Teaching Phonics To Children
Phonics is the basic building block of reading the English language. Many preschool reading programs are teaching phonics to teach children to learn to read, even if they also include some whole or sight words in the curriculum as well.
Teaching Phonics: The number one step in using phonics when you are helping a child learn to read is to make sure that you are moving at a comfortable pace for the child.. He or she will need to understand the difference between vowels and consonants, and have the ability to decipher the different sounds of the letters in a word. The first words your child will learn to read will be c-v-c, consonant-vowel-consonant, words such as dog, cat and hat. Easy words such as these will help your child comprehend the relationship between the sounds in a word, so that they can be easily deciphered.
The first words that your child learns will be the words you have learned together. For example, if you are teaching your child the sounds of the letters p-a-t then you should include the word "big" often in the lessons that you are teach. Your child can not be expected to be able to read the words with letters that they have not yet learned the basic sounds for. As your child learns more letters, then he or she may be able to read on their own. Books with short, simple sentences are best for teaching phonics based lessons.
There are several types of teaching phonics based lessons, but the best ones are those that use both spoken and written components. Helping your child learn to read is perhaps easiest when you have a phonics CD or dvd to provide the sounds, while your child works in a workbook to help associate the sounds with the letters of the alphabet.
Flashcards are also very helpful when you are helping a child learn to read. Flash cards can be used as a way to quickly go over the sounds of the alphabet, or to use as a component of a video or CD to help your child learn to recognize the shape and sound of each letter.
Like everything else, there are always exceptions to the rules of phonics. Don't worry about teaching these exceptions until after your child has learned the basic sounds of the alphabet, and is ready to begin to learn sight words.
While teaching your child to read is going to take up much of the first few years of learning for a complete understanding to take place. Don't stress if it takes time for your child to completely understand phonics.
