A reading scheme with a difference - about us
Origins of Reading Revival
Helena Rogers is a head teacher and literacy consultant, who has taught in primary schools across the educational spectrum from small village schools to the largest primary school in the country. In addition to teaching large classes of primary and junior school children, she spent time tutoring children requiring one to one extra-curricular coaching support, as well as guiding children with special needs and learning difficulties.
During her years in the classroom, Helena noticed that not only was the time taken to teach children to read increasing, but so were their feelings of frustration and demoralisation. None of the schemes available really took into account how children prefer to learn, so she designed her own reading scheme to meet the high standards she had come to expect, blending the best of all the schemes to build an ultimate method.
As she passed her toolkit on to others to use, there was a call for her to make the scheme widely available, and Reading Revival was born. The scheme has now been used for over 30 years to help many children build their reading confidence, and it has produced astonishing results.
Back to Basics
Drawing on the hundreds of hours she has spent in closely observing how individual children respond to the different teaching methods, Helena's scheme appeals to children, and vastly improves the time it takes them to grasp the fundamentals of reading literacy. The Reading Revival scheme strips the reading process back to basics, using a blended 'whole word' process as the main approach, and introducing a low-key approach to phonics.
It's all about fun
If a child is to learn to read successfully, they have to find it to be an enjoyable process. That's why we start with shape games, use books that children like to read and include all-important stickers that they are proud to wear on completion of a book. All children are different and just as they learn to talk at different times, they will be ready to read at different times. Little and often is the key. Don't force it, just turn their attention to it for a few minutes a day.
A word about reading methods
Whole word method
The 'whole word' method focuses on making the most of the child's instinctive pattern-matching abilities and natural desire to learn. It is simple and effective with speedy results, enabling a child to quickly develop a high level of enthusiasm for reading. In turn this gives them the confidence and willingness to move on to more complex reading skills. As new words are encountered, it helps to point out common phonic sounds within the word in a low key phonics approach, so that the child begins to absorb phonics almost without realising.
Word Cards
Word cards are an excellent tool at the beginning of the reading process to introduce the words of the first reading book. Once a child has displayed the ability to learn words on sight, and has begun to read, no further cards are necessary and may even serve to undermine confidence if reintroduced later on because the child does not see adults using such cards when reading.
Phonics
A knowledge of phonics is essential if children are to decipher words, but we have found that it is best if children are introduced to phonics concepts gradually so they can see how phonics works within a whole word. As children begin to enjoy the act of reading with a collection of the most used words in the English language, they absorb phonics much more easily because they have first hand experience of reading to illustrate the concept. In this way, they grow in reading confidence because they are not easily confused when phonics does not always assist with deciphering words.
This back to basics approach results is a positive, relaxed process whereby the child is thrilled by their rapid reading progress, and the confidence this brings together with a momentum and keenness to read is a joy to behold. Enjoyment of the process; learning that is introduced in manageable segments and a relaxed environment is all key to success.