INTERNATIONAL ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE (ESL)

READING AND WRITING PROGRAMS

The Sound Way to Reading, Writing and Spelling program provides for, and makes possible, the awesome potential of being able to place an expert native-English-speaking-professional into every classroom in the school, university, or corporation for students to learn and model from!!!

A proven international literacy breakthrough program that works quickly and powerfully with students of every age and nationality; whilst simultaneously providing an invaluable Teacher Training Program for national teachers in Direct Instruction Phonetic Teaching, incorporating the rules of English spelling .

Both the Junior and Senior Sound Way programs improve students’ reading and writing skills on average 2 to 3 academic years in eight to ten weeks. Standardized pre and post testing of older students has evidenced improvements of up to 8 years (that’s eight school year grades) in reading ability, and 6 years in spelling ability

There are Sound Way programs to suit every age group in Primary Schools, Secondary Schools, the Corporate Sector or the Workplace. They are designed to be used with the whole class working together as one group.There is absolutely no need for grouping or streaming the class, as the programs have been designed to meet the individual needs of every student at the same time. It is possible, though certainly not generally necessary, to run the program with small groups, or even one-to-one in extreme cases.

The Sound Way has been created in accordance with the latest worldwide research into literacy teaching. Each face-to-face, interactive video lesson is designed to sequentially develop, teach, give practice in and assist the students to learn and master the fundamental skills, of clear speaking, writing, spelling and reading. Good comprehension skills will naturally follow the mastering of these basic disciplines.

The Sound Way is based upon a long proven method of phonetic teaching that first loads and programmes the brain with the 45 sounds that comprise English words (phonemes) and the 75 ways these sounds are represented in their written form on paper (phonograms). By integrating this knowledge with the rules of English spelling, The Sound Way is able to teach the spelling, writing and reading of words from their sounds - that is, phonetically! This highly structured method of “direct instruction” phonics teaching causes and results in an opening and expansion of neural pathways within the brain; which in turn gives students access to other important pieces of stored information that they may need to access. "The lights come on" as the saying goes, and students find themselves with a new found independence and ability to successfully resolve issues by applying their own logic and reason to solve problems that may have nothing whatsoever to do with English literacy!

Because approximately 93% of English words are phonetic and follow the rules of English spelling, The Sound Way is able to teach and develop this foundational body of knowledge in a logical, sequential and cumulative manner. Commencing with Lesson 1 and progressing through the thirty-six 40-minute face-to-face DVD lessons with the Senior Programme (fifty-three 40-minute lessons with the Junior Programme), The Sound Way provides students of every age with a clear and tangible understanding of the mechanics (workings) of the English language. Students actually learn the "how and why" behind the construction of most English words. This ability, once learned and practiced, can be applied immediately to almost any word in the English language. Following each 40-minute video lessons is a 30-minute Workshop Book lesson which gives further practice and consolidation of the information taught to that point. The entire lesson is then completed with a 10-minute Sentence Construction Exercise.

The Sound Way programs work powerfully for students of all ages and ability levels, including all elementary through high school students, adults in the workplace and those with labels such as Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, ADD, ADHD, and more.

The Sound Way programs are effective with anyone who has a basic or elementary understanding of spoken English. The following report on the use of the program in China demonstrates how successful the programs can be, even in those environments where students have minimal spoken English skills from the outset. 

             

International Program Testimonials

Huijia Private School
Beijing, China

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In 2002 the prestigious Huijia Private School, located in Beijing, China first introduced The Sound Way to Spelling, Writing and Reading program to its 120 grade six children. They had only a little knowledge of the English language, yet in 3 months they produced some remarkable results.(See examples)

Following is the analysis and summary of The Sound Way after the pilot program taken and administered by Angel and Belinda, Chinese national teachers from Huijia Private School.

“After teaching The Sound Way, over 95% of the children find it extremely easy to remember 30 new words in 2 days. Over 50% of them can remember 25 new words in 40 minutes. Over 80% of them can manage 25 new words in one day with some effort. Students' vocabulary is enlarged. According to the two exams, over 90% of them have made great progress. Over 80% have mastered 50% more words than before. Over 50% have mastered several times more new words than before. Overall the students are able to read new words without difficulty and spell new words according to their sounds. Remarkable considering the short time frame in which they completed the program.”

*** Since 2002 every Grade 6 student at Huijia Private School is being put through The Sound Way to Reading, Writing and Spelling program

 

Kings College
Shanghai, China

Kings College Shanghai is a vocational English school located in the prestigious Jingan district. Kings College used The Sound Way to Reading, Writing and Spelling program for a three week intensive course with over 90 students.

