ABSTRACT
Essentially, the primary school years should be years of active doing, exploring and creating, as well as of learning to master the skills whereby the experience of others can later on be assimilated. Most children look forward eagerly to going to school. Fear is the greatest cause of blockage to activity in general and learning ability in particular. The majority of children at the age of five, or even six, may not be ready for systematic formal teaching. The self-teaching method of learning to read is not only essential for children who are all at different stages of reading and who learn at different rates, but provides for each child a very important ingredient, which is necessary for his success. Spelling is unfortunately a kind of obsession with many teachers, who pass it on to the children in the form of fear and hatred of writing.
