← All articles · Reading and Phonics · 22 October 2026 · 6 min read

Phonics for Children Learning English as a Second Language

What phonics is, why English spelling is hard, and how sounds, letters and speaking fit together for children who are learning English.

What is phonics?

Phonics links the sounds of English to the letters that write them: the letter "s" makes the sound /s/, the letters "sh" make /ʃ/. Once a child knows the main sounds, they can read and spell many new words by themselves.

Why English is tricky

English has about 44 sounds but only 26 letters, and many sounds can be written in several ways ("ee" in tree, "ea" in sea). Some common words don't follow the rules at all ("the", "said", "one"). That is why phonics is taught step by step, with "tricky words" learned one by one.

Speaking first, then sounds

For children learning English as a second language, phonics works best when the words are already known. Reading "cat" means much more to a child who already says "cat" and knows what it is. So we teach words through speaking and pictures first, and then show how they are written.

A good order

• Hear and say the sounds in known words.
• Match sounds to letters.
• Blend sounds into words: c-a-t, cat.
• Learn tricky words a few at a time.
• Later: word families (play, player), strong parts of words, and the tune of sentences (questions go up or down).

How Little Fluent teaches it

Each unit has a sounds and letters lesson built on that unit's words: first sounds and letters for the youngest, then blending, tricky words, word families, word stress and sentence tune at the higher levels. After the lesson, your child can hear every word again on the "My letters" practice page and say it back.