical letters to his students. Vocal letters are very easy to absorb by children, but in some cases, children are difficult to distinguish letters b, d, p, q or n, u, m, w. The teacher read the letters repeatedly with clear vocal emphasis. In addition, teachers also provide examples of how to read alphabet letters, and students mimic classically (whole class), then split into groups and finally by individually.

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Spelling Method

After about half an hour, the teacher used another method of reading. The method used is the spelling method. The spelling method is learning to read that starts from spelling letter by letter. The approach used in the spelling method is the literal approach. Students are introduced with symbols. Learning Spell methods consists of introducing letters or alphabets A through Z and introducing letters or phonemes.

The teacher gave several syllables, both syllables that have illustrations and syllables that have no illustrations. I saw some examples of that syllable:

A - pi (fire)
A - bu (dust)
Ba - ca (read)
Ba - tu (stone)
Bu - ku (book)

There is some progress there. The classroom atmosphere arranged in groups provides convenience to students. In addition, this method also makes it easier for students to absorb syllables. This method also does not require complex facilities and infrastructures. We know, schools in Indonesia, generally have inadequate facilities.