Anita Harley, Phonics Lead at Princecroft Primary School in the rural town of Warminster in the UK, describes how a focus on teacher development and using Sounds-Write with fidelity has resulted in increased attainment in phonics and spelling for children, the vast majority of whom now meet or exceed expected standards. [For the complete volume,…

Prior to implementing Sounds-Write in 2016, phonics attainment in Year 1 at Selby Primary School in North Yorkshire (UK) was at or above the national average, but little progress was made by the weaker readers by the end of Key Stage 2. Emma Darwin, Phonics Lead at the school, presents data for a Year 4 cohort who have been taught using…

In this case study, Sarah Horner and Jane Orr from the Bloomfield Learning Centre, a specialist literacy clinic run as a charity and serving the poorest parts of London, report on how Sounds-Write helped a student regain his self-confidence and motivation for learning, after difficulties in reading had led to behaviour problems and a dislike of…

In this case study, Charlotte MacKechnie reports on improvements in reading and spelling for all children at Angel Oak Academy in South East London following the adoption of Sounds-Write. They use a three-teacher model to support small-group and one-to-one 'keep up' interventions to ensure children are not left behind in their phonics learning.…

St George's Primary, in Battersea, south London, began using Sounds-Write in 2011. Alexandra Hammond, current Key Stage 1 and Phonics Lead, presents spelling test data to illustrate progress and achievement for a group of twenty students from Year 1 to Year 6. [For the complete volume, "Systematic Synthetic Phonics: Case Studies from Sounds…

Kendall Hammond, Associate Principal at Nollamara Primary and Intensive English School in Perth, explains how their commitment to explicit direct instruction made Sounds-Write a natural choice for the teaching of reading and spelling in a school where three-quarters of students have English as an additional language. [For the complete volume,…

Naomi Stockley, Rianna Tatana, Roshni Kaur, and Alice Reynolds offer some early insights into the implementation of Sounds-Write at The Pavilion School, a specialist provision in the northern suburbs of Melbourne for vulnerable students who have been excluded from mainstream education and face significant personal challenges. [For the complete…

In this case study, Katie Eichhorn, Kathy Gilbert, Myra Hall, Gretchen Lawyer, and Jill Nunez from Johnson STEAM Academy in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, share data showing improved reading results after their first year of implementation of Sounds-Write, including a successful partnership with a local middle school to use Sounds-Write with Grade 7 students…

Sounds-Write is a systematic synthetic phonics approach that has been successfully used to teach students to read and spell for the last two decades. This volume brings together twelve case studies -- written by practitioners -- of implementation of the Sounds-Write programme in different settings and geographical contexts (Europe, US, Australia).…

Pathways to Youth Leadership was an Erasmus+: Youth in Action long term training involving 24 youngsters from 12 countries. Grant cuts required squeezing the residential programme, originally planned to last three weeks, into two. That is why, after taking part in the Erasmus+ Virtual Exchange (E+VE) training, we successfully added five VE…

This volume draws together a selection of papers from YAC2018, the first meeting in the annual Year Abroad Conference series, which took place at Newcastle University in September 2018. The contributions collected here examine some of the opportunities, gains, and challenges the Year Abroad brings for both students and staff. They are presented…

Despite the critical importance of Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) Teacher Education (CTE) programmes, L2 practitioners often report that there are not many such onsite/online programmes, and the ones that exist may not directly meet their specific needs. Moreover, there seems to be a lack of systematic evaluation studies of such…

In this case study, Angela Helsloot, Principal at Allambie Heights Public School, on the Northern Beaches of Sydney, uses data from standardised tests and benchmark reading assessments across the school to show the positive impact that Sounds-Write instruction has had in Kindergarten and Year 1. [For the complete volume, "Systematic Synthetic…

Chapters in this volume have reflected on the proPIC Europa project primarily through the experiences and views of the educators involved. This chapter combines extracts of student essays and includes a choice of vignettes that help examine the project from the perspective of the students themselves, exploring their reflections on their…

Globalization and the digitalization of our lives have made it impossible to avoid (inter)cultural encounters. In the traditional classroom environment, students are expected to juggle a myriad of choices almost simultaneously. Factors like grammar, pronunciation, word choice, etc. are all important assessment factors to consider when looking at…