An introduction

 In the EFL classroom, learners need to remember a huge number of things.

New words, for example,  may be easy to remember in the context of a story, but they also bring about new sounds and new articulatory habits. This is not a simple process because the mother tongue interferes. For example, in EFL learners whose mother tongue is Spanish from Spain, teachers may introduce a word like THREE, and point out >TH< in  the articulation of  words like ‘Cecilia’, ‘Zanahoria’, ‘zapato’ and so on. However, to read and write, learners need to relate this articulation to the spelling >th<, as well.

Let’s welcome the mother tongue. It is so fantastic to have a starting point and generate a positive learning experience!!Whether we like it or not, Mother Tongue is ‘A starting point’. To put it in Vygostky’s words, mother tongue is the starting point where new articulatory habits begin, and the new sounds will emerge through the activation of the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD).  

In short, in Spanish from Spain,> th< is found in words contain >c< or >z< That means, that the relation between the sound and the spelling should be noticed. This is in keeping with the Noticing Hypothesis (Schmidt, 1990).We need to create a magical learning environment, with perfect scaffolds to introduce the sounds, and tricks .

Phonics is a playful approach that allow children to learn through stories, games and songs. A memorable story whose conflict has to do with the sound that needs to be noticed, may be the  scaffold needed. Children will make sense of the new sound, relate to new words , and remember. Stories create an emotional bond with children, songs will allow children to get new articulatory habits in a joyful way and the puppet will bring the character to life in games