Pagelio: Phonics aid reading

 By SHIRLEY MAULUDU

THERE is a need for the Jolly Phonics programme to be introduced in schools in the country to assist students in reading, according to former Education secretary Dr Joseph Pagelio.

He made the remarks during the Trial of the Jolly Phonics programme launched at Wardstrip Demonstration Elementary School in Port Moresby on Friday. 

The programme was supported by Pagelio Consultancy Ltd, with the firm providing training to the teachers on how to teach the Jolly Phonics programme and supervising and assisting teachers in their teaching. 

“The solution to see our students excel in education has been launched today. Reading is the foundation to learning,” Pagelio said. 

Acting Education Secretary Dr Michael Tapo, before launching the programme, said about 1,800 elementary school students from two elementary schools in the National Capital District are already reading with some as young as six years old and this is something that has not happened in the past. 

The programme was introduced to help children in elementary schools to begin reading at a very early age. 

The two pilot schools selected to trial the programme were Hohola Demonstration Elementary School and Wardstrip Demonstration Elementary School which saw the students practically demonstrating the positive outcome of the programme when they took part in the spelling and reading activities conducted by their teachers during the launching. 

The components of the Jolly Phonics Programme include :

• Learning the 42 letter sounds. This is what teachers teach during daily lessons in classes. This part of the learning process is made up of auditory learning, visual learning, kinesthetic learning, in which the children learn through touching and doing things;
• Learning the letter formation;
• Blending for reading. This is stated as the most important as it helps children to read by blending the words. This is where the children learn to read sentences by being able to pronounce and read individual words that form sentences;
• Identify letter sounds in words; and
• Tricky words. This comprises 72 words that cannot be blended.

The programme was introduced at the beginning of the year and after 20 weeks teachers have praised the positive outcome of the programme. 

Vincent Ukia, a Grade 2 teacher at the Hohola Demonstration Elementary, said that he was impressed by his students’ performance after going through the programme. 

“The students can now read very well starting with simple grammar,” Ukia said. 

He, who is one of the teachers who coordinated and facilitated the programme in the two pilot schools, said although there were limited resources available, teachers gave up their time and resources to see the completion of the programme.