Plees teech me to reed!! ;-)

An unexexpected visit to Totnes last night, for yet another

Tuesday late night shopping extravaganza,

brought a surprise!

Walking into 'This 'N That', I was greeted by Lesley,

whose immediate words were :

''I have a present for you. Open it right away!'

I laughed!

(I would love to have had Lesley as my headmistress,

she is a scream!! )

We had only been talking about this not so long ago!

The Initial Teaching Alphabet

When it comes to the subject of teaching children to read,

there have been some pretty crazy ideas over the years!

But I think this beats them all!

Known as The Pitman Initial Teaching Alphabet (i.t.a.),

it was invented by Sir James Pitman, grandson of the inventor

of Pitman shorthand.

It was first used in a number of British schools in 1961

and soon spread to the USA and Australia.

The i.t.a was designed to make it easier for

English-speaking children to learn to read English.

(Well that was the idea!)

The idea was that children would first learn to read

using the i.t.a. then they would be introduced to

standard English orthography at the age of seven.

The i.t.a. consisted of 42 letters, 24 standard lowercase

Latin letters plus a number of special letters,

most of which are modified Latin letters.

The main problems of using the i.t.a were:

1. That it was based on Received Pronunciation,

so people with other accents founded it difficult to decipher.

(I mean, can you imagine it being used nowadays, in our

multi cultural schools,let alone in Liverpool or Birmingham!!)

2. There was a lack of written materials in i.t.a.

(Too right! And not to mention all the signs and instructions

that one sees in everyday life, out and about)

3. Some children found the transition to the

traditional orthography, difficult.

(You don't say!)

4. Parents were confused (to say the least!)

I am sure that it did have a few successes...

but it also had its critics...including me!!

;-)

I remember seeing this system in action when I was

on a school visit, as a student...

...and thinking how crazy is this...

why not teach them properly from the start!!

So there you have it... yet I do believe that this system

is still used in some places in the USA,

especially with dyslexic children.

So, it's still a good one for debate!

Anyway..I now have a book to 'reed'... with a nise cup ov tee!!

Awl 63 payges!!!!

And thank you, Lesley! ;-)

The book will take pride of place in my teaching room!

;-)