Phonics is the most effective way to communication skills. Short stories in English and poems for children are the best way of teaching phonics, as they help you replace the old drilling method.
For those who have just entered the arena of language teaching, the alphabetical approach uses the name whereas, phonics is the sound.
The alphabetical method might sound technical, but it means “A for Apple.” Meanwhile, “the beginning sound of Apple is a (sound)” is phonics.
One thing is common between the two approaches: drilling. Since children need to learn the sounds or names, they are required to repeat either one of the two (depending upon the approach adopted by a school).
The Drill Method: Same old boring routine
The repetition is common in all four language approaches: listening, speaking, reading, and writing.
Listening
The teacher calls out the sound of letters, and the children listen. This task is regularly performed by the teacher, mostly in the morning. You can imagine how boring this routine can be, both for teachers and children. Every day that same parroting of the sound by teachers takes place, while children are listening passively, half of them with their eyes closed, and the other half is looking outside for some excitement.
Speaking
No sooner than the teacher finishes the process of repetition, the children get into the action. A large collective humming sound fills the classroom air.
Reading and Writing
Then comes a worksheet or a workbook. There can be some pages for a sound. With few variations, they look the same and often add to the boredom. Children first read the word provided on the page and then do the written practice.
With the alphabetical approach, the use of drilling through listening, speaking, reading, and writing is understandable. There’re lots more and lots different we can do when teaching children to read with the help of the phonics method.
Stories and Poems: The new method
Over the years, we all have seen how effective the phonics approach has been; therefore, it’s time to bring some creativity in its teaching methodology. One big innovation can be the use of stories and phonemic rhymes for the teaching of phonics.
Before further discussing the new approach to phonics teaching, we need to look at some phonics children need to learn in pre-primary classes.
There are two specific skills that children must acquire before proceeding to class one. Here are those two skills.
Stories and Poems for Beginning Sound
Children need to learn to recognize all the 26 English language sounds. They need to associate the sound with a letter. On hearing the sound, they should be able to match it to the letter shape, and likewise, they should be able to say the sound when the shape of a letter is shown to them. We can help children learn beginning sounds through stories and poems.
Stories and Poems for Word Parts
Stories and poems are effective in teaching the word parts. The word parts are the basic building blocks of every word. There are 38-word parts in all. Each word part is made of two sounds (like an atom built of neutrons, protons, and electrons). Every word part has a unique sound, and children need to know the sounds of all 38-word parts. Once again, there has to be the association of sound to writing and vice versa.
The beginning sound and word part competency can enable children to do further readings. These two are the foundation of all future reading activities. Therefore, they need to be developed properly during the three years of pre-primary. A better understanding of these two can enhance children’s learning which means more practice.
The use of stories and rhymes is one such tool. You can tell children to repeat a concept without drilling with the help of stories and rhymes. Children acquire the concept of beginning sounds and word parts naturally with the help of stories and poems.
There is no need to offer pages after pages of similar-looking worksheets or parrot the sounds. Just sing the rhymes and tell the stories written specifically for this purpose, and children will learn the two skills. They will enjoy these two activities, never realizing that they are learning.
Stories and rhymes increase the speed of learning because they are much more interesting, and children are more involved in these two activities as compared to drilling.
Visit the EAST website for short stories in English and poems for children that help children develop English comprehension through phonics.