I’m very excited about my latest project of creating a phonics curriculum specifically for EFL very young learners.
One of the reasons I want to take on this project is that most commercial phonics programs (like Jolly Phonics) are designed for native speakers and not EFL students. With my own phonics program, I can be very intentional about what I include, taking the best of synthetic phonics methods and EFL teaching techniques.
In my own classes, I’ve seen children achieve amazing things in a very short period of time. However, I’ve also seen children being hampered by the approach the school has taken. I want to create something that is effective, highly engaging and lots of fun!
Some of the qualities I want to include are:
- Engaging songs and chants that use pure sounds (without schwa).
- Real story books that children around the world love.
- Cross-curricula links, and localized content.
- Flexibility in the language incorporated into the program.
- Whole-bodied, multi-sensory learning, including tools like body percussion, TPR, sensory bins, and so on.
- The most engaging activities and games I’ve discovered for teaching EFL and teaching phonics like twister, hopscotch, smash mats, and so on.
- Custom-designed materials, for example, fonts designed to minimise common handwriting errors.
- A pre-writing program using a unique approach to handwriting based upon drawing rather than letter tracing sheets.
- Co-operative learning structures.
- Adaptability, so that the program can be used with any text book or existing curriculum.
- And much more!
As always, if this is something that interests you, feel free to drop me a line if you want to exchange ideas.
