>(Since I am not a VFP programmer I can't do SET RANT ON, so I will do this instead:)
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>Namespace Rant
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>I was talking to a guy I work with this morning, and he was talking about how his son is struggling with read in kindergarten. Apparently, teachers don't feel the need to teach phonics anymore - instead, they are attempting to teach reading by memorization of words. If they ask him to read a work, and they can tell that he is sounding it out, then it doesn't count.
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>They attempted to teach reading to my little brother in this method also. He could barely read until 3rd-4th grade when my parents got him a private tutor to catch up.
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>Why do teachers mess with proven methods??? Are they just jumping on the latest teaching bandwagon, not caring about the well-being of the students? I know if I had kids and they were being taught in this method, I would immediately switch schools to one that taught phonics. I would not want anybody testing a different teaching method on my children.
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For years, we have been using Sullivan Programmed Reading, a series of 21 books (or more? - we have 21) that gradually introduce words of increasing difficulty.

They start with a single sound for "a", "i", etc., and using short words (had, man, ant, ..., sits, in, hid...). Later, new sounds are gradually introduced.

The title says "Programmed Reading", so pressumably, the books were designed to teach reading, to people who already know English. But we have used it here a lot, in my family, to learn English! They fulfill this purpose very well.