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I take my hat off to Sunday School teachers. They provide an important service, especially to those children whose parents are uncertain how to teach them about the Christian faith, including God’s word in the Bible.
But the teachers’ task is much more difficult if some of their pupils cannot read.
One former Sunday School teacher encouraged her nine and ten-year-old pupils to read Bible verses related to the lesson every week.
“But several of them simply couldn’t do it,” she said. “They knew some common words by sight, but had no idea about how to tackle more complex ones.
“They were intelligent, but they hated reading. There was no way they would go home and read the Bible on their own,” she said.
Since the 1970s, significant numbers of students have been graduating from primary and high school with few or no reading skills.
Studies have shown that more than a third of Australian adults can only read a few words. They cannot read a map, or a recipe, or instructions on a medicine bottle – let alone a newspaper or the Bible.
The Australian newspaper recently featured an article by literacy expert Jennifer Buckingham:
At the start of the year (2020), 17,000 12- and 13-year-olds walked into high school classrooms all across the country unable to read even at a minimal level... A further 35,000 students achieved only the minimum standard, in which they can barely find basic information in simple written text.
Dr Buckingham explained the reason: most of these children have never been taught systematic phonics – how to blend letter sounds into words.
Instead, their teachers have told them to remember the “look” of words, using pictures, context or first letter clues to help. Sadly, children without good visual memories often guess wrongly.
When FamilyVoice first became aware of the problem in 1991, they held a seminar led by US phonics expert Sam Blumenfeld. It was so popular they had to turn people away.
Sam was born a Jew, but later became a follower of Christ. His parents had fled to New York from Hitler’s Germany. Sam, along with all the other immigrant five-year-olds in his crowded classroom, learned to read in English – by phonics.
Sam Blumenfed teaches Sam Findlay (3) after our FamilyVoice seminar
So Sam did some research – later producing his best-selling book, Alpha-Phonics. It has not only helped the children of Sam’s boss, but many thousands since.
Alpha-Phonics is a workbook that parents can use, spending just ten minutes a day. The first lessons blend short vowels with simple consonants. Gradually more letter combinations are added until the child can decode any word by the end of the book.
If children you know have problems reading the Bible – or any other book – you may like to check out this or other phonics systems. Our office secretary Hannah still has a few copies of Alpha-Phonics, or you can buy it online.
Peter Downie - National Director