How to read together

The four steps of every story

1. Inspire · Let's read. Ask the wonder question, then read the story together, one line a page. You read first; your child reads the dotted words.
2. Investigate · Sound it out. Three or four small games on the story's sounds: clap the parts of a word, join two parts, find a word, match it to English.
3. Integrate · What it means. One question that links the story to Allah, His creation and good character. Every answer is a good one; talk about it.
4. Impart · Tell it again. Your child tells the story to someone at home in the other language, using three pictures, and picks one small thing to do today.

Why Malay is read first

Malay is spelt the way it sounds, so a child who knows a consonant and a vowel can read “ba”, then “ba·ca”. English spelling needs its own phonics, so in Peringkat 1 English is for listening and talking: you read the English line, your child says it back, and they match English words to pictures.

The sounds, one step at a time

K is a consonant (konsonan), V a vowel (vokal: a, e, i, o, u). Each story adds one step:

• Huruf dan bunyi · Letters and sounds · Which sound does the word start with?
• KVKV (a) · Two syllables, each a consonant and “a”: ma-ma, ba-ca.
• KVKV (i) · Now “i” joins “a”: ki-ta, pa-gi.
• KVKV (u) · Now “u” joins “a” and “i”: bu-ku, gu-ru.
• KVKV (o) · Now “o”: bo-la, to-pi.
• KVKV (e) · Now “e”: me-ja, be-ri.

Tips

• Read slowly and point to each word as you say it.
• Praise the effort, not the speed. There are no scores and no timers here.
• Tap a dotted word to light up its parts while you say them.
• One story a day is plenty. Books on the shelf can be read again any time.
• The gear (⚙) changes which language comes first, the dots and the level.