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Anyone remember learning to read with ITA ?

(50 Posts)
GrandmaCornwall Tue 03-May-22 21:12:19

The Initial Teaching Approach was a new idea in the 60s that fell by the wayside thank goodness. I am curious to know if any one on Gransnet learned to read with this method and did it affect their spelling. In my teens I was working at a school had to re-write many books that were purchased in traditional orthography by error into ITA and my spelling took years to recover.

Cherrytree59 Tue 03-May-22 21:31:50

I didn't but younger my sister did.
I remember her bringing her first IT A reading book home from school, my mum nearly flipped!

I was put in charge of her home reading (8 yrs older) and using chalk and a blackboard I taught her to read/write

My father was very hot on spellings he would constantly ask us how to spell words and always had a dictionary to hand.

Not sure how good at reading/ spelling my sister would have been without family input .
As it is she is good at both .

Shinamae Tue 03-May-22 21:37:51

I learned to read with the Janet and John books…

EVHead Tue 03-May-22 21:39:24

I remember a colleague talking about this!

It was developed by the grandson of Pitman, of shorthand fame. He probably looked at those squiggles and thought “Well if people went for that, they’ll go for my ITA brainwave, no problem!”

More info here:
theliteracyblog.com/2015/05/14/i-t-a-a-great-idea-but-a-dismal-failure/

Aveline Tue 03-May-22 21:39:33

Janet and John for me too (and for Terry Wogan too of course grin)

Glorianny Tue 03-May-22 21:41:51

I actually taught ITA in one of my first teaching jobs. It was a crazy system and it did affect my writing. Not so much spelling but the letter "z" ITA has another symbol which is a "Z" but written the other way round. For ages after I had taught it I would have to pause when I was writing to decide if I was writing a proper "z". Goodness knows what it did to the children's writing and spelling.

Ladyleftfieldlover Tue 03-May-22 21:45:55

Janet and John for me.

eazybee Tue 03-May-22 22:16:21

I had to teach it, at the end of the seventies, and although it was logical it failed because children had to unlearn a process they had just mastered.
It did affect their spelling for years to come.

Marydoll Tue 03-May-22 22:17:39

Janet and John for me.

Casdon Tue 03-May-22 22:19:56

I’m in a minority by the looks of it, I learned with Dick and Dora.

Deedaa Tue 03-May-22 22:29:02

DD was taught to read with ITA. In spite of all her qualifications her spelling has never been brilliant and she still rings me (at the age of 48!) to check spellings if she's writing anything important. When her brother started reading 3 years later the school had given up ITA and gone back to conventional books. He's never had a problem with spelling. As someone once said to me "If you want children to learn to read English why start them off reading Bulgarian?"

Catterygirl Tue 03-May-22 22:31:03

Janet and John did me well. Sorry for bad grammar. I have had a newspaper column.

NotTooOld Tue 03-May-22 22:38:20

Thanks for the link EVHead. This is the first I've heard of ITA. Interesting thread.

Callistemon21 Tue 03-May-22 22:54:53

I can't remember.

Not the ITA method as I'm too old but I have no idea how I learnt to read - I just did.

I do remember the DGC learning with the Oxford books featuring the oddly named Biff, Chip and Kipper (whose idea was that? confused)

Mollygo Tue 03-May-22 23:05:24

I remember ITA being mentioned when we were at Uni. We were told that it had been dropped because it made it even more difficult for those who struggled with reading when they had to change to traditional spelling.

Granny23 Tue 03-May-22 23:20:15

Casdon It was Dick and Dora for me too. I remember they had a cat called Fluff and also a dog - was the dog called 'Spot' ? or is that a false memory?

MissMarpleknows Tue 03-May-22 23:27:05

False memory I’m afraid, Granny23! Dick & Dora’s dog was Nip! ?

mokryna Tue 03-May-22 23:32:18

Janet and John for me.

BlueBelle Wed 04-May-22 03:49:34

Janet and John for me too

Mamardoit Wed 04-May-22 04:02:07

Casdon

I’m in a minority by the looks of it, I learned with Dick and Dora.

With Fluff the cat, and Nip the dog?

Calendargirl Wed 04-May-22 07:16:28

Casdon

I’m in a minority by the looks of it, I learned with Dick and Dora.

Dick and Dora for me also. Always felt they were a bit superior to J&J.

Calendargirl Wed 04-May-22 07:17:43

And my children learned with Billy Blue Hat, or some other Red and Yellow Hats or similar.

Ailidh Wed 04-May-22 07:25:36

The younger of my brothers learned with ITA, and he's never read for pleasure in the fifty years since.

I learned to read in Scotland but have no recollection how, it just happened.

joannapiano Wed 04-May-22 07:40:40

I also learned to read with Dick and Dora, Nip and Fluff.
I taught ITA briefly in the 70’s, didn’t have a clue what I was doing, let alone the children.

Mamie Wed 04-May-22 07:42:21

My children's infant school used it. I remember one teacher was Miz Humfreez. ?
One of my children is a language teacher and the other is a head of communications in a major company, so I don't think it did them any harm.