4th June 2026
I feel so very honoured to have ‘met’ (via Teams) the wonderful Petra, Dolina and Dawn from North Ayrshire, Scotland, and learn about their work. As I write this, we have just had an amazing, heartwarming, interesting and important chat about how best to use (adapt if and as necessary) my Alphabetic Code Charts in Scotland’s schools.
The over-arching question was whether the existing versions of my overview English Alphabetic Code Charts are fit-for-purpose in Scotland well enough.
We addressed the variation in accent in different regions in Scotland and variations in accent in Scotland relative to the decisions about sounds, spellings and the key picture-words that I’ve chosen for my overview Alphabetic Code Charts for the English language – and how teachers in Scotland can most easily and pragmatically address any variations when required.
Petra, Dolina and Dawn are teacher-educators of the ‘Professional Learning Academy’ based in North Ayrshire, Scotland. Their role is to support teachers in their region with professional development including visits, observations and support in schools. There is a growing awareness and uptake of ‘systematic synthetic phonics’ provision (replacing the ‘multi-cueing word-guessing’ approach) in Scotland – which is extremely good news. Indeed, David and I have noted a significant increase in teachers in Scotland signing up for our free Phonics International programme.
[Some schools in Scotland are also trialling/adopting our hard copy No Nonsense Phonics programme’s resources. Developed from my original Phonics International programme, No Nonsense Phonics is a stand-alone programme in its own right but can be supplemented/complemented, or even extended, with Phonics International’s range of free resources. Like our Phonics International programme, we provide open-access transparent information and free training videos and PowerPoints for the No Nonsense Phonics programme. There are no hidden or annual ‘portal’ training costs for schools. Our 55 ‘Phonics and vocabulary books’ reading series (available via a school eBookshelf licence or as hard copies) can be used alongside both programmes. Hard copy core resources (to buy) such as A4 Frieze Sheets, double sided A5 Flash Cards, teaching and assessment Sounds Mats (free printable/projectable Sounds Mats and other resources available) and Mini Code Cards – sets 1 and 2 and set 3 – can also be used with either programme.] Such a wealth of both free and ‘to buy’ resources are available published by Phonics International Ltd that feature the ‘key picture-words’ on our range of Alphabetic Code Charts that it is better to avoid making exceptions to these key picture-words based on variations of ‘accent’ or ‘dialect’ if at all possible. See page 2 of the ‘In a nutshell…’ pdf featuring the ‘Mnemonic System in Phonics International’ with examples of the ‘key picture-words’ used across our Alphabetic Code Charts and the programmes Phonics International and No Nonsense Phonics.
I learnt in our Teams meeting that the ladies had all undertaken my self-study ‘Phonics Training Online’ course so they are well-aware of my ‘Two-pronged systematic AND incidental phonics teaching and learning’ approach. (I’ve long urged people to adopt this flexible and realistic approach in contrast to a strictly rigid ‘systematic only’ approach for beginning reading and spelling instruction). They, like me, also appreciate that ‘phonics’ isn’t just some initial teaching that we do in the infants for a couple of years, but that the alphabetic code is in all words (many thousands) ‘forever’ and that even literate adults apply phonics sub-skills and skills, often subconsciously, for reading and spelling new, longer and more challenging words. Thus, it is misguided for ‘phonics’ to be perceived as only for infants and infant teaching. All the sectors in Education need the professional knowledge and understanding to sustain and provide support for learners for reading and for spelling across the years – as required – even if mainly ‘incidentally’. Indeed, I’m frequently approached by secondary schools for training – whether mainstream or SEND (special needs) schools and this includes for the state and independent sectors in the UK and for international schools. I freely mentor designated literacy and/or special needs leaders in some of these schools (no charge) – and urge them to follow some steps to take in-school training into their own hands avoiding additional training costs.
The purpose of our Teams meeting was to look through a version of my ‘mini’ Alphabetic Code Charts row by row, word by word, focusing on where there were questions around the Scottish pronunciation of some of the vowel sounds and my choice of key picture-words. Specifically, we focused on the pronunciation of key picture-words for the following sounds: /i-ee/, /or/, /er/ (and ‘schwa uh’), /ar/, /air/ and /eer/.
Prior to our meeting, I referred the ladies to the short video (16 minutes) embedded at the top of this page where I explain the thinking behind the various styles of the (free) Alphabetic Code Charts. I point out the difference between the scientific analysis of speech sounds in the field of ‘phonetics’ and the associated use of the International Phonetic Alphabet symbols (IPA) in contrast to my ‘easy-to-use’ letters and letter groups that I have selected to use in the slash marks to denote the sounds (down the columns in my charts). My rationale is that the ‘easy-to-use’ notation of the sounds shown in the slash marks indicates that these sounds are not precise, and this enables/allows for localised explanations. Teachers can simply point out to learners that, “In our region/country, we pronounce this letter [or letter group or grapheme or spelling or word] this way” – as required.
You see the international scientific field of ‘phonetics‘ featuring precise identification of phonemes (speech sounds) is not the same as ‘phonics‘ featuring pragmatic links between the graphemes (letters and letter groups) of (English spelling) and the smallest practical identification of more localised sounds of speech – and how we can use ‘phonics’ to teach reading and spelling (for the English language).
