What do we

mean? How is it
different?
How can it
help?
What do I
do?
Greek: φώνημα,
phōnēma,
"a sound uttered”

44
 Spanish
Shallow orthography
No. of sounds = No. of letter
patterns

English
Deep orthography
40+ spoken sounds
26 letters
128 letter patterns
(and no accents)
High-quality academic evidence from
across the world for L1…

Systematic teaching of
synthetic phonics is the best
way to teach literacy to all
children, and especially
those aged 5-7 years.
We learn to read
so that we can
read to learn.

Phonics is not just a

method; it’s content.
It’s not optional.
Its goal is
comprehension.
The Simple View of Reading
Analytic phonics
• ABC
• Opportunistic
• About patterns:
d-og
d-ig, d-ip, d-inosaur
d-og, f-og, fr-og
Synthetic phonics
Read
• mud: /m/ /u/ /d/
Write
• Say : mud
• 3 letters / 3 sounds

• Segment the
• Say the sounds sounds : /m/ /u/ /d/

• Blend to read • Say each / write a

letter for each
 Consonants
Phonemes
and vowels Sound
talk
Segmenting

Important terminology
mnemonic Digraphs : Graphemes
two letters
one sound

Trigraphs :
Blending
three letters
one sound
s m f p
Pronunciation:
i pure sounds
qu
b
ck l
The English Alphabetic Code
• 1 letter: 1 sound (m)
• 1, 2, 3, 4 letters: 1 sound (ch, air,
ough)
• Different letters: same sound (ch, k,
c, ch)
• Same letter(s): different
pronunciation for reading/sound for
spelling. (ow – cow, row)
The English Alphabetic Code
• satp sat tap
• ng ar n igh t
• lamp chimp windmill
• frog tree starlight
• crisp crunch scrunch
• ea sea head
• air ere ear
• help helped helping
So phonics can help bilingual learners
with …
Learning the
Hearing and
letters (or
identifying
combinations)
letter sounds
that represent
letter sounds.
Blending
letter Segmenting
sounds letter sounds
to read to spell
High frequency and tricky words
the
said
some
when
people
Phonological awareness
Phonic Explorers
• Systematic, book-by-book
progression of phonics teaching fits
with the Phonics Workbooks, English
Explorers series
Structured sequence
Letter sounds still A-Z
CVC with short vowels
Two letters one sound: ch, sh, th
Two letters one sound: ll, ss, ck, ng
Initial and final adjacent consonants
Long vowel sounds – split digraph: a-e
Different letters same sound – long vowels:
ai/ay
r vowel phonemes: ar, er, ur, or
Different letters same sound : oy/oi, ow/ou
Phonic Explorers
• Phonics set within a decodable story:
reading for meaning.
• Popular and familiar characters
Phonic Explorers
• Consolidation for readers
Phonic Explorers
• Audio for readers
Phonic Explorers
A typical lesson:
• Prepare your approach
• Prepare your text and any props
• Review previous learning
• Introduce new learning

Make it active
Phonic Explorers
Elements of a phonics lesson:
• Model reading
• Shared reading
– Joining in
– Read and repeat
– Listen
Phonic Explorers
• Group reading
– Guide the learning – focus on phonics
– Reading in turn
• Paired or independent reading
• Listen
Phonic Explorers Activities
• Sing
• Use letter cards/picture cards linked
to the phonic focus
– Which one says …?
– Is this /g/ or /d/?
• Use soundtalk – Get me a /r/ /e//d/
pen please.
• Say it/write it
Phonic Explorers Activities

• Sort : get children to hold letter

cards and move into the correct
sequence to spell the word.
• Find your partner: children holding
letters or words must find their
picture partner.
• Find it: read the word and then
search for the hidden picture card.
• Bingo! Snap!
Phonic Explorers
• Support for teachers
• Free downloadable
teaching notes and
activity ideas.
 Gill Budgell
@gillbudgell
gbudgell@frattempo.co.uk
Skype: frattempolimited
www.frattempo.co.uk