Teaching The Alphabet

One of the challenges in teaching reading is having learners of different capabilities. In my 2A class (equivalent to a Pemulihan class), I have some learners who have acquired basic vocabulary such as shapes, colours, numbers and greetings. A handful, however, have yet to master the alphabet.

Without a mastery of the alphabet, the learners find it difficult to complete even simple tasks such as copying and spelling. Therefore, I have decided to put these learners in my focus group in the next few months and try out the following:

Teaching the alphabet to young learners.

1. Invest in a phonics music CD. I bought one from MPH (produced by Pelangi) for about RM15. The songs teach learners the English sounds of all letters in the alphabet.

2. Sing one or two songs at the beginning of the lesson. Create a distinct hand gesture for each sound. Repeat this in each lesson, using different letters. You may want to put a limit at 3-4 letters each week.

3. Have picture cards of items beginning with the letters you have done. Paste these cards all over the classroom. For example, after having taught the letter 'a' (taught here, meaning having exposed the child to the sound of the letter 'a' as well as how the letter 'a' looks like), you may have pictures of apples, ants and arrows in the classroom.

4. Take time to spell the words on the cards out loud, emphasizing on the target letter. For example, when spelling m-a-t, elongate the sound of /m/. You will notice that after a while, learners will be able to guess the sound of words by just looking at the first letter. For instance, a child who sees the word "moon" might not be able to read the whole word but he may be able to produce the "mmmm" sound because he recognises the initial /m/ sound.

5. Allow learners to form the letters using different materials. Crayons, colour pencils and plasticine work wonders. Introduce learners to different ways of writing the letters. You may print out the letters in different fonts or write them in wriggly or zig-zaggy manner. If your learners can recognize these wriggly letters, it shows that they have understood the consistency of each letter shape.

6. Motivate the learners by having a competency chart in the classroom. Write the children's name and have columns for all the letters. Once a child has mastered a particular letter, allow him or her to put a tick on the column.

Let me know how this works in your classroom!