Teaching Phonics Course

The best way to teach phonics is through a systematic, synthetic approach that builds children’s reading skills step by step. Many schools in the UK use structured programmes such as Jolly Phonics or Letters and Sounds. Effective phonics training for teachers UK recommends blending letter sounds, segmenting words, and applying phonics in real reading contexts. Using games, flashcards, and phonics songs also makes the teaching phonics course online methods engaging for children.

The steps of teaching phonics usually start with letter-sound correspondence, followed by blending sounds to read words, segmenting words into sounds, and then applying these skills in sentences. UK phonics courses highlight gradual progression—from teaching single sounds to digraphs, trigraphs, and word families. Structured phonics training for early years ensures children build confidence in each stage before moving on.

In the UK, the Letters and Sounds framework sets out seven phases of phonics:

Phase 1: Developing listening skills.

Phase 2: Introducing simple sounds and letters.

Phase 3: Digraphs and more complex sounds.

Phase 4: Blending consonant clusters.

Phase 5: Alternative spellings for sounds.

Phase 6: Spelling rules and patterns.

Phase 7: Advanced reading fluency (used in extended practice).

Learners completing a teaching phonics course or phonics courses for teaching assistants gain full exposure to these phases.

The five principles of phonics are:
Teaching the relationship between sounds and letters clearly.

1. Building from simple to complex sounds.

2. Encouraging blending and segmenting for reading and spelling.

3. Repeating and reinforcing through practice.

4. Applying phonics knowledge in real reading activities.

These principles are central to phonics training courses for adults and phonics training online in the UK.

The correct order to teach phonics begins with single sounds, then moves to digraphs (like ‘ch’ and ‘sh’), trigraphs, and longer word patterns. In UK classrooms, teachers follow a progression that starts with simple CVC words (consonant-vowel-consonant), then blends, clusters, and finally spelling rules. A teaching phonics course online ensures educators follow this sequence consistently.

The 5 finger approach is a simple way for children to choose books at the right reading level. They read a page and hold up a finger for each word they cannot decode. If they struggle with more than five words, the book is too challenging. This method is taught in phonics training for teachers UK and phonics training for early years to help children develop reading independence and confidence.