I originally thought my phonics materials were what people might be looking for. However, most people come for flash cards and I spent a lot of time getting those up and I have recently began paying more attention to this section. There are phonics worksheets, phonics posters, flash cards for introduction, coloring sheets, game cards, handouts, worksheet makers and more.

There are many resources available for phonics education, but I have been frustrated by what's available and how those don't apply so well when teaching English as a foreign language and especially in Japan where the Roman alphabet itself is foreign. I start out with a phonics only system moving children slowly through hard consonants/short vowels, blends (as those are the most difficult for Japanese students,) long vowels (silent e,) and consonant digraphs. Once they've got those down we begin vowel combinations, and that pretty much gets the reading ball rolling. I follow with r-controlled vowels and Dolch sight words. Those are the first steps I take and the order is debatable. I hope to get a more information up as time permits.

For young learners (4yrs-6yrs) I do a letter of the day to start them off. They say the letter and then learn 2 words that start with that letter. I then repeat the alphabet focusing on lower case and have them recall 2 words that start with that letter and then teach them the reading. For young learners (6yrs+) I start them off with both 2 words and the letter's reading. I spend about 5 minutes each lesson on this and it breaks up the class nicely as a transient portion of the lesson.

I will be posting as time permits so check back for updates. As always, emails about questions, comments, encouragement, broken links or file problem are very much welcomed.

- Mark