A systematic synthetic phonics programme for English Home Language
Get all children to read well quickly with Essential Letters and Sounds.
Essential Letters and Sounds follows a structured approach to phonics teaching that gives learners and teachers consistency and security, with simple routines to reduce cognitive load and maximise the chances of success.
Principles of ELS
The principles of ELS are based upon:
the delivery of whole-class, high-quality teaching, with well-structured daily lesson plans
the use of consistent terminology by teachers, learners and parents
the use of consistent resources that support effective teaching
repetition and reinforcement of learning, with plenty of opportunities to practise
regular and manageable assessment to ensure that all learners “keep up” rather than “catch up”
Terminology in ELS
Watch the video to review some of the important terms and abbreviations used in ELS.
ELS and reading
ELS follows the key principles of teaching reading to ensure that effective learning takes please.
ELS follows a synthetic and systematic approach to phonics and builds on the teaching of phonological awareness, especially phonemic awareness.
ELS instruction is explicit. The teaching sequence has a recurring and rhythmic structure that is clearly modelled by the teacher. This gives learners support and confidence.
ELS instruction is systematic with a clear scope and progressive sequence.
ELS promotes learner engagement – learning is fun. The structured lessons and routines help to focus learners’ attention.
ELS includes many opportunities for practice – learners are given opportunities to practise and apply their learning in different ways following the structured routines and using simple, consistent resources.
ELS is designed to be used in an early learning environment and aims to get all learners to read well quickly. ELS promotes learners keeping up rather than catching up.
ELS instruction focuses on the teaching of key skills and monitors learner progress throughout to ensure that intervention happens as soon as gaps are identified.
Phonics teaching units
ELS includes 33 teaching units that systematically introduce new grapheme–phoneme correspondences (GPCs) and harder to read and spell (HRS) words.
Units 1 to 12
Single letters, digraphs and trigraphs
Units 13 to 17
Adjacent consonant words
Units 18 to 23
Alternative spellings
Units 24 to 32
Alternative pronunciations
Unit 33
More rarely used GPCs
Teaching sequences
There are two simple teaching sequences that are followed in ELS.
The first sequence is for lessons where new GPCs are taught.
1. Review
Review previously taught graphemes and HRS words.
2. Teach
Teach new graphemes and HRS words.
3. Practise
Practise the graphemes taught in the lesson.
4. Apply
Apply the learning from the lesson – read captions and/or sentences and complete a worksheet.
5. Review
Review graphemes and HRS words from the lesson.
The second sequence is for review lessons.
1. Review
Review previously taught graphemes and HRS words.
2. Teach and practise
Teach and practise HRS words. Read and write GPC words from the lesson.
3. Apply
Read a decodable reader.
Components
ELS comprises:
Teacher’s Handbook
Grapheme Cards
Wall Friezes
Activity Workbooks
Spelling Posters
Essential Blending Books
Phonic Readers
Get in touch
Alternatively, for more information, questions or concerns, call Oxford University Press on 021 120 0104, or email oxford.za@oup.com.
Oxford University Press Southern Africa
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