I just want to wish Debbie every success with her new programme. Having seen Unit 1, I would highly recommend that you visit the site and see for yourselves.
There are some great resources available that can be used as a complete programme or alongside other synthetic phonics programmes.”
TES early years forum
I have signed up and downloaded the 1st unit from Phonics International! The introductory booklet explained everything so clearly in an easy to understand way and I feel ready to provide my whole staff INSET after half term. I have also made some materials for three parent workshops I am running, to help parents understand the changes we are going to make and to give them some understanding of phonics...
...Ican see that I have lots to do! However, I am excited as I feel that I'm not just changing things for the sake of changing but have good evidence and research to back up reasons for these changes.
Teacher in PeruI would like to congratulate you once again for your fantastic Phonics International Programme...
...I am still very interested in trying to arrange some on line training at the beginning of next academic year. Hopefully we will be able to arrange something now that our 40 members of Early Years have been truly converted and believe blindly in your Synthetic Phonics Programme. As you may recall, we started with the Synthetic Phonics Programme in 2004. This was a major change for all the teachers as they moved away from whole language approach to Synthetic Phonics approach. I must admit that the beginning stages of this massive change were very hard and frustrating due to resistant teachers. I am very proud to say that they have now “converted” and would not think of going back to whole language approach.
My Alphabetic Code chart is now on proud display in my classroom (with lots of admirers!) and my TA is busy making up the laminated picture cards, Sounds Books and lots of other things that your programme has inspired! It has been so easy to understand and use so far. There are so many wonderful things to choose from. Seeing the programme in full now has opened my eyes even further to how much hard work must have gone into your programme...
...I can see so many other possibilities too. The programme is so flexible - fantastic!
...I have found only some of Letters and Sounds useful but I have found another programme/resource I feel is easier to work with, more flexible and actually meets more of the Rose Review recommendations for my school - Phonics International.
YR/1 teacherI have found the phonicsinternational resources to be invaluable.
Currently my favourite resources from the programme are the picture and mini posters,soundbook activity sheets, cumulative decodable wordlists,decodable texts and - tying everything together- the alphabetic code overview.
Having all these resources available to print at the click of a mouse, has already saved me many frustrating hours compiling or designing resources.
The resources facilitate commonality of approach in many ways- including teacher/parental guidance, systematic progress right through from simple to complex code allowing for each teacher to continue on and build on what has been taught previously.
Having the programme laid out in such an integrated and structured way and with the all the resources provided, has made my life as a teacher much easier and I feel I am a more effective teacher as a result of it.
Mr H (David) as 'support'!Dear David
Thank you for your detailed and helpful reply. No you have not missed the problem at all. I am impressed. Sorry about mistyping my email address, by then I was going round in circles!
As someone who has developed my own programme (but only a mere fraction of what you have achieved) I can fully appreciate the ENORMOUS amount of work that must have gone into it and how busy you must be. I really must congratulate you on what you have achieved - what I have seen so far is fantastic. Actually it is very similar to what I have in my head. The difference is that you have managed to get it out of your head and into a fabulous format - well done. I had planned to spend every moment developing something similar but having seen yours I'm thinking - why reinvent the wheel? Rather spend the time using it and telling others about it.
Have you been to www.phonicsinternational.com? Admittedly I've been spending way too much time on the Internet lately, but this is by far the best I've seen.
Yes, Parent, it's excellent. I have downloaded and saved all the tutorials. I just need the time to read them all! So much to read, so little time.
By the way - you can use the PI programme in the USA and Canada - and we now have a purpose-designed Alphabetic Code Overview Chart if users in those countries prefer it! Teachers just have to make small adaptions now and again - but they are an interesting feature of teaching; "We say that word 'this way' in our country" or "In England, that word is used instead of ....... ".It takes hours just to see what's in there. I bought the Early Years Starter Pack today, and although it doesn't have the whole range of resources, there's more than enough to keep me going for the next year or two. The other thing I love about it is that it's so flexible. You can use it with any synthetic phonics reading books, there's no additional or unusual notation for the children to learn, and because it's British and not American, it makes allowances for different pronunciations and spellings. It's not scripted, but the teaching points and spelling rules are included in the worksheets and summarised in the Alphabetic Code overview.
Further:I made my initial enquiry in January but foolishly put my trust in my son's school who assured me that they could fix his reading problems. They haven't so I now feel that my only option is to tackle this situation myself.
I have thoroughly researched the internet for solutions and feel that Phonics International is the best package out there.
Thank you so much for your help.
It is still a real lottery as to whether infant and primary schools - or secondary schools - are providing the most effective, STRUCTURED (whole school approach) and systematic reading and spelling instruction.To get back to the feedback, however, I would have no hesitation in recommending your system to both parents and teachers. I think the system is logical, simple to teach and an excellent foundation for reading, writing and spelling. As a parent, I would like to have a cd with the sounds on them and perhaps a cd-rom with some sessions modelled to help me to start. I would also like a basic programme outlining what to include in each session so that I didn't do too much or too little (although there would need to be some flexibility there depending on each child).
