Phonics at HKedCity

V Principles of Teaching Phonics

Phonic Readiness

Phonics involves visual, listening and memory skills. Learners may benefit from phonics instruction when they

have a sight vocabulary of around 100 words

can repeat simple sentences of about six words e.g. 'Sam is going to the cinema.'

show awareness of differences and similarities in the sounds of words

recognize that rhyming words end in the same sound when spoken

Order of Introduction

There is no fixed order for introducing the different sound-symbol patterns. Teachers may decide on the order in which they want to introduce particular consonant or vowel sounds based upon one or more of the following criteria:

frequency of use in the English language

frequency of occurrence in teaching / learning materials

perceived level of difficulty for the learners

sound-symbol patterns occurring naturally within the contexts of stories, rhymes, songs or poems

The following tables cover some of the more common patterns that might be introduced and developed in a reading programme.

Set 1: Single Consonants and Short Vowels

Set 2: Double consonants, Blends and Digraphs

Set 3: Long Vowels

Set 4: Vowel Blends

Set 5: Past Tense Endings

Set 6: 'r' as a Vowel Modifier

Set 7: Triple Consonant Blends

Set 8: Some Special Sounds

Set 1: Single Consonants and Short Vowels

Pattern

Position

Example

single consonants

initial

p, t, l, n, b, m, g, c, d, k, f, s, r, w, h, j, v, z, y

short vowels

initial & middle

a:	apple	bat
e:	elephant	pet
i:	ink	tin
o:	orange	pot
u:	umbrella	jug

single consonants

final

p, t, l, n, b, m, g, c, d, k, f, s, x

The patterns in Set 1 deal with most of the two- and three-letter words in English that follow the patterns of consonant-vowel (c-v) and consonant-vowel-consonant (c-v-c). These form the easiest and most frequently occurring patterns in English.

Learners may develop phonic awareness of these patterns by focusing upon:

initial consonant sounds:

learners play games which involve them in recognising and saying words which begin with the various initial consonants e.g. 'I-spy', dominoes, bingo, etc.

short vowels in the initial position:

learners play games which involve them in recognising and saying words which begin with the short vowels

two letter words which use short vowel and final consonant, e.g.

an at ed in it on up us

learners play games which involve them in recognising that these short words may be found in longer words, e.g.

cat Annie banana little

Back

Set 2: Double Consonants, Blends and Digraphs

Pattern	Position	Example
double consonants which sound like a single	consonant final	-bb -dd -gg -ss -ff -zz and -ck
blends	initial	bl- cl- fl- gl- pl- sl- br- cr- dr- fr- gr- pr- tr- sc- sk- sl- sm- sn- sp- st- sw-
digraphs	initial	ch, sh, th, ph, wh, qu
blends & digraphs	final	-sh -ch -st -sk -sp -st -th -tch
'n' & 'm' blends	final	-nd, -ncd, -ng, -nk, -mp, -nt

Note:

double consonants
two identical consonants which sound like a single consonant in final position
blends
two consonants 'blended' together to form a new sound
digraphs
two letters joined together to form a new single sound which is quite different from their separate sounds

Learners may develop phonic awareness of these patterns by focusing upon:

a.	double consonants: learners make new words by substituting initial consonants and / or mid short vowels e.g. pill pull bell bill bull
b.	Four-letter words comprising a blend / digraph + short vowel + final consonant: learners make Four-letter words e.g. flat drip step shop this
c.	Four-letter words comprising a single consonant + short vowel + final blend or digraph: learners make new words by substituting final blends or digraphs e.g. much must mush learners substitute short mid vowels to make new words e.g. last list lost
d.	'n' and 'm' blends learners make new words by substituting initial consonants, blends or digraphs e.g. and band land hand sand stand camp damp lamp stamp

Back

Set 3: Long Vowels

Pattern

Position

Example

long vowels with the same sound as letters of the alphabet

all

a:	play, train
e:	see, mummy, eat
i:	pie, high, try
o:	boat, old, grow
u:	suit, you

'magic' e

final

plan --- plane

Note:
When 'e' is written at the end of a three-letter (C+V+C) word or a four-letter
(blend / digraph + V + C) word, the short vowel sound changes to a long vowel sound.

