How do you teach DC'S the alphabet? Phonetically or not?

[ilikeyoursleeves]

My son (2.5 years) has recently taken a massive interest in learning numbers and letters. He is able to count to ten and recognise 0 - 10 by sight and identify them all correctly. He loves it when we write numbers down so he can tell us what they are. We haven't pushed him at all with this, he has developed this interest himself.

He is now getting into letters and keeps asking us what certain letters are. I have been saying things like 'aitch' for H, 'ess' for S etc but then my MIL (a teacher) says we should do it phonetically just now. But I am confused, he has a toy that says what the letters are called ('aitch' for Hat etc) so he hears that a lot, so wouldn't phonetics just confuse him?

I know I must sound all PFBish and pushy but I'm not, I'm just trying to figure out the easiest way for him to learn something that he is really interested in.

Any ideas?

we use the phonetic approach, but dcs grow up biligually and the sound of the letters are very similar, where the names of the letters are not iyswim. difficult though for the "magic" letters like y or c that can be different from word to word...

I'm a bit confused about this too. DD (3yo) has become really interested in letters and words recently and keeps asking me to write down familiar words and to tell her about them.

I think it's because they're doing a bit of that at her playgroup.

I was doing it phonetically, but then someone at her playgroup told me that she teaches the children the "proper" name for the letter first, then teaches them the sound when the've got that.

So now I'm telling her that, e.g., D is "dee" and it makes a "duh" sound etc. Not sure if it's the right approach though tbh. Awaiting other replies with interest!

DS (now 22m) learned all of his phonetically as this seemed to make sense to me. He has been obsessed with letters and numbers for months (with absolutely no pushing in any way, it's just his thing!) and we've done it with a little song each time he asked about a letter, to the effect of: "B says 'buh', B says 'buh', every letter makes a sound, B says 'buh.'" He knows the letter and it's corresponding sound, but he would not know them in order of the alphabet yet though.

we did it properly but taught him that letters make a sound. which is how they teach it in school.
yes, they learn phonics, but they teach them (in our school at least) as SOUNDS, which belong to a specific LETTER

so we taught B makes a buh sound, etc etc

We first tried DS with letters using a busted computer keyboard, starting with the very clear shapes, such as T, and told him what it was for. He now knows just over half the alphabet, and shouts at car registrations and so on. He doesn't know them in isolation from the words they "stand for", and I have avoided the "magic" letters - for us, G and C, Sonilaa.

These were upper-case letters, which is another issue...

You can get wooden alphabet frames, (like this one), to play with if you like, or try a scrapbook.

However, I understand from a neighbour - who's an infant school teacher - that they aren't really expected to know them when they come to school, so there is time to go slowly with it!

Hope this helps!

I teach mine the real name of the letter, and tell them the sound it usually makes. I have an aversion to phonics/phonetics though! Doesn't seem to have hampered my DD1 who learnt to read very young, nor my DD2 who is doing fine but has decided she's not going to learn to read until she's 6! However, the bits she knows and understands are fine - no confusion wrt letter name vs. letter sound at all.

Thanks all, I hadn't thought about saying that a sound belongs to a specific letter, that's a good way of teaching him I think. I'm taking it slowly and will tell him about whatever letter is flavour of the moment (currently H, K & S for some reason!).

Funnily enough he is calling the letter 'K' a kite because of the picture on one of his toys. All so confusing!

Apparently the important thing is to make the sound the letter actually makes, so M is mmmmm, not muh, and S is ssssss and not suh. That's from my sister who is a newly qualified primary school teacher.

My DD loves the alphablocks. There's a lovely game/animation thing on the cbeebies website.

Also, join this fb group

I just let DS watch alphablocks, as mentioned by PP there. I'm not going to push this topic with him, he needs something to learn when he goes to school.

You teach both.

The phonics is initially the most important. This is how he wll eventually learn t sound out and blend sounds into words in order to read. Learn the proper phonic sounds too, so you don't say "suh" you just say "ssss" and is is "b" not "buh", etc.

The letter names can be done alongside this, so your child learns that A says a, S says ssss, F says ffff, etc.

lots of games you can do too like i spy, tell me another thing which begins with the same sound, rhyming words are great fun - doesn't matter if it is made up words!

As a Special Needs Teacher I am delighted to hear that your DS is so interested at such a young age. I would suggest that you tell him that the name of the letter is A (as in acorn) but its sound is a (as in apple), just as his name is Fred (or whatever!) but he makes a different sound.

ButterPie is quite right about what are called the 'schwa' sounds (mm for M and not muh, ss for S and not suh). When it comes to sequencing sounds, you can end up with der-ogger for dog.

Also teach him that X makes the sound ks, (which is why we put X's on birthday cards) so he can sequence f-o-x and come up with fox rather than fer-o-ex.

