RWI Programme at Harrow Haikou
This year, the Pre-Prep of Harrow Haikou introduced the Read Write Inc (RWI) by Oxford University Press, a high-quality phonics programme designed to help children learn to read. This programme aims to teach children how to decode and blend words, ultimately developing independent reading skills in English as an academic language.
As they learn RWI, children start with the sounds of letters or letter clusters, through this they learn reading a spelling, at the same time as sentence structure, grammar and basic writing skills.
Our Pre-Prep students are required to attend one RWI lesson per day, five lessons a week. The children may not know anything about pronunciation at the start of the course, but by the time the course is completed, the children are able to decode and blend words typical of a native speaking 7-year-old, that is to say they have learnt to read and are ready to read to learn.
From September last year to April this year, the reading and spelling skills of Pre-Prep students at Harrow Haikou have been greatly improved. According to the latest assessment in April, 97% of students have made one or more levels of progress.
Progress across the board
In September last year, 52 children were at the most basic three levels, namely Sounds, Ditties and Red groups. Three months later, there were 0 students in these three groups! This means that these children now have a secure grasp of all of the basic sounds in English and have moved onto learning the more complex ones, which will eventually help them towards fluency in reading and writing.
In the top-level Literacy & Language group, there are a total of 46 students in 6 months, up from 15% last September to 38%! This means that these 46 students have finished their RWI programme and 38% of students have efficiently completed their RWI Phonics programme, developing their skills in comprehension, vocabulary and spelling. The length of the RWI programme varies from individual to individual and the goal for next cycle is to have 50% of students progressing to the highest level of the programme.
Based on the latest assessment in April, 97% of students have progressed to higher levels! This compares to 82% in the first assessment in November last year. This means that almost all students at Pre-Prep made some degree of progress after taking the RWI programme, with 62% of them making 2 or more levels of progress.
「From the teaching of finite skills to the lifelong development of comprehension.」
Students who complete the RWI Phonics programme move on to the RWI Literacy & Language.
RWI Phonics helps students build a foundation in English. Once children learn the foundations of reading, a delicate shift is required, to move from the teaching of finite skills to the lifelong development of comprehension.
Phonics
↓
Comprehension
↓
Literacy & Language
Our aim is to build on the good foundations already existing and get children to understand the storyline, develop stronger reading skills and enable learners to summarise the meaning of the text as well as ask their own questions. In class, the teacher leads students in discussing and exploring each text, encouraging them to apply their classroom knowledge to their lives. At the same time, students bring the stories and characters to life for them through role-playing and other methods.
What does the RWI Literacy &
Language lesson look like?
Reading changes everything
During their teaching, the Pre-Prep teachers found that some children who had passed the RWI end of course assessment and entered the L&L programme were struggling with some comprehension and vocabulary, therefore next year the Pre-Prep teaching team will introduce a new bridging programme called RWI: Comprehension.
Getting children to enjoy and actively participate in reading is key to the programme. We want our students to love new books, to explore new stories, to develop their ability to think independently and creatively, and to express their own opinions based on the texts they read. Our aim is no longer just to get children to understand the storyline, but to develop their stronger reading skills so that they can summarise the meaning of the text and ask good questions. Students will study each text in depth, reading it repeatedly and discussing it thoroughly. The improved reading skills will help them to make a better transition to the Literacy & Language programme.
Debate and writing based on the Big Question
At this stage, the teacher selects a text with appropriate length for the Literacy & Language group to read and asks a “big question” that students will talk about or even debate based on their reading. Students are continually encouraged to debate and think, revisiting the questions at the end of the story to see how their opinions change as the discussion progresses, and ultimately learning to think critically.
Take one of big questions as an example:
Should you ever trick your family and friends?
As the discussion progresses, many students discover that sometimes well-intentioned, non-hurtful lies are conducive to harmonious family and friendship relationships - are your opinions still the same as they were at the beginning?
「As they discuss and think, students are also able to use their imagination to ask questions about people, settings and events. Children expand their verbal description skills and use new vocabulary to explain ideas, expanding their vocabulary and enhancing their ability to express and persuade.」
“If you can't express yourself verbally, then it's hard for you to write, too.”
As students develop their opinions in the debate, their opinions will become the topic of writing. The result of the thematic debate will therefore be an overall improvement in the students' English writing. At the same time, our teachers encourage the development of students' skills in vocabulary, grammar, punctuation and writing techniques during the programme. Their English writing skills will also improve.
New format of the programme
In the Literacy& Language programme, in addition to the regular vocabulary reading lessons, the curriculum focuses more on the ability to "use English". Therefore, fun role-play activities are added to the course to continue to deepen their understanding of the text. Students are also encouraged to explore and use English at a higher level. The Pre-Prep at Harrow Haikou will host the events such as:
• English Poetry Week
• English Playlet Performance
Difference between RWI Phonics and Literacy& Language
According to the latest Pre-Prep assessment in Aril, 97% of students moved on to higher levels.
One of our students, Dory Huang from Y4, moved up five consecutive levels from the Orange group to the Literacy & Language group.
When the RWI program first started, Dory's RWI level assessment was not very high. The six months of training has strengthened his spelling foundation and helped him to read more easily. Yesterday Dory told me happily that he got all the spellings correct this time. Dory's older brother did not learn spelling systematically, but Dory is lucky to have access to RWI lessons.
The ultimate goal of the RWI programme is reading. Guided by the school curriculum, Dory also insists on reading at home. We read every day as much as possible, whether after school, on weekends or during the summer or winter holidays. In addition to reading, we also have a lot of movies, documentaries and short science films for our children. We have found in the process that these readings and videos are much more effective and accessible to Dory with the aid of RWI programme.
- Father of Dory Huang
Winnie Zeng, our Y4 student, moved up 6 levels from the Purple group to the Literacy& Language group and made amazing progress.
Every day on the way to school, I encourage Winnie to listen to the English audio, and she basically learns on her own, with me playing more of a supervisory role. We like to follow the school's pace of learning. Once she slowly adapted to the school's teaching model, she got a big boost.
Winnie is thoughtful, competitive and works well with her teachers. Harrow Haikou has made me believe that learning is a matter of long-term perseverance and a collaborative effort between home and school.
- Mother of Winnie Zeng
Based on parents' observations, we can see that Harrow Haikou's RWI programme can play an irreplaceable role in supporting their children's English learning and helping them to build an interest in learning English. We congratulate the children on their tremendous progress in the RWI programme and look forward to them moving on to higher levels and the exciting challenge of studying in the Literacy & Language programme.
Related articles
English Learning in Harrow Pre-Prep School | Introduction to Read Write Inc. Phonics
