Glossary

1. Alphabetic Principle--The sound symbol relationship found in alphabetic languages such as English.
2. Balanced Reading Instruction--Combines aspects of the phonics and whole language approaches to teaching reading.
3. Basal Reading Series--Also known just as basals, basal reading series are graded series of textbooks used to teach reading in elementary schools.
4. Phonics--The sound/symbol relationship between the spelling of words and the way they are spoken.
5. Phonics Emphasis--The approach to teaching reading that emphasizes the sound symbol relationship in alphabetic writing systems such as English.
6. Phonemic Awareness--Knowing that spoken words are made up of sequences of individual sounds and the ability to manipulate those sounds.
7. Reading Wars--The dispute over the best way to teach reading that is being carried out by advocates of the phonics and whole language approaches to teaching reading.
8. Whole Language--The approach to teaching reading that focuses on getting meaning through text and teaching reading, writing, and other subjects together.

Checklist for parents to know

1. Read regularly with your child, atleast 4-5 days a week.
2. Let your child browse through the book before attempting to read.
3. Have confidence in your child’s abilities and show them.
4. Gift them books on topics that interest them like boys enjoy knowing more about cars, bikes while girls may prefer more on dolls, etc.
5. Give them an opportunity to read in front of friendly people like Grandma, neighbour, uncle, aunt, etc. It will boost their confidence.
6. Don’t rush with them. Give them enough time to read or write.
7. Give your child opportunities to read and write. Such as letting your child write his/her name at the bottom of a letter or a card, shopping lists, etc.
8. Start with easy books to encourage your child and then move on to the tougher ones.
9. Don’t compare your child’s progress with other children too often. It might create inferiority complex and they may lose the interest in reading completely.

Introduction to phonics

Phonics basically refers to the connections between letter patterns and the sounds they represent (e.g., sound /s/ can be represented by s, es, ese). It defines the set of relationships between written letters and the spoken sounds that those letters represent.

Phonics is a widely used method of teaching children to read usually at the age of 5 or 6. Phonics teaches the 71 basic letters and letter combinations (phonograms) needed to pronounce the 44 sounds of the English language.

The singular or group of letters used to represent these sounds, are called graphemes. A phonogram is a letter-sound combination that includes more than one grapheme or phoneme.

Phonics is a tool for decoding words; it is not a reading program. Knowledge of phonics does not ensure that one will comprehend printed texts because reading is a far more complex process than simply sounding out words.

Closely related to phonics is "phonemic awareness", an understanding of the idea that spoken words can be broken down into constituent sounds. It is an oral skill and not a reading skill as in phonics.

Phonics was taught successfully by mostly young teachers in the days of one-room schoolhouses. Phonics has fallen in favor in the last 50 years, but is beginning to make a comeback.