Phonics for secondary schools

posted in: Secondary literacy |

In her OFSTED blog post, ‘Supporting secondary school pupils who are behind with reading’, HMI Gill Jones writes: “(Secondary) pupils who can’t read unfamiliar words accurately will need phonics teaching. Regardless of age, special educational need or background, the same knowledge of the alphabetic code and phonics skills underpins all reading. Intensive practice should soon make sure that pupils can read age-appropriate texts accurately and automatically.” That Reading Thing is truly age-appropriate phonics for secondary, adult and transition to secondary … Read More

Literacy for Teens who ‘Don’t do education’

posted in: Secondary literacy, Youth Offending |

In the early years, That Reading Thing was used mostly with young people who had some connection to the local youth offending team, either in the YOS system or at risk of being on their books at some point. ‘I don’t do education’ was a common statement at the first session. That sentiment was echoed by a woman from the Basic Skills Agency who insisted, ‘You can’t just sit a young offender down at a table and teach them to … Read More

Ghoti = Fish (no it doesn’t)

posted in: Dyslexia, Phonics for older students, Post-16 & Adult Literacy, Secondary literacy, Thoughts on Education |

Ghoti spells Fish. This thing still shows up on social media and still makes me sigh heavily for two reasons: 1. It still gets used by literacy professionals as ‘proof’ that the English language is ‘not phonetic’. Of course, we’re honest that English has a complex written code. There are a lot of ways to represent the sounds that we say. However – and this is a big deal for teen and adult literacy learners – the language is most … Read More

Books for struggling readers in high school

posted in: Secondary literacy |

Books! I get asked every couple of weeks to recommend reading material for That Reading Thing students. I don’t know your students so the specific titles I offer might not work for them but please have a read of these guiding principles. Each link opens in a new tab. Apologies if you’re not crazy about that but it makes it easier to explore, meander and find your way back to the post. Books don’t turn struggling readers into readers. This … Read More

Explicit Literacy Instruction

posted in: Phonics for older students, Post-16 & Adult Literacy, Secondary literacy |

There are two phrases we ask That Reading Thing tutors to avoid: Sound it out Break it down Why? Because our students have heard these two phrases their whole school lives and have no idea what they mean. The analogy I give is learning to build my first website. I started with the WordPress platform because I’d read about their ‘famous 5-minute install’. Brilliant! There were no YouTube demo videos back then so I found the simplest instructions for the … Read More

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