Learn how to read phonics

Phonics teaching step-by-step | TheSchoolRun

Sort your phonemes from your graphemes, decoding from encoding and digraphs from trigraphs with our parents' guide to phonics teaching. Our step-by-step explanation takes you through the different stages of phonics learning, what your child will be expected to learn and the vocabulary you need to know.

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What is phonics?

Phonics is a method of teaching children to read by linking sounds (phonemes) and the symbols that represent them (graphemes, or letter groups). Phonics is the learning-to-read method used in primary schools in the UK today. 

What is a phoneme?

A phoneme is the smallest unit of sound. The phonemes used when speaking English are:

Print out a list of phonemes to practise with your child or listen to the individual sounds being spoken with our phonics worksheets.

Phonics learning step 1: decoding

Children are taught letter sounds in Reception. This involves thinking about what sound a word starts with, saying the sound out loud and then recognising how that sound is represented by a letter.

The aim is for children to be able to see a letter and then say the sound it represents out loud. This is called decoding.

Some phonics programmes start children off by learning the letters s, a, t, n, i, p first. This is because once they know each of those letter sounds, they can then be arranged into a variety of different words (for example: sat, tip, pin, nip, tan, tin, sip, etc.). While children are learning to say the sounds of letters out loud, they will also begin to learn to write these letters (encoding).

They will be taught where they need to start with each letter and how the letters need to be formed in relation to each other. Letters (or groups of letters) that represent phonemes are called graphemes.

Phonics learning step 2: blending

Children then need to go from saying the individual sounds of each letter, to being able to blend the sounds and say the whole word. This can be a big step for many children and takes time.

Phonics learning step 3: decoding CVC words

Children will focus on decoding (reading) three-letter words arranged consonant, vowel, consonant (CVC words) for some time.

They will learn other letter sounds, such as the consonants g, b, d, h and the remaining vowels e, o, u. Often, they will be given letter cards to put together to make CVC words which they will be asked to say out loud.

Phonics learning step 4: decoding consonant clusters in CCVC and CVCC words

Children will also learn about consonant clusters: two consonants located together in a word, such tr, cr, st, lk, pl. Children will learn to read a range of CCVC words (consonant, consonant, vowel, consonant) such as trap, stop, plan.

They will also read a range of CVCC words (consonant, vowel, consonant, consonant) such as milk, fast, cart.

Phonics learning step 5: vowel digraphs

Children are then introduced to vowel digraphs. A digraph is two vowels that together make one sound such as: /oa/, /oo/, /ee/, /ai/. They will move onto sounding out words such as deer, hair, boat, etc. and will be taught about split digraphs (or 'magic e').

They will also start to read words combining vowel digraphs with consonant clusters, such as: train, groan and stool.

Phonics learning step 6: consonant digraphs

Children will also learn the consonant digraphs (two consonants that together make one sound) ch and sh and start blending these with other sounds to make words, such as: chat, shop, chain and shout.

Encoding, or learning to spell as well as read

Alongside this process of learning to decode (read) words, children will need to continue to practise forming letters which then needs to move onto encoding. Encoding is the process of writing down a spoken word, otherwise known as spelling.

They should start to be able to produce their own short pieces of writing, spelling the simple words correctly.

It goes without saying that reading a range of age-appropriate texts as often as possible will really support children in their grasp of all the reading and spelling of all the phonemes.

Phonics learning in KS1

By the end of Reception, children should be able to write one grapheme for each of the 44 phonemes.

In Year 1, they will start to explore vowel digraphs and trigraphs (a group of three letters that makes a single sound, like 'igh' as in 'sigh') further.

They will begin to understand, for example, that the letters ea can make different sounds in different words (dream and bread). They will also learn that one sound might be represented by different groups of letters: for example, light and pie (igh and ie make the same sound).

Children in Year 2 will be learning spelling rules, such as adding suffixes to words (such as -ed, -ing, -er, -est, -ful, -ly, -y, -s, -es, -ment and -ness). They will be taught rules on how to change root words when adding these suffixes (for example, removing the 'e' from 'have' before adding 'ing') and then move onto harder concepts, such as silent letters (knock, write, etc) and particular endings (le in bottle and il in fossil).

Free phonics worksheets and information for parents

For more information about the phonics system look through our phonics articles, including ways to boost phonics confidence, details of the Year 1 Phonics Screening Check, parents' phonics questions answered and more.

We also have a large selection of free phonics worksheets to download for your child.

More like this

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• 10 ways to boost phonics confidence

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• Common phonics problems sorted

• What is a grapheme?

• Phonics games

• Blending sounds: teachers' tips

• Best phonics learning tools

• Teachers' tricks for phonics

Phonics - Oxford Owl for Home

If you have a child at school, you’ll probably have heard of phonics! Phonics (sometimes called synthetic phonics) is the system almost all schools use to teach children to read.

