PAGES: 60 pp.

Word Workers adopts a phonic approach to learning to read. Students learn how to asc ribe sounds to letters, and how to apply the regularities in letter-soun d relationships by following generalised rules. Word Workers Book 1: Pho nemic awareness is the essential precondition for successful reading acq uisition. In this book students are taught to discriminate vowel and con sonant sounds in words.

They are also introduced to the basic sig ht words needed to work with Word Workers Book 2. Simple blending techni ques are introduced once students master vowel and consonant sounds. Stu dents expand their phonemic awareness skills to include transitional ele ments to prepare them for the next stage in their reading acquisition. T hey are expected to recognise letter-sound relationships and write lette rs for the sounds they hear. Students are also expected to demonstrate a lphabet knowledge as well as to continue to add to their knowledge of ba sic sight vocabulary. Blending skills are consolidated and refined.