A fun way to teach learners about the 44 sounds and 120 key spelling choices, and to check that

they know them!

ENGLISH PHONICS GUIDE AND CHECK: GUIDANCE NOTES FOR TEACHERS

Handy A5 learning-leaflets for pre-schools, primaries, secondaries, colleges, universities and adult centres
For learners of all ages and abilities, including those who are gifted
and talented, and those who have learning difficulties or disabilities.
And those learning English as an Additional Language (EAL),
including children and teachers in Partner/Twin Schools in other countries.
Use our learning-leaflets to help learners:
Say the right sounds when they read. Choose the right letters when they spell.

ENGLISH PHONICS GUIDE: ACTIVITIES 1-13

Rap-To-Read the Consonant Keywords (The Double Raps , Single Raps and 1-1 Matching are Activities 1-3)
Ask the learner to point under the first seven keywords to learn the 2-3-7 rap - bird, rabbit; bird, rabbit, cat; bird, rabbit,
cat, kitten, duck, school, queen. Can they Rap-to-Read all of the 60 Consonant Keywords by first doing Double Raps
(saying each 2-3-7 rap twice with clarity and confidence), then Single Raps (saying the raps only once) and, finally,
1-1 matching (pointing under each keyword as they say it, without rapping)?
Rap-To-Read The Vowel Keywords (The Double Raps , Single Raps and 1-1 Matching are Activities 4-6)
Ask the learner to point under the first seven keywords to learn the 2-3-7 rap - ant, baby; ant, baby, tape; ant, baby,
tape, snail, tray, hair, square. Can they Rap-to-Read all of the 60 Vowel Keywords by first doing Double Raps, then
Single Raps and 1-1 matching?
Sounds And Spellings Chart (The Double Raps , Single Raps and 1-1 Matching are Activities 7-9)
Ask the learner to point under the key spellings and Rap-to-Say the keywords doing Double Raps, then Single Raps
and 1-1 Matching. If they hesitate, ask them to form the spelling in the air and say the word more than once.
120 Keywords for Reading and Spelling (Read, Spell, Locate and Work Out the Sounds are Activities 10-13)

Ask the learner to read all of the 120 keywords. This can be performed and revised as a group, with more and more
words being read aloud, in sequence, from the list. For larger text, use the Sounds Check pages. (Activity 10 )

Can the learner spell all of them? When learning to spell a word, ask learners to repeatedly SAY the word and NAME
the letters until they can say all the letters with confidence; ask them to form in the air and name any letters over
which they hesitate. This can be performed and revised as a group, with more and more words being said aloud and
spelled, in sequence, from the list. A variation of this is to have a learner call out any keyword from one or more of the
columns, and the group (or one learner to earn points for a team) repeat the word aloud and spell it. (Activity 11 )

In the blue Sounds And Spellings Chart, can the learner locate the key spelling for each keyword, starting with ant
and ending with zip? The top four rows are in the Consonant Section (CS) and the bottom four rows are in the Vowel
Section (VS). The eight rows in the Whole Chart (WC) are called C1, C2, C3, C4 and V1, V2, V3, V4. (Activity 12 )

Using the key spellings, ask the learner to work out the sounds for each of the 44 sound-boxes. (Activity 13 )

ENGLISH PHONICS CHECK: ACTIVITIES 14-24

The Sounds Check

Ask the learner to read the word aloud and then say the sound for the bold key spelling e.g. a n t - /a/; b a b y - /ay/;
b a ll - /or/..... Award one mark for each sound but only if the articulation is accurate e.g. for f i sh the sound is /f/ not
/fer/. Ideally, the learner should say the words and sounds the THRASS way, to show that they know the location of

the sounds and key spellings on the THRASS charts. Alternative pronunciations are acceptable. (Activity 14 )

A good practice for groups is to ask all learners to say the word and then say the sound for the bold key spelling.
Explain that they will say most of the sounds more than once so they will need to watch out for, and remember, the
key spellings that represent the same sound. Encourage them to accurately articulate all 44 sounds. (Activity 15 )

A variation of the above activity is to have half the group say the word and the other half then say the sound (for the
words in one or more of the six columns), and to then have the groups change over roles (using the same words or
the words from one or more new columns). (Activity 16 )

A further variation is to have one learner call out any keyword from one or more of the six columns, in order to hear
which learner is first to accurately articulate the sound (possibly to earn points for a team). (Activity 17 )

Encourage your learners to decide if the sound (bold key spelling) is at the beginning, middle or end of a syllable. A
word with one vowel sound/spelling is a monosyllable (e.g. bus, fly, key and hair). A word with two or more vowel
sounds/spellings is a polysyllable (e.g. ki-tten, tea-cher, che-rry, and ba-na-na). Then have one learner call out any
keyword from one or more of the six columns, in order to hear which learner is first to accurately articulate the sound
and then give the position of the sound in the syllable (possibly to earn points for a team). (Activity 18 )

The Spellings Check

Ask the learner to say the word aloud and then name only the letters that are missing e.g. (b)ird - Bee; ra(bb)itDouble Bee; (c)at- See and so on. Award one mark for each correct spelling but only if the learner is able to name
the letters with confidence and without hesitation. Where the learner makes an initial mistake with the naming of a
letter or letters but immediately corrects this without any assistance, award the mark, provided the learner names the
letters with confidence and without hesitation. It is not acceptable to say and between the names. (Activity 19 )

A good practice for groups is to ask all learners to say the word and to then name the missing letters while forming
the letters in the air (Activity 20) and, later, to say the word and only name the missing letters (Activity 21 ).

