Phonics is nothing but a system or a method that helps people read and write an alphabetic language like English, Spanish, Arabic, etc. Its approach is linking sounds of the spoken language to the letters or a combination of letters of the written language. Phonics is a great way of teaching children how to read and spell words.
1. Saying Sounds Correctly
Teach your children the correct way to speak certain sounds, as they learn the correct sound of each symbol, it will be easier for them to read words using those sounds.
2. Linking Sounds to Letters
Linking sounds to letters is a great way of starting to read, teach your children the sounds while keeping the letters in front of them so that they don’t mismatch the sounds and the letters.
3. Two letters, one sound
Since there are 44 sounds in the English language and just 26 alphabets, certain combinations adhere to one sound, teach your children these sounds, but be patient with them as certain combinations can be difficult to pronounce.
4. Practice and Practice
You can teach your children every trick in the book, but they’ll only be able to read and speak properly with proper practice, practice makes perfect!
5. Putting sounds together to read simple words
After having understood the sounds, the next step is to identify those sounds in a word and then put them together trying to read the word, starting with basic words like sit, mat, rat, etc.
6. Tricky Words
There are certain tricky words that don’t follow the normal ‘sound’ technique, just teach your children their correct pronunciation as and when they come across such words.
7. Reading Books
Reading books for children are a great way to teach children how to read as there are simple sentences with simple words which not only are easy to understand but also keep the children interested in them.
8. Using Pictures
Plain text can be boring for children, in the beginning, thus books with pictures are encouraged, however, don’t let your children deduce the words from the pictures, rather encourage them to read the word and speak it aloud without looking at the pictures, to be able to read it in the absence of any pictures as well.
9. Writing Letters
Learning to read can go hand in hand with learning to write, as children write out the letters, they’ll speak the letter and consequently, the sounds will get imprinted in their brains forever, making it easier for them to read.
10. Reading to your child
This should be a routine exercise, reading out to children always keeps them invested in the story, moreover, if the children are interested, they remember the story and try to tell that stories to different people, in turn, practicing speaking more, this also develops a reading habit in children, and children with a reading habit are likely to succeed in academics as well..
Book a demo class today with Learn2Read and witness for yourself what phonics is and how it can help your children learn reading and become avid readers in the future.
