We checked out this fun little movie from our library called "Leap Frog Letter Factory". It was very clever and taught all the letters to make their sound. For example, a monster would jump out at the A, and they would all say "aaahhh" Now Tanner and Colty know the sounds that all the letters say. And, Tanner is figuring out how to spell things. Every night after dinner he lays on the floor with his white board and dad and they practice writing letters and sounding out words. It has been quite frustrating to realize just how STUPID the English language is. How do you explain to a 4 year old that A says aaa like in cat, but it also says au like in car, AAA like in tape, and about any other sound it might feel like making. Then there are all the sight words, and exceptions and exceptions and exceptions. Dave and I were talking and he said, I guess we need to start teaching him that oi says oy, like in coil, toil, boil, etc. Are there exceptions to that?" I said that I suspected that there were exceptions to every rule, and then we heard someone say stoic, and I said, see, another exception. He decided that the fact that we can read, write, and speak English basically makes us geniuses!
So, we are moving to Mexico, where letters always make the same sound, no exceptions.
2 comments:
I read your post title and thought you really were moving to Mexico! I'm glad I read on. In college, one of my English professors said, "We like English because there really are no rules." I agree with you, not the English professor.
Your boys are adorable. I love all the new pictures of them. We're headed up to Idaho in December, so hopefully we can see you.
I've always thought the English language wasn't very well thought out. And I admire people from other lands who can learn it.
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