One in four school students struggle to read. The Phonics Handbook has been written to give assistance to teachers in helping students with reading difficulties. Taking a phonological approach, the book is set out in the form of lesson plans designed to be used instantly, requiring no preparation.

The book is based on the wisdom gained from working with hundreds of students who have attended the author’s after-school reading clinic. This is reflected in the practical approach to helping students of all ages including those with English as a second language and those with a range of difficulties including, special needs, motivational and attention problems.

Phonics Handbook includes lesson plans for every phonics skill from the basic alphabet sounds through to blends, digraphs, syllable breaking and decoding Latin and Greek words. Each lesson is followed by a worksheet for students. Using this format, the book incorporates diagnostic assessment to measure what students need at the outset of teaching, as well as measuring whether the tutoring has been effective. Additional teaching strategies are given to reinforce spelling and assist reading comprehension. Strategies for ‘hard to teach’ students and information on reporting to parents are included, incorporating research on the best tutoring methods.

Professor Tom Nicholson, Faculty of Education, University of Auckland, New Zealand

Born in Australia, trained and worked as a teacher there, worked as a researcher for the Ministry of Education in South Australia, completed a PhD at The University of Minnesota, and since then worked at University level in New Zealand. The last 15 years worked at The University of Auckland, New Zealand’s premier University. The University of Auckland is ranked very highly in international research surveys and our last Vice Chancellor has recently been appointed to the same role at Oxford University.

An experienced teacher workshop presenter. Awards: Alexander Onassis Fellowship; International Reading Association doctoral award.

Worked as a magazine columnist on education issues.

Currently directing and teaching in a long-term research project to improve the reading achievement of children who are not responding to normal school interventions. The project involves three reading clinics situated in schools in Auckland. Pupils come from both middle class as well as low-income parts of the city. Parents bring their children after school for one-to-one tuition, one hour each week. Each year up to 20 University students receive training and work as tutors in the clinics. The reading project uses The Phonics Handbook as the teaching manual. This is the 5^th year of the project and hundreds of children have benefited from the tuition. The project also offers an annual 3-week reading summer school aimed at children in poverty areas of Auckland who might benefit from free tuition. Funding for the project comes from private donors and parent donations.