MAGICAL Teacher's Guide - Book - Page 12
Phonics and phonemic awareness are co-dependent skills (Buckingham, Wheldall and Wheldall
2019; State of New South Wales 2009). Therefore, throughout the process of teaching phonics,
teachers are instructed to encourage pupils to use their developing awareness to identify the
letter/s and patterns that make up the sounds of the language.
Magical teaches and practices phonics explicitly and systematically, as these skills are vital to
creating strong, fluent English readers. Orthographic patterns were chosen within contexts and as
recommended by the English Curriculum 2020. Phonics instruction and practice is integrated
throughout the program in a defined and structured sequence.
b. Reading
Presenting a reading activity goes in three stages: Pre-Reading, While Reading and Post-Reading.
Each stage is explicitly noted in the Teacher’s Guide and carefully integrated within the teaching
procedure (Burke 1998).
Stage I Pre-Reading
Every reading passage, no matter the text type, should include a pre-reading activity. Incorporated
into the Course Book and the Teacher’s Guide are suggestions for pre-reading activities, including
discussions of relevant and related topics and predictions about the text. The main purpose of a prereading activity is to develop expectations about the content of the text based on its title and
additional extra-textual elements (e.g. pictures, vocabulary), bringing in prior knowledge related to
the topic of the text and making predictions about the content.
Stage II While Reading
All reading passages have a list of discussion questions in the Teacher’s Guide to ensure all the pupils
have an opportunity to understand what was read and to take part in the class discussion on the
text. All passages are available in digital and audio versions as well. Each text is unique, but all
require guided reading of some nature. It is particularly important that the reading be done in a way
that includes all the pupils in the class. Heterogeneous classes include pupils at a variety of levels, so
it is important that they all participate in the reading.
The teacher can utilize several established methodologies for reading texts together as a class. Some
of these techniques include chunking, jigsaw reading, and more. Texts can be divided into smaller
sections. Pupils can read each passage one part at a time, divided by comprehension questions, or
they can read the text as a whole.
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Have the pupils read a small section (pre-determine how much they are to read) and ask them a
leading question for which they must find the answer in the lines they are reading. This gives
them a reason to read, a purpose. It also makes for more focused reading.
Reading small chunks each time enables all pupils to read and to participate. Give them a couple
of minutes to read 2-3 lines.
When they are finished, have the pupils answer the question asked at the beginning.
Continue asking questions about that section of text, checking for comprehension by all pupils.
Have the pupils read out the sentences in the text where they found the answers to the
questions. This fulfills the need to read aloud, and you get a chance to hear intonation,
pronunciation, and fluency of reading.
Repeat this process for the entire text.
At the end, read the entire passage aloud, so the pupils hear the correct pronunciation and
intonation. Have pupils repeat, matching the proper prosody that was demonstrated.
Alternatively, read the entire passage before starting the questions and answers.
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