Explains the role of phonics in our language and why we need to understand it. Target age: middle schoolers through adult

1. Why is it so hard to read and write English ? We’ll try to explain

3. 06/09/09 Kanji (Japanese Pictographs) Drawing of the impression of the things in simplified structure.

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6. Blackfoot Teepee Cover (top left) Bear-chief, on foot, escapes from the Assiniboin tribe. Double-Runner cut loose from horses and captures a Ventre boy. He and a companion kill two of the Ventre. He picks up a war bonnet that was dropped by a Ventre, as a war souvenir. He takes a gun from a Crow and kills five Flatheads. A Cree hid in the brush and Big Nose went after him. A Cree was killed while scaring off Blackfoot horses. Double – Runner took a medicine pipe and bow from a Ventre and killed him. He took a horse and shield from a Crow and was chased. He killed two Ventre, took two guns, four mules, and captured a woman and a boy (bottom right).

7. Alphabet Writing After thousands of years, it proved very difficult to memorize all the pictures that represented words and ideas so systems of symbols representing sounds were developed. The idea of an alphabet probably started in the region east of the Mediterranean Sea. As people used these symbols, alphabets became simpler until they looked more like the letters we have today .

8. Changing Times About 130 years ago, two completely unrelated events shaped the way we learn to read and write today. First, laws were passed in many countries and states requiring parents to send their children to school until they were a certain age. The second event was a return to the “old fashioned” way of learning to read and write, by requiring learners to learn the sounds and symbols that form words.

9. Phonics The method we use to teach children to read and spell is called phonics. The individual sounds that make up our words are called phonemes. How many sounds (phonemes) do we have in the English language?

10. Syllables We use 44 phonemes to make all English syllables and words. (18 vowel, and 26 consonant sounds) How many different types of syllables are possible in the English Language?

11. Building Words A syllable is a word or a part of a word with one vowel sound. We use closed, open, r-controlled, diphthong, VCe, and C-le syllables to build all words in our language. Recognizing the syllable types will help you sound out and spell unfamiliar words.

12. Spelling  Many students dread spelling! We are told over and over that English doesn’t follow many rules making spelling difficult. What percent of words in the English language can be spelled phonetically? (by simply writing down the phonemes you hear)

13. Spelling  50% of all English words are spelled phonetically! 37% follow specific rules for spelling Only 13% need to be memorized!

14. Good News ? So…what’s the good news? If you are a person who struggles with reading or spelling, there are ways to figure out exactly where you missed some part of the process and you can go back and learn that part later. You may not have all 44 phoneme sounds down as well as you need, or be able to translate those sounds to symbols. You might not understand the 6 syllable types so that you can sound words out. You may not perform reading skills as quickly as you should. Once you know your weakness, you can work to fix it !