Play and learn having fun with words

Fun with words Have you ever had fun with words? Have you played word puzzles in the newspaper? Whatever the activity is, we all enjoy playing, is it not? Children like to play most of the time. For children, playing and learning are the same thing. A whole lot of…

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english alphabet e

A spelling rule so simple that a 5-year-old can teach you

Playing and learning Two weeks ago, I was playing with my niece. Playing and learning go hand in hand in our household. While we were playing, her eyes fell on the Compound Words kit that lay on my table. She wanted to play with it. I gave the set to…

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The many sounds of ‘oe’

Did you know that the letter combination ‘oe’ makes many sounds? What could these be? Could we simply combine the sound of ‘o’ and the sound of ‘e’? Earlier in this series of articles on our blog, we have learned sounds of a, sounds of s, sounds of ‘v &…

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The mysterious letter q

I have often wondered about the mysterious letter q. It does not have a unique sound of its own and it is the second least frequently used letter in the English language. It is still part of the English alphabet and holds its own charm. I have a distinct feeling…

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Compound Words – Learning through play

Making new words Have you ever wondered about building vocabulary by making new words? It is indeed an interesting method. In an earlier article, we spoke about building vocabulary through word families. In the early stages of learning, word families provide an excellent method to build a vocabulary quickly. As…

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Building Vocabulary through Word Families

Vocabulary through imitation For a child who is beginning to learn to speak, building vocabulary is primarily through imitation. She learns words by observing her surroundings and mimicking the words spoken around her. As the child grows and more conscious learning sets in, vocabulary building becomes a deliberate activity. When…

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2 English spelling rules that you did not know existed

Spelling is confusing Learning English spelling is not straightforward. It is confusing to learn and remember all the spelling rules. After spending many years with the English language as a student and professional, I use the language intuitively. If you ask me to explain a spelling rule, I will have…

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New Year, New Horizons

Reflection on the year gone by As we step into the New Year 2021, we take a reflective look a the year gone by. To say that 2020 was a roller-coaster ride would be the gross understatement of the year. As COVID-19 shook the world all over, we realised the…

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ABC letters with smiley face

Learning English Spellings through Phonics

English spellings can be confusing to learn. Given that English has a non-ideal phonemic orthography, the pronunciation and the spelling do not have a one-to-one relation also. Why are put and cut pronounced differently, even though they have the same vowel? This is one of the few common questions that…

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letters of the alphabet

3 reasons why you should learn English through Phonics

Learn English with Phonics When a strong foundation of basic concepts is laid at a young age, complex concepts can be learned effectively. Our team’s experience at NumberNagar® tells us that this is possible when we learn English through Phonics. When I was in primary and pre-primary school, English learning…

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