Debbie Hepplewhite: November 2024 – At long last, we have uploaded a ‘combined’ English-Welsh Alphabetic Code Chart. This has been an idea for some considerable time, and I’m extremely grateful to Rob Randel who has provided the Welsh content for the chart. Rob has checked his content with Welsh teacher colleagues so there is further collaboration involved – thank you to all concerned.
You can find the English-Welsh Alphabetic Code Chart via the ‘Other Languages‘ page at this site and you will also find a short explanatory video about the various designs of the Alphabetic Code Charts and their various uses for people with different needs.
I have long suggested that a TANGIBLE overview Alphabetic Code Chart should be a generic (standard) visual aid for teaching, and supporting, reading and spelling in the English language. My charts may well seem straightforward now they’re established and published but, believe me, it’s been a long and painful journey to design and make them. My suggestion is that they are SO important and helpful that we have never charged for our online charts – and I’m very happy to note that they are indeed used by people in different countries and contexts including in the published literature of others (see pages 53 to 58).
I have deliberately used the same key picture-words (that exemplify the English alphabetic code) for my Alphabetic Code Charts and for the FREE Phonics International programme for all ages (provided online) and the hard-copy ‘to buy’ No Nonsense Phonics programme. These are a form of mnemonic (aid to memory) system – and important for the English code as the ‘position‘ of much of the code in a word (spoken/printed) is a complexity of the historic English alphabetic code – the most complex alphabetic code in the world!
For Wales (UK), our Phonics International programme could be invaluable for schools as the English language for reading and writing may start at a later age for learners – which means a phonics programme designed for ‘infants only’ may not be so fit-for-purpose. The advisors of the IMPACT WALES organisation have indeed recommended that teachers in Wales investigate the usefulness of Phonics International in some of their literature.
In response to an inquiry about use of the No Nonsense Phonics programme in a Welsh school, Rob Randel kindly wrote this testimonial and offered his support:
“I am the literacy lead within my school, and we have used the No Nonsense Booklets very successfully as an intervention over the last year. Also, I have taught my own children, who go to a Welsh medium school and are now 8 and 6, how to read in English with this programme at home.
We used the Y1 Phonics Screening Check (PSC) from England with our KS2 pupils to identify the decoding abilities of our learners. As a result we recognised that we needed to put something in place for some pupils in order to support them. Using the No Nonsense Phonics Booklets with these pupils, split into groups, for 3 x 20 minute sessions per week with teaching assistants, by June we had just a few pupils still unable to pass the check – and these pupils are those with more complex needs in general. We have the capacity to provide 1:1 support for these learners and they are making very good progress – and we know they will get there too.
The difference for these pupils has been the quality of No Nonsense Phonics as a programme, the ease for TAs to deliver it, and the consistency it provides. The pages are carefully sequenced, with each double page split into two halves. The first half introduces the sound and how it is represented – pupils practise handwriting the code for this sound. Next there is a phonemic awareness task, where pupils need to count the number of sounds in a word and identify where the target sound is positioned. Then the children ‘say the sounds’ for different letters retrieving previously taught GPCs; the pace of this is great as it quickly progresses into reading words with children ‘saying the sounds’ and ‘blending all-through-the-word’ to read them. Then they practise spelling – segmenting the spoken words, drawing sound dashes for each sound, and then building the word using their code knowledge. Finally… and the best bit…. the booklet includes wonderful decodable mini-stories written by Debbie on the 2nd half of the double page spread which the children really enjoy – they contain really rich vocabulary that creates lots of discussion, and it gives children lots of fluency practice, along with handwriting and spelling practice, along with developing their language comprehension. My children love to draw pictures for these stories too which adds to their engagement and memory of the lessons.
While we are currently using No Nonsense Phonics as an intervention, the success we have had with it is making us ask questions as to why we are not using it right from the start in Reception. However, for Welsh medium schools it would also be perfect for teaching the English writing code from Y2/Y3 on.
I think the key difference between No Nonsense Phonics and the other programmes I am familiar with is the amount of practice the children get in actual reading, writing and spelling, and the materials do not appear ‘babyish’. It is not lots of flashcards with children needing to say the sounds and remember ‘red words’; children are doing actual reading with wonderful decodable stories which make the children feel successful, and in turn motivated to read more. And finally, it ‘does exactly what it says on the tin’, it is no nonsense, and takes very little or any training for Teachers or TAs to deliver as the Teacher Books shows you very clearly what to do and how to deliver it.
Hope this helps!”
Debbie again:
Rob has also informed mainstream TV media and published articles featuring the findings of reading instruction research – whilst showing the No Nonsense Phonics Pupil Books to exemplify ‘best practice’. He provides occasional in-service training and has always highly recommended use of our overview English Alphabetic Code Charts. He is a Committee Member of the UK Reading Reform Foundation and is in the Advisory Group of the International Foundation for Effective Reading Instruction.
Please note: The Teacher Books for the No Nonsense Phonics programme actually include their parallel NNP Pupil Book with very easy-to-use ‘post-it’ guidance. You can review an electronic example of Teacher Book 2 which we provide to show example content of both the Teacher Book and the Pupil Book.
Furthermore, we provide full, transparent information, training videos and PowerPoints here – no additional training expense will be necessary if the time is taken to learn about the resources, their design and rationale, and best use.
Take a look at some videos showing Rob’s daughter, Lumen, and Carl Pattison’s daughter, Hope, (a few years ago) practising phonics in their homes.
