ABCs
How do you spell...?

Objective

To introduce the Roman alphabet.

Goals

• To reinforce left to right eye coordination.
• To manipulate a pencil or marker.
• To form the letters.
• To introduce lines and the function of lined paper.
• To recognize and identify upper and lower case letters.
• To request spelling.

Suggestions

• Alphabet cards are essential! Make or buy alphabet flash cards. They are readily available for a reason-able price. If you make the flash cards, ensure that they are clear and are all the same size. Use both lower case and upper case letters.
• Learning the letters is a slow process that requires a lot of supervision time. If you are in a classroom environment, volunteers can be helpful.
• Demonstrate how to form a letter. Draw a letter in the air or with your finger in sand. Trace a letter with your finger. When first holding pencil practice drawing. Aim for ease and flow before accuracy.
• Focus on the letters that have the most meaning to learners. Use letters in their name, address, family members’ names or their country.
• Introduce a few letters at a time. It can be over-whelming for learners if given all the letters at the same time. Some people recommend teaching letters in groupings. Groupings include letters with slanted lines (w x k v z), letters with straight lines (i l f t), letters with curved lines (a b c o d e s), letters with straight and curved lines (m n u r h),and letters that go below the line (y p q g j).
• Identify key words that are pronounced as letters such as VCR, TV, OK, YMCA, CBC, PEI, IWK, and practice spelling and recognition. Learners may already know these words but need practice in identifying the letters.
• When a letter is introduced, immediately place it in a word.
• Don’t write on the board in all capital letters unless you are specifically learning capital letters.
• If you are using a computer to create worksheets,choose a simple font.
• Have an activity each day that provides an opportunity for responding to the question, “How do you spell that?” Learners say the spelling as well as write the word (e.g. name, address, town, city or province name, children’s name).
• Educational material companies have products to assist in learning the alphabet. (See resource list in back for more information.)
• Use the lined literacy paper at the end of this chapter to practise forming the letters.

Ensure success in every class.

Activities

• Manipulate the letters, practice name of letters,match letters, form words with the letters.
• Have two sets of lower case alphabet cards. Match the same letters together.
• Have two sets of upper case alphabet cards. Match the same letters together.
• Have one set of upper case and one set of lowercase alphabet cards. Match the same letters together.
• Instructor or learner writes about ten letters on a page. Someone says a letter and learners circles the letter she hears.