Wednesday 13 July 2016

How to Teach Young Learners Phonics

Phonics, the sounds and letters that make up language, is the main method of developing young learners learning skills. Phonics is useful for new language learners to break down words into individual syllables, pronunciation accuracy improvement. As teaching phonics means developing a relationship better with letters and sounds, thus enhancing learner’s pronunciation skills.


Phonics can be absolutely fun in learning with inclusion of various games, songs, videos and other activities. There are several ways to develop their skills-
Visual representation of letters: Initially the learners must learn to identify the sounds in correspondence to that letter. In this regard alphabet charts are very useful, as children get easily attracted to colourful things. Children learn by listening to their teachers as they say each letter sound and then repeat those immediately after the teacher. Teachers must make explicit connections between sounds and letters by way of saying and pointing at letters simultaneously. 
Read More: Phonetics is an Important Part of Language Learning
Clapping and tapping: This could be a useful strategy in separating words with individual syllables. You can perform with help of your fingers, hands or any object like stick. While you introduce this concept, you should model clapping or tapping. Like when you take example of balloon and break the syllables by reciting two words- ba-clap-loon-claps. At once children learners the activities and they promptly perform those by their own. Thus in this process they get engaged with words.
Keywords as meaning of words: Keywords substitution activities use familiar songs as a basis for playing with words. After singing the song, with the new lyrics the teacher should discuss with learners how sound shift changed the meaning of the song. As children loves to sing, then song can be absolutely helpful in familiarizing the pattern. This also enhances the memorizing skills.
Flash cards: As a fourth strategy you can make use of flash cards. Picture flash cards are excellent tools for children who lack the skills to develop their phonemic awareness. So a teacher’s prime task lies in creating various picture flash cards that are familiar to the child. And put a little test by asking the children the names of the pictures flashed on the cards. After saying the word, the children are asked to identify the first and second sounds in the word. This activity can be immensely useful for children to realize that words are made up of series of independent sounds. 
Read More: Usage of Flashcards in a Young Learner's Classroom
Thus phonics strategies are beginners of English speaking people or new speakers of other languages. These are common but effective techniques for teaching phonics to young learners.  Elementary teacher training could equip you with this techniques to teach students read and understand properly which could be a head start towards better communication. There is a whole new approach to learning phonics and more precisely, language. A preschool teacher must not just be aware of these but know how to implement those.  In this process the teacher plays a prime role in developing the literary skills of a student in an ESL classroom.

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