Phonics teaches children the link between letters and the sounds they represent. It has its own vocabulary which can make it sound more complicated than it really is.

Frequently Asked Questions about Phonics

How is phonics taught?

• First, your child will be taught the most straightforward letters and the sounds they make. For example, they will be taught that the letter ‘m’ represents an mmm sound and the letters ‘oa’ represent an oh sound.
  • In phonics we use the word grapheme to talk about the letters on the page and phoneme to talk about the sounds those letters represent.
• Next, they will learn how sounds can be put together (blended) to make words. For example, they will learn that the sounds of the letters ‘m-a-t’ blend together to make the word ‘mat’. Your child will then learn more sounds and will start blending them too.
  • It can take until Year 2/Primary 3 before your child might have learned all 44 sounds in English and the many different spellings used for each sound.
• Then the children will really start to read! They will learn to recognise the different letters or pairs of letters (graphemes) in a word, say the separate sounds (phonemes) slowly, then put (blend) them together. For example, they will be taught that the word ‘boat’ can be separated out (segmented) into ‘b-oa-t’ which represents the sounds bbb-oh–ttt. They can blend these sounds into the word ‘boat’
  • In phonics we use the word decode to talk about reading a single word. We use the word segment to talk about breaking a word down into separate sounds and blend to talk about putting the sounds together to make a word.

What is synthetic phonics?

Synthetic phonics is just the technical term for the style of phonics teaching taught in our schools. Synthetic phonics requires the early reader to locate and sound out the individual sounds in a word and blend (or synthesise) them together to say the word.

How can I help at home?

There are lots of simple things you can do at home to help your child learn phonics.

1. Learn how to say the sounds using our Oxford Owl: Phonics or How to pronounce pure sounds.
2. Use flashcards to help your child practise saying sounds. Use the flashcards to make words for your child to read through blending. These words could be silly or even made up.
3. Listen to your child read every day, even just for five minutes. It really will make a difference. If your child gets stuck on a word, model how to say the sounds and blend them together. If you are worried that the book is at the wrong level for your child, check with your child’s teacher.
4. Read aloud to your child every day to show them that reading is fun.

Find more tips on our phonics support blog.

Find more tips for developing reading skills in our Reading pages >
Browse our Read with Oxford range of early readers to use at home >

What is the Year 1 phonics screening check?

If you live in England, your child will be given a phonics screening check in Year 1. The phonics screening check will find out how your child is progressing in phonics.

The test will be carried out informally by your child’s teacher in a one-to-one session. The teacher will ask your child to:

1. Sound out and blend graphemes (letters representing sounds) in order to read simple words.
2. Read phonically decodable (can be read using phonics) one-syllable and two-syllable words, for example cat, sand, windmill.
3. Read a selection of nonsense words (known as pseudo words) to check that your child is not guessing words and is able to read new words.

You can find more information and links to past papers on our phonics screening check page.

What is Letters and Sounds?

Letters and Sounds is a phonics programme published by the Department of Education and Skills. Many published phonics schemes follow the structure of Letters and Sounds. Find out more on our Letters and Sounds page.

Video: What is Phonics?

Find out how to best support your child in their discovery of phonics at home.

Read the blog

Learn more about Read Write Inc. and how their books can support your child in learning about phonics.

Find out more

Your child’s school might use a phonics scheme such as Letters and Sounds, Read Write Inc. Essential Letters and Sounds or Floppy’s Phonics, part of the Oxford Reading Tree series. A phonics scheme teaches the sounds and their spellings in a structured order. Most schemes also include flashcards and books that match the sounds they have learned so far.

Each scheme teaches the sounds in a slightly different order and will use slightly different vocabulary for talking about phonics. Your child’s school will be able to tell you about the phonics scheme they use.

Primary reading education. Onomatopoeia

Material Information

Parents

Primary reading instruction is sound imitation, the first phonetic lessons. It is onomatopoeia for children that is of paramount importance in order to quickly learn to read.

Children learn many things, including reading, through play, but these days reading skills are taught through a system. This is done from the very first days in kindergarten until the first years of elementary school. For parents, figuring out how to best support their child in the early stages of learning to read remains a bit of a mystery, especially since teaching methods have changed since they were in school.

Here we will talk about how children are prepared for reading in England from an early age. Parents can take note of this method and use it when teaching their child to read in their native language, as well as when teaching to read in English.

How to help a child?

The following are tips and advice for parents on the learning material children usually learn in school, as well as some ideas on how to help a child who is having difficulty.

Do it at ease

Remember that the purpose of phonetics is to help your child learn to read as quickly as possible so that he can freely read whatever he likes! No one wants reading to become a chore, so learning should be playful, engaging, and engaging.

