Making Phonics Fun



My doctoral research was focused on cultural representation in reading books (shameless plug My Thesis).  The central message of the thesis was that when it comes to reading books, representation matters.  Since graduating, I have seen an explosion of children's books based on characters from the African diaspora.  While this has truly warmed my heart, I am longing to see more culturally relevant books that embrace the phonics system.  In order for our children to get ahead in a system that is innately structured against them, they will need to first learn the language of the system.  Phonics will be fun, when the fundamental are taught in a way that validates the cultural values of our communities.

Books are cultural objects and they are the building blocks of your child's education.  For this reason alone, children should be taught to respect books, but let's be truthful, not all books are created equally.  When choosing books for your toddler or early years child to interact with, consider a variety of topics and genres and ensure that they encourage, rather than frustrate the learning of phonics.  You can do this by:

1. linking sounds/words in the books to sounds/words found in your natural setting, e.g. food packets, road signs, household appliances.

2. pointing out the sounds/words that your child's school is focusing on wherever you see them on your travels around the community.

3. encouraging your child to turn each sound into a tongue twister or a rhyme.

4. creating a treasure hunt using words made up of their learned sounds.

💜

Dr. Monica is available to meet your learning organisation's training and consultancy needs. Contact her at vineacademy2024@gmail.com.

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