Phonemic Awareness
What is it?
The ability to identify, access, and distinguish sounds within words. In our LaunchPad programme, the focus is on first, middle, and last sounds.
Why is it Important?
Phonemic awareness is a strong predictor of reading success. Children with strong phonemic awareness develop into better and faster readers. LCentral's educators give explicit instruction in phonemic awareness to help your child fast track the reading process. This gives him/her an edge over his/her peers. Children with strong phonemic awareness develop into better and faster readers.
Phonics
What is it?
The ability to identify a symbol (i.e. letter) and access the sound it represents.
Why is it Important?
Phonics builds on phonemic awareness. Once your child is aware of the sounds used in the English language, he/she is ready to learn the letters that represent those sounds.
Automatic access to phonics is fundamental to reading words and acquiring word attack skills in LCentral's more advanced LiftOff programmes, giving your child the ability to confidently approach reading English texts of all kinds.
Grapheme Blending
What is it?
Combining phonemic awareness and phonics skills, grapheme blending is the ability to instantly recognise letters, automatically access sounds, and blend these sounds together in any order or sequence. Blending is the main skill by which English learners should attempt to read unfamiliar words.
Why is it Important?
Just one step prior to reading, grapheme blending provides a fundamental understanding of how sounds are related to written language, and the confidence to apply such skills to real texts, such as stories.
Sight Words
What is it?
Words which appear frequently and usually do not have a clear letter-sound relationship. Examples of such words are 'one', 'the', and 'was'.
Why is it Important?
Sight words are critical to reading. Your child will be taught to identify sight words to build his/her fluency and therefore reading comprehension.
The LCentral Edge
Classroom Resources
LCentral's educators use extensive classroom resources to deliver the LaunchPad programme. Alongside essential pre-reading skills, our students develop vocabulary, comprehension, and writing skills.
WorkBooks
LaunchPad programme WorkBooks are designed as a supplementary tool to encourage independent and own-time learning while reinforcing concepts taught in our classes.
Progress Tracking
Each student's progress is systematically monitored and recorded on a weekly basis to ensure that he/she is on track to achieving individual learning goals.
Multi-approach Learning
Vocabulary development is an integral part of our LaunchPad programme and is achieved through both incidental learning and explicit instruction.
