Welcome to Step 1
The first step in learning to read is to learn the symbols of the English alphabet. We call these symbols "letters."
Our letters represent sounds that make up words. To be able to read, we must be able to "decode" the letters. That means we translate them from written symbols to spoken sounds.
There are 26 letters in our alphabet. However, each letter has two shapes, which we call "case."
UPPERCASE Letters
We have UPPERCASE letters. We usually call those "capital" letters. The 26 UPPERCASE letters are usually the ones we learn first. They look like this:
The first word in a sentence always begins with a capital letter. For example, "What time is the game?" They’re also used for official or formal names of people and places, as we can see from this example, "Let's go to Chicago!" While it's important to learn these symbols, they are not the ones we will see most. Since they're reserved for specific purposes, they appear less often in words.
Lowercase Letters
The symbols we use the most are the lowercase letters. Here are the 26 lowercase letters of the alphabet. It is these symbols that make up most of the words we read.
So, there are 26 letters, and each has UPPERCASE and lowercase. That means that we must learn 52 symbols--letters.
Knowing the alphabet is what makes reading possible. Having an alphabet allows the "coding" of a spoken message into written form. Before there was an alphabet, messages were transmitted face to face, from one person to another. Having the alphabet made it possible to transmit a message more widely as well as to save it.
For any written message, a reader must "decode" it back to the spoken words. Reading, in its simplest terms, is this decoding process.
Whether a student is a preschooler learning to read for the first time or a older student or adult struggling with reading, the systematic steps in 7 Sound Steps to Reading will benefit him or her. The structured, systematic nature of 7SS2R will work for English learners and students with special needs as well. Finally, teachers, parents, and coaches will find the 7SS2R easy to understand and easy to teach to the learner of their choice.
Here's Where to Begin to Learn the Symbols
Anyone just beginning to learn the alphabet or to read English, you should practice the videos frequently to learn the symbols. This is because the videos provide the pronunciation.
In addition to this introduction, there are four segments in Step 1. These are:
- Step 1.1: learn the UPPERCASE and lowercase letters and their names,
- Step 1.2: learn about vowels and consonants,
- Step 1.3: learn to write the letters, which reinforces knowledge of them, and
- Step 1.4: use the options for reviewing the symbols to confirm readiness for the next step.
Do not move on to Step 1.2 until you and your student are confident in mastery of Step 1.1. When completely familiar with the names and forms of English letters, go to Step 2: Learn the Sounds.