How do you teach a child to read? Phonics? Online resources?

[Natsku]

DD is 5. We live abroad and she won't start school until she's 7.5 and there's a possibility that she might not get English classes until 3rd grade and I'd really like for her to be able to read in English before that. But I haven't got a clue how to teach her!

Any recommendations for resources that might help? I've got the first 3 levels of the Kipper books and can order books from the book people. But its teaching her how to recognise the letters and what sounds they make that is beyond me (and apparently beyond her).

Phonetic alphabet is the best way to start, ah, buh, kuh, duh etc etc and get them to start recognising symbols in the shop along with letters. Also when you read stories together run your finger along page so they know what word you're on. It sinks in after a while :)

Start with just a few letters
s a t i p

let her know the sounds they make
show her how, when you put them together, they make a word

a t = at
s a t = sat

Let her play with just a few letters like that until she gets the idea.

Lots and lots of reading to her. Follow the print with your finger as has been said. Talk about what you are reading..... why did he do that? how did she know that? how do you think he felt then ? What would you do next ?

I like the jolly phonics work books, songs (can be found on YouTube) and story book. Dd's preschool/reception (we are also abroad so school proper doesn't really start until the equivalent of year 1) use jolly phonics then, once they know the letter sounds start them on Oxford Reading Tree books.

Dd knows most of the sounds but isn't really able to blend them to decode words yet. I get her to practice by looking out for cvc (consonant vowel consonant) words when I'm reading her stories and getting her to try to read them. I'm not confident with doing anything beyond that though because I never learnt phonics myself and don't want to confuse her/teach her wrong

Use letter sounds rather than names...I taught DD1 to read before school. (I thought they would be taught 'sight reading' rather than phonics and I wanted her to learn using phonics -turns out they did use phonics...)
I agree with back learning common letters first
play I-spy using letter sounds
have things like (lower case) alphabet bricks around -make sure if they have picture for letters they make the simple and right sound - so 'g' for gate - not g for giraffe. Nothing beginning with 'th' - also try and avoid words like 'f' for 'fr'og ( you can hear the difference if you say it out loud -we generally tend to pronounce two consonants - eg 'fr' - together... )
Draw simple pictures of things that start with the same sound.
I agree with 'at' being a good place to start - make a list of words - cat mat,
rat, bat, hat draw pictures of them on one side of cards with what they are written underneath and have the first letter on the other side then have a and t cards together - let them choose the right letter and they can turn it over and see if they got it right. (you can do sat and pat but they are harder to draw!!) - go through the alphabet and do the same with 'nonsense' words - sound out say d -a--t and say that isn't a real word - what about 'gat' - is that a real word?
I supported a child with dyslexia learning to read and we spent ages talking about sounds, trying to blend etc -with no success - one day I asked if they knew why and what we were doing - they didn't. So I explained that letters make sounds and you put the sounds together to make words etc - they completely got it. After being unable to spell or read even cat - they came in the next day saying I can spell 'dragon' (and they could - except thy put 'en' on the end!) After they flew - so if they are struggling tell them what you are doing.
Once you have 'at' words move onto 'an' , 'ad' 'ap' -do a few then change the vowel - so 'it' 'in' 'id' 'ip' etc
Also at the start say all words don't follow simple rules -but lots do. (so they don't get confused why it is 'gate' and not gat-e -that pesky magic e!!)
Personally I hate jolly phonics - the idea is some children learn better in different ways - so the actions etc can help some children to remember the sounds - once you work out the way your child learns - eg by just looking or if they find tracing over a letter on paper with their finger -or if they need the actions - stick with that. I said DD1 could read (had a reading age of 8 at age 5) - she knew her letter sounds. A couple of times she got upset because she couldn't remember the action for the letter - which is kind of missing the point!
DD2 I deliberately didn't teach to read (like I said I knew they did phonics and I don't think it did DD1 any favours as she was the only one and also she was convinced she couldn't do maths because she had to try -whereas she didn't for reading). Both DD2 and a friend when asked what letter they had learned that day said 'm' - they hadn't - they had learned 'i' - but they both thought 'm' for mouse -not 'i' for 'inky' mouse...
Finally lots of reading with them and books available...let them tell stories just using pictures -so they get the idea of how a book works.

Jolly Phonics is an excellent method. As back has said s a t i p n then you can make lots of cvc words from those letters. Then continue the JP method. You can buy workbooks too.

I've a similar thread in living overseas although I'm a couple of yrs behind you. I've brought the jolly.phonics letter book we just sing the songs at the moment but it has stories, trace the letter, puzzels, and actions as well. I learnt phonics at home as a kid though so had always assumed that's how all kids learnt.

If you have an iPad look at the Sounds Write app http://www.sounds-write.co.uk/apps.aspx

We use read write inc at school and you can buy the same flashcards we use on amazon here to teach sounds- each card has picture and some words that you can orally sound out then blend together. Have a look on pinterest for fun phonics games too!

Look at PhonicsPlay online, lots for free but subscription for a year is only £13.

Jolly Phonics kit is fab.

Agree Phonics Play is used by lots of schools.

If you haven't got a clue I'd avoid Phonics Play

Natsku, we are homeschooling a 4 year old while travelling. We can't carry lots of books etc so we are obviously predisposed to e resources, but reading eggs online has been brilliant.