#1 Universities South Africa (USAf) requires two languages from South Africans in order to issue full exemption/”university entrance eligibility.”
#2 Learning to read begins with being read to. A child who has a large vocabulary bank because he has had stories read to him on a regular (daily) basis, is going to find reading for meaning easy.
#3 In the formal school environment, children are taught to read and to write at the same time. This is not always successful. Reading should never be delayed because of motor co-ordination difficulties. If you have a child with low muscle tone or fine motor skill delay, do not try to make writing keep up with reading. Writing is a much easier skill to catch up.
#4 Do they really have to write in cursive? Do they really have to do so in lower primary?
#5 The books children learn to read are printed in lowercase letters. When learning the alphabet, it’s thus best to learn the lowercase letters first. It’s helpful to teach that each letter has a name (a = “ay”), and a sound (a = “a”), and that when we read, we say the sounds, not the names. A strong phonics approach to learning reading is proven to have the best outcomes. Allow your child to struggle to sound out words. Confident readers are those who know they can work out anything.
#6 Children generally go through three stages of learning to read: decoding, reading for fluency, and reading for meaning. Decoding involves using phonics to connect sound with letter, while reading aloud. Reading for fluency involves improving flow and speed. And the final stage is the goal: being able to concentrate on, and comprehend the TEXT, not the mechanics of the words. Don’t expect your child to give you feedback on what she has read in the first two stages. She is not meant to.