ESL Phonics for All Ages Book One, Beginning Consonants uses words that beginners are apt to learn in their first few months in an American school. Words such as boy, baby, book, box, balloon, and teacher, table, toys, ten...assure that students are reading comprehensible input. Students focus on the beginning sounds of the words, while seeing the rest of the word spelled out, and the picture clue.The full spellings help with eventual spelling competence, as well as serves to provide words that will later have the focus on the ending consonant, in Book Two.
A full page of practice with one beginning sound and symbol (eight words) is followed by a page of practice with another beginning sound...no chance for a mistake. Then the third page is a challenge that students listen and choose the correct beginning sound.
Each unit has useful sentences that incorporate the words learned, plus high-frequency sight words and function words. The sentences are repeated to help student learn sentence structure along with phonics. In addition, a song, poem, or chant in each unit is learned first by rote. This then helps students read the text, with the right brain providing the hints to the sounding out.
The entire book is read on two Audio CDs. Each word is read three times on the presentation pages; two times on the challenge pages.