Plenty of children can recite A to Z by the end of kindergarten and still can't read the word cat in Grade 2. It isn't that they aren't clever. Reciting letter names (ay, bee, see) is simply a different skill from reading. Reading has to start with the sounds those letters make, and that is what phonics means.
This article sets out a teaching sequence that works in a Thai school's English lesson. You don't need expensive materials and you don't need fluent English to get started.
Step 1: Teach the sound, not the name
One rule changes everything. Whenever you hold up a letter, give its sound first. s is sss, not ess. m is mmm, not em. The letter names can follow later, once children are reading words.
Start with the group s, a, t, p, i, n. Those six letters alone build dozens of words: sat, pin, tap, nap, sit. Children get to read something for real in their very first week, and nothing matters more than that for their confidence.
Step 2: Blending, one short word at a time
Once children know five or six sounds, start joining them into words straight away. Don't wait for all 26. The technique that works is stretch, then speed up: sss-aaa-t, then sss-at, then sat. Do it at the board with the whole class together, loud and cheerful.
- Stick to three sound (CVC) words for the first month: cat, dog, sun, pen
- Leave words that don't follow the sounds, such as the and was, until later. Tell the class these are words we learn by heart, and teach them separately.
- A child who blends slowly is not a child who doesn't understand. Give them time and fewer words, not extra drilling.
Step 3: Practise with worksheets built in the right order
Phonics is a skill children have to do over and over, not just hear over and over. Every lesson they need to write, match, draw lines and read for themselves. A good worksheet at this stage has clear pictures, short instructions, and difficulty that climbs one step at a time through the sound groups you've already taught, with nothing skipped.
The most common mistake is handing out worksheets that mix every sound together from the very start. A child who is solid on only six sounds will start guessing immediately, and wild guessing is the hardest reading habit there is to break.