Phonics, for parents

1What phonics is

England's Department for Education describes phonics as “an effective way of teaching children to read”. Children are taught three things:¹

1. the sound each single letter makes;
2. the sounds letters make together, such as “sh” or “oo”;
3. how to blend the sounds, from left to right, into a word.

With these, a child can work out (decode) a word they have never seen before, instead of guessing it.¹

2Where it fits

So talk, songs and stories come first, then noticing print and the sounds in words, then decoding. When children learn to read and write in Classes 1 and 2, NCERT asks for a balance of meaning-focused work, such as stories and talk, and skills-focused work, such as phonics.²

3English and Hindi

NEP 2020 notes that young children grasp new ideas more quickly in their home language. Keep talking, singing and reading in yours: it is the ground reading grows from, in any language.³

Hindi is written in aksharas: each akshara stands for a sound, and a matra changes its vowel, so reading Hindi is sound-led too. NCERT's framework has children learn Indian scripts through their own units.²

4At home

• Read aloud every day: a book your child enjoys, and the same one more than once.
• Point out sounds around you: the first sound of your child's name, a shop sign, a packet.
• Play with sounds: what rhymes with “cat”? What starts with “sss”?
• When your child reads, let them sound out a new word and blend it, rather than guess from the picture.¹
• Keep it short and happy: encouragement does more than drills.¹

5Common worries

“My child knows A, B, C but can't read.” Knowing letter names is a good start; reading needs the letter sounds and blending, which come with time and practice.

“Should we start formal lessons early?” NCERT's framework is plain about young children:

Ask the schoolAsk your child's teacher which sounds the class is learning, so home and school say them the same way.