Whatever stage your child is in, don't forget:

• Phonetic lessons should be short and focused. Try to stop before the child gets tired of homework! As a rule, it should be no more than 10 minutes.
• Make learning as fun as possible for your child, in a playful way.
• Choose a time to study when your child is not yet tired, and find a quiet place where he will not be distracted by the TV or noisy siblings.
• Even when your child has already learned to read on his own, continue to read books to him aloud! During this period, fairy tales and stories, high-quality popular science literature, as well as a pleasant quiet pastime with a discussion of what you have read are important!
• If you are concerned about the poor progress of your child, go to https://zvukibukvy. ru/, where phonetic analysis of words is presented in all its diversity, or talk to the teacher. Share your concerns and ask for advice. This often helps and can be a great source of new ideas to support your child!

Children of early and preschool age

This is one of the most important moments for teaching children. They will absorb ideas and information like sponges, so this is a great time to start teaching them to read.

In preschool classes, educators help children develop the listening skills they will need to become successful readers. In songs, stories, nursery rhymes and games, babies discover many sounds. They begin to get used to hearing and repeating them. This stage is often called the first phase of phonetics.

Here is what they do in English kindergartens at this age period for children:

• Listen to the sounds of the world and copy them.
• Use of toys, objects, own body and voice to extract and copy sounds.
• Listening to rhythms and rhymes (for example, identifying rhyming words in a nursery rhyme).
• Listening to sounds in spoken words and separating the word into separate sounds (eg 'd-o-g' makes the word 'dog').

All of this may not seem very much like reading, since children do not focus on writing and words, but this is a very important preparation for the next stage.

Onomatopoeia games for children

• Use what the child loves! If he loves animals, listen to how many different animal sounds he can make. Can he copy the sound you make and say what kind of animal it is? Or, if he loves trucks, cars, and excavators, encourage him to make the appropriate sounds when he plays.
• When you and your child leave the house, listen to the sounds around you - birdsong, traffic noise, etc. Can your child tell that he makes a particular sound? Can he copy it?
• Sing songs and rhymes with your child. Can your child clap their hands when they hear a rhyming word?
• Clap your hands or tap something according to the rhythm. Can your child copy this? Can he clap his hands with his rhythm so that you copy him?

Teaching general phonetic rules

Phonetics is the use of sounds produced by individual letters and groups of letters to read words. Strictly speaking, phonetics, as a branch of linguistics, studies speech sounds, sound structure of the language (syllables, sound combinations, patterns of connecting sounds in a speech chain) and intonation with which they are pronounced.

Most schools in the UK now teach reading using phonics. It's widely used because research shows it works! That is why the official school curriculum says that children should be taught to read using the rules of phonetics.

English schools use many different phonics programs and systems - some of them are Jolly Phonics, Read Write Inc, Big Cat, Bug Club and Oxford Reading Tree. Thus, the exact order in which the various letter sounds are introduced depends on the scheme used by the school. But most of the sound schemes used in schools are based on the government's "Letters and Sounds" guide.

Writing and sounds are divided into five stages. Stage 1 is used in activities with preschoolers where they learn to listen to sounds and copy them. In kindergarten, before children start learning letter names, they develop listening and onomatopoeia skills. For children, this is necessary so that they tune in to different sounds in words, and then be able to recognize and pronounce them.

Children usually begin to really engage in Phase 2, towards the start of their first year of school. During this period, most of the letters of the alphabet are introduced. In kindergarten (Reception) and primary (Primary 1 and Primary 2) grades, the letters of the alphabet are entered in a set order, and children learn one sound for each letter. At this point, they can say and read simple short words such as 'c-a-t, cat' and 's-u-n, sun'. The children then learn that some letters make different sounds when they are connected, such as 'sh', 'ee' and 'ai'.

After children learn to read words with the most common letter-sound combinations, they move on to learning many alternative combinations and practice reading increasingly difficult words. By the time they finish their first year of primary school (in England, 5-6 year olds), most children will be able to read just about any familiar word in English. In the second grade (age 6-7 in England), children improve their skills by practicing using phonetics to read and write less familiar and more complex words.

Of course, while all this is happening, children are also learning to understand and enjoy what they read! In kindergarten and elementary school, teachers share wonderful fairy tales, stories and poems with children, encourage children to think, speak and enjoy reading .

Phonetics of the Russian language for foreigners | Russian alphabet pronunciation Letters Sounds

Russian alphabet for foreigners: often not only foreigners who begin to learn Russian, but also advanced level foreigners cannot correctly pronounce some Russian sounds. We'll talk about which letters of the Russian alphabet cause difficulties for foreigners , we will give recommendations for teachers on how to teach phonetics of the Russian language, what phonetic exercises for foreigners need to be performed and what difficulties may arise in their implementation, we will separately talk about how to put the pronunciation of Russians sounds that cause the most difficulties for foreigners.

