Teacher. Specialized in teaching reading skills.
Mon premier apprentissage de la lecture(1984). . . . . . . . . Éditions RETZ
Mon premier apprentissage de l'écriture(1989). . . . . . . . . Éditions RETZ
Des trucs et des jeux pour une bonne mémoire(1989) . . . . . . Éditions RETZ
Des jeux et des mots(1991) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Éditions NATHAN
Mot à mots, la lecture silencieuse dès la Maternelle(1981) . . Éditions PLAYJEUX
Fiches et planches de lecture(1981). . . . . . . . . . . . . . Éditions PLAYJEUX
Pour mieux apprendre à parler et à lire(1986). . . . . . . . . Éditions PLAYJEUX
Jeux Veritech (participation sur les planches lecture)(1989) . Éditions SED
Comment enseigner la lecture aujourd'hui (Film Vidéo)(1989). . Éditions "La Classe"
Je veux apprendre à lire. Enseigne-moi(2000). . . . . . . . . Les Éditions SRP
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27 years in a primary school (grades 1, 2 and 3) in the south of France, during which, fresh out of the Specialized Teachers School, she taught how to read to children, without any particular agenda, and with ease, simply going by the book.The opportunities of her trade,
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the observation, at first unsettling, but afterwards so rewarding, of a little girl who had learned to "read" (so to speak) during her first grade year, although she could previously barely "say" and "understand" more than a few words,…threw her, about twenty years ago, in a deep state of reflection, and led her to profoundly question the orthodox approach to teaching reading skills.
She could then, on a practical level, take her distances from what she learned in books, and, not feeling close to any particular school of thought, she developed an original and particularly novel approach.
As far back as 1978, it was her little pupils who oriented her research. Only their results - failure or success - have continuously oriented her approach and driven its evolution, in order to identify the most adequate pedagogy for their actual developing possibilities.
In reaction to their questions or their answers, to their actions or reactions, she was led, without having aimed at such an outcome, to invent new means, to provide for their needs or to facilitate learning, always being careful to teach reading as completely as possible but without requiring from them efforts that would tax their developing intellectual resources.
Interested by her work, and wishing that her approach be more widely known, the Éducation Nationale Inspector for her sector set up many pedagogical lectures in her classroom, to the benefit of other interested teachers.
Many of them urged her to publish her method. This is how, in 1981, a first book was published, made up almost entirely of pedagogical notes.
Although her method became more and more finely tuned over the course of the following years, that first book already emphasized what is obvious today: the importance of what she named then "THE NEW PRE-REQUISITES".
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visual discrimination;·
identification ;But, mostly, at a time when the emphasis was put, in primary schools, almost entirely on sentences - the only "carriers of meaning", according to "theoretical researchers" - she explained, quite to the contrary, how to proceed to propose and have the child rapidly acquire, while playing, a "capital of words".
..."the child cannot guess if we do not teach him or her pas:
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that a sentence is composed of many words;All of this is obvious to the trained reader, but less obvious to the trainee reader.
Yet, this so critical step is totally skipped with method so-called "Mixt" or "Global".
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that this is the cause of many failures;These memorized words, perfectly understood, will be easily recognized afterwards in any sentence, in any text. They will be so to speak "BEACON WORDS" that will clarify and untangle the meaning. This precisely how - does she remark - that we proceed when we must translate a foreign language.
A training to anticipation - with appropriate exercises - provide increased possibilities to the trainee reader.
...that it is risky to teach and exploit only a "capital of words". It is important to train the pupil to alternatively practice the global and analytical approaches.
Learning to read also requires learning to decipher, which requires other skills. Now, the trainee reader is forced, more often than adults, to resort to deciphering since most words are new to him or her. Besides, children are perfectly capable of doing the required analyses and syntheses, as is often demonstrated by his spontaneous remarks.
Jeanine Cougnenc used this "throughway" between oral expression, spread over time, and written expression, spread over space (sheet).
She emphasizes that the choice of words to be used in order for the child to acquire a capital of syllables that will allow him to decipher unknown words is very important. And, to spare the beginning trainee an extra difficulty, she recommends to be careful in presenting to him only words in which the letters, the sound, or the supergraphy to be studied are obvious, on the phonic level as well as on the graphic level. Words in which the sound to be learned is associated to a parasitic letter which is imposed by proper orthography must be eliminated.
For example :
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To teach the sound o, she would prefer old, ocean to cold....but that we often proceed by means of supergraphies, memorized as they were encountered, she trained the children to notice the blocks of letters that were common to many words, for example:
mon as in monster, Montreal, money,
or tion as in attention, motion.
[cf.
Guided by her goal to render learning reading skills more enjoyable, easier, thus more accessible to all, Jeanine Cougnenc varies sequences and means so that each child eventually eases into the pattern that provides the best fit for each case, in accordance with each his or her stage of development of sensory abilities, tastes, and other abilities.
She wanted, by playing on a variety and attractive activities during the learning process, to avoid monotony so that the trainee reader would never associate "reading = routine = boredom".
As a field researcher, the observation of children from age groups ranging from 2 to 9 years of age allows her to forcefully state today that the younger a child is, the more pleasurable he finds learning to read, and the easier it is for him (or her).
Presently, she noticed and verified this in Pre-school, with children who, as young as 2 and1/2 years of age, learned, as if it was a playful game, their name, that of their comrades, and a few words among the most usual.
For them, this appear no more exerting, no more difficult, no more boring, than to learn pictograms, which they must "unlearn" when they are later taught the "real" reading skills.
As children advanced though each section of her Pre-school class (Small [2-3 years of age], Middle [3 years old] or Advanced [5-6 years of age]) never did they lose their appetite for the written word, as they were exposed to short but dayly sessions.
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had access to equipment in their school yard that allowed them to fully develop all of their psychomotor skills;
... just like all other children who were not learning to read.
To all who would still have doubts regarding the necessity to begin as soon as possible TRUE TEACHING OF READING SKILLS, she refers to a most serious study, the results of which are particularly revealing, but which unfortunately has remained almost "confidential" in France.
This study is titled "LA RÉUSSITE A L'ÉCOLE", Report dated May 18 of 1989, realized by Mr. Michel Migeon, Rector, at the request of Mr. Lionel Jospin, then Minister of l'Education Nationale in France (Available at the "Centre National de Documentation Pédagogique", in Paris).
Besides, the French Ministry of Education favors without reservation early acquisition of reading skills:
