About Us
What is Enter-Great English?
Enter-Great English is an intervention programme that functions as a bridging tool, to ensure a smooth transition from the junior primary phase to the senior primary phase.
The programme integrates and revises the various reading, spelling, comprehension and language skills that are required to achieve excellence in mastering the English language at this particular stage of development.
Why implement Enter-Great English? There are several pertinent articles to read on the importance of third grade reading, and why the transition from the third to the fourth grade is often challenging. An excellent website to refer to is The Annie E. Casey Foundation. Their research is based on the American context, but the points made are relevant throughout the world. A poignant extract from a report published by the foundation relates:
‘Early Warning: Why Reading by the End of Third Grade Matters’.
There are several pertinent articles to read on the importance of third grade reading, and why the transition from the third to the fourth grade is often challenging. An excellent website to refer to is The Annie E. Casey Foundation. Their research is based on the American context, but the points made are relevant throughout the world. Below is a poignant quote a report published by the foundation relates: ‘Early Warning: Why Reading by the End of Third Grade Matters‘.
Reading proficiency by the end of third grade (as measured by NAEP at the beginning of fourth grade) can be a make-or-break benchmark in a child’s educational development.
Up until the end of third grade, most children are learning to read. Beginning in the fourth grade, however, they are reading to learn, using their skills to gain more information in subjects such as maths and science, to solve problems, to think critically about what they are learning, and to act upon and share that knowledge in the world around them. Up to half of the printed fourth grade curriculum is incomprehensible to students who read below that grade level, according to the children’s Reading Foundation.
And three quarters of students who are poor readers in third grade will remain poor readers in high school, according to researchers at Yale University. Not surprisingly, students with relatively low literacy achievement tend to have more behavioural and social problems in subsequent grades and higher rates of retention in grade. The (American) National Research Council asserts that “academic success, as defined by high school graduation, can be predicted with reasonable accuracy by knowing someone’s reading skill at the end of third grade. A person who is not at least a modestly skilled reader by that time is unlikely to graduate from high school.”
Annie Murphy Paul wrote a very insightful ARTICLE for TIME magazine. She refers to what researchers call ‘The Matthew Effect’. The learners at this age who were more skilled at reading, amassed knowledge and learnt new words quickly; while poor readers avoid reading out of frustration and therefore experience difficulty in all learning areas. This vicious cycle perpetuates an academic gap that worsens over time. This gap is aptly named after the Bible verse in the gospel of Matthew (25:29):
For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken even that which he hath. – Matthew 25:29, King James Version.
An encouraging point is made: “The Matthew effect has an important upside: well-timed interventions can reverse its direction, turning a vicious cycle into a virtuous one”.
The Emotional Aspect
Check-list:
Ambiance:
Be sure that you have created an atmosphere of learning: a balance between a formal and relaxed environment. Find a quiet spot, where you won’t be continually interrupted or distracted.
Fun-factor:
Allow for the use of markers, highlighters or coloured pens. Encourage notes on the sides and drawing arrows to link ideas.
Less is more:
Break up each section into manageable units. Don’t work for longer than 45min to 1 hour, depending on age and ability.
We have dealt with academic purpose and structure of this programme. However, more pertinent to the success of this programme, is the way you make your child/ren feel during the time spent on this programme. A child’s emotional state of mind is a key factor in determining his/her ability to read and think critically about what s/he has read.
Teachers or moms often want their child/ren to work quietly and independently at completing some form of extra practice. Many children working through this programme will, however, struggle to differentiate between the various graphemes and phonemes and will therefore find many aspects a challenge. Children require you to come alongside them and work at their pace; gradually building their skill and confidence.
Many intervention and remedial programmes are implemented to assess learners’ areas of difficulty. The lessons in this programme are intended to be completed by making use of collaboration and discussion, with an enthusiasm for the English language. The focus is on encouraging analysis, word and sound manipulation and thinking skills – not assessment.
Work together to play with sounds, words and their meanings.
The Academic Structure
Reading Passage
The reading passage is written in the format of a particular text type. A list of words (a traditional spelling list) that includes a variety of graphemes (letter/s of the alphabet) that represent a specific phoneme (sound) are incorporated into the text.
A. Auditory discrimination and mapping
After reading through the text once or twice, read through it again slowly, carefully analysing the sounds/phonemes within each word and categorising them according to the focus sound.
B. Word and sound manipulation skills
1. Chunking
Long, multi-syllabic words create anxiety. So, how do you eat an elephant? One chunk at a time!
A very informative website (http://www.ontrackreading.com/phonics-program/multisyllable-method-overview) gives a detailed explanation of the difference between chunking and syllabification. Generally, you break a word into chunks after the vowel sounds, as in the words ra-bbit and de-bate, but there are several exceptions and rules. For the purposes of using Enter-Great English, I would not encourage you to make this an overly complicated skill for a child to master, especially one who is already experiencing difficulties. Chunking is a simpler form of syllabification. Primarily, a child needs to learn to break bigger words into smaller visual chunks to make them easier to read. With spelling, you can break words into smaller audible chunks and then use code knowledge to spell each chunk. Allow them to practise this naturally, albeit with some mistakes, without creating anxiety around mastering another set of rules.
2. Coding
Analysing words and sounds: examples
A dot represents a graph (one letter making a sound, e.g. 
)
A dash represents a digraph or a trigraph (two or three letters making a single sound, e.g. 
)
A dive represents a split vowel digraph (a digraph separated by a consonant, e.g. 
)
3. Unscramble words
This technique works on individual letter/sound relationships, as well as the whole-word approach. After unscrambling, does the whole word look correct?
4. Count Sounds
This concept is like auditory coding. After looking at the picture, find a word that matches the picture and the phoneme you are dealing with. Then count how many sounds you can hear in the word.
Here are some examples:
has 5 sounds 
has 6 sounds
has 3 sounds 
has 5 sounds
C. Progressive levels of comprehension
1. Scanning for keywords
2. Scanning for synonyms or similar words
3. Inferential or evaluative comprehension
4. Critical thinking skills
D. Language concepts
Each section revises a variety of different language concepts.
E. Extension activity
The application of the text-type used in the reading passage.
