The primary focus for newcomers to the United States who have little to no English is oral language and comprehension. They want to start communicating their basic needs —”I don’t feel well,” “I need to use the bathroom,” “Where is the gym?”— as soon as possible. But as high school students, they will also quickly need to read. The good thing is learning to read with phonics complements vocabulary acquisition and comprehension.
Simply put, phonics is the ability to connect letters to sounds.
There are approximately 44 sounds (phonemes) in the English language with some variation depending on accent and articulation. Some languages like Spanish and Haitian Creole have many of the same or similar sounds as English. Some languages like Cantonese and Korean have fewer shared sounds.
Sound transfer between languages makes for easier language acquisition. But learning to read also requires connecting letters to those sounds. This adds a challenge for English learners whose languages use non-Roman alphabets like Arabic and Vietnamese.
Understanding the basic phonics of your newcomer students’ languages can give you insight into their challenges.
You may also have newcomers who are pre-literate, likely due to interrupted schooling caused by the situation that forced them to leave their country.
So where do you start?
Placement Test
Start with a diagnostic assessment. It’s great if you can determine what or if students can read in their own language, but often this is not possible when you don’t speak the students’ languages or have a resource who does.
A placement test in English with items that progress through phonics skills in the same sequence as the instruction will allow you to determine where to start a student. For example, the first item on the placement test below assesses if students can match sounds and spellings (/k/ and k). The first lesson is also on associating sounds and spellings. The placement test has items that mirror the skills taught in the lessons.
If a student gets most of the sound/spelling and short vowel items correct on the placement test but struggles with long vowel items, they should start instruction with long vowels.
Systematic Sequence
Introduce sound and spellings systematically and in a sequence that starts with 3–4 consonants and a short vowel so students can begin decoding as soon as possible. For example, as shown below, once students learn /s/s, /m/m, /h/h, /t/t, and /ǎ/a, they will be able to say and read words like am, at, sat, hat.
High Frequency Words
In addition to learning sound/spellings and blending to make words, students can acquire high frequency words through memorization and context. High frequency words, also known as sight words, are words that appear most often in written and spoken language.
Recognizing and understanding them quickly improves reading fluency and comprehension. These words are fundamental for building the vocabulary and language skills English learners need to participate in discussions and read texts. The more students say, see, and use these words, the stronger their communication and reading will be.
By the time students work through consonants, two short vowels, and one high frequency word (home), they can decode texts like this:
And by the time students work through all the English phonemes and a robust set of high frequency words, they will be able to read texts like this:
Dedicating a portion of your time with newcomers to phonics supports their oral language, comprehension, reading, and writing, setting them up for success as they continue building their reading skills in the classroom.
Our Lift program prepares English language newcomers with the phonics skills they need to become confident readers. In April 2025, Lift Phonics will be available as a stand-alone program.
