Friday 28 September 2012

Phonics: The sound of alphabets...


When we first came across the word “phonics”, we were intrigued. Even we had studied English and can communicate fairly, but we are not aware of the phonics. So how can it be beneficial for your child? Does he really need to know it? Will it make a difference? When we did our little research, we felt it has great benefits for our kids. Thus today in our blog we will talk about our experimentation with PHONICS.
Steps undertaken by us:
1.     Learning it ourselves: The first step for us was very challenging. Browsed through various bookstores across the town. Found nothing. Even if there were some they were not the right medium to convey the SOUND. Our research further led us to some audio-visuals on the Internet. It was an eye opener for there were innumerable things we weren’t aware of ourselves. Our initial misconception of phonics believing them to the Hindi translation/ pronunciation was cleared. Phonics just means saying the sound of the letter and not the name of the letter. And then it was all about practicing ourselves.  
2.     Sharing it with our kids: In the process we learnt that the sounds of the letters need to be taught FIRST, instead of the name of the letter. But since we had already crossed that stage we proceeded with making them aware of the Sounds. It was an awesome experience as more than learning it was fun to make those sounds. “Spoken English” is easy for them to understand because now they know that words we speak are nothing but a combination of sounds of the letters. Phonics is all about practicing the sounds in your daily routine rather than attending a two hour phonic class elsewhere.
3.     Refining it: To make it more fun for our kids we designed special textured phonics flash cards (sample pics below). These cards helped in not only understanding the sounds but also getting more versed with the words which begin and end with these sounds. The texture is helping in knowing the flow these letters are written in. Once the basic sound was clear to them, the time came for combining these sounds to make simple 2 and 3 letter words. And believe us it’s an enjoyable experience for us as well as them.




4.     Finding new things: There is much more to it. Just imagine there are around 72 sounds in English language, of which 46 sounds are from the single alphabets only (for eg letter A has 3 sounds). The remaining 26 sounds are formed using multiple letters (for eg: sh, ck, ing etc). We are still in the process of learning the advanced stage and are confident that we will get through this.
Results so far:
The above experiment started almost 6 months ago and the results are overwhelming. The kids are not only enjoying it, but are also making efforts in forming simple 2 -3 letter words. It’s a long way to go but we have begun our pleasant journey together.

PS: We personally don’t external recommend phonic classes for such young minds.

2 comments:

  1. I have seen phonics doing wonders with my kid and it's amazing to see him read words at such an early stage. Great blog entry guys...I am sure other readers would derive benefits out of it too.
    Rajeev

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  2. A barely 3 year old child took my husband and me by suprise when he told us "I will show you some in-t-er-est-ing pictures in my scrap book" when we visited his house. Incredible!! Isn't it? That was our exact feeling when we heard this kid a student of phonics at home by his mom.

    Priti and Pratima have made a commendable effort in getting "it" right for their kiddos. The importance of good communication skills needs no emphasis and this is a very effective and powerful step that parents' can and must take for lifetime benefits for their children. I view this, as an extremely important dimension of a parents' responsibility towards "providing for" the needs of a child.

    I get excited with the prospect of getting to learn so many things of my yesteryears all over again, with a better understanding and maturity of today, through the child rearing process. Learning like charity begins at home and parents pls take cues from the PGs for being extremely gracious and charitable with their time to effort to so such wonderful things for their children and sharing them with us all!!

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