The Sounds-Write Podcast

In the sixteenth episode of The Sounds-Write Podcast, Kirsty Gibbs talks about all things business. Kirsty is an experienced businesswoman in the tutoring industry. In this episode, she lays out her top tips for growing a thriving tutoring business. Enjoy!

Some helpful links:
Kirsty's podcast episode with Jacinda and Alison
Kirsty's podcast
Kirsty's website
Kirsty's free resources
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Welcome to episode 2 of Nuggets of Language Nerdiness by The Sounds-Write Podcast! What can we find out about towns and cities based on their suffixes and etymology? Why are some words spelt differently in US-English? And what's the difference between homonyms and polysemous words? Enjoy!

Some helpful links and sources:
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Latin influence on English
The Origins of English Place Names
Etymology of ‘castle’
Place names stemming from ‘castrum’
More on place names
‘Mutha’
Wolverhampton etymology
Broome etymology
Brisbane etymology
More about Webster’s ideas in his political context
Webster’s changes to spelling
How is polysemy different from homonymy?
More on polysemy
Polysemy Versus Homonymy
More on Polysemy Versus Homonymy
Etymology of ‘dish’
Etymology of ‘bat’
Example 1
Example 2
Example 3
Example 4

In the fifteenth episode of The Sounds-Write Podcast, Jacinda Vaughan is back and answering listeners' questions about teaching phonics in intervention settings. She covers a range of topics including making adaptations for English Language Learners, correcting articulation, accent variation and much more. Enjoy!

Some helpful links:
Jacinda's first podcast appearance
Shop the Reading Together Collection in Australia
Shop the Reading Together Collection in the UK
Shop the Reading Together Collection in the US
EEF Teaching Assistant Interventions
Charlotte Wigham
Alternative Pencils
Ann Sullivan's book 'Access to Phonics'
Phonics for SEN
Alison Perry's video on b d confusion
Sounds-Write Symposium 2023 access
Sounds-Write's Facebook
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Welcome to this bonus mini-episode of The Sounds-Write Podcast! In this short episode, the host shared three nuggets of language nerdiness. Why do we sometimes spell the sound /r/ as < wr >? What do the words punch, shampoo and bungalow all have in common? And what are contronyms? Enjoy!

Some helpful links and sources:
Root word 'wer'
Examples of the < wr > spelling of /r/
Punch's etymology
Shampoo's etymology
Bungalow's etymology
More about contronyms
Some examples of contronyms
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Sounds-Write's Facebook
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In the fourteenth episode of The Sounds-Write Podcast Kelly Cross talks about her son, Freddie's, journey to becoming a proficient reader and speller. Freddie has Moderate Learning Difficulties and Kelly struggled to find the help that he needed to learn to read and write. Since finding Sounds-Write, Freddie has gone on to become the avid reader his parents always knew he could be. Enjoy!

Some helpful links:
Help Your Child to Read and Write course
Sounds-Write's Facebook
Sounds-Write's Instagram
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In the thirteenth episode of The Sounds-Write Podcast we hear from Gemma Pierson, headteacher at Princecroft Primary School in Warminster, UK. Gemma discusses the literacy strategy that Princecroft have implemented across the school and talks about how her team cultivate a love of reading amongst their student. Enjoy!

Some helpful links:
Princecroft Primary School's website
Gemma's Twitter
Princecroft's Sounds-Write Success Story
Talk for Writing
Sounds-Write's Facebook
Sounds-Write's Instagram
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In the twelfth episode of The Sounds-Write Podcast Donna Smith, one of Sounds-Write's In-House Trainers, gives advice and guidance for parents and carers of children who are being taught phonics. She gives an overview of what Sounds-Write is and how best to support students who are learning to read and spell. Enjoy!

Some helpful links:
Help Your Child to Read and Write course
Bruce Robertson's book
St. Thomas Aquinas Primary School directory of sounds
The weekly spelling list blog post
Sounds-Write's Facebook
Sounds-Write's Instagram
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In the eleventh episode of The Sounds-Write Podcast, Sounds-Write's Business Manager for the US and Canada, Jill Nunez, talks about the future of phonics in the US. She discusses the spread of phonics in North America, some of the challenges we’re facing as we expand to the US, and how to advocate for an evidence based literacy programme in your school.  Enjoy!

Some helpful links:
Sold a Story Podcast
Sounds-Write's Facebook
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In the tenth episode of The Sounds-Write Podcast two of the most prominent champions of speech to print phonics, Nora Chahbazi and John Walker, discuss their strikingly similar backgrounds in the world of phonics, the similarities and difference between their approaches and, of course, speech to print. Enjoy!

Some helpful links:
Sounds-Write Symposium on Speech to Print
EBLI's website
Episode 9 of The Sounds-Write Podcast on phonics research
Find out more about Sounds-Write
Pre-register for the Sounds-Write Practitioners' Portal!
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In the ninth episode of The Sounds-Write Podcast, Sounds-Write's Head of Research and Development, Dr. Anna Comas-Quinn, talks about the trials and tribulations of conducting research in the field of phonics. She talks through some of the research that Sounds-Write has conducted, what we can learn from that and why context is essential when evaluating schools' results.  Enjoy!

Some helpful links:
Condensed version of our longitudinal study
Systematic synthetic phonics: case studies from Sounds-Write practitioners
Sounds-Write’s Success Stories
Learning to read is vital: here’s why
Episode 8: Literacy Intervention with Jacinda Vaughan
Pre-register for the Sounds-Write Practitioners' Portal!
Sounds-Write's Facebook
Sounds-Write's Instagram
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