MODULE V- Teaching Beginning Reading

I. Introduction
Reading readiness is highly individualistic. There is no “one size fits all” solution to teaching a
child to read. A parent or educator may need to employ several techniques before finding the most
appropriate method for an individual child. According to Vygotsky’s Zone of proximal Development a
child can, through the help of an adult or more capable child, perform at a higher level than he or she
can do independently. The process of learning to read should thus be supported by a caring and
supportive individual.

II. Learning Outcomes/Objectives

At the end of this Module, you should have to:
1. Teach the alphabet
2. Teach word recognition or word attack skills
3. Describe the strategies for teaching vocabulary
4. Teach comprehension skills to the beginning reader.

III. Integration of Faith

Young men and young women, read the literature that will give you true knowledge, and that
will be a help to the entire family. (MYP p. 270)

IV. Integration of Values

Say firmly: “I will not spend precious moments in reading that which will be of no profit to me,
and which only unfits me to be of service to others”. (MYP p. 270)

V. Readings/ Topics
A. Teaching the Alphabet
The alphabet is best taught only after all the sounds have been mastered. It is first
presented in jumbled order to ascertain that the children are really able to associate the
sound (Phoneme) and the graphic shape (grapheme). Then the letters are presented in
alphabetical order. For mastery, the alphabet is taught with songs such as the alphabet song
or rhymes and jingles.

Children should be made to sound each letter as letter cards are presented. They should be
drilled on what comes before a letter and what comes after. Using letter cards, the children
may be asked to arrange the letters in alphabetical order, identifying the sound of each letter
name. The capital letters (uppercase letters) and the small letters (lowercase letters) should
also be introduced. Matching uppercase letters and lowercase letters will be a good learning
activity.

B. Teaching Word Recognition

Word recognition refers to the ability to identify, read, and analyze the meaning
attached to the word. It is a basic foundation skill in reading upon which learning of advanced
reading skills using the word families will be much easier for the teacher. This may be done
after all the sounds of the alphabet have been mastered. Only meaningful words should be
taught with the use of actual objects and pictures. The word families are:
 at family - bat, cat, fat, hat, mat, pat, rat, sat
an family - ban, can, Dan, fan, man, pan, ran, tan, van
ad family - bad, Dad, fad, had, lad, mad, pad, sad, wad
ar family - bar, car, far, mar, par, war
ed family - bed, fed, led, red, Ted, wed
en family - Ben, den, hen, men, ten, yen
in family - bin, fin, pin, sin, tin, win
it family - bit, fit, hit, kit, pit, sit, wit
ill family - bill, fill, hill, kill, mill, sill, till, will
ell family - bell, dell, fell, hell, sell, tell, well, yell
air family - fair, hair, pair
ear family - bear, dear, fear, hear, gear, near, rear, tear, wear, year
et family - bet, get, jet, let, met, net, pet, set, wet, yet
oat family - boat, coat, goat
ore family - bore, core, fore, more, sore, tore, wore
one family - bone, cone, done, gone, lone, tone
ate family - date, fate, gate, hate, Kate, late, mate, rate

at family an family en family in family

b at c an h en p in
c at D an B en t in
f at m an m en w in
h at p an p en f in

A. Teaching the Service Words

After the children are able to read words, the service words or the basic sight
words are taught to enable the children to read phrases and sentences.
The service words include the following:
a. Articles: a, an, the
b. Pronouns: he, she, it, I, my, mine, our, ours, they, them, etc.
c. Prepositions: on, in, for, to, under, over, by, with, etc.
d. Conjunctions: and, but, etc.
e. Verbs: has, have, do, does, done, etc.

There are five main categories of word analysis or word attack skills:
1. Configuration clues give the overall characteristics of how a word looks. (e.g. length
of word ascenders and descenders); lowercase letters that rise above (e.g. l) or
below (g), the one-space letters, double letters (goose, week), and overall word
form.
house
2. Context clues come from the meaning of the word as it is used in a sentence
(semantic clue) or from guessing what word is coming next according to the way a
reader often uses oral language (syntactic clue).
Examples:
a. The barking ______ chased the cat.
( goat, dog, pig)
b. How much capital do you need?
1) Money invested for business
 2) Most important town or city of a province
3) Higher case or big letters
3. Phonetic analysis also called phonics, is the study of sound symbol or phoneme-
grapheme relationships as they apply to the teaching of reading, usually used in
beginning reading. This included the understanding and application of:
a. Phonetic principles that govern articulation of consonants in English
Example:
Some consonants have more than one variety of sound:
C - (hard c, heard as /k/ )
- ( soft c, heard as /s/)
b. Phonetic principles that govern the articulation of vowel sounds.
Example:
Every vowel has a long and short sound
A - able (long), apple (short)
E - evil (long), elephant (short)
c. Syllable generalizations
Example:
When two consonants exist between two vowels, a division takes place
between consonants.
Spartan spar-tan
Letter let-ter
d. Stress rules
Examples:
If a root has two syllables, the first is usually stressed
mother MOTH er
summer SUM mer
e. Other principles that govern the articulation of consonants clusters;
blends or digraphs and vowel digraphs
Examples:
1) When two or more consonants appear in succession in a word, they are
referred to as consonant clusters.
(paragraph)
2) When the consonant cluster is sounded as one, it is called a consonant
digraph.
(think)
4. Structural analysis usually refers to the analysis of larger meaning-bearing parts of
words such as root words, suffixes, prefixes, word endings, apostrophe (for
possession), compound words, and contractions. It may include syllabication, since
dividing of words into syllables often deals with prefixes and suffixes that carry
meaning. Structural analysis is often referred to as morphology, a study of
morphemes or the meaning-bearing units of a language.
B. Reading Phrases and Sentences
The words and the service words are joined to form phrases and sentences.
Use pictures and actual situations or actions to develop meaning.
Phrases
on a mat the pen a pan and a can
a fat cat Dan and Ben a hat and a bat
in a box a pet rat under the table
 Sentences
The man has a hat. Ben can run.
A cat sat on a mat. My cat is fat.
Her father is a doctor. The girl is pretty.

C. Teaching Comprehension Skills to the Beginning Reader

Comprehension lesson of the beginning readers may start with a simple stories.
The following stories aim to develop comprehension skills of the beginning
readers
Skill: Getting the Min Idea:
PAMELA
Pamela is a sweet little girl. She loves to dance and sing. She talks like an adult
and knows how to reason out. She helps her mother take care of her little sister. She
helps in whatever her mother does. Her mother and father love her very much.

Answer the following questions:

1. The story talks about
a. A baby b. a family c. a little girl.
2. Pamela is
a. a good girl b. a Papa’s girl c. a bad girl

Skill: Inferring Meanings:

KHALIL and KIER
Khalil and Kier are twin brothers. They are seven years old. They live near the
sea. They go there Saturdays and Sundays to swim. Their parents, brothers and sisters
go there, too.

Answer YES or NO:

______1. Khalil and Kier were born on the same day
______2. They love to swim in the sea.
______3. They are a happy family.
______4. They go to the sea when there are no classes.

Skill: Identifying Words That Describe

WINSTON
Winston is a handsome boy. He is tall for his age of two years. He has dark
complexion. His legs are long and his feet are big.

Underline the words that describe Winston:

1. Winston has the following:
feet ( small, long, big)
legs ( long, thin, short)
complexion ( light, dark)
height ( short, medium, tall)
2. Winston is ( bony, ugly, handsome)