This webinar is ideal for teachers who wish to learn about phonics and how this approach can be successfully integrated into the VYL classroom. Lynn Durrant also considered what teachers need to be aware of when integrating reading and writing in teaching VYLs and provided ideas for appropriate task types.
There are both short and long-term benefits to the phonics method – in the short term, it provides an opportunity for young learners to learn how to listen, and it helps children to read, spell and write in the long term. By teaching them to read for themselves, phonics prepares children for the world of school as well.
Before they start producing sounds and words, the children need to feel fully prepared. Rather than immediately asking children to make sounds of letters, why not try exploring how sounds are made via mouth movements? You can ask them to observe how their friends’ mouths, lips and tongues move when trying to produce sounds, or watch their own mouth in a mirror. This really helps make young learners aware that their vocal systems can make different sounds – and what child wouldn’t enjoy sticking their tongue out or making funny faces in front of a mirror?
The phonics approach also helps children to become good listeners. Children can be very good at mimicking; they are very receptive to what’s around them, and we can use this to teach ‘good listening’. This can be achieved by ‘listening walks’, where they put hands to their ears, walk around the classroom and listen to recordings of certain sounds.The walking makes this activity interesting, fun and interactive.
For more tips on how to teach your young learners sounds, letter and colour recognition, as well as more fun activities to engage young learners, watch the webinar recording below: