One method that has been found effective is to list a group of high-frequency words on a board and have the learner repeat after the instructor. When the learner encounters any difficulty the phonics elements are sounded out by the reading coach. The words should not always be presented in the same order otherwise the learner will not really learn to recognize them but simply rely on memory, making it difficult to read them when these words are encountered in other settings. When a learner has difficulty with “WHO” for example, break it down as follows: /wh/ /o/ and sound them out separately for the learner to follow. Likewise with “WHICH” one might sound out /wh/ /i/ /ch/.
Pronunciation note: To / Do /Me
In the subsequent pages: To and to are words in their own right and should be pronounced as follows: The girl is going to school.
To- (with the hyphen), however, indicates that this sound unit might be connected to another sound unit. Read as in: Toronto. Thus, do as in Do it for me; but do- as in Donut. Me as in Give it to me. But me- as in Memo.
Spelling Convention
This book uses American spelling convention, so you will see "color" instead of "colour" and "favor" instead of "favour." This is simply for the purpose of consistency and does not reflect preference of one convention over the other. Reading coaches, instructors, and parents would do well to expose children to reading materials from different English speaking worlds and to make children aware of these subtle differences.
Read Assure - Methodology
Some words or syllables are presented first in a table format (in rows and columns).
First, the instructor reads the items on the top row, one at a time. After sounding out each item, the student is asked to repeat it. The instructor and the student go through all the syllables or words in the top row and then proceed to follow the same pattern in subsequent rows.
If the instructor senses that the pronunciation of certain words or syllables by the student was not good enough, it would be a good idea to focus on those particular words and sound them out, with the student repeating after the instructor. Once the instructor is certain that the student fully grasps the pronunciation of the phonemes, words or word units in a table, the instructor points at the “words,” or sentences below the table, one word at a time, and gives the student an opportunity to read them out. When the learner makes a mistake the instructor asks the learner to try again. If the learner is unable to do so, the instructor sounds out the problem word or unit and the learner repeats.
The text below the tables uses as many words from the table as possible and also may use words that have been covered in the past.
It is important for the instructor to review previously covered material from time to time in order to ensure that these remain fresh in the mind of the learner.
For Adults
Adults who did not have the benefit of phonics training and feel a need to improve the flow of their reading can equally benefit from Read Assure.
Drill Book, Not Story Book
An important point to keep in mind is that Read Assure is a drill book, not a story book. The goal is to build fluency from the use of this book and to get children reading picture books, story books, and eventually novels and other works.
In the first few pages, thanks to the illustrations, learners can catch some of the meaning. Instructors might also explain the meaning when asked but the focus should be on the drill. The element of meaning can be emphasized when reading other works such as story books.
Part of the challenge, for children, is to equip them to read far beyond what might be expected and thus make their acquaintance with reading at their own level so much more comfortable and appealing.
Instructors who agonize that the children cannot understand everything they read are apt to give up, thus foregoing the potential benefits to be gained from building the necessary fluency in the learner.
When a learner acquires fluency first, subsequent learning experiences can focus on other aspects and be so much more meaningful and fun.
Three steps forward, one step back
To ensure that learners have the benefit of continual review, the instructor or parent may, for example, cover pages 1, 2, and 3 on the first day. This is done after first reviewing the alphabet, both capital and small letters, and the two-letter combinations: so, go, lo, etc.
On the second day, instead of continuing from page 4, you start at page 3 (or even page 2). The learner, therefore, has an opportunity to review some of what was covered in the past. Let’s say, on the second day, you cover pages 4, 5, and 6. On the third day, instead of continuing from page 7, you start at page 6 (or page 5), thereby, allowing the learner to revisit some of what was covered before. In the first 100 pages or so, it is a good idea to always review the alphabet (pages 1-5) and the two-letter words (pages 6-8) before starting the lesson for the day. It may seem irksome at times to review what the learner already knows but in my experience many children continue to confuse certain letters long after they have passed their sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, or even tenth birthdays. It is amazing how quickly some children forget these combinations. Keeping these two-letter combinations perpetually in front of the learner, therefore helps to etch them permanently into their minds and to aid them in sounding out longer words. Doing two or three pages at a time is perfectly all right. As the reading becomes more difficult there are times when the learner will be content to focus on only one page. More ambitious learners, however, will find no difficulty doing four, five, or even six pages at a time, in which case the instructor should avoid overexerting the learner.
If only a few pages are covered at a time phonics will continue to be seen as fun. If the instructor tries to push the learner too hard, then it can become a chore. A wise instructor will therefore find the balance between continually extending the boundaries of knowledge for the student and knowing when the student is too worn out to benefit from the learning exercise.
There are some children, however, who find genuine joy in pushing themselves. Such ones should not be denied.
The value of repetition
If after going over the material on a page several times, the student still finds it difficult, make a note of that page and return to the same page the next time around rather than moving on to the next page. In some cases, you might have to revisit the same material or page two or three times before it sinks in for a particular student. This is perfectly normal as different students have different abilities.
Dyslexia or genuine confusion?
The need to review the alphabet continually is important. Children often confuse their b’s with their d’s and their p’s with their q’s. In some countries, there is no faster way for a kid to become labeled as dyslexic than to pronounce a “b” as a “d” or a “p” as a “q.” These letters are similar and if the student has not paid particular attention to them, they can be very easily confused. As you give learners the opportunity to review these confusing pairs over and over, they will begin to get them right and all without the necessity of branding them as dyslexic for life! This is not to say that dyslexia is not a possibility, merely that children should not be written off so quickly just because of what might be genuine confusion of elements that clearly look alike.
Building Fluency: Ramping Up
By page 100, learners should have grasped the basic concept and be doing a marvelous job of reading. The overall flow, in general, may be too choppy as learners focus too much on sounding individual words rather than reading in chunks. Instructors