The Sound Way Methodology

The formula behind The Sound Way Programs

The Sound Way program is much more than just another phonics program that develops phonemic awareness. It adds the vital component of being able to work strongly within the neural pathways of the brain as it teaches, models, drills, exhorts and gives practise to the students in the important aspects of careful listening, clear speaking and articulation, quality handwriting, accurate spelling and comprehension and expressive oral reading.

Reading, writing and Spelling are skills, and as with all skills, are best developed when taught and practised. Clear, precise, 'Direct Instruction' teaching is essential if one is to accomplish this speedily and accurately.  

Just as a new computer needs some basic running programs to be first installed, in order to be able to function and operate efficiently; so also, the human brain needs to be first loaded with certain fundamental information, before it too can be efficiently put to work.

The Sound Way program begins by first teaching, loading and programming the brain with the 45 sounds (phonemes) that comprise English words and the 75 ways there are of representing these sounds on paper (phonograms). By combining and integrating this knowledge with the rules of English spelling, we are then able to write and produce words from their sounds. Many seasoned and experienced teachers have commented that even by the end of the first initial lesson of The Sound Way, they had learned some basic facts about the English language that nobody had ever taught them before; and that they could clearly see the importance of students being given this knowledge.

Now any word is simply a series of sounds one after the other; e.g. "f-l-a-g". We take the sounds of the word we are speaking and translate them on to paper. This is the encoding process we call spelling . Once we have learnt to do this we can automatically reverse the process and decode words. This decoding process we call reading - "flag". So in reality we don't really teach a person to read; we teach them to spell and write the sounds; and reading becomes the by-product of the process.

English is a phonetic language. Approximately 93% of English words are totally phonetic and follow the rules of English spelling. The Sound Way combines and integrates this knowledge in a logical, sequential and cumulative manner to make one complete program. All students begin with Lesson One and move progressively through each of the video lessons so as to be sure they gain a complete and thorough understanding of the structure of English words.

The Sound Way programs utilize a unique diacritical marking system that enables students to quickly and easily understand the sounds and rules taught in the programme. The native-English-speaking-video-teacher, teaches by first modelling and clearly explaining to the students everything that will be required of them.

Students do not copy, but rather work interactively with the video teacher in their Sound Way manuals. In a lesson, after the video teacher has taught and explained the construction of a particular word, he then asks the students for the first sound or syllable of that word he is teaching. The teaching and explanation time is now over, and when his head and eyes drop down to the page he is writing on, this is the cue to the students that their heads and eyes should now also drop to their page, and they too should commence writing the word together and in unison with him.

The Sound Way programs teach and provide the students with a tangible understanding of the mechanics of the English language. Students actually learn the 'how and why' of the construction of most English words. For example, the five reasons there are for having a final silent 'e' in words; or the reason we double the 'p' in a word like "stopping" but not in a word like "jumping.

Whether working at home or at school there is no element of competitiveness within the program; everyone moves along together at the same pace. In the classroom the group dynamics that result from this are both harmonious and unifying - yet everyone is stretched and developing in differing ways. There is absolutely no need for 'grouping'. The whole class moves together as one group through The Sound Way program.

Each 40-min video lesson begins with a 'drill' of the sounds and the Phonic Communicators (phonograms) that represent them. Following the drill is a 'Check up'. This acts like a mini-test and monitors the students' progress at mastering the Phonic Communicators (phonograms). The 'check-up' is followed by the 'body of the lesson' where the principles of that lesson are taught. Practice is then given in word construction, involving these principles and the rules of English spelling that have been taught up to that particular point in the programme.

After working interactively with the video teacher and completing the video lesson in their Student Manuals, students next complete a set of corresponding Workshop Book exercises in their Workshop Books. There are workshop exercises incorporated into both the Junior and the Senior Sound Way programs. These not only revise and consolidate what has been taught in the video lessons, but more than double the number of words taught in the program. The Workshop Books allow the students to transition to independent learning. They provide each student with the opportunity to employ the use of his/her own logic and reason to analyse the structure of new and old words. The student is then able to respond and demonstrate his/her understanding by marking each word appropriately using The Sound Way marking system. The time allocated to work and mark the Workshop lessons is 35 minutes.

Following the Workshop lesson, with schools, colleges, indigenous education, workplace training, and ESL centres, comes a "10 minute Daily Sentence Construction" Exercise. This powerfully impacts students' future ability to quickly and easily express their thoughts clearly and logically in written form on paper.

The total time allocation, required to complete each lesson in the classroom, is 85 minutes - 40 minutes working with the video teacher; 20 minutes working in the Workshop Book on the workshop lesson, 15 minutes marking the workshop lesson, and 10 minutes working the "Daily Sentence Construction Exercise". Full details and explanations for facilitation of the program are provided in the "Facilitator's Manual".

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