Russian as a foreign language

For beginners to learn Russian, foreigners The difficulty in learning the Russian alphabet and Russian phonetics lies in the fact that almost all letters of the Russian alphabet can represent several different sounds, for example: the letter E can denote the sounds [E], [YE], [I], and sometimes even the letter E can denote the sound [Y] (after the consonants Zh, Sh, C without stress: price, wife).

Pronunciation is another difficulty for teachers of Russian as a foreign language when teaching Russian to both beginners and foreigners continuing to study Russian. Below we give recommendations, how to put the pronunciation of Russian sounds in the lessons of Russian as a foreign language.

Rules for staging Russian sounds. Teaching Russian phonetics

Russian phonetics for foreigners: work on staging any sound of the Russian language one must start with the formulation of phonemic hearing , i.e. first you need to ensure that the foreigner distinguishes sounds by ear. This is important because many Russian sounds sound the same to foreigners. For example, if your student says “grandfather” instead of “girl”, and when you correct him, he answers that he said so, then this means that your student does not distinguish sounds [D] and [V] by ear, they are for it sound the same.

In order for foreigners to learn to distinguish sounds by ear, we recommend doing the following exercises :

Exercise "Playing with cards" :

1. Take two sheets of paper, write on them the sounds you will practice. For example, on one sheet we write D, and on the other - V. Let's give these cards to a foreigner. The teacher pronounces the sounds [D] and [V] in random order, and the foreigner must raise the corresponding card. Of course, the teacher must tell the foreigner if he makes a mistake.

2. Then the teacher pronounces syllables, for example: wa - yes, du - wu, ava - hell, etc., and the foreigner must raise the “D” card or the “B” card.

Phonetic dictation exercise :

The teacher dictates sounds, syllables, words to the student, and the foreigner writes down what he hears.

! Please note that in the exercise “Playing with Cards” and “Phonetic Dictation”, when practicing consonants, you do not need to dictate words that end in voiced paired consonants (B, C, D, D, F, Z), because. when pronouncing at the end of a word, voiced paired consonants are stunned. For example, if you dictate to a foreigner “bow”, “meadow”, then the foreigner will write down “bow”, “bow”, because “meadow” is pronounced like “lu[K]”, while your foreign student will not make a mistake, because this is a phonetic, not a spelling dictation.

When a foreigner began to distinguish Russian sounds by ear, the teacher can already change places with the foreigner, i.e. the teacher shows the card, and the foreigner says what is written. At this stage, another problem arises: a foreigner hears and understands how a Russian sound should sound, but cannot pronounce it correctly. The greatest difficulties for foreigners arise when pronouncing the following sounds: [S], [Y], [R], [F], [C], [W], [Sh] . Below we will consider the rules for setting these sounds and give recommendations on how to explain Russian phonetics to foreigners, how to conduct phonetic exercises for foreigners.

Russian alphabet - Letters I, Y

The pronunciation of the Russian vowel sound [Ы] causes difficulties for almost all foreigners. For example, foreigners pronounce "mi" instead of "we" and "beat" instead of "be".

The pronunciation of the vowel sound [I] causes much less difficulty for foreigners. The Russian sound [I] is similar to the English sound [i:]. To pronounce the sound [I] you need to point the tongue forward and touch the tip of the tongue to the lower teeth. When pronouncing [I], your students need to smile a little :).

Let's return to the formulation of the problematic Russian sound [Ы] . When pronouncing it, the whole tongue must be pushed back and strain the back of the tongue . Now the tip of the tongue no longer touches the lower teeth, but is pushed back. When we pronounce [ы], we no longer smile (of course, such a complex sound!) and [G]. The pronunciation of the sounds themselves [K] and [G] usually does not cause difficulty for foreigners, but when they are pronounced, the back of the tongue automatically tenses, and this is what we use in our phonetic exercise for foreigners:
yk - yg - yk - yg - yk - yg - yk - yg
ky - gy - ky - gy - ky - gy - ky - gy - s - s - s - s - s - s - s
ky - km - we - washed
gy - hmy - we - washed
ky - kvy - you - howl
gy - gvy - you - howl
ky - kby - would - was
gy - gby - would - was
soap, was, exit, exhibition, was, son, cheese, letters, smart

Russian alphabet - Letter Y

The attention of foreigners beginning to study the phonetics of the Russian language should be paid to the letter of the Russian alphabet Y. The sound [Y] is found in Russian speech much more often than the letter Y vowels and after the letters b and b denote two sounds: [YE], [YO], [YU], [YA], for example: [YO] lka, with [YE] hat, kal [YA] n.