What is Phonics?

Phonics is not phonetics, which is a study of the sounds of spoken language. And it is not just about
phonemic awareness, which is awareness that spoken words are composed of phonemes.

It is a practical subject which breaks the letter-sound rules of the writing system into bite sized
pieces easy for the student to learn.

Learning a coding system enables a student to sound out letters and letter combinations and arrive
at the pronunciation of a word.

Phonics an essential skill for successful reading and is used for native speakers as the first
component of any reading course.

In terms of ESL, phonics programmes are becoming recognised as one of the most successful
methods to teach English to non-native speakers, in particular to children.

For ESL learners, phonics is not just about reading, though the main goal of any phonics course is to
create independent readers. By combining phonemic awareness, print awareness, sight words,
alongside a basic ESL course, students can quickly progress in all aspects of language learning.

Oxford Phonics

The Oxford Phonics course is comprised of five books covering the main components of phonics
which is essentially vowels, consonants and diphthongs, (so books 1, 2 and 3 are exceptionally
important and moreover it’s vital to present them correctly)

How to teach OP is through four combined steps:

1) Phonemic awareness (to recognise and associate all sounds heard in a word)
2) Print Awareness (to be able to visually decode words)
3) Basic ESL (to contextualise the large vocabulary learned)
4) High Frequency Words/ Sight Words (In English some words defy phonic analysis and must
be learned by sight)

Overview of the Books

 OP1: The Alphabet: Phonemes and Graphemes

A phoneme is the smallest unit of sound that can differentiate meaning. A grapheme is the smallest
unit of written language that can differentiate meaning. In English we have 26 letters (graphemes)
and 44 phonemes (a/b/c/d/e….ng/ch/sh/oo… etc)

 OP2: Onsets and Rimes

 OP3: Vowel Digraphs

A digraph is a single sound, or phoneme, which is represented by two letters. A vowel digraph is
where two letters combine to spell a sound.
  OP4: Consonant Blends and Consonant Digraphs

A consonant blend, is just that a blend, two sounds are blended together. A consonant diagraph is
where two sounds combine to make a single sound

 OP5: The exceptions to the rules

OXFORD PHONICS 1

First blocks of Phonics- Graphemes: Individual letter sounds and identifying first sounds

Goals:

 Letter sound association and cross association

 Sentence Pattern
 General Response
 Sight Words and High Frequency words
 First Steps in contextualisation

Letter/Sound Association:

The main aim of OP1 is to have students become fluent in sound association, sound to letter, letter
to sound and to be able to associate the first sound of any word.

The vocabulary is important. They must be able to understand and use all the words illustrated in
book 1. The words are not randomly chosen just to illustrate the sound they are to become the
building block of this language course. You must ensure all students know these words

If the students are able to carry with them all learned vocabulary it allows them to later construct
sentences and answer concept questions in later books.

High Frequency Words and Sight Words:

These are the vital building blocks to language learning and they must be reinforced in every lesson.

HFW include:

Colours: Part 1 red/ blue/ green/ yellow (Part 2 orange/purple/ pink/ black/ white)

Numbers: 1 to 10

Size: Part 1 Big /small/ Part 2 long /short

Basic Preposition: On /In

Body Parts: hand/ arm/ finger/ leg/ head/ facial features

Sentence Pattern and General Response

Sentence pattern refers to the basic structures we introduce to the students, no matter the
question, its phrasing and response should always follow the same pattern and should be constantly
repeated.

General response refers to the students’ immediate associative answers and although it seems a
small thing it’s the first step in them learning to associate the verb in a sentence.

In book one, you should only concentrate on two general responses, ‘do you’ and ‘are you’. Even
the strongest students will at times jumble these by the end of course one, so drilling is important.

(DO NOT introduce ‘CAN’ in OP1)

GR: Do you want to play a game? /Do you want to take a break? Yes I do/ No I don’t

Are you ready? Yes, I am/ No, I’m not

SP Targets:

 UNIT 1

What is it? It is a/an ____

What do you see? I see a/an_____

What do you have? I have a _____

 UNIT 2

What do you see? I see a dog

What do you want? I want a doll

Do you have a doll? Yes, I do/ No, I don’t

How many elbows do you have? I have two. (Don’t focus at this point on the plural‘s’, I have two
elbow is perfectly acceptable, it’s about comprehension)

Is the elephant big or small? The elephant is big

What colour is the envelope? The envelope is green

What do you see on the farm? I see a duck on the farm

 UNIT 3

Are you a girl/ a gorilla etc? Yes I am/ No I’m not

What do you want? I want a gift

Do you want a horse? Yes, I do. I want a horse/ No, I don’t. I want a gorilla.

