It is absolutely essential that reading be taught by phonics and not by the so-called "look-say" methods currently in vogue in the public schools. If the child is not taught to read correctly, then the entire school program which follows will be so difficult that the child will have a very great disadvantage.
How often do we stop to consider what a wonderful skill to acquire is the ability to speak. The facility to communicate with each other in a complex yet straightforward manner from an early age is surely chief among proofs of our exceptional origins. None other of God's creatures have this gift, but mankind is made in the image of God so that there can be communication between us and our Creator. That places speech on a very high level.
Not only can we speak, but we are able to write down what we say so that other people can 'hear' our words in our absence. We call that 'reading' and the acquisition of this skill provides the gateway into every kind of learning and understanding. It ought to be easy to learn to speak and to read. Babies soon begin to copy the speech sounds they hear around them, especially as parents or siblings help them to discern which sounds are most important. Learning to read can begin at that stage too as very young children imitate those specific speech sounds which are the building blocks of written language.
Our facial features have been cleverly designed to influence our vocal chords and voice. When we speak we use the lips, tongue, teeth and throats and nose to shape the sounds we utter. Spoken words are these sounds uttered in sequence. We do it without thinking about it, but teaching reading means thinking about these sounds. Let us give them their official name: they are called phonemes. Thinking about them carefully and learning the symbols (or letters) which stand for those phonemes is the beginning of reading.
Altogether, when we speak we utter 44 phonemes: 26 of these are easily learnt as pupils learn to match the letters of the alphabet to objects that begin with that sound, 'a' for 'apple', 'b' for 'ball', etc. saying the sound the letter stands for, not it's name. Eventually pupils learn that the phonemes 'a', 'e', 'i', 'o', 'u' as they are used in some words, stand for the name of the letter and not it's sound: gate, here, ride, home, tune, for example. Later they will discover that more new phonemes are made when 2 or 3 letters work together. Five of these new sounds are made with two consonants, 'sh', 'ch', 'th', 'ck', 'ng'. Boat, girl and book are examples of vowel sounds and vowel consonant combinations. All of these phonemes are dealt with individually and this website will help you to know how to go about blending them into words. There are only 44 phonemes, but they can be represented by many more combinations of letters. This means simply that sometimes there is more than one way of expressing the same phoneme in writing. The 'ai' sound looks different in 'rain', 'play', 'eight' and 'plate'. So learning these phonemes is a bit like learning to unlock a code. Rather than having to learn lots of individual words by heart, we teach children the code and then they can unlock many words, even if they have never seen them before. This is why a good phonic system is empowering.
The speed at which 44 phonemes, and the combinations of ways to make them are learnt depends of course on the pupil's ability, but also on the patience and commitment of the teacher (or parent) and the systematic and regular teaching of the programme. We cannot over emphasise the importance of those things. Also, above all, the teacher must beware of 'going through the motions', just doing the job, without understanding what needs to be done and how important is this task.
Therefore, although the main teaching session each day is short, the careful teacher will be constantly looking for opportunities to apply the lessons to their students daily activities. This will ensure maximum progress. An easy to use, FREE phonics reading and spelling programme
To make it easy for you to teach your child to read AND spell with phonics, we have written our own simple systematic (each tiny step builds carefully ont he one before), phonics reading and spelling programme: Reading Made Simple.
What can you expect from the Reading Made Simple programme?
Amazing things. Two year olds reading. The whole of Peter and Jane finished by age 5 if not sooner - which in case you don't know would enable the reader to pick up the Authorised Version of the Bible and pretty much be able to read any passage from it. That's the age most children are when they start to learn their alphabet sounds! Most phonics programmes teach either reading or spelling. We aim to teach both. We take one tiny step at a time and build the next step carefully onto it, building success, often where others have failed. Not all phonics programmes are equal. Don't be put off if your child has speech problems. A phonic programme fits well with speech therapy. Teach your child to read as s/he learns to talk. My son was able to finish Peter and Jane by six and a half, having only started talking aged 3 and half with a couple of words. He could read better than he spoke, but his reading then brought his speaking on. FAQ The phonic language (phonemes, graphemes, digraphs etc...) is so complicated - do the children need to know it? No - and nor do you! It only complicates what should be simple. I deliberately refer to them all simply as 'sounds'. Little children (unless they become graduate linguists) will not need to remember this vocabulary - it serves no purpose in the process of learning to read and spell. Can all children learn with phonics? There are a very few children/adults who can not hear the phonic sounds. I repeat - a very few. In most cases of phonics failing, it is due to the teaching method/the teacher's lack of experience, not the fault of phonics per se. Phonics works with all children regardless, when taught well, as even those very few who do not hear the sounds, benefit from a good phonic programme teaching reading and spelling in a sctructured way, grouping patterns of words together (e.g: rain, pain, Spain, snail etc..) One of the main pitfalls I see that causes many children to supposedly 'fail' with phonics, is not spending enough time ensuring the child can blend (put the sounds together to make a word - c..a..t.. cat), and segment (isolate the sounds in a word cat: c..a..t..). Ensuring the pupil is competent in these two skills will ensue success, Do not rush over these stages. What's wrong with 'look and say' methods? Some children seem to start well with whole words methods but come unstuck later when they meet more and more words they have never seen before and have no plan for working out what they say. Or they come unstuck with spelling. Added to which, when your child is young you may not know that they have a difficulty such as dyslexia - which can be overcome as far as reading and spelling is concerned with a synthetic phonic approach. Better to teach phonics from the start and eliminate years of anguish. Conclusion:
To me as a teacher and then later as a parent, it has been of paramount importance that my pupils read well - not a second best programme that fails them as they reach higher levels. It has also been important to me that they spell well. Schools in general have very low standards - they are trying to teach towards tests, rather than with a long term view of an adult who is fully literate to an excellent level. They are working with multiple pupils and time is a huge constraint. Let's set a new standard We don't want to be proud, but we do want excellence. Choose your reading and spelling programme well - it matters more than any other subject in the early years. A child who can read can teach themselves anything! In fact, spend most of your formal schooling time in KS1 focusing almost exclusively on the 3 R's - Reading, writing and 'rithmetic. This is the time to lay a solid foundation. The rest of their schooling hangs on mastery of these fundamental skills. Get this right and the rest falls more easily in to place.
Find out more about phonics here: A simple guide to understanding phonics
I thoroughly reccommend the two books I have advertised in this post, if you would seriously like to know why phonics is the best method to teach reading and spelling.
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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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