Learners may develop phonic awareness of these patterns by:

playing games such as dominoes, bingo, wordsearches, card games which involve them in exploring the ways in which long vowel sounds are represented by different letter combinations;

using word wheels and playing games where they create new words by adding 'magic' e to three- or four-letter words e.g.

tap : tape mat: mate
pip : pipe bit : bite
not : note hop : hope

Back

Set 4: Vowel Blends

Pattern

Position

Example

long vowel blends

all

ee:	eel, bee, need, keep
ai:	paint, tail, afraid
oo:	pool, moon, cool, soon
ea:	eat, each, pea, meat
ay:	pay, may, say, stay

short vowel blends

middle

ea:	head, bread, deaf
oo:	look, book, took, cook

Note:
The vowel blends 'ea' and 'ee' produce the same long 'E' sound. Learners may develop phonic awareness of these patterns by:

making word books for the different blends;

by substituting initial consonants to make rhyming words e.g.

main pain gain rain plain

by substituting final consonants to create new words e.g.

leaf lean leak lead least

Back

Set 5: Past Tense Endings

Pattern	Position	Example
3 different past tense endings	final	/t/ sound e.g. wished /d/ sound e.g. played /id/ sound e.g. hated

Note:
There are three different ways to pronounce the past tense ending '-ed'. These depend on the sound which comes before the '-ed' ending, e.g.

s, sh, k, p + ed = /t/ sound as in wished, asked, hoped
t, d + ed = /id/ sound as in hated, ended
others + ed = /d/ sound as in played, rained

Learners may develop phonic awareness of the different endings by clapping to mark the syllables in words which contain these endings, e.g.

danced /t/ sound = 1 syllable
played /d/ sound = 1 syllable
mended /id/ sound = 2 syllables

Back

Set 6: 'r' as a Vowel Modifier

Pattern

Position

Example

r modifies short vowels

all

ar:	car, arm, part, shark
rr:	after, sister
ir:	bird
or:	for
ur:	burn

r modifies vowel blends

final

eer:	deer
ear:	near, tear, (long)
ear:	wear, pear, (short)
air:	hair, pair, fair
are:	care, dare, scare

modification by w

initial

or sounds like:	worm, world
ar sounds like:	warm

Note:
er, ir, ur are identical in sound

Learners may develop phonic awareness of these patterns by substituting initial consonants, blends or digraphs to make rhyming words e.g.

pair: hair fair chair stair

Back

Set 7: Triple Consonant Blends

Pattern	Position	Example
triple consonants blends	initial	str- squ- scr- thr- shr- spl- spr-

Learners may develop phonic awareness of these patterns by making smaller rhyming words from words which contain triple consonant blends. They do this by removing consonants from the blend e.g.

string: sting sing ring
spray: pray say pay ray

Back

Set 8: Some Special Sounds

Pattern	Position	Example
'Soft' c (sounds like /s/)	all	city, cent, pencil, ice, prince
'Soft' g (sounds like /j/)	all	gentle, giant, ginger, cage, change
'Dark' l	final	little, bottle, kettle

Learners may develop phonic awareness of these patterns by:

a.	collecting pictures of things beginning with 'hard' and 'soft' c and 'hard' and 'soft' g
b.	making lists of words which begin with 'hard' and 'soft' c and 'hard' and 'soft' g

The above sets of phonic patterns are not intended to be exhaustive of the whole range of sound-symbol patterns in English. They do, however, indicate a range of the most common patterns which learners benefit from knowing.

Source:	Education Department Hong Kong (1993). The Teaching of Phonics. Hong Kong: Government Printer., Education Bureau
Edited by:	HKEdCity Content Team