PRIMALS 7–10

Pedagogical Retooling in Mathematics, Languages,

and Science for Grades 7–10 Teachers

Session 4
Teaching Phonics and Word Recognition
for Successful Decoding Skills

Learning Action Cell Session Guide

English 7–10

Prepared by:

VALERIA FIDES G. CORTEZA, PhD

Education Program Supervisor
Zamboanga City Division
Objectives
At the end of the session, teachers should be able to:

1. Understand how Phonics for Reading directly connects to the science of

teaching reading.
2. Discuss the basics of phonics.
3. Identify the steps in teaching phonics, using the fuller approach.
4. Discuss the fuller technique in teaching beginning reading.
5. Write activities in teaching beginning reading using the fuller technique/
explicit teaching.
Key Understandings
1. Phonics is about the alphabetic code; it is about segmenting and blending.
It involves recognizing the relationship between letters and sounds
(Alphabetic Principles).

2. Phonics is a method of instruction that helps children learn and be able to

use the alphabetic principle – the concept that words are made up of letters,
and letters represent sounds. (https://readingeggs.com/about/phonics/)

3. Phonics instruction does this by teaching children to decode words by

sounds – showing them how to make connections between the letters of
written texts (graphemes, or letter symbols) and the sounds of spoken
language. (https://readingeggs.com/about/phonics/)

4. Phonics involves the relationship between sounds and their spellings. The
goal of phonics instruction is to teach students the most common sound-
spelling relationships so that they can decode, or sound out, words.
(https://readingeggs.com/about/phonics/)

5. This decoding ability is a crucial element in reading success.

6. Phonics allows children to be able to learn words they have never seen
before by sounding out the word letter by letter.
(https://bilingualkidspot.com/2018/07/02/how-to-teach-kids-to-read-using-
phonics/)

7. When children learn to read a word by sight it means that they will be able
to remember how to pronounce that word when they see it again. But if they
see a word they don’t recognize they won’t have the skills needed to
decode how to pronounce it. This is why phonics are important.
(https://bilingualkidspot.com/2018/07/02/how-to-teach-kids-to-read-using-
phonics/)

8. Teaching children to read with phonics means not only teaching them the
decoding skills needed to look at a word and pronounce it correctly but also
giving them the skills to know what to do when they discover a new word.
(https://bilingualkidspot.com/2018/07/02/how-to-teach-kids-to-read-using-

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 phonics/)
Materials Time Allotment
● Session PowerPoint presentation 2 hours / 120 minutes
● LAC session video
● white cartolina
● metacards Alignment to the PPST
● permanent markers 3.1, 4.1, 5.3, 1.1, 1.2, and 1.5
● crayons
● cut out paper leaves and tree of
wisdom
References
Phonics and Reading: Nurturing Confidence from the Very Beginning
Brophy, J. 1998. Motivating students to learn. Boston, Mass.: McrGraw-Hill.
https://readingeggs.com/about/phonics/

How to Teach Kids to Read with Phonics

https://bilingualkidspot.com/2018/07/02/how-to-teach-kids-to-read-using-phonics/

What Is the Difference Between Implicit and Explicit Phonics Instruction?

https://www.readinghorizons.com/reading-strategies/teaching/phonics-instruction/
explicit-vs-implicit

Wiley Blevins: Understanding Phonics

https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/articles/teaching-content/understanding-
phonics/

Phonics: In Practice
https://www.readingrockets.org/teaching/reading101-course/modules/phonics/
phonics-practice

Procedure

Introduce the session by saying: “Good ______ everyone. I am __________ of

____________. Welcome to an exciting LAC session 2. Our topic for today is
“Teaching Phonics and Word Recognition for Successful Decoding Skills”.
This session will lead us to understand that phonics method is one of the most
effective ways of learning to read. Phonics allows children to be able to read words
they have never seen before by sounding out the word letter by letter. Our
resource person for this session is Dr. Valeria Fides G. Corteza, Education
Program Supervisor of Zamboanga City Division. Before we start, let us take note
of the following session objectives. (Present the abovementioned session
objectives to the participants.)

Activity (30 minutes)

Activity 1: KWL CHART

Group the participants in two. Have them accomplish the KWL chart.

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 What you know What you want to know What you learn

Group 1 The ways how to teach/develop decoding and word recognition skills to
your students. List as many ways as you can.

Group 2 The challenges some students may have with decoding and word
recognition.

Note to the facilitator: Presentation of output will follow.

Analysis (15 minutes)

Process the activity further by asking the following questions:

1. What did you realize while working with the activity?
2. What insights have you gained during and after the activity?
3. In your English class, how do you teach reading?
4. Why is it important to know how to teach decoding and word recognition
skills?
5. What is the process of teaching beginning reading? What specific method
do you use? What are your best practices?

Abstraction (40 minutes)

Before letting the participants watch the resource person’s video, present to them
first the following questions:

Pre-viewing Questions
Video A
1. What is phonics? Why it is important in teaching beginning reading?
2. How should we structure phonics instruction in the classroom?
3. What are the different types of phonics?
4. How is phonics different from phonemic awareness?
5. Identify some phonics terms.

Ask the participants to jot down their answers to the pre-viewing questions as they
watch the first video.

Show to the participants the second video B titled “Fuller Approach in teaching
beginning reading” then discuss it by asking the following questions:

1. How do we teach reading using the Fuller Approach?

2. What are the different steps?
3. What are the guidelines to follow when presenting the word family?
4. Steps to follow after teaching word family,
example: the short /e/ family – (et)

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Viewing Session

Title: Fuller Approach in Teaching Beginning Reading

Resource Person: Dr. Rosalina J. Villaneza

Discussion

After watching the video, let the participants process the information they gathered
by asking them to share their answers to the pre-viewing questions presented
earlier.

Reflection Questions

Let’s talk about your learners:

1. How do you structure your phonics lesson in the classroom?
2. Do you follow a specific method of teaching phonics in the classroom? Did
you do analytic, embedded or synthetic phonics? What are your best
practices?
3. Do you teach them phonics using the fuller approach? Why or why not?
4. As teachers, what is your realization after this workshop?

Application (35 minutes)

Four! Three! Two! One! Action!
Divide the participants into five groups. Ask them to write a lesson exemplar in
explicit teaching showing the fuller approach in teaching the following word
families. Present to the whole class after.
Group 1 an family
Group 2 in family
Group 3 at family
Group 4 ap family
Group 5 ag family

Let each group present. Then, provide feedback on each group’s presentation.
Exit Slips
Wind down the session by asking the participants to complete the following
sentence stems. Ask them to write down their answers on the cut-out paper leaves
then paste them on the tree of wisdom posted on the wall. Let them present their
outputs.
In this session, I’ve realized that _________________________.
Hence, when I go back to my own class/school, I will
_______________________.

Closing
Say: “Before we end our LAC session today, let me share with you a quote from
Dr. Rosalina J. Villaneza, “The learners’ ability to read is in our hands”.

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