PALS is designed to:
• Develop children’s ability to notice, identify and manipulate the sound units of spoken language
• Provide the building blocks for effective listening, reading and writing
• Enhance auditory memory (recall and working memory)
• Develop vocabulary, verbal expression, sequencing, active listening and turn-taking
PALS incorporates these 5 key components of Phonological Awareness:
1. Listening and auditory perceptual skills
In order for children to function effectively in a classroom, they need to hone their listening skills. Classrooms are distracting places. Efficient auditory skills are much needed and are often an area of concern.
PALS assists in the development of active listening and auditory discrimination, memory and sequencing skills. PALS builds listening detectives!
2. Rhyme
Rhyme is one of the first phonological skills that children develop and plays a huge role in reading success. Rhyming teaches children how language works and helps them to notice the sound units that make up words.
Children love nursery rhymes and rhyming stories. Exposure to rhyme from an early age is encouraged and the benefits are well documented. PALS frequently exposes children to rhyme and includes opportunities for rhyme judgment, rhyme production and rhyme play.
3. Word awareness
In order to be able to identify and manipulate sound units, children first need to have an understanding that we speak in sentences using words in a particular order. Having an understanding of spoken language plays an important role in understanding written language. Beginner readers with good vocabulary and a sound grasp of how language works are better able to use clues in the text to predict and identify unfamiliar words when reading. Vocabulary building, while not necessarily a key focus area, is a natural by-product of the PALS programme. Word and sentence level activities build auditory memory, logic and reasoning skills. We play with compound words, introducing children to the idea that words can be broken into smaller parts.
4. Syllable awareness
Syllables are little word “chunks”. Teaching children about syllables gets them closer to understanding that words are made up of small speech sounds. The ability to break words into their speech sounds and glue speech sounds together is closely related to early reading and writing development. Knowing how to break words into syllables also helps children to pronounce words correctly.
5. Phonemic awareness
Phonemic awareness refers to the ability to notice, identify and play with the individual units of speech. One of the earliest signs of a child’s awareness of phonemes/individual speech sounds is understanding that words begin or end with the same sound. This awareness plays an important role in the child’s understanding of the relationship between letters and sounds. The PALS programme teaches children about alliteration, sound isolation and blending, segmenting and manipulating speech sounds. Working memory is also developed as games require children to remember and manipulate information they have heard.