Good luck - it sounds as though you've got an Oxbridge candidate on your hands!

Its so great to hear when children are interested in letters and numbers, and what you do with him is FANTASTIC! (Sorry i am a teacher and we love to hear such news).

I would reinforce both so when he asks what the letter is say how it sounds and then its name, like 'that makes the a sound and is called ay.'

I am not so keen on those toys BUT it is important they learn both as we use the names in everyday life, but phonics is a fundamental part of decoding words.

I would keep going with what ur doing and when u feel he has retained some sounds or numbers introduce him to some new ones. Mix up the letters and numbers so he learns them rather than the order, although there is a place for both.

If he likes watching you write letters, try writing his name he will love that too for learning but their name is so important to them.

Maybe the year before he starts school you could find out what phonic system they use so you understand it and reinforce it at home.

Hope this helps

I was taught to say them both at the same time

Ay A
Bee Buh
Cee Cuh
Dee Duh

etc

but that was in the olden days

Ds learned his alphabet at around 20mo, we taught the name of the letter, then the sound it makes. He didn't get confused; at that age they pick things up really quickly. Ds picked up his interest in letters through Superwhy, and we just took it from there. Now he's always pointing out letters and spelling words out on signs etc when we're out!

My youngest is 14 and I still have labels stuck all over the place from when he was little - 'door' 'cupboard' 'bathroom'. I'm leaving them there so's when I'm old (er) I can still find my way around. Though 'dog' was a bit tricky.

I am not really qualified to answer this as DS is too young to have learnt his letters properly yet, but we have Dr. Seuss's ABC which we are hoping will help.

"Big A, little a, what begins with A? Aunt Annie's Alligator A A A" and so on. This is accompanied by very quirky drawings, and the offbeat style and rhymes and so on are, I hope, fun for the little one, who seems to love it.

My dd is the same age and showing the same interest, I bought Alphabet farm,at the bottom of the page the other week, and she loves it! It has a set of magnetic letters which you put on the corresponding letters on the page. I also say the letter name and what it sounds like, though I need to chat to my 5 year old nephew to check out some of the sounds I should be making!

ds learned alphabet song in preschool and that was about it, he recognised a couple of letters, knew letters made words and preschool had introduced the idea of tracing letters before starting school. We purposely did nothing at home except for praising when he recognised T in tesco for example.

He's in primary 1 (Scotland) he and his classmates have learned to recognise all the letters and know the letter name and sounds in the first few weeks.

Agree with lovechoc need to leave something to learn in school, my ds would have been bored stiff (probably disruptive) and very disheartened with school when he started if he already knew everything and had nothing to learn while his classmates caught up, instead he came home at night proud as punch to tell me what he'd learned each day.

If he is interested, you need to teach him the sounds of the letters, not their names.

But beware of teaching the sounds wrong, so so many parents make this mistake. God even some teachers make this mistake, saying 'bah' for 'b' for example.

Glad thecoolerrunner already made my point about not teaching the sounds wrong!

DS learnt the alphabet as in the song, can't avoid it really. It is the way the world represents the letters.

When he got that we could ask him 'what sounds does this make?' and point to the 'a'.

So he knows that 'aye' makes the sound 'agh'.

Didn't seem to cause any problems at all, and it should have been extra problematic because he is autistic.

ds1 developed an interest at the same age and we've been teaching him 'this is 'aye' and aye says 'ah', this is 'bee' and bee says 'b', this is 'see' and see says 'c'.....'

he sems to have picked it up alot better than dd who was sent home a letterland cd from school and is 5 and starting to read but is only just learning what the letters are called now and can't tell me any of their sounds

Personally, I would rather my son (3) didn't learn phonetically (I'm a secondary teacher) but his nursery teacher is teaching them phonetically, and I am happy to accept that she knows better than me!

my mil bought our ds at 18mths an easel with loads of magnetic letters and numbers. he started straight away and knew all letters and numbers to 10 in 6 mths. he was interested and ready so when he wanted to play i told him what they were. that, coupled with abc song of course.i tought him the names of letters not the sounds as that is what he found easier to begin with. at such a young age it was too confusing was it e e or eh? he would ask often so we stuck to 1 and went with it. he is now 2.8yrs and started pre-school a few weeks ago he is fitting in ok but he loves learning but feels a bit bored as the other children are learning what he knows already. the teachers know my concerns and are trying to find a way to challenge him without making him stand out from the others.i think its tough at both ends of the spectrum.
a friend has said she uses the magnetic letters that come with a little pod think its a leap frog thing not sure what its called. they all get there in their own little way and it sounds like you are doing a great job! letters are letters and it doesnt really matter how you do it. my ds loved spotting letters on signs when we went for a walk. good luck with it all