It is a fact: not all children find it easy to hear the individual sounds we make as we talk. Does this mean that phonics is not a good way to teach these children to read? Not at all. It simply means, that the teacher must find a way to help the child to hear the sounds. There are only a very, very, few children for whom phonics does not work. But there are many more teachers who will give up too quickly as they lack the expertise to help these children.
I know of a child who went through the Reception class. She learnt all of the letter sounds and her mother and teacher both thought that she knew her initial sounds. She could even match some pictures to their initial sound (she had learnt to match them by heart). But then the teacher tried to teach her to put the sounds together to make words. Nothing happened. The child was confused.
When I checked, the child had not been taught to apply her knowledge. She knew the sounds, but did not know how to hear the first sound in a word. It seemed that she was doing well - until she was asked to put the sounds together and it was a meaningless task for her.
If you are a parent of a child for whom the phonics programme you are using does not seem to be working, or a teacher with a child who is not making progress, please do this simple thing. Check that the child can give you the initial sound for any of these words. Say the word and ask:
What sound does this word start with. Listen carefully, I'll say it slowly: ___________. mouse zip cotton goat lamp nail van button yellow desk hair mop star wash leg ant egg ink on tick horse banana finger job plate up
If the child hesitates, or makes mistakes then s/he is not ready to move on. More work needs to be done with initial sounds.
For some children it might just mean that you need to spend more time making sure that they actually understand that these are sounds we use when we speak and that they are at the beginning of words. You can use ourgames to help you. Tell your pupil that when we speak we use sounds. Words are sounds put together to make words. Each word is made up of sounds put together. First we need to learn to hear the first sound in a word.
Other children may need just that little bit more help. A more multi-sensory approach may help. We can help these children to 'feel' the sounds as they say them. Sounds are made by the position of the lips, tongue and teeth and the breath. For each sound (except the vowels) the use of these three differs slightly. By helping children to become aware of their mouth (lips, tongue and breath), we can help them to learn the initial sounds and hear those sounds as we say words.
Video to help children struggling to hear initial sounds
It is easier for me to teach you what to do with a video. Listen and see how I help a child to 'feel' sounds, as a means by which to help them 'hear' them.
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WelcomeHello, I'm Lilibette, qualified teacher (B.Ed Hons). I have taught phonics in mainstream education, followed by have home-educated my two sons to 18, and am now a private tutor. Categories
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