What is this? This is an iguana.

Is the igloo hot or cold? The igloo is cold

Where do you see the goat? I see the goat on the farm

Where does the horse live? The horse lives on the farm

Do you live on a farm? No, I don’t- I live in a house

Is the horse fast or slow? The horse is fast

 UNIT 4

What is this? That is a jacket.

Do you have a jacket? Yes, I do.

What colour is your jacket? My jacket is blue

When do you have a jacket? I have a jacket when it is cold

Is the jet fast or slow? The jet is fast

What do you like? I like the kangaroo

Do you like jam? Yes, I do/ No I don’t.

What colour jam do you like? I like red jam

What is a lion? A lion is a big cat

 UNIT 5

Is that your arm? No, this is my nose

What do you put in your cup? I put milk in my cup

What do you catch in your net? I catch a fish in my net

What do you see in the nest? I see an egg in the nest

Who lives in a nest? A bird lives in a nest

Who makes a nest? A bird makes a nest

Where do you see a nest? I see a nest in a tree

How many eggs do you see in the nest? I see two (eggs)

What is an ostrich? An ostrich is a big bird

Are you a monkey? No, I’m not, I’m a girl/boy

What does the monkey like to eat?

Where does the monkey live?

What animal likes to eat nuts?

 UNIT 6

Do you like pineapple? Yes, I do / No, I don’t. I like peach.

Do you like to eat or to drink pineapple? I like to drink pineapple juice

Do you like to eat rice? Yes I do, I like to eat rice.

What do you like to eat with rice? I like to eat egg/fish with rice

Do you have a quilt? Yes I do.

What colour is your quilt? My quilt is pink

Where is your quilt? My quilt is on my bed.

Where is your bed? My bed is in my house.

What is a panda? A panda is a black and white bear

What does the panda like to eat? The panda likes to eat the leaf

What do you see on the quiz? I see a question on the quiz.

When do you have a quiz? I have a quiz when I am in school

 UNIT 7

What is the sun? The sun is hot/ The sun is yellow/ The sun is up in the sky

Are you a teacher? No I’m not.

Who is a teacher? ____ is a teacher

How many uncles do you have? I have five (uncles)

Is the tent inside or outside? The tent is outside

What do you do in a tent? I sleep in a tent

Is the turtle fast or slow? The turtle is slow

Where does the turtle live? The turtle lives in the water

What is a tiger? A tiger is a big cat.

Where do you see a seal? I see a seal in the water

How many green socks are there? There are two socks

 UNIT 8

What do you see on the web? I see an insect on the web

Who makes the web? The spider makes the web

Where do you put the watch? I put the watch on my hand

What is a wolf? A wolf is a like big, angry dog.

Are you six? No I’m not, I’m five.

What number is before six/ What number is after six?

What do you see in the box? I see a fox in the box

What do you put in a box? I put a gift in a box

Where do you see a yak? I see a yak on the farm

What is a zebra? A zebra is like a black and white horse

Where do you see a zebra? I see the zebra in the zoo

How many zebras are in this room? There are zero zebras in this room

What yogurt do you like to eat? I like to eat banana yogurt

What does she have? She has a yoyo

What do you do with a yoyo? I play with a yoyo

What does the zebra have? It has a yogurt.

(DO NOT complicate the structures DO NOT introduce modals ie CAN until the next book)

OXFORD PHONICS TWO

Book two is comprised of three letter words composed of two consonants and medial short vowels.
The focus is now on decoding words by creating rimes and identifying onsets (first sounds).

