Reading Sounds/Names of Letters & Blending Sounds

Literacy Council of Montgomery County, MD Presentation 6

Rev. 1-5-2009

Reading – Skill Book 1, Lesson 1

[45 minutes]

Materials

Teacher’s Manual for SB1

Chart for Lesson 1 chart

Chart for Lesson 1 story

Suggested Teaching Methods

· Demonstration

· Large-group exercise

· Question and answer

· Practice by trainee pairs

Essential Presentation Elements (Chart 1)

Introduction

· Laubach method uses charts to teach the various sounds of letters, letter combinations and words.

· Chart words have already been taught orally. Charts are the introduction to reading.

· The teacher’s manual has a script and other aids available for your use in teaching every chart at every level

Chart 1 Demonstration

Explain that all charts are taught in the same manner. Demonstrate the method used in teaching charts with the first three lines of Chart 1. Tell trainees to watch as you demonstrate. They can follow the script in the book when they practice, but at this point it is important that they see what the trainer does with his/her hands.

Follow the script for the first line (bird) exactly as it appears in the teacher’s manual, with one exception. When you demonstrate the name of the letter (“The sound is /b/. The name is b. Say b.”), keep your finger pointing to the last letter in the row. Do not move back to the previous letter as instructed in the manual. There are two reasons for this: it is important to emphasize the left-to-right movement of English for students whose language is read in a different direction; it emphasizes that the same symbol (b) has both a sound and a name.

Demonstrate the second and third lines. (What’s this? This is a cup; and so on).

Elicit observations from trainees about technique:

· Left to right progression

· Picture/symbol as a memory device for the shape and sound of the letter – student may not be familiar with our alphabet or may have never written anything.

· Trace picture as a visual reinforcement - help student write letter later

· Multi-sensory approach (refer back to learning styles)

· Importance of saying READ when pointing to word.

· Letter has sound and name

· Repetition – student says letter five times.

· Use whole hand to read word. Use finger to point to letter.

· Tutor always positioned so that student and chart are to the tutor’s left.

Review pronunciation of consonants.

· Eliminate any vowel sounds after the consonant sound (/k/ not /ku/)

Practice Session (approximately 5-6 minutes)

Break trainees into pairs and have them practice teaching each other the three remaining lines from Chart 1.

· One trainee takes the role of tutor and the other the role of student; then reverse roles.

· Teacher sits to the right of the student.

· Chart 1 is on page 2 of the student skill book. The script begins on page 70 of the teacher’s manual.

Essential Presentation Elements (Story 1)

Introduction

· Story incorporates words the student has learned orally and on the chart.

· Certain words in the story have not been taught in a chart (This, is, etc.). These are story words.

· The teacher’s manual has a script and other aids available for your use in teaching every chart at every level.

· Everything is taught on the page including page numbers

· Point out periods mark the end of a sentence.

· The word a is pronounced /uh/.

Story 1 Demonstration

Demonstrate the method used in teaching a story using the Lesson 1 story. Teach the story to the trainees as if they are your students. Teach only the first two paragraphs, following the script in the teacher’s manual (p. 81). After you have “taught” the first two paragraphs, demonstrate how to teach the story words in those paragraphs.

Discuss techniques utilized:

· Words are introduced from the chart (known) to the story (unknown).

· Entire sentence is taught in a continuous manner, not by individual word.

· Tutor models sentence for the student (patterned reading).

· Tutor draws hand under each sentence (helps with left to right reading, focuses eyes).

· Story words are introduced via repetition.

Practice Session (approximately 10 minutes)

Break trainees into pairs and have them practice teaching each other one paragraph of the story from Lesson 1.

· One trainee takes the role of tutor and the other the role of student then reverse roles.

· Teacher sits to the right of the student.

· The story appears on page 3 of the student skill book; the script starts on page 81 of the teacher’s manual.