This isn’t a flawed design-error, or weakness, or downside – the flexible approach actually enables an intellectual discussion around the notion of different pronunciations (accents, dialects) of the English language not only across the UK but also across the world in other English-speaking countries and contexts. I point out, including on my charts, that no alphabetic code chart can be ‘definitive’ because of the variations of accents or dialects.
You see, ‘phonics’ is not based on a precise analysis of the sounds of speech – it is not a ‘science’ – it is a pragmatic way of dealing with a historic, quirky, complex spelling system (the English ‘alphabetic code’) for teaching and learning. And, phonics knowledge and understanding should be (I argue) for ‘everyone’ and for supporting reading and spelling for the long term – as required (and not in a way that presents only as infant-level teaching).
And of course, those of you who already know the thrust of my work, will know I promote the use of overview Alphabetic Code Charts as standard, generic information, throughout education (not just for infants – for use in junior and secondary classrooms too). Think of the Alphabetic Code Charts along the lines of how we might regard facts/information presented via posters (classroom visual aids) as standard and universal: the alphabet, times tables charts, the periodic table, the world map, the solar system – yes, THAT IMPORTANT.
[NOTE: If you watch my 16 minute video, as mentioned above, I strongly promote comparing the extraordinary range of ‘complexities’ of the (opaque) English alphabetic code compared to the ‘simple’ (transparent) Spanish alphabetic code. This is a very powerful and important exercise that illustrates very strongly why a truly tangible, visual version of the English alphabetic code – and good professional knowledge and understanding about phonics provision for reading and spelling in English – are so important!]
Back to my discussion with Petra, Dolina and Dawn, my conclusive suggestion for teachers in Scotland is simply to add an asterix (*) in any section (bottom left corner) of the vowel sounds notation (with the yellow background down the left-hand column) that might require a further explanation of pronunciation in Scotland (mainly what we might consider to be the ‘r-controlled vowels’).
This would work well and be the simplest approach possible.
When it comes to the vowel sounds at the end of my Alphabetic Code Charts: /er/, /ar/, /air/ and /eer/, by this time the dominant feature of teaching and learning is the identification, and building up knowledge, of spelling word banks of the example key picture-words and further words. (This is an ongoing process throughout the years with the content of the phonics programmes providing the ‘kernel’ of spelling word banks. See my Phonics Spelling Dictionary in the ‘Extras‘ webpage of the Phonics International programme to keep an ongoing record of spelling word banks for the class.) If teachers get bogged down with the precision of identifying the /r/ sound as separate, or a slightly different medial vowel sound across the rows of key picture-words, they could miss out on the wealth of resources provided in the phonics programmes. Teachers could instead go beyond the notion of graphemes (letters and letter groups that are code for individual sounds – or phonemes) and focus on the notion of ‘letter strings’ (for example: air, –are, –ear, –ere) that can be identified for spelling word banks’ work.
The ladies also queried my inclusion for the /ks/ sound of the words ‘ducks’ and ‘cakes’ and not just –x as in the word ‘fox’ (and for the /gz/ sound, the inclusion of ‘pegs’ and not just –x as in the word ‘exam’). Again, this was a decision based on my pragmatic rationale as I found that young beginners having been taught letter ‘x’ as code for the /ks/ sound (which is actually two phonemes combined), then went on to spell words like this: dux, caix, boox or bux having ‘orally segmented’ the spoken words thus: /d/ /u/ /ks/, and /k/ /ai/ /ks/ and so on! Thus, I dripped in some plural words on my Alphabetic Code Charts so teachers could explain about singular and plural words and how sometimes when we identify the sound /ks/ (when oral segmenting for sound-to-print spelling purposes), we need to consider whether this is plural word or singular word in order to spell it correctly (and, in any event, ask the teacher). You see, sometimes teachers have to reflect on what we need to point out for reading purposes (print-to-sound), and what we need to point out for spelling purposes (sound-to-print). When reading such words, this can still be based on /d/ /u/ /k/ /s/ with separate sounds for /k/ and /s/. It really doesn’t matter if you get the outcome and feel equipped with explanations if and as necessary. This is a continuous and interesting dance between reading and spelling processes.
None of these practices are ‘rocket science’ but I can attest that teaching and learning is very, very well-supported with the use of overview Alphabetic Code Charts for initial teaching and over time. They are designed for the benefit of everyone including learners’ parents and carers and the general public!
Well – I am really grateful for the opportunity to collaborate with Petra, Dolina and Dawn. By reflecting on their questions, I am actually reassured that it is perfectly possible and reasonable to take the ‘asterix’ approach with the existing Alphabetic Code Charts in Scotland to note any little teaching and learning moments according to local, regional and national accents (no different from the guidance I have always provided regarding differences in regional and national pronunciation).
I wish the ladies well with their outreach work, and have encouraged the ladies to keep in touch with me and to let me know how ‘phonics’ fares in North Ayrshire, in Bonnie Scotland!
PLEASE NOTE: For our wider work, take a look HERE – and do check out our ‘Teeny Reading Seeds’ and ‘Phonics and Talk Time’ early years ‘nursery’ website and the free and ‘to buy’ nursery resources (scroll down here) also the ‘teaching fully joined handwriting’ approach and free handwriting and alphabet resources.