One thing you must always remember about Phillip* is his confidence. When we first joined Makimei Children’s home, Phillip’s energy was endearing. The 9-year-old boy was eager to learn and interact with us. Sadly, when he did our first assessment, he was only able to identify 5 out of the 26 alphabet sounds. He was determined to grow and thus began his literacy journey.

Through a series of engaging sound-based activities, Phillip learnt the a,b,c’s under Teacher Onyi Papa’s guidance. The objective of the personalized lessons was not only to teach him the order of sounds but also to recognise them visually regardless of their order.

His confidence never wavered and we never intended it to. We only wanted his confidence to be placed in the right pronunciation of words. Slowly he grew. After 10 personalized lessons, he could identify sounds and thereafter we introduced him to blending sounds. This was a challenge.

The interaction with this new concept frustrated Phillip. He knew he was right and correction frustrated him even more. Teacher Onyi Papa had to get creative with his lessons. He incorporated magnetic letters and blending games to appeal to both his physical and visual senses. This hands-on approach sparked an interest in him and it was evident he enjoyed this more than pen and paper learning. Also, the acknowledgment of his wins with big high fives and hugs encouraged him to keep going. After 6 more sessions, he was ready to tackle three-letter sounds—the biggest challenge yet.

Recognizing his previous interaction with new concepts, we focused on reading the first two sounds together repeatedly while introducing the third sound on its own. Gradually, he learned to blend them without pausing. Over the course of 12 classes, Phillip’s confidence blossomed, this time in the right direction.
Now, Phillip confidently can read storybooks and comprehensively tell us what the story is about.

(Name of the child has been changed to hide the child’s identity)