The
Language Works Spelling Program was developed in
1987 by an elementary teacher trained in the Montessori
method. Today, it is widely used in many diverse
educational settings throughout the country. With
its emphasis upon hands-on learning, phonetic reading,
independent progress and student success, Language
Works has gained a strong following among educators
from many backgrounds. Classroom teachers, special
education teachers, ESL (English as a second language)
instructors, home educators and Montessori teachers
are all having success with Language Works.
The
hands-on approach provides the sensory stimulation
needed to make learning fun and engaging for all
learners. The program is also designed to provide
self-correction, making it ideal for independent
learning environments, classroom learning centers
or as an individualized tutorial aid.
Presenting
English phonics in a truly unique way, the Language
Works program gives students the phonetic building
blocks needed to both read and spell. With Language
Works, students experience real success with spelling,
and teachers like the clear and comprehensive
design of the program!
The
Language Works program follows proven methods
to teach beginning reading and spelling. A recent
publication by the state of Illinois compiling
reading research from the past 30 years has shed
new light on which methods are most effective
in teaching reading. Illinois’ Right to Read
Initiative has helped determine which methods
really work. It states:
Certain abilities must be developed that work
together to create strong reading skills:
- Phonemic Awareness
- Sound-Spelling Correspondence
- Decoding Ability
- Spelling, Vocabulary, and Writing Skills
The Language Works Program teaches all of these
important skills.
Reading
begins with learning letter sounds, followed by
reading whole words, then reading sentences and
stories. The Language Works Spelling Program provides
a strong foundation in phonetic word analysis needed
for future reading success. Research
shows that good reading programs should present
both phonics and a book rich environment
as part of a well-rounded language curriculum.
Learning
to read successfully begins with learning the
sounds (not the names) associated with each alphabet
letter. Learning to recognize and pronounce these
phonetic building blocks is essential to both
reading and spelling. In English, there are also
combinations of letters that are pronounced together
and can be taught in the same way as the single
letter sounds. For example, the letter combination
ew, as in chew, is the same sound
as the oo in room and the long u
in rule.
For
beginning readers, reading and spelling are “flip
sides” of the same coin, focusing on the
mechanics of building words by blending a series
of sounds together. Beginning to read involves
decoding, or sounding out the letters to say a
word. Spelling involves encoding, or writing the
letters needed to build a word. While some children
seem to learn to read (decode) with ease, they
will require phonics in order to spell (encode)
the words. But for most children, phonics provides
the key to opening the door to the wonderful world
of reading!
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