Basically what that means is we teach students to combine the vowel and adjoining consonant first,
creating bases [at, et, it, ot] and then combine these with the first sound (onset) [pat, pet, pit, pot]

Rimes are created by combining two phonemes together resulting in a phonogram (grapheme), in
other words [at, et, it, ot] they become one sound. These sounds are generally unchanged within any
word and so learning them is essential.
Teaching rimes is the only time we teach students to decode words backwards [u +n = un/ b +un=
bun]

NEVER teach these as sounds in isolation, b - u - n

Goals:

 Decoding, creating and identifying rime sounds

 Sentence Pattern, involving longer constructs
 General Response, introducing ‘can’ and ‘it’ *what can it do+
 Sight Words and High Frequency words [matched per unit]

As with book one maintain asking concept questions, never accept the word or basic structure, it’s
not “I have a yam”, its “I like to eat yams with rice”

Always look to the story when starting a unit and ensure the sentence pattern discussed includes the
new sight words.

UNIT 1 (with, at, puts, on, for)

What do you put jam on? I put jam on my (bread, yam, cake)

What is a dam for? A dam stops the water

UNIT 2 (day, girl, she, we, use, then, take)

What does she have?

Do you like to take a nap? Where do you take a nap? (introduce take/ give via games)

What do you use with the tap? I use soap with the tap

What is in the tap? There is water in the tap

What do you use with the pad? I use a pen with the pad

Where is your pad? My pad is in my bag

OXFORD PHONICS THREE

Book 3 focuses on 3 sound words, syllabication and digraphs that create long vowel sounds.

Goals

 To identify how many sounds are in the word

 To identify and associate the first, middle and last sound
  To recognise all four/five combinations that creates each long vowel

At this point students should have a large base of vocabulary, HFW and sentence pattern to be able
to comprehend and explain any word presented through English, such as:

1. What is a gate? A gate is like a door outside the house

2. What is a lime? A lime is a fruit/food / I drink the lime when I put it in my water
3. What is a tune? A tune is like a song with no words/ I hum a tune.
4. What is rain? Rain is water that falls from the sky/ Rain makes things outside wet.
5. What is a jeep? A jeep is like a big car.
6. What is cry? I cry when I’m sad /What makes you cry?
7. What is yellow? Yellow is a colour like the sun
8. What is the moon? I can see the moon in the sky at night

Always discuss the word before sounding it out and always sound it out before writing it down.

Phonics and pronunciation tie together fluidly and allow students to self-correct. We don’t drill
pronunciation. When a student drops a sound you mere say first, middle, last; such as

‘I die in the lake’ – ‘last sound’- I dive in the lake

UNIT 1, 2, 3: Split-Digraphs- Not ‘Magic E’- NEVER teach magic E

Having spent book 2 focusing on short vowel we now present to the students that there are two
vowel sounds short and long. It is important to always first ask the short sound, before teaching the
long.

Lesson one lays these out very easily as,

 Tap becomes tape

 Cap becomes cape
 Can becomes cane
 Man becomes mane

Present the split in the diagraph with a sound, such as to clap your hands or click your tongue to
depict the consonant space, ‘a_’click’_e’ = A. Students often will initially write ‘taep’

These are presented as long A number 1, Long I no.1, Long O no1, Long U no1 (present only 1 long u
sound)

UNIT 4, 5, 6 & 7 Long A, E, I, O

 Present letter on the board, ‘i’ and a small arrow depicting short ‘i’, ask for the sound.
 Present letter again beneath it and now with a long arrow, depicting long ‘i’ ask for the
sound.
 Ask students how do you make long ‘i’ (no 1)? Response: i_e and then ask for long ‘i’ no.1
examples
 Beneath this write no.2 ‘igh’ and ask for the sound.
 Then present pictorial flashcards and discuss the new words.
  Ask how many sounds e.g. night = 3 sounds n-igh-t
 Ask for cross association and write word on board.

UNIT 8 Long U

There are two long ‘u’ sounds, present accordingly.

OXFORD PHONICS FOUR:

Book four doesn’t just deal with consonant blends it also cover consonant diagraphs and it is
necessary that students can hear the difference between these two sounds.

A consonant blend, is just that a blend, two sounds are blended together, (cl, gl, tr).

A consonant diagraph is where two sounds combine to make a single sound, (ch, sh, wh).

Book four is about print awareness and so we identify the sounds in the word but also can have the
students decode words by sight.

