Our school has replaced the antequated "Letter People" used in education for a significant time period with the English-origin "Jolly Phonics" program. This program allows students to complete the initial alphabet training prior to the mid-point of kdg and begin reading at a faster rate. The program also includes blends and diagraphs that make it easier for students to sound out more difficult words, increasing their reading level. The problem that some ESL students face is lack of previous education experience. Students that begin with a year or more of pre-school often have a firm grasp of the alphabet and are able to identify the letters independently or at least in ABC order. Students that do not attend any prepatory school may not have this same ability.
The Jolly Phonics program assumes that students begin kingergarden with a basic understanding of the alphabet.
This year, we have 3 kindergarden students in the ESL program; this is particularly below our average of 10-12. Two of the students have fairly adequate conversational skills, where the last one struggles with English pronounciation and sometimes mixes Spanish and English words in response to questions (or speaks in Spanglish, as I like to refer to it). All 3 are able to recite the alphabet outloud - yet, none of them can identify the letters using a visual reference.
Up to this point, I have followed the sequence of Jolly Phonics which skips around the alphabet in a pattern that I am unaware of the reasons behind. The letter is paired with a motion which helps students to memorize the sound (the motion is eventually second nature and disregarded all together later on). The kindergardeners are doing pretty well on the motion and sound, but are having trouble identifying the letter attached to both.
Today, based on the recommendation of my supervising teacher, I began having the students recite the ABC song while following along on a alphabet poster. The hope is that they will begin to correlate the letter with its name.
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