Teaching the English and Spanish Alphabet – A Daunting Task

Why is it so difficult for many students to learn the alphabet? Let’s explore the volume in the English and Spanish alphabets. The English alphabet is comprised of 26 letters. These letters represent 44 distinct sounds known as phonemes. When these letters are introduced to children in Pre-K and Kindergarten classes, they are represented by 52 symbols known as uppercase (often called ‘capital’) and lowercase letters. If children in these grade levels are in bilingual or dual-language classrooms where Spanish is also taught, they must learn approximately 30 additional distinct sounds, or phonemes for the Spanish letters. And although 52 of the symbols look the same, they have different names. Spanish includes an additional letter – the ‘ñ’. For the letters in both languages, we’re looking at a total of 54 symbols, 74 phonemes, and 132 names! (Uppercase A, Capital A, lower-case a, A mayúscula, a minúscula, and so on) We’re not even counting the numerous variations of sounds that the letter combinations make. The daunting task of teaching these letter names and letter sounds to 4 and 5-year-olds cannot be relegated to classroom teachers alone. Because there is abundant research that shows that early letter recognition in Pre-K and K is imperative for the development of reading fluency in 1st grade and subsequent grades, it is important that schools with children in PreK and Kinder address learning the alphabet with automaticity as a critical skill which every child’s family needs to support. But families need to be given the tools with which they can assist at home. In other words, while we place one hand on the parent’s shoulder requesting their assistance and support at home, with our other hand we should be handing them the tools with which to do so.

Consider PTP/PARTE © - Parents Taking Part/Padres tomando parte as the structured program to trainparents to help their children become proficient in letter recognition and high-frequency words.