Letterland Friends FAQ
We've put together a list of frequently-asked questions to help you make the best choices for your school or setting. If we can help further, please contact nawonrnd@naver.com about anything related to any of our English as an Additional Language material.
Letterland Friends FAQ
Q. Why should we choose Letterland's Letterland Friends?
Q. How will Letterland Friends help my students to learn English?
Q. Why are the letters not introduced in alphabetical order?
Q. Why do you teach the letter sounds and not letter names?
Q. How can I make sure I am making the correct sounds?
Q. Should we teach British English or American English?
Q. How long should each Letterland Friends lesson last?
Q. Why should we choose Letterland's Letterland Friends?
Q. How will Letterland Friends help my students to learn English?
Q. Why are the letters not introduced in alphabetical order?
Q. Why do you teach the letter sounds and not letter names?
Q. How can I make sure I am making the correct sounds?
Q. Should we teach British English or American English?
Q. How long should each Letterland Friends lesson last?
A. Phonics teaches the link between spoken sounds and written language.
Phonemic awareness is the ability to hear, identify and manipulate the individual sounds (phonemes) in spoken words. It is now widely accepted that phonemic awareness is a crucial first step in learning to read for both first and second language learners. If children can hear and isolate individual sounds in spoken words, they can make quick progress in phonics (linking phonemes to written language).
Synthetic phonics is the suggested approach recommended by many educational experts around the world encouraging the blending (synthesing) of letter sounds to develop reading skills and the segmenting to develop spelling skills.
Q. Why should we choose Letterland Friends?
A. Letterland Friends is a complete structured package consisting of Student Books, Activity Books, Hybrid CDs, Mobile Applications and Stickers. Children benefit from Letterland's unique story-telling approach because it motivates and encourages to learn about all the 44 sounds in the English language and its many spelling patterns. They benefit from its multi-sensory approach within a structured framework and regular revision, leading them to develop good speaking and listening skills and confidence in reading, writing and communicating in English.
A. All our materials introduce children to the fun of learning to read, write and communicate in English using the Letterland character mnemonics to motivate and clarify their learning. Because different children start their journey with different language experiences, we have developed a range of materials to match varying needs. Where their mother tongue is not English, for example in the Letterland Friends materials, we introduce conversation exercises and focus words foster children’s speaking skills.Each range of material interlinks, so please ask [email protected] for specific advice to help ensure that you make the right choice to meet your needs.
Q. How will Letterland Friends help my students to learn English?
A. Letterland Friends gives children the keys to crack the code of the written language by demystifying English spelling (which is actually 85% regular). As a result they learn how to read hundreds of previously unknown words without having to first memorize them. This in turn expands both their reading and speaking vocabularies at a rate that would not be possible without this phonic foundation.
Q. Why are the letters not introduced in alphabetical order?
A. Letterland Friends has been written in line with the teaching order suggested by various government educational departments, including the UK. The letter order has been chosen to enable children to learn blending and segmenting skills early on as they build meaningful words, sound by sound. The program also acknowledges the alphabetic order which will be necessary for future dictionary reference, etc.
Q. Why do you teach the letter sounds and not letter names?
A. Letter names (ay, bee, see, etc) do not help children when they are learning to read and spell. For example, the letter names ‘see, ay, en’ will not help a child to read the word can, because none of the letter names starts with the correct letter sound. In fact not one of the 21 consonant letter names (bee, see, dee, eff, jee, aitch, etc.) is ever used in reading. The fact that 15 of the consonant letter names actually begin with another letter’s sound (see, eff, aitch, ell, em, etc…) can add to the confusion.
A further confusion for English language learners is the fact that over half of the letter names sound like English words. They are a, be, bee, see, sea, I, oh, pea, pee, cue and why. Using the Letterland character's name (Annie Apple, Bouncy Ben, Clever Cat, etc.) provides a temporary alternative to these traditional but confusing alphabet names. In addition, each Letterland character's name provides a clue and cue for the children to remember the correct sound. Some schools are required to introduce the letter names along with the letter sounds, so they do. However, given that ist is only the letter sounds that are needed for early reading and spelling, an initial delay in teaching alphabet names, if at all possible, will prevent avoidable confusions.
Q. How can I make sure I am making the correct sounds?
A. The key to making quick progress in reading and spelling lies in pronouncing the letter sounds accurately. For example, the correct sounds for ‘c…’ and ‘t…’ are whispered sounds. There should be no voice. If you add voice you will get the incorrect sounds ‘cuh’ and ‘tuh’. Incorrect sounds can turn a simple word like cat into a meaningless word: ‘cuh-a-tuh’. Incorrect sounds can also lead to spelling mistakes such as writing bt when trying to spell butter (‘buh’, ‘tuh’). The Letterland Friends audio CD's provide you with the crrect sound for every lesson. You can also listen to the correct letter sounds on other Letterland CDs and software and the ‘ Who’s Who’ downloadable sheet provides a helpful overview.
Q. Should we teach British English or American English?
A. English is both spoken and taught with many different accents around the world. Teachers of English also have a wide range of accents, whether English, Scottish, Irish, American (with wide regional variations), Australian, South African, Indian, Chinese etc. and children need to become accustomed to hearing different regional accents in our modern united world. In actual fact children are often far more accepting of a wide range of accents than adults. The more important question is, do they understand what is being said? Letterland’s audio material specifically uses only native English speakers with slightly varied English accents so that both teacher and children have clear models for good pronunciation which they can follow. (These same materials with recorded British voices are currently widely used in America as well as in other English speaking countries.)
Q. How long should each Letterland Friends lesson last?
A. The session timing will vary depending on children’s stage of development and each individual setting’s approach but there is more than enough material available within the lesson plans to occupy children for at least 90 minutes and many supplementary activities if more time is available. Alternatively, some of this could be covered as homework if settings do not have as much available time with their students.
A. There are suggestions for additional material in the front of the Fix-it Phonics Teachers Guides. In fact since all our material is based on the same principles it is very easy to support children’s learning using material from our Educational and Home ranges ( download catalogue). For instance, for teachers of preschoolers our Early Years Handbook provides many additional multi sensory activities for use in their classroom. Our Handwriting Practice books or Early Years Handwriting copymasters provide appropriate practice material and our range of Activity Books, and more. For specific advice, please feel free to contact [email protected].
Rather than providing a complete reading scheme, Letterland provides children with the tools to read any book matched to their ability, as opposed to providing the complete reading scheme. The Letterland Friends range serves this purpose as well as introducing words, phrases, sentences and also complete stories. The careful progression and regular revision enables children to read with understanding and a feeling of achievement as they progress through the Levels. The wider Letterland range includes other storybooks and reading material and can be used together with Letterland Friends to compliment the programme. Also we are always developing new materials to help develop these skills so watch the web site for information about new material.
A. The programme offers a specific focus language throughout the programme. Where teachers require more, they can easily use the images accompanying each spelling pattern to revise previous topics and to encourage further language development. Please contact nawonrnd@naver.com for a list of possible extension ideas.
