Phonics is a system of teaching reading that focuses on teaching children to recognize the individual units of sounds that make up the words of the English language. There are over 40 of these sounds which are called ‘phonemes’. As there are only 26 letters some sounds are made up of pairs (digraphs) to represent a single sound. Teaching phonics is an effective means of decoding text which reduces frustration or failure to read at an early age. Of course phonics is just one element in learning to read and becoming a good reader.
Phonics Vowel Sounds
There are 19 phonics vowel sounds consisting of 5 short vowel sounds (e.g. the short ‘a’ in cat), 5 long vowel sounds (e.g. the long ‘a’ in fate), 4 sounds combined with ‘r’ (e.g. ‘ar’ in far) and 3 dipthongs (eg. ‘au’ in Paul).
Phonics Consonant Sounds
The other phonics sounds are represented by consonants and pairs of consonants together. The main mistake in teaching these consonant sounds is that we often add a “schwa” sound when it shouldn’t be pronounced. For example the letter ‘s’ should sound like ‘sssss’ ( like a hissing snake) but many parents teaching phonics for the first time pronounce it a ‘suh” sound. Our video makes clear how each consonant sounds and gives advice to help you form the correct sound appropriately.
We have produced a free detailed phonics report with a free phonics video which you can get if you sign up for our newsletter (below). The video lasts around 15 minutes and goes over all the needed phonics sounds introducded in order. The report gives extra instruction on how to use phonics including more advanced concepts. This will provide a good foundation for teaching phonics to your children although we encourage you to look for more phonic resources to complement these free guides.
Phonics Video and Phonic Audio
One of the main problems with phonics is that as many parents were not taught to read using phonics there is some confusion about exactly how to pronounce many of the sounds correctly. When you watch our video the audio will instruct you exactly how to pronounce each sound and give several examples including the phonic sound. When I came to teach phonics this was one thing which I found difficult as books on their own can’t make clear exactly what the sound is. While some are fairly obvious there are a few tricky ones you need to get right to teach phonics effectively.