As the Director of Studies at Kings College it was my responsibility to select, implement and evaluate curriculum materials for our various English programmes. In my experience the curriculums currently available are essentially based on the same educational methodologies, with results being based largely reliant on the skill of the teachers presenting the course, regardless of the materials they employed.

The Sound Way to Reading, Writing and Spelling English program is different from other English Courses because it is delivered via DVD, and the class teacher plays the role of a facilitator, or aide. This delivery method allowed us to get the same results with different groups and different teachers.

The results that we got from the three groups that went through our summer intensive program usingThe Sound Way course were nothing short of amazing.

Students had an average of 2 years improvement in their spelling ability and spelling age in just 3 weeks. Our greatest improvement was 3.5 year increase in spelling age. Another remarkable improvement that we found with all the students was their sense of accomplishment after finishing the course. This I believe was due to their newfound understanding of the mechanics of the English language and has resulted in a huge confidence boost for all of the students involved.

The Sound Way program is a program that delivers results that cannot be matched in the ESL market today. I would recommend this program to any ESL school seeking materials that deliver outstanding results.

Jorian Cunliffe
Director of Studies
Kings College, Shanghai

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Ahmed Bin Majid School
Muscat , Oman (Middle East)

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Ahmed Bin Majid school is one of Oman 's premiere private schools, it was the first school in Oman to trialThe Sound Way program.

Teachers as well as students were trained in the same course, results are attached and they show remarkable improvement of reading and spelling ability in all the students (including the teachers).

After the initial training course teachers then taught The Sound Way program to their classes and continued to get excellent results.

Results from the classes taught by the Ahmed Bin Majid teachers are attached.

Ahmed Bin Majid School has recorded results in line with results gained in schools all around the world. Candidates showed an average growth in reading and spelling capability of 2.2 years on an international scale according to the Slosson Oral Reading Sort-R test.

Candidates and teachers lauded the program as the first course that really explained how English worked – the results were only half of the story because the real change was in the candidate's attitudes towards English and other subjects.

Teachers felt happy that they were able get such remarkable results from their candidates whilst learning new techniques for teaching and instruction of their class.

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Ministry of Defence, Royal Army of Oman

Sultanate of Oman

The Oman Ministry of Defence Royal Oman Army ran a pilot study in Muscat with a group of ranking officers for an intensive Sound Way course lasting 4 weeks. The officers came from a range of different levels and many had not attended an English course for fifteen years. The average age of the officers was 40. At the end of the program all the officers noted a major improvement in their English ability. At the end of the course a questionnaire was given out and the results were collated, the results showed that 93% of the officers thought thatThe Sound Way Program was the best English spelling, writing and reading program they had ever used and most of the officers asked to purchase the program to give to their children and family. Average increases of 80% in spelling ability and 82% in reading ability were evidenced and recorded after pre- and post-testing had been conducted.

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Holy Cross Convent

Bangalore, India

17 March 2010

Dear Craig,

The students are again doing extremely well. Your hard work is seen in each video. Every day we think of you. This is the third batch I am teaching. I am up to the 12th lesson, and the students are picking it up easily and well. I am grateful to you for designing this programme. I just love it!

I am thankful to you for introducing it to us here in India. My wonderful experience with The Sound Wayprogramme is that I enjoy teaching it. While teaching it, I am also learning how to teach the students in a whole new and innovative way. You are my model when I take the English class, and I am learning so much from you. I am confident that your truly unique programme allows all of my students to learn English quickly, easily and in the most thorough and systematic way. I will see to it that wherever I am, I include this wonderful programme.

Following are some excerpts taken from students’ experiences with The Sound Way: 

  • "After this programme I have greatly improved in English,"
  • "I have learned to pronounce, read and write English words,"
  • "I improved my handwriting,"
  • "It is an exciting programme through which I have gained confidence to speak English,"
  • "I am confident to give a speech,"
  • "I have improved my vocabulary,"
  • "It is a unique and interesting one,"
  • "I learned to be accurate and neat in my writing,"
  • "I started writing my notes like the handwriting in The Sound Way programme,"
  • "I am able to speak to the public because I am empowered with the correct way to speak, read and write."

Teachers' Experience:

  • "I am empowered to teach English,"
  • "I feel happy that I am giving the best to my students,"
  • "I feel I am not misleading them with the wrong way of teaching, I am givingthem the correct one."

I will keep in touch with you and send the pictures when I get them.

Loving regards from all the students,

Teacher Sr Arul Mary
Holy Cross Convent
Bangalore-560068
India