Phonetics

Phonetics is the study of speech and pronunciation. Some languages are phonetic, since they are made up of phonemes rather than alphabetical characters. Japanese is a prime example of a phonetic language. It has a separate symbol for each valid sound in Japanese. This also means they may have a lot of trouble dealing with other languages, or even simply understanding English accents. The Japanese sounds are much closer to the Germanic sounds of Western Europe, or a softer English accent, than they are to an American accent.
We focus on helping Kindergarten children read English, improve their vocabulary, memory, spelling and overall language skills, resulting in building the child’s overall personality and setting a strong foundation for a brighter & fulfilling future. Reading acquired during this stage enhances the child’s ability to grasp and assimilate knowledge much faster, a skill essential to excel in academics later on in life.
The best way to teach phonics is systematically. This means moving children through a planned sequence of skills rather than teaching particular aspects of phonics as they are encountered in texts. Systematic instruction can focus on synthetic phonics (decoding words by translating letters into sounds and then blending them), analytic phonics (identifying whole words then parsing out letter-sound connections), analogy phonics (using familiar parts of words to discover new words), phonics through spelling (using sound-letter connections to write words) and/or phonics in context (combining sound-letter connections with context clues to decode new words). Regardless of the specific method used what is most important in systematic instruction is that there is a deliberate and sequential focus on building and using the relationship between sounds and letter symbols to help readers decode new words.

Applications of phonetics include:

Forensic phonetics: the use of phonetics (the science of speech) for forensic (legal) purposes.
Speech recognition: the analysis and transcription of recorded speech by a computer system.
Speech synthesis: the production of human speech by a computer system.
Pronunciation: to learn actual pronunciation of words of various languages.

Practical phonetic training

Studying phonetics involves not only learning theoretical material but also undergoing training in the production and perception of speech sounds. The latter is often known asear-training. Students must learn control of articulatory variables and develop their ability to recognize fine differences between different vowels and consonants. As part of the training, they must become expert in using phonetic symbols, usually those of the International Phonetic Alphabet.

 

Communication and Language at Phonics Fun

Each phonic sound is represented by a loveable character; created by an amazing illustrator. Children love finding objects beginning with the sound hiding in each illustration. The Characters have interesting and memorable personalities, which are easy relate to, inspiring children’s imagination; Muddles the magician monster gets easily confused and his magic tricks often go wrong!

Children are encouraged to find something at home beginning with the sound and show the class the following week; this encourages confidence in speaking to an audience and also engages the parent in the learning process.
Each week mystery boxes full of objects containing the sound of the week, this self-discovery has an amazing effect on their vocabulary but also engages, surprises and amuses the children.
Phonics Fun enhances and encourages good listening skills, children learn to hear sounds at the beginning, middle and end of words and in time to blend them together. This is especially crucial for children struggling

with talking and communicating in English.
The classes are fast paced and exciting, with periods of concentration and periods where the children are simply having fun.

Physical Development

Each sound has an active game or a craft associated with it, allowing development in both gross and fine motor skills.
Collaboration and turn-taking during team games and independence during individual challenges are important lessons the children learn in our sessions. Games include balancing, target throwing, rolling, kicking and catching, hula hooping, jumping, dancing, crawling, running…and so much more, every week is different.

Personal, Social and Emotional Development
Self-confidence and a ‘can-do’ attitude are fortified during each session. Teachers are trained to use positive and encouraging vocabulary at all times. All progress is acknowledged and celebrated.
The games are designed and adapted to allow children to feel positive about learning and challenges are always achievable. The games and sounds change, but the formula is the same each week, so the children know what to expect and feel confident and comfortable quickly.
Some of the characters have emotions that the children may feel, and there is always time to discuss how they deal with them. This allows children to become aware of their own feelings, but also those of others.

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