Frequently asked questions
Reading
What is your Reading Programme?
Our phonics-based reading programme follows the Orton Gillingham approach of teaching struggling readers.
(For more information on the Orton-Gillingham Approach, please refer to the resource page.)
Is your teaching methodology research-based?
Yes. We base our instruction on what research has revealed regarding how our brain learns to read and how a structured literacy approach is most effective in helping struggling readers.
(For information on the research, please refer to the resource page.)
How do you teach my child to read?
We follow a scope and sequence, directly teaching each letter-sound correspondence, from the most basic level of phonics to the more advanced spelling rules and morphological concepts.
Student does not move on to a new concept until he is ready. When we proceed with a new concept, we will continue to review the older skills, thus solidifying the learning.
We build our students' confidence in their reading skills by first using decodable text (texts which contain sound patterns that they have learned) for reading practice and eventually moving them to reading authentic texts.
Is your programme a one-size-fits-all?
Our lessons are individualised, targeting each student’s specific areas of weaknesses and learning gaps.
What materials do you use to teach?
Who will benefit from your programme?
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is unable to read despite having been instructed in phonics -
does not recognise a word that he has read -
guesses at words, instead of sounding them out -
does not have the strategy to sound out unfamiliar words -
able to read the words but does not understand the text -
makes frequent spelling errors, despite having learned the words
Writing
Is your teaching methodology research-based?
Yes. We base our instruction on what research has revealed regarding how explicit instruction and breaking down the complex writing task into small comprehensible steps is effective in helping struggling writers.
(For information on the research, please refer to the resource page.)
How do you teach my child to write?
Writing is a daunting task for a struggling writer. Therefore, we :
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teach by breaking down the process, working on one strategy, one skill, one part at a time before expecting the student to compose a story
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use mentor texts to model good writing
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teach sentence expansion because sentences are the building blocks of writing
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expand the vocabulary of vivid words to replace commonly used words
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directly instruct the various processes of writing such as planning, organisation of ideas, writing and editing
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teach show-not-tell techniques to enhance a story
Is your writing programme a one-size-fits-all?
Our lessons are individualised, targeting each student’s specific areas of weaknesses and learning gaps. Therefore, the target instruction and focus for each student may differ.
What materials do you use to teach?
Who will benefit from your programme?
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consistently makes spelling, capitalisation and grammatical errors when writing -
writes mostly short, choppy sentences -
writes sentences that starts the same way all the time -
uses similar, run-off-the-mill words in the writing -
writes sentences that are characterised by fragments, run-on and rambling -
does not know how to organise his story -
includes irrelevant information in the story
Other Matters
Do you conduct online lessons?
Do you follow the local English curriculum?
We teach our students the skills and strategies to read, comprehend and write. We will provide practice for them to apply what they have learned to meet the requirements of the school's curriculum.