Goals

 To be able to decode all consonant blends

 To be able to recognise and associate all consonant diagraphs
 To learn to create diagraph rimes – learn to blend short vowels and identify short vowels
 To decode words using all leaned phonetic knowledge onsets, rimes and long vowel
combinations
 To correctly recognise and pronounce all voiced and unvoiced digraphs and phonemes

UNIT 1, 2 & 3 onset blends

Have students decode blends and apply phonetic knowledge to longer constructs

Bride= Three Sounds

1) Consonant Blend: Br
2) Split Diagraph: i_e
3) Last sound: /d/

UNIT 4 consonant diagraphs

A blend is to sounds joined together to make one sound-

A diagraph is one sound, so we teach rimes again ie

SH= ash/ esh/ ish/ osh/ ush

CH and TCH = same sound But only tch can be blended with a short vowel ie

Lunch= three sounds L+UN+CH (onset+rime+digraph) Can be 1st/2nd/3rd

atch/ etch/ itch/ otch/ utch Cannot be first sound

UNIT 5 voiced and unvoiced TH

Voiced= Tongue out

Unvoiced= Tongue in

Ck / Qu

Students already should know- the phrase “last sound /k/ = c+k’

ack/ eck/ ick/ ock/ uck

Rocket- two big sound r+ock= rock/ rock+et = rocket

Q is always followed by U is Vietnamese also

UNIT 6 digraph rimes

Onsets + Rimes

– remember a rime in a short vowel blended with a phoneme, a digraph is a single sound

ang/eng/ing/ong/ung- eg- king (onset and rime: k-ing= king: vowel sound /i/)

alt/elt/ilt/olt/ult – belt (onset and rime: b-elt= belt: vowel sound /e/)

Always ask the vowel sound…

UNIT 7 three sound blends

Spring= two sounds spr+ing= spring/ vowel sound /i/

UNIT 8 soft sounds

Simply present the standard sound denoted with a square and soft with a cloud;

ensure students understand soft is rare

*Units 4, 5 & 8 focus on recognition and reproduction

OXFORD PHONICS FIVE:

Book five is an amalgamation of all the exceptions that make the phonetic rules. There is no simple
trick to teaching book five, these are the exceptions and are about transferring phonetic awareness
into print awareness. Most of this book can be categorised as HFW, inform the students of the
exceptions and then they just have to learn the accompanying vocabulary.
UNIT 1: Bossy ‘R’

When /r/ follows any vowel it changes the vowel sound or moreover it quiets the vowel.

Present as 3 sounds- Car- Girl – Dinosaur

UNIT 2,3 & 4: Variant Vowel Phonemes, Trigraphs and Rule breakers

Much like many graphemes having more than one sound (yak, gym, baby, cry) also many diagraphs
create multiple sounds too, (zoo, took).

There is no all-encompassing explanation or rule to teach these, students just have to become
familiar with HFW and also be exact in their knowledge of what phonemes these combinations
create.

But in short..

Long ‘o’ no.3 ‘ow’ makes 2 sounds- long ‘o’ and /ou/ such are c-ow

Long ‘u’ /ewe/ like z+oo makes two sounds- also creating a short ‘u’ sound like b+oo+k

Long ‘e’ no.2 ‘ea’ makes two sounds- also creating a short ‘e’ sound like br-ea-d (read present &read
past is a good example)

air/ ear/ are all make the same sound

UNIT 5: Lonely Long Vowels

As with the exceptions to every rule, the vowels themselves can be long, without being combined
into a diagraph etc.

These words fall under HFW and students just need to learn them.

REMEMBER- a long vowel sound is never blended in phonics h-o-t-el four sound word

UNIT 6: Schwa Sounds/ lazy vowels

Schwa refers to when the vowel makes an ‘uh’ sound within a word.

Such as, pencil. It is not pen-cil, it is pronounced pen-cul

But schwa’s generally make a sound that is not their own not- ‘uh’ is a rule of thumb but also remind
the students that the vowels are lazy and simply make a sound that is not their own; for example –
lemon the letter ‘o’ makes the sound /i/ not uh
UNIT 7: Sleeping Letters

Letters that are silent within words, this is about print awareness combined with phonetic
awareness.

UNIT 8: Suffixes

The suffixes with /t/ and /s/ generally have the same sound, students must become aware of the
HFW with such endings.

Such as, /tion/ and /sion/ have the same sound ‘shun’.

This unit is a good opportunity to focus of ‘syllabication’.