How to Teach Phonics to Older Teens
Phonics are the building blocks of reading and writing. Phonics teaches students how to connect the sounds that letters make into meaningful words. Students generally learn phonics at a young age, usually preschool to third grade. There may come a time where an older teen may need to learn phonics. Students who are learning English as their second language, or teens who may be below grade level in their reading skills will benefit from learning phonics.
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Instructions
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Teaching an Older Teen Phonics
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Because most phonics curriculum is geared to younger students, it can be challenging to find resources to teach older teens phonics. It is important to find materials that are not cutesy or childlike. In order to teach the letter-sound association, a teacher needs flash cards and worksheets that are mature and free of anything that may discourage an older teen from learning phonics. Use the flash cards by first showing the students the word, pronouncing the sound and then having the students echo back. Once you have practiced the call and response of the letters and sounds, show the cards to the students without modeling the sound and see if they can remember the sound. After mastering the sounds, have students use worksheets that require them to identify words with the practiced sounds.
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Interactive media is a great way to teach older students phonics. Most students will have some kind of device on which they can listen to audio files. Find and download lessons that can be listened to on the student's personal music players. This approach will help older teens feel more in control of their learning and more willing to practice phonics.
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Children love games, even older teens. An effective way to teach teens phonics is to use games. Phonics concentration is a simple game to practice sounding out both real and nonsense words. The game requires a pile of cards labeled "1" on one side of the card and that have a beginning letter on the other side. The other pile is labeled "2" on one side and have ending letters on the other side. Participants take turns choosing a card from each pile and sound out the words that the two cards make. Most words will be nonsense words, which is okay. For each correctly sounded-out word, the student gets one point. The student with the most points wins the game.
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Tips & Warnings
Use materials geared towards younger students and modify it so that it interests older teens.
Avoid using the same strategy repetitively so that students remain interested in learning.
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