MANY YEARS ago, I took the Common Entrance Examination (CEE). Over the years, my children have taken the CEE, the first year of the GSAT and subsequent years of GSAT. All of them went to the same primary school. I think I can safely say that GSAT does not cause, nor is it a symptom of, the two-Jamaica phenomenon.

For that, we have to look to much younger children and their parents. If the schools in Jamaica are sending out a much larger percentage of graduates who cannot read than they should, it follows that we have many more parents who cannot read than we should. And if the school is not able and the parents are not able, how does a child with a non-reader parent get to read? This is the problem. What is the solution?

Available websites

Many parents who have been blessed to learn how to read and know how to teach others to read start their children young on some type of phonics programme, including resources such as www.starfall.com and http://genkienglish.net - two freely avail-able websites - Hooked on Phonics, and/or many locally available books such as Step by Step to Reading using Phonics, etc.

The problem with the two-Jamaica phenomenon we are now experiencing is the non-readers and the readers. And my solution? I am encouraging a more audiocentric approach to learning English. Do not assume you know the sounds of your vowels and consonants or how to put them together. Get help. Access these free websites. Go back to the basics, get help.

Once you really learn the sounds of your consonants and the different sounds the vowels make and the sounds they make together, reading will become much easier and the world of books will open up to your fingertips.

I am, etc.,

SYLVIA MITCHELL

sylviamitchell.biotech@gmail.com