<p>This scheme is based on the phonics programme called Letters and Sounds produced for the primary curriculum in 2007.<br /> This is a systematic phonics programme which has been adapted to suit pre-literate, non-English speaking, adult learners. Each page builds and revises what’s been learnt before step by step.<br /> The Letters and Sounds programme has six phases. The adult programme starts with their Phase 2 which introduces 5 different sets of sounds. As each set is introduced there are picture flashcards and word flashcards for learners to practise with in pairs or individually.<br /> Sounds<br /> The important thing at this stage is to learn the sounds of the letters (phonemes) and NOT the names. They will often find this confusing as many learners come to the class with some knowledge of letter names. However the other benefit of this is that they start really training their ear to hear the different sounds of English which will help them reproduce these sounds and thus improve their pronunciation and comprehension. Adults are much slower at learning sounds than children so this phase needs lots of work at the beginning. For this reason after learning the consonant digraphs ch/sh/th and ng the learners move on to consonant blends but, in this programme, with short vowel sounds only. This gives the learners extra practice with all the short vowel sounds before moving them on to the first set of vowel graphemes.</p>