To not really get how phonics works in the English language?

[superstarheartbreaker]

So dd is doing phonics at school and is learning to read and write. I have noticed that most words are not phonetically spelt which is causing a few misunderstandings. IMO most words are so called 'tricky' words. Or am I wrong? I can't even remember how I was taught at school. I do think that the actions that go with sounds are great though.

I'm a primary teacher, but work in ks2. I had always been sold the mixed methods way of teaching reading; it was just assumed that children needed more than one way to recognise a word. However, now that I'm teaching my 4 year old to read, I am absolutely convinced by synthetic phonics.

Once I really started to look into phonics, I realised that there are a lot more rules and patterns, and a lot less truly 'tricky' words than I thought. In the example given above of 'sky' it's easy: 'y' makes an 'ee' at the end of two syllable words, and an 'igh' at the end of one syllable words. (There may be exceptions, but it's pretty consistent). My daughter has learned this quite quickly. She does occasionally make a mistake, but usually self - corrects using the context.

Phonics just seems so much clearer and easier than memorising whole words, or even worse, guessing from the picture. So far, the only really tricky word we've encountered is 'one'.

I have one word, Maja! Praxis! I've made a number of points, none of which you've engaged with. A professional needs to be engaged with the limitations of a method in order to make it work better for more children.

I'm not suggesting that phonics is a worthless approach to reading (and how could you not be aware of different possibilities??) but no system is above evaluation. Unhelpful 'pendulum swings' in teaching theory come about when the limitations of old approaches become apparent and new approaches are blindly promoted without enough scrutiny of what's actually working. Research has taught us that different children learn in different ways. Overlooking the limitations of one method (and avoiding brushing up on other methods you don't personally like so well) could (and, in my opinion, will probably) mean more vulnerable, struggling children missing out.

I was trying to make the point that these issues are particularly relevant to the phonics approach because literacy at home is just as important as literacy at school. On this thread, there are parents who are saying (probably with tertiary level education, English as a mother-tongue and access to internet resources) that they are alienated from the process because phonics is simply too complicated to get involved. Not only that, but the system may be well-nigh impossible for many parents to use, despite your optimistic assessment. For the child who is falling behind in school and weak on parental support, you suggest bringing in more explicit teaching of the rules of phonics. I have made the point that you are making the process more concept-heavy for the children who will be least able to deal with that. You haven't responded.

I have another point that is a little bit sad. Phonics is beautifully playful and experimental - children go on a treasure hunt for meaning and explore sound as they go. To do this, they need to be confident, relaxed, safe and comfortable with getting things 'wrong'. Have you thought about what's happening at home for many children? Are they being encouraged to use the approach correctly, or is there a pressurised, dash through 'wrong' sounds, with parents getting steadily more uncomfortable with 'mistakes'? The "Well, that certainly wouldn't happen in my classroom!" doesn't go far enough. Is it happening in other classrooms and other homes - is it likely to happen? If so, an experimental approach could penalise vulnerable children who come from a less academically enlightened home.

I can see that phonics is ambitious and beautiful, a wonderful dream. It's been dug up and spruced up to address past inadequacies. Why? Because struggling children were falling through the gaps and that was perceived as a tragedy. Let's not make the same mistakes again. We need to listen to every parent who takes the risk and says 'This isn't working for my family, for my child!'. There must be many more parents who can't take the risk.