Phonics

by Tr. Lily
Why is “teaching phonics” important?
 Importance of teaching phonics
• Phonics is important in learning to read and write.

• Research supports the view that phonics is a key predictor of later

reading success.

• Learning to read is complex and phonics is just one part of literacy

development and becoming literate.

• Oral language and phonological awareness play a key role in early

childhood literacy development.
Building Blocks
of Literacy
 a method for teaching people how to read and write
an alphabetic language (Wikipedia)

a method of teaching beginners to read and pronounce

words by learning the phonetic value of letters, letter
What is groups, and especially syllables (Merriam-Webster
Dictionary)

Phonics? a helpful way to understand comprehension when

reading and can help one become a more confident
learner.

The relationship between graphemes (units of written

language; letters) and phonemes (smallest units of oral
language; sounds) in reading and writing.
• Phonemes: The basic sounds that make up the
English language.
• Graphemes: The basic letter or letter combinations
that refer to sounds (such as ‘a’, ‘s’, ‘oo’, ‘ee’, ‘bl’, ‘cr’,
etc.)

Letters Sounds
(Graphemes) (Phonemes)

b /b/

c /k/ /s/
 Synthetic phonics
• Teaching students explicitly to convert letters into sounds
(phonemes) and then blend the sounds to form recognizable
words.
• For example, if students know the basic single-letter phonemes (a,
b, c, d, e, etc.) and some basic two-letter phonemes (at, it, ing),
they can start blending them to form words like: cat, mat, fat, hat,
sat.
• Synthetic phonics is the compulsory mode of phonics teaching in
England, Australia, Germany and Austria (Machin, McNally &
Viaregno, 2018).
• Research consistently finds it to be the most effective method of
teaching reading.
Jolly Phonics

https://www.jollylearning.co.uk/jolly-phonics/
Jolly Phonics
• Jolly Phonics is a world-leading English literacy method that
teaches children how to read and write using phonics.

• Phonics is the teaching of the sounds that letters make, rather

than the names of letters that are taught in the alphabet, because
it is the sounds that are useful for reading and writing, not the
names.

• Jolly Phonics also teaches all of this in a fun and engaging way,
through characters, stories, actions, songs and games!
• Jolly Phonics uses a multi-sensory approach to
teaching reading and writing.
• This approach combines visual, auditory, and
kinesthetic/tactile cues to help children learn the
sounds of letters and letter combinations.
The 5 Skills Taught Through Jolly Phonics
• Learning the Letter Sounds
• Learning Letter Formation
• Blending
• Identifying sounds in words (Segmenting)
• Tricky Words
 Learning the letter sounds
• For reading and writing,
children need to be fluent at saying the sounds when they
see the letters.
• For each letter sound,
children use movement, sight, hearing and speech
• Automatic response to the letters is essential skill.
• Children should be able to say the letter sounds without doing
action.
 Sounds
• 42 letter sounds, 7 groups
• alphabet sounds (1 sound – 1 letter)
• digraphs (1 sound – 2 letters)
• one letter sound a day
• 4-5 sounds a week
• 42 letter sounds after 9 weeks at school.
• Lower case letters
Learning Letter Formation
• Pencil hold
Teach the “froggy legs” pencil grip to ensure that children
have neat writing.
Learning Letter Formation
Multisensory approach
• 1) show the formation on the board
• 2) show the formation in the air
• 3) tracing
• 4) feel the formation in the cutout letter grooves
 Basic Letter Knowledge
• Seven tall letters (stick) – b, d, f, h, k, l ,t
• Five letters (tail) – g, j, p, q, y
• Most letters go down towards the line first – b, f, h, i, j, k, l, m, n, p, r,
t, u, v, w, x, y
• Caterpillar c letters – c, a, d, o, g, q
• Z and e start by going towards the end of the page.
 Blending
• Children are taught how to
blend individual sounds
together in order to read
full words.
• For example, “s” + “a” + “t”
= sat.
• Lots of blending practice
builds reading fluency.
 Blending
• Key phonic skill
• Children are able to read unknown regular words.
• Need practice
• Start as soon as possible
• Should not use any actions when blending words
• First sound needs to be louder than the others
 Identifying the Sounds in Words
• Phonemic awareness
• Hearing the sounds in words is one of the main skills needed for
writing.
• Identifying initial sounds
• Identifying all the sounds in a word
• Teach how to hear the individual sounds in full words
• Break down to write and spell correctly
• For example, hen = “h” + “e” + “n”
Identifying the Sounds in Words
Identifying the Sounds in Words
Identifying the Sounds in Words
• Letter dictation
• Word dictation
• Capital letter dictation
• Sentence dictation
• Guided writing
• Independent writing
 Tricky Words
• Some words do not
follow the sound rules.
• 72 tricky words
• Children are taught
these words separately,
alongside strategies to
remember them.
• 3 tricky words a week
• For example, “the” and
“she”.
 The 8 Steps for Teaching a Letter Sound
• Step 1 - Story containing the sound
• Step 2 - Action
• Step 3 - Flashcard
• Step 4 - Letter Formation
• Step 5 - Blending
• Step 6 - Sounding
• Step 7 - Dictation Jolly Phonics Lessons App

• Step 8 - Song
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gilbertjoll
y.teachphonics.teachers&hl=my&gl=US
Step 1 - Story
Step 2 - Action
Step 3 - Flashcard
Step 4 - Formation
Step 5 - Blending
Step 6 - Sounding
Step 7 - Dictation
Step 8 - Song
Books for Jolly Phonics
• Pupil Book 1-3
• Workbook 1-7
• Activity book 1-7
• Finger phonics 1-7
• Teacher’s book
 References

• https://www.jollyphonicsathome.com/what_is_jp
• https://www.jollylearning.co.uk/jolly-phonics/
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonics
• https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/phonics
• https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/glowblogs/learningatmoorfootprim
ary/handwriting-at-home/ (image)
• https://slideplayer.com/slide/6358664/ (image)
Thank You
• Phoneme
The smallest unit of sound in oral language.
• Phonemic awareness
The ability to manipulate individual phonemes to form spoken
words.
• Phonics
The relationship between graphemes (units of written language;
letters) and phonemes (smallest units of oral language; sounds) in
reading and writing.
• Phonics instruction
Instruction in the relationship between letters and sounds and
applying the knowledge to reading and spelling.
• Phonological awareness
The ability to detect and manipulate larger units of sound
structures, such as syllables and rhyme.
• Consonant
A basic speech sound where the breath is partly
obstructed, and a letter that represents a consonant sound
(e.g. b, m, p, s).
• Vowel
A speech sound where the vocal tract is mostly open, and a
letter that represents a vowel sound (e.g. a, e, i, o, u).
• Onset and Rime
The onset is the first phoneme in a word, the rime is the final phoneme in a word.
• Consonant blend
Consonant blends are two consonants together that make a blend of two
sounds. They are sounds like ‘bl, br, cl, dr, fr, tr, fl’.
• Consonant digraph
Consonant digraphs are two consonants together that make one sound. They
are sounds like ‘wh, sh, ch, th, ph’.
• Vowel Digraph
Vowel digraphs are two vowels together that make one sound, like ‘oo, ee, oa’.
• Trigraph
Trigraphs are three letters together that create one sound, like ‘ing, ugh, ate, ure,
ear, igh’.
• Quadgraph
Quadgraph are four letters together that create one sound like “ough”.
https://www.yourenglishhub.com/phonemic-chart-and-ipa/