Course Materials
The
course materials are:
THE
COURSE BOOK
. . . informative and well illustrated . . .
The
course book is 200 pages in length and has been designed to give students a full
and thorough knowledge of synthetic phonics, with practical strategies for
teaching reading and spelling. Written in straightforward language, and avoiding particularly
technical words when a simpler word conveys the same meaning, the course book
explains the essential facts about phonics, based on the latest research evidence.
The course book describes exactly how to help
children overcome any difficulties they may have with reading and spelling, which may stem from
problems with their visual
and auditory memory.
| Technical words are
explained in 'Text boxes' or 'bubbles' throughout the course book. |
The pages of
the course book are arranged so that large blocks of text are for the most part
avoided. The pages are full of illustrations, worksheets, practical exercises and diagrams.
The combined expertise of
the Direct Learning team have been used to the full in designing
the content and
layout of the course.
 THE
CD-ROM
.
. . a treasure chest of materials . . .
The
55+ documents in the CD-Rom provide a wealth of materials which teachers need. There
are worksheets which can be used immediately, as well as examples of 'positive
worksheets' which students can use as models to create their own personalized
worksheets to use with children. Every worksheet has been used successfully
with children by experienced practitioners, and developed over a period
of many years.
In
addition to worksheets, the CD-Rom contains pages of information about Study Skills to print out.
The CD-Rom is simple to
use: it can be slipped into a computer and all the files can be opened from Microsoft
'WORD', the most common word processor.
 THE
AUDIO TAPE
.
. . a valuable recording of the sounds of the letters . . .
The
audio tape which comes with the course materials contains a clear recording, with
an explanatory dialogue, of each of the sounds made by the letters, both singly
and in pairs. Some children are taught versions of the letter sounds that make
it hard for them to sound out new words. The sounds on the audio tape clarify
the exact sounds that children should learn.
THE
WEBSITE
.
. . it keeps you in touch . . .
The
course website gives you access to the online Students' Discussion Group. It provides
you with news of any students' work that has been published on our websites, details
of any developments or improvements to the course, etc. It is your main point
of contact with us and with other students once you have registered as a student.
 THE
STUDENTS' DISCUSSION GROUP
.
. . I feel in touch with all the other students . . .
The weakness of
any distance learning course is the lack of contact with other students. To
address this, students are put in touch through the online Students' Discussion
Group. This allows students to raise any points they find confusing, and to ask
questions. Like any good discussion, everyone is free to join in, staff and students
alike, and a lively debate will no doubt follow! This is what adult education
is all about!
We
hope that students will still continue to join in the Discussion Group when they
have completed the course and are qualified. This will give the rest of us the
benefit of their growing experience.
THE
COURSE TEXT BOOK
.
. . an invaluable source of information . . .
Students need to
purchase the course text book, which is an essential part of the course, and there
is required reading in each Module. The book is at an affordable price (around $32 or $15) and has been written
by an author with extensive experience of teaching synthetic phonics to children.
It already a very popular book among teachers and contains over 120 photocopiable worksheets, games, etc.
Details about how to purchase the course text book are provided on the course website when students enrol.
What
other courses does Direct Learning run? | 