Crack the alphabetic code with Espresso's new phonics videos
(21st March 2012)
Update! The first set of Espresso phonics modules have now been released. Phases 2-4 are now live on Espresso. We hope teachers and pupils will enjoy the first three of our Espresso phonics resources as much as we've enjoyed creating them!
11 January 2012
At BETT 2012, Espresso will be previewing 'Espresso Phonics'; a systematic, synthetic sequence of phonics teaching using structured videos. Espresso Phonics will consist of six new video-rich modules, to be released in the first half of 2012, based on the Department for Education's 'Letters and Sounds', phases 2 to 5.
This is a major production and is one of the largest projects Espresso has undertaken in its fifteen year history. In total, 105 videos will be added to the service inside the six modules. All Espresso subscribers will receive these modules as part of the Espresso service, at no extra cost.
The modules are designed to be a precise supplementary resource for teachers of phonics, focusing on the mouth shape and pronunciation of each phoneme, as well as the critical skills of blending and segmenting. The videos take a 'pure' approach to providing synthetic phonics, covering all the grapheme/phoneme correspondences in a consistent, defined learning sequence. In addition filming was done in schools around the country to capture regional variations of common phonemes.
We describe our new Phonics videos as 'supplementary' because our assumption is that schools will be equipped with one or more comprehensive schemes for modern phonics teaching. We see teachers using our videos alongside their phonics schemes to bring high-quality video into the daily phonics lesson. The videos will be ideal as session starters and plenaries, as both introduction and reinforcement.
Regular users of Espresso among Foundation and infant teachers will know there are already strong phonics resources in our service in our Word machine modules, based on the popular Channel 4 Learning TV series. Our Word machine modules will remain in Espresso, and the new resources have been planned to complement them.
The videos use the familiar Espresso characters to introduce pupils to each phoneme. Professional presenters have been carefully chosen to give a real-life representation of each phoneme, as distinct from many other phonic videos which use solely animation. Children will enjoy the personality of the presenters, who effectively give a warm and friendly face to the demonstration of the many different phonic shapes and sounds.
Literacy consultant Gill Budgell, Frattempo, well respected for her work in phonics and early literacy, has advised the production, and Gill offers teachers practical guidance on their professional development in a series of teacher support videos that accompany the modules.
Espresso CEO, Lewis Bronze, said "We hope this will be seen as a major contribution to delivery of phonics, and it demonstrates the excellent value Espresso customers receive from their subscription - with Espresso phonics there's less need for schools to spend money on single product resources".