Turkish teachers have been using the “sentence-based sound teaching method” to teach reading and writing since few years now. This method allows teachers to get familiar with new techniques and find a better approach to each of their students. It enables teachers to show students how meaningful the sound is by singing songs, telling stories, tales or riddles. This improves students’ literacy level and develops their reading comprehension skills.
This way students activate all their senses. They compare sounds by analyzing how they are produced. To understand the nature of sounds, they also use visual support such as smart whiteboards etc. They practice by drawing letters in classroom.
With the development of technology and the increasing importance of coding, teachers use the similar method to explain the sound to their students. The “coding method” technique allows students to get familiar with algorithms, the way they are created and developed. This way students improve their reasoning and creative thinking skills. This technique lays the foundation for future coding teaching.
If you look at the photo, you can see that students follow oral instructions in order to draw right, left, down or up. First, they draw and only after when they finish, they can finally see what letter it is. This makes teaching process very fun and interactive. Students enjoy their classes and come back to school motivated. Hopefully soon, this new technique will gain more attention among teachers not only in Turkey but also in other parts of the world.
Nevzat Can has been a classroom teacher in rural areas for 16 years. He teaches carries out many STEM and eTwinning related activities. He is also interested in Web 2.0 tools. In 2022 he became Scientix Ambassador.
Tags: children, coding, elementary school, primary school, school, sentence-based sound teaching method, STEM, STEM method, teachers
