Page 340 - KSPK ENGLISH LANGUAGE

The alphabet
Children need to interact with and be exposed to the alphabet letters as much as possible to pick up the
alphabet. Their understanding of the alphabet will develop in both Malay and English, as both languages
use the Latin alphabet. What children need to pick up is the naming of the letters in English and later the
way they sound when used in reading. Within the topic-based hour of English a week, integrating work on
the alphabet will take time which should be devoted to developing listening and speaking activities. Our
suggestion is therefore that teachers include alphabet songs and fun activities related to the alphabet
during the sixty minutes a week.
Here are some ideas:

 Alphabet songs help children get a feel for the sequence of the letters and some of the letter names.
Beware the letter names are not how they sound when used to spell words!

1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gd50rWC_Fko
An alphabet song which also uses American Sign Language gestures. This will be both memorable
and meaningful for children and can be sung in the goodbye routine.

2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAlX1V3lK5s
The well known A B C song using the melody of ‘Twinkle twinkle little star’. This gives you some
ideas of how you can use it interactively with children.

3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75p-N9YKqNo
… with a nice little ending ‘26 letters from A to Z’.

4. http://www.nurseryrhymes.org/abc-song.html
The A is for apple song

5. http://www.nurseryrhymes.org/animal-alphabet-song.html
The animal alphabet song

 Alphabet chanting can also give children support. The volume can get louder and quieter, or the
speed quicker or slower.
 Alphabet fingers– get children to write the letters in the air with their fingers. This can also be done
in sand trays, so they can see the letter shape as they move their finger through the sand.
 Alphabet bodies – get children to pretend to be the letters with their bodies.
 Alphabet modelling is another way of helping children make the letter shapes. Use modelling clay
and have the children roll out thin snakes, which can be turned into the different letters of the
alphabet.
 The alphabet and our names focuses on the children’s own names and the letters they begin with
and contain. Children love learning how to spell, and later write their names, and take pride in
recognising other children’s names according to first letters or word shapes.
 Alphabet wall display is useful to refer to when talking about letters and words. Children need to
learn the alphabet, as it will help them later when learning to read.
 Alphabet puzzles are another way of helping children get the hang of sequencing the letters and
can be bought commercially.
 Alphabet washing lines: Pages with objects that share the same first letter, hung on a washing line.
 Alphabet cards created by the children. Cards with words that begin with the same letter. It’s a
simple activity, and children enjoy pointing to and saying the words they remember.
 Alphabet mobiles are the different letters with images of words thatstart with these letters hanging
from them.
 Alphabet letter magnets are great fun on a white board, and can be moved around and sequenced
or used to spell words.
 Alphabet letters in plastic, sponge, etc. These can be used to print letters and make pictures.

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