[BuffaloJack]

I was brought up in the late 50s and early 60s. What are phonics and whole-word methods? It sounds like something a socialist would make up to explain something simple in a manner incomprehensible to outsiders.

[Betty Jane]

Phonics is the teaching of the sounds letters or letter combinations make, such as th or sh. Phonics teaches one to sound out the word. For example, in the word man a student would sound out each letter, until he said the word. In whole language, the student is told to learn that this word is "man" Whole language works until a kid is given a book that has words the kid hasn't learned, like tan. The phonics kid, on the other hand, can use the knowledge of letter sounds he has learned to figure it out.

Phonics doesn't work for everything, but it does give a good foundation to build on. Whole language, only works to the amount the teacher has taught and the kid has memorized.

[dawn53]

Actually the poster was describing the two main methods used to teach reading.

I went to elementary school in the late 50’s early 60’s and the Dick and Jane books used the whole word method, sometimes called the sight method.

See Dick Run, See Jane Run, See Spot Run...they taught you to recognize certain words and then repeated them over and over in books, constantly adding more words to each new book.

My first grade teacher also taught phonics,(thankfully.) And that way you learn the sounds of different letters and are able to “sound out” words, even if you haven’t seen them before.

Most kids do better with phonics, but I have run into kids who just can’t master a phonetic approach to reading and have to learn through the sight method.