Korean Job Discussion Forums

[takethree]

I have a class of three 9 year-olds who are all starting English for the first time. They know the alphabet, but are really struggling with phonics. I'm also having trouble teaching them to relate a certain sound to a letter.

Anyone have tips on some fun ways to work on phonics teaching? Little games like Bingo? Just any tips you have for teaching very beginning phonics/reading to kids would be great.

Thank you!

[mayorhaggar]

I've been doing this for the last semester with 3rd graders. As you say they know the alphabet but they've never been trained in how to associate the correct sounds with written letters, partly because they've never really been exposed to a native speaker.

I'd say the key is focusing them on listening. They need to listen for the difference between T and B, and P and F, L and R, and so on. Once they do that then they'll change their pronunciation.

Use pop quizzes and activities where they have to listen to you and then respond with the correct written letter. Do this over and over again but obviously mix up your activities so it's not the same thing over and over again.

I focused them first on all the consonants by saying their basic sounds. Like I'd stand up at the front and say "TUH" and they'd have to respond with "T." Later I focused them on the first letter of words. Like I'd say "ruh, ruh, rabbit" and they'd have to take a picture of a rabbit and pin it under a letter R on the board.

We're using a book which is ok, I don't have the name but I can tell you next week if you want. It has a lot of songs which the kids generally like, though it can be repetitive.

Also there's a lot of "Phonics Song" stuff on youtube, a good one I use is just called Phonics Song, has a guitar and a guy singing "a is for apple, ah-ah-apple, b is for ball, buh-buh-ball" etc etc.

[tek75]

I used to teach basic phonics, and I used a book series called Up and Away. They have textbooks and a separate series just for phonics. I strongly recommend the phonics books; they divide up the sounds logically (consonants first, then vowels, then dipthongs, etc.), and there are pictures galore to keep the kids' eyes happy.

[mayorhaggar]

btw the book series we're using is called JY Phonics Kids. It's printed in Korea, as you can tell by the goofy title. But I find it's pretty decent for getting the kids through the letters and having them practice sounds and basic reading.

[le-paul]

1/ teach them how to do some stuff (like reading letters or double consonants or whatever).
2/ tell them to go home and learn it.
3/ test them.

Remember youre just a teacher. Its their responsibility as well.