When I first met Mia, she was five years old—bright and full of potential. The goal I was given was to help her learn how to read and spell. At that time, Mia didn't yet know her sounds, although she recognised some letter names. She was living in a European city and was about to move to another. It was clear from the start that Mia was eager to learn and excited about the process.
I began our classes by introducing her to phonics which is used in schools in the UK. It is a method of teaching reading and writing by helping students understand the relationship between letters (or letter combinations) and their corresponding sounds. It focuses on teaching children how to decode (sound out) words by recognising the sounds associated with each letter or group of letters. Phonics is a key part of early literacy education, as it provides children with the tools to decode new words, which is essential for reading fluency.
I used a wide range of engaging online resources to teach Mia phonics, including videos and interactive games from reputable British educational platforms like Pearson, Phonics Play, Twinkl and CGP+. In addition to these, I incorporated both online and worksheet-based phonics games to further support her learning and created tailored activities to Mia’s abilities, by designing hands-on, interactive games that helped make the learning process enjoyable. As a result, Mia flourished in her phonics skills, making rapid progress with her sound and segmenting skills and quickly advancing to reading age-appropriate books.
Alongside phonics we focused on tricky words. Tricky words (sometimes called sight words or high-frequency words) are words that don't follow the typical rules of phonics. These words may not sound as they are spelled or may have irregular spellings that don't match standard phonetic patterns. Because of this, they often can't be easily decoded through phonics alone and need to be memorised. We started with Phase 2 words and quickly progressed to more advanced levels. It didn’t take long before Mia was confidently reading these words and actively pointing them out when she saw them in online books we shared.
Each class was fast-paced, fun, and interactive. Mia thrived in the online learning environment and actively participated in every lesson. She was so engaged that she even had classes during her holidays. As Mia progressed through phonics and became more fluent in reading and spelling, we shifted our focus to writing. This was also done through engaging and enjoyable activities, starting with shorter tasks and gradually extending the writing activity as she advanced to include short stories.
After three and a half years of classes, Mia had become a fluent reader and speller, with a solid foundation in phonics. She was a capable writer and would be considered above average for her age in reading if she were in the UK. This achievement is particularly impressive considering that she speaks three languages and attends school in a European country where English is not the primary language.
It was bittersweet to see Mia progress to an English level beyond her years and eventually finish her classes with me, as she had truly become like a member of the family. However, I know she has a bright and successful future ahead of her.
By Donna Schaffrick
The Phonics School Teacher
Teacher Development & Phonics Lead