By Sunil Tanna
Phonics is a method of learning reading in which students learning to associate letters or groups of letters with particular sounds. For example, a student would learn that the letters "c", "ck" or "k" are associated with the hard /k/ sound. Although using phonics to teach reading has been a matter of some controversy both inside the educational professions and in the wider community, many teachers have in fact concluded that they do offer an effective way to teach reading.
Photo: bingocardscreator.com
When phonics are used as a method of learning reading, students are taught to sound words out. Obviously students tend to progress fastest when students have a variety of methods to practice these skills. It is for this reason that many teachers, as well as getting students to read out loud, and practice writing, also incorporate educational games into their lesson plans. One such educational game that many teachers are turning to, principally because of its flexibility plus the fact that it doesn't require expensive equipment or specialist materials, is bingo (using bingo cards printed with words instead of numbers).
It should be emphasized that learning to read using phonics, doesn't require mastering a single skill, but in fact requires mastering several skills. These skills including learning to blend letters to make sounds and words, recognizing common sounds within different words, learning sounds which rhyme, and eventually learning to recognize the effect of the "silent E" that is the last letter of some letters. Each of these different skills can be practiced using bingo. For example to practice blending, a teacher can read out a word slowly (e.g. "mmm-aaa-t") and require students to recognize the word (by learning to blend the letters), or the teacher can ask about one word contained within another ("find a word containing 'pan'?" - to which students must find "span"), or the teacher can ask about sounds ("find a word beginning with a 'rrr' sound?").
By S. Tanna. To create your own custom bingo cards, go to http://www.bingocardprinter.com/
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