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Phonics

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Words are made up of syllables and syllables are made up of letters. It only makes sense to start with the smallest component and work up to the biggest, right? Learn the alphabet, then how to pronounce the syllables of the word, then the word comes to you. Skipping from the letter to the word is like skipping from a baby's first step to jogging!

Speaking as someone who learned to read by phonics, although we didn't call it that back then, I can't conceive of any other way. Really, how is a 6 year old going to learn to read a sentence by picking out whole words? Seems to me that would be for later, after the basics have been taught using phonics.

Besides how do you sound out new words without phonics? If you've never seen a word, but you know enough about the formation of language and root words, etc. you can sound it out with phonics. Without Phonics English could sound like a whole different language. Yes, kids learn whole words all the time, like a toddler going past McDonald's and yelling out the word, but what they're really doing is just copying what they've heard others say, not learning how to pronounce the language. That's all you can do without phonics, copy!

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