A variation is to have half the group say the word and the other half name the missing letters (for the keywords from
one of the eight columns, from the Consonant Section at the top, from the Vowel Section at the bottom or from the
Whole Chart) and to then have the groups change over roles. If desirable, the missing letters can first be written and
then, later, checked (by the learner or by a learner from the other group). (Activity 22 ).

A further variation is to have one learner (The Caller) say aloud any keyword from a particular column, from a
section or from the whole chart, to see which representative of one or more teams is first to correctly form the letters
in the air or on a chalkboard, whiteboard or interactive board (to earn points for their team). (Activity 23 )

It is also good fun to have one learner call out a keyword, in order to hear which learner is first to say if the bold key
spelling is a One letter spelling (graph), Two letter spelling (digraph) or Three letter spelling (trigraph) before
naming the letters (to earn points for a team). (Activity 24 )
General Advice

For the team activities, you may wish to apply the rule that The first person to put their hand up has the opportunity
to answer first, to gain a point for their team (possibly with the risk that, if wrong, a point is deducted from their total).
Or you may wish teams to nominate their Next person up to compete against those nominated by the other team/s.

Encourage your learners to perform one or more of the activities listed above, as a group or class, to entertain and/or
educate an audience. For school children the audience could be their classmates, other year groups in an Assembly
(including for the very youngest children) or an afternoon/evening event for the parents and/or new parents.

The activities do not need to be taught in sequential order from Activity 1 to 24, though there will be some skills that it
will be easier to learn before learning others! Within reason, the teachers/tutors and the parents of young children can

introduce any activity at any time, and this also includes the THRASS Letter Name Rap, as a Double or Single Rap:
a, b; a, b, c; a, b, c, d, e, f, g; h, i; h, i, j; h, i, j, k, l, m, n; o, p; o, p, q; o, p, q, r, s, t, u; v, w; v, w, x; v, w, x, y, z, z, z!
We recommend two copies of The EP Guide
We recommend that each child or adult learner has two copies of the English Phonics Guide - one to use for practice at
school or their place of work and one to use for practice at home (ideally, with family and/or friends). Once the teaching
sessions and the official check have been completed, these handy guides can then be used as an aid for reading and
spelling other English words. If the learner is not likely to use the leaflet out of school or work, only one copy is needed.
We recommend three copies of The EP Check
We recommend that each child or adult learner has three copies of the English Phonics Check - one to use for practice at
school or their place of work, one to use for practice at home (ideally, with family and/or friends) and one for the day of
the official check, so that their school or place of work has a permanent record of their scores and of any Sound Check
errors (the circled bold key spellings) and Spelling Check errors (the circled written spellings). If the learner is not likely to
use the leaflet out of school or work, only two are needed and, if there is to be no permanent record, only one is needed.
The Spellings Check and Sounds Check in about 10-20 minutes
The Sounds Check and Spellings Check each take about 5-10 minutes. That is, 10-20 minutes for a very thorough check
of a learner's knowledge of the 44 sounds (phonemes) and 120 key spellings (keygraphemes) of English. If a permanent
record is required of each learner's ability to write the spellings, rather than just naming the letters aloud, classes can do
the Spellings Check at the same time (using one of the English Phonics Check learning-leaflets). However, the Sounds
Check should be assessed individually (by a teacher/tutor, an approved Check Team within the class, and for children,
an older learner or parent). Having completed the Spellings Check, learners can then use the teachers/tutors copy to do
the Sounds Check and any errors can be recorded on the learners copy, by circling the relevant bold key spelling.
ENGLISH PHONICS GUIDE, ISBN 978-1-906295-34-9, PRODUCT CODE S-34
ENGLISH PHONICS CHECK ISBN 978-1-906295-37-0, PRODUCT CODE S-37

It is illegal to copy, scan, store or transmit the THRASS learning-leaflets 2012 ALARY LTD
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Tel: +44 1244 323079 Fax: 0872 111 4327 (UK only) Email: info@thrass.co.uk THRASS Resources: www.thrass.co.uk
These notes, which may be downloaded and photocopied, have been created and designed by Alan Davies
ENGLISH PHONICS GUIDE AND CHECK: GUIDANCE NOTES FOR TEACHERS 2012 ALARY LTD