Teaching the first three digraphs


                                                      

The teaching material comes in the four Units outlined above. Once you are familiar with the techniques for teaching ar, the other two digraphs are taught in exactly the same way. Teaching the ar words does not have to be something to whizz through quickly. There will be opportunities to encourage a range of other language skills as well as practising the digraph itself. You don't have to cover all the language activities suggested - just pick the ones you think will be useful and stick to things you like doing and that seem to work.

Before you begin, there are a few practical points to explain.

1. Letter sounds and letter names
It was decided not to use phonetic symbols to represent the letter sounds but to stick to the everyday terminology that was used in the Handbook. This makes things easier to understand and is also more practical on an internet site. So, throughout these Units, letter sounds and letter names will be indicated as follows:

2. Teaching Materials
You will appreciate that these Units are still in the process of development and that ready-made teaching materials are not yet available. They are fairly easy to make up, however, and copymasters are provided to enable you to do so. Click here for details on what to do.

3. Copymasters
The Copymasters for the new SoundWorks material are in the form of PDF files that can be printed from your computer - in black & white or in colour, depending on your printer. To view and print PDF files, you need Adobe Acrobat Reader installed in your computer. This can be obtained free of charge, and details are given on the Copymaster link.

4. Check List
The Check List for the digraphs ar, ou and or is Copymaster D1. For Units 1 and 2, you will be covering each of the steps and these can be ticked off in the appropriate box in order to keep track of where you've got to. However, when it comes to Units 3 and 4, you will be varying things to suit the individual child, possibly spending a lot of time on certain activities and less on others. It is suggested that you tick a box each time you practise a particular activity. In this way, it will be clear where the emphasis in your lessons has been. Obviously, the large number of boxes on the Check List does not mean that every box has to be ticked! You will be using your judgement here. The Notes section at the bottom of the Check List is for you to record the kind of language activities you found useful and what you think your child could benefit from in the future.

5. Joining Letters
Some notes on joining the two letters in the digraphs can be found by clicking the box below.