Synthetic phonics described below is the new way of teaching English to 
youngster in England.  The description below comes from Wikipedia.  It 
introduces a new way of spelling English phonemes.  Anyone familiar with it?

tom z


Synthetic Phonics is a method of teaching reading which intensively teaches 
first the letter sounds and then builds up to blending the letter sounds 
together to achieve full pronunciation of the printed word.

Description
The name 'Synthetic Phonics' comes from the concept of 'synthesising', which 
means 'putting together' or 'blending'. What is synthesised/put 
together/blended in reading are the sounds prompted by the letters on the 
page. (rrf.org.uk, newsletter 54)

According to the Clackmannanshire 7 year longitudinal study, '[Synthetic 
phonics] is a very accelerated form of phonics that does not begin by 
establishing an initial sight vocabulary. With this approach, before 
children are introduced to books, they are taught letter sounds. After the 
first few of these have been taught they are shown how these sounds can be 
blended together to build up words (Feitelson, 1988). For example, when 
taught the letter sounds /t/ /p/ /a/ and /s/ the children can build up the 
words 'tap,' 'pat, 'pats', 'taps' 'a tap' etc. The children are not told the 
pronunciation of the new word either before it is constructed with magnetic 
letters or indeed afterwards; the children sound each letter in turn and 
synthesise the sounds together in order to generate the pronunciation of the 
word. Thus the children construct the prounciation for themselves. Most of 
the letter sound correspondences, including the consonant and vowel 
digraphs, can be taught in the space of a few months at the start of their 
first year at school. This means that children can read many of the 
unfamiliar words they meet in text for themselves, without the assistance of 
the teacher'.

Common Terminology
Common terminology used within the Synthetic Phonics method includes :

blend (vb.) to draw individual sounds together to pronounce a word, e.g. 
s-n-a-p, blended together, reads snap
phoneme the smallest single identifiable sound, e.g. the letters ‘sh’ 
represent just one sound, but ‘sp’ represents two (/s/ and /p/)
grapheme a letter or a group of letters representing one sound, e.g. sh, ch, 
igh, ough (as in ‘though’)
(vowel) digraph, two letters making one sound, e.g. sh, ch, th, ph. Vowel 
digraphs comprise two vowels which, together, make one sound, e.g. ai, oo, 
ow
(Rose Review - see external links)


What it is
Synthetic phonics involves the teaching of letter/s-sound correspondences to 
automaticity, rapidly and systematically (approx 6 sounds per week) and 
models how the alphabetic code works by sounding out and blending 
all-through-the-word for reading and segmenting the individual sounds 
all-through-the-word for spelling. Sounds and letters are taught in all 
positions of the words, but the emphasis is on all-through-the-word blending 
and segmenting from week one.
Synthetic phonics develops phonemic awareness along with the corresponding 
letter shapes.
Synthetic phonics teaches phonics at the level of the individual phoneme 
from the outset; NOT syllables and NOT onset and rime.
Synthetic phonics involves the children rehearsing the writing of letter 
shapes alongside learning the letter/s-sound correspondences preferably with 
the tripod pencil grip. Dictation is a frequent teaching technique from 
letter level to word spelling, including nonsense words and eventually 
extending to text level.
Synthetic phonics teachers put accuracy before fluency. Fluency will come 
with time, but the emphasis on thorough letter/s-sound correspondence 
knowledge and synthesising enables the reader to become more accurate, 
fluent and to access the meaning of the text at the level of the reader's 
oral comprehension more readily.
Synthetic phonics involves the teaching of the transparent alphabet before 
progressing onto the opaque alphabet. In other words, children are taught 
steps which are straightforward and 'work' before being taught the 
complications and variations of pronunciation and spelling of the full 
alphabetic code.
Synthetic phonics introduces irregular words and more tricky words slowly 
and systematically after a thorough introduction of the transparent alphabet 
code (learning the 42 letter/s-sound correspondences to automaticity and how 
to blend for reading and segment for spelling). Phonics application still 
works at least in part in such words.
Synthetic phonics involves a heavy emphasis on hearing the sounds 
all-through-the-word for spelling and not an emphasis on 'look, cover, 
write, check'. This latter, visual form of spelling plays a larger part with 
unusual spellings and spelling variations although a phonemic procedure is 
always emphasised in spelling generally.
Synthetic phonics teachers read a full range of literature with the children 
and ensure that all children have a full range of experience of activities 
associated with literacy such as role play, drama, poetry, but the children 
are not expected to 'read' text which is beyond them.

What it is NOT
Synthetic phonics does not teach whole words as shapes (initial sight 
vocabulary) prior to learning the alphabetic code.
Synthetic phonics does not teach letter names until the children know their 
letter/s-sound correspondences thoroughly and how to blend for reading and 
segment for spelling. Often when letter names are introduced it is through 
singing an alphabet song.
Synthetic phonics DOES NOT involve guessing at words from context, picture 
and initial letter clues. Children read print (at letter level, word level, 
digraphs, word level, text level) which corresponds with the level of 
knowledge and skills taught to date. This means they rehearse what they have 
been specifically taught and do not need to guess (which can cause damaging 
habits to the extent of dyslexic symptoms and behavioural problems). This 
text level print is often referred to as phonically decodable text. 
Repetitive books are not necessary and children can rapidly access books 
described as 'real' because of the effectiveness of the synthetic phonics 
teaching approach.

What a typical Synthetic Phonics programme consists of
learning letter sounds (as distinct from the letter names);
For example, /mm/ not muh, /ss/ not suh, /ff/ not fuh. The letter names can 
be taught later but should not be taught in the early stages.
learning the 44 sounds and their corresponding letters/letter groups;
The English Alphabet Code 'Key' : 44 phonemes with their common 'sound 
pattern' representations:
Vowels (19):
/a/ mat
/ae/ ape, baby, rain, tray, they, eight
/air/ square, bear
/ar/ jar, fast
/e/ peg, bread
/ee/ sweet, me, beach, key, pony
/i/ pig, wanted
/ie/ kite, wild, light, fly
/o/ log, want
/oe/ bone, cold, boat, snow
/oi/ coin, boy,
/oo/ book, would, put
/ow/ down, house
/or/ fork, ball, sauce, law,
/u/ plug, glove
/ur/ burn, teacher, work, first
/ue/ blue, moon, screw, tune
/uh/ (schwa) button, computer, hidden, doctor
/w/ wet, wheel,
Consonants (25):
/b/ boy, rabbit
/ks/gz/ box exist
/c/k/ cat /key, duck, school
/ch/ chip, watch
/d/ dog, ladder
/f/ fish, coffee, photo, tough
/g/ gate, egg, ghost
/h/ hat, whole
/j/ jet, giant, cage, bridge
/l/ lip, bell, sample
/m/ man, hammer, comb
/n/ nut, dinner, knee, gnat
/ng/ ring, sink
/p/ pan, happy
/kw/ queen
/r/ rat, cherry, write
/s/ sun, dress, house, city, mice
/sh/ ship, mission, station, chef
/t/ tap, letter, debt
/th/ thrush
/th/ that
/v/ vet, sleeve
/y/ yes
/z/ zip, fizz, sneeze, is, cheese
/zh/ treasure

learning to read words using sound blending;
reading stories featuring the words the students have learned to sound out;
demonstration excersises to show they comprehend the stories;

References
Clackmannanshire 7 year longitudinal study: Rhona Johnson, Department of 
Psychology, University of Hull and Joyce Watson, School of Psychology, 
University of St Andrews.