Lida Myrtle Williams

“ The little foreigner, greatly handicapped where reading is taught by the word and sentence methods only, begins on an equal basis with his American neighbor, when the "Alphabet by sound" is taught.
In recent years only has the subject of phonics found a place on the daily school program; and there is perhaps, no other subject on the primary program so vaguely outlined in the average teacher's mind and therefore taught with so little system and definite purpose. ”

“ Unphonetic words should be taught by visualizing—getting the form of the word as a whole. The teacher writes the word on the board in free rapid hand, pupils observe for a moment, getting a mental picture of the form; the word is erased by the teacher, and reproduced on the board by the pupil.
While oral spelling aids the "ear-minded" pupil and gives variety in the recitation, written spelling should predominate for the reasons that (1) in practical life, spelling is used almost wholly in expressing thought in writing; (2) the eye and hand should be trained equally with the ear. ”

“ By the end of the first year the pupil's phonetic knowledge, combined with his vocabulary of sight words and his power to discover a new word, either phonetically or by the context, ought to enable him to read independently any [Pg 22] primer, and to read during the year from eight to twelve or more primers and first readers.
6. In reading, pupils should be taught to get the meaning chiefly by context—by the parts which precede or follow the difficult word and are so associated with it as to throw light upon its meaning. ”

“ To illustrate: When there are two or more vowels in a word of one syllable, the first vowel is long, and the last silent, as: came, leaf, coat, rain.
"When there is one vowel in the word and it is the last, it is long," as: me, he, fly.
All vowels are short unless modified by position.
Have the children notice the effect of final "e" upon some of their short vowel words. These lists will furnish good pronunciation drills.
Call attention to the vowel digraphs in the same way: ea, ai, oa, ay. ”

“ The present need is a systematic and comprehensive but simple method of phonics teaching thruout the primary grades, that will enable any teacher, using any good text in reading, to successfully teach the phonetic facts, carefully grading the difficulties by easy and consecutive steps thus preparing the pupils for independent effort in thot getting, and opening for him the door to the literary treasures of the ages. ”

“ With all the consonants on the board, the teacher [Pg 10] sounds any consonant, the pupil finds and repeats the sound as he points it out. As the teacher points, pupils sound, occasionally in concert, and in individual recitation of the entire list. Individual work should predominate, to make sure that the pupil is giving the correct sound and putting forth independent effort.
b. Pupils write sounds as teacher dictates. If a pupil fails to recall and write the form, the teacher may pronounce the type word and ask the pupil to sound the initial consonant (tell the first sound in the word) . ”

“ Rapid daily drill with these cards is most valuable in associating instantly the sound with its symbol and should be continued until every child knows every sound. After the analysis the side of the card containing only the consonant should be used for the drill. But if the pupil fails to give the right sound, or is unable to give any sound at all, the card should be reversed and he readily gets the right sound from the word. ”

“ For the slower ones who have difficulty with the form, a good practice is to "write it in the air," the pupil pointing with index finger and following the teacher as she writes, also tracing the teacher's copy with pointer, using free, rapid movement. ”

“ I. Review Single and Blended Consonants, Digraphs, Short and Long Vowels, and All Phonograms.
II. Continue Pronouncing Exercises, Teaching New Phonograms.
Continue word study by the analytic-synthetic process. These phonic drills will deal largely with the new words that occur in the daily reading lessons.
III. Syllabication.
In mastering the pronunciation of new words, pupils should acquire the habit of analyzing them into syllables.
The ear must be trained to hear syllables, they should be separately pronounced, and clearly imaged. This makes for effective spelling later. ”

“ Later, when diacritical marks are introduced, it aids in the use of the dictionary. The habit of attacking and pronouncing words of entirely new form, develops self-confidence in the child, and the pleasure he experiences in mastering difficulties without help, constantly leads to new effort. ”

“ Thus when the forms of the letters are learned and associated with the sound, the pupils are able to write phonetic words from dictation as well as to "spell by sound."
4. Consonant Drill.
(1) With a rubber pen, a set of type, or with black [Pg 9] crayola, and cardboard, a set of consonant cards may be made, one for each sound. On one side of the card is written or printed the type word with the consonant sound below; on the other side, the consonant alone, thus:
The number of cards will increase each day as new sounds are learned. ”

“ Keep a separate set of cards for these blends—and drill upon them as the list grows.
(br, pl, fl, sl, cr, gl, gr, bl, cl, fr, pr, st, tr, str, sp, sw, tw, sk.)
The teacher must pronounce the syllables that the children have, as yet, no power to master, e.g., with the word [Pg 11] "grow", (1) the children will blend g and r, gr; (2) teacher pronounces "ow"; (3) children blend "gr" and "ow" until they recognise "grow."
Teach also the digraphs sh, ch, th, wh, as they are met in the common words in use: when, they, chick, etc.
III. Teach the Short Vowels. ”

“ Cards placed in a row on black board ledge. (Catching fish.) Pupil takes as many as he can sound correctly.
Single and blended consonants, and digraphs written on cardboard cut in form of fish, and put into the mirror lake on the sand table. Children "catch fish" in turn.
3. "Guess."
A pupil thinks of a word containing a known phonogram, which is communicated to the teacher. The child standing before the class then says, "I am thinking of a word belonging to the "an" family." The word, we will say, is "fan." A child who is called on asks, "Is it c an?" The first child replies, "It is not can." ”

“ Patient drill for weeks, even months, may be necessary before a sense of phonetic values is attained. Haphazard and spasmodic work is fatal to progress; but a few minutes of brisk, lively drill, given regularly each day will accomplish wonders. ”