Learning How To Read With Phonics - A Simple Guide
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Phonics is a popular method used around the world to teach children how to read. It’s also an effective way for English learners to improve their reading skills and pronunciations.
Read on to find out more about phonics and how your child can learn how to read with phonics. We’ve also included a list of resources that you can use to support your child’s reading journey so don’t miss out on that!
What Is Phonics?
Phonics uses letter sounds to help students learn how to read words by linking sounds (phonemes) with the letters that represent the sounds (graphemes).
First, students are taught the sounds made by the individual letters or letter groups. Then, students are taught how to join and blend the sounds to make a whole word. For example, the sounds of the letters ‘d-o-g’ blend together to make the word ‘dog’.
To put it simply, instead of teaching a child to recognise a word as a whole, phonics teaches children to break down the word based on the sounds of the letters in it.
If this still sounds confusing, don’t worry, we've included some key information and resources below to help you better understand how phonics can help your child learn how to read and improve their English reading skills.
Related article: How To Teach English To Children
Why Use Phonics To Learn How To Read?
Before we go any further, you may be wondering, why use the phonics method? Well, research has shown it to be one of the most effective ways to teach children how to read in English.
By teaching children the sounds of the different letters, they’ll be able to use this knowledge to decode and read 100s of words. The more sounds they know, the more words they’ll be able to read.
In contrast, other methods such as learning to read through ‘sight words,’ which teaches students to memorize words individually, phonics enables children to read new and unfamiliar words. Hence, teaching phonics to a child is like giving them a code that can unlock many doors.
While learning phonics may seem complicated at first, once the concept is grasped and the basics are mastered, children can progress quickly to significantly improve their reading skills. Phonics will also help develop other skills such as listening and writing.
As we all know, reading is a fundamental skill that is required for everyday life. By learning how to read with phonics, we’re equipping children with something that they will continue to use throughout their life.
How To Start Learning How To Read With Phonics?
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In essence, learning how to read with phonics boils down to these two core steps.
1. Learn the different phonic sounds
After a child learns the alphabet, they can progress into learning the different sounds made by these alphabets. At this point, it is important to establish that the name of the letter is not the same as the sound of the letter.
For example, the letter ‘a’ makes an ‘ahh’ sound, not an ‘ay’ sound and the letter ‘m’ represents an ‘mmm’ sound, not an ‘em’ sound. The skill to recognize letters and the sound it represents is called decoding and mastering this skill is like breaking the code of reading. For a complete guide of the 44 phonics sounds used in the English language to help your child learn how to read with phonics, click here.
2. Blend the different phonic sounds
Once a child is already familiar with the phonic sounds, they’ll need to learn how to blend them together. Blending essentially means joining the sounds of the letters in a word to form the full word. For example, students will sound out the individual letters in the word ‘s-i-t’ before blending them to read the word ‘sit’.
To begin, start with blending one-syllable words like ‘cat’ and ‘hat.’ Once they’re comfortable with that, move on gradually to words with more syllables. For tips about teaching blending, click here.
Resources On How to Learn Phonics
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1. Oxford Owl
For someone new to phonics, this is a good and comprehensive website for resources. Their parent guide includes well-made explanation videos and tips to help your child learn how to read at home with phonics. They also have a sizable catalogue of children’s ebooks which you can access after creating a free account. You will find plenty of advice and activities to support your child’s reading here.
2. Twinkl
Twinkl is an amazing platform for educational resources. Here, you’ll find phonics lesson packs and videos. As the website is jam-packed with content, you may have to sift through it a bit to find materials suitable for your child’s level. However, if you’re looking for a one-pager resource that explains the basics of phonics as well as the common terms used in teaching phonics, click here.
3. Read With Phonics
This website makes learning fun as children can learn how to read by playing phonics games! There are games like phonics hangman, word builders and picture matching activities. While a small payment is required to access its entire collection of games, many of them have free demos and trials. It also has printable resources such as flashcards which are completely free. Their ‘phonics soundwall’ feature is also useful for revising phonic sounds.
4. Alphablocks
Alphablocks is a Youtube account with an extensive collection of videos to help children learn how to read using phonics. They have multiple playlists with videos that teach the different phonic sounds and how to blend sounds. Their videos also use nursery rhymes and storylines based on colourful cartoon characters that would help keep your child entertained.