Read Write Inc. Phonics is a literacy programme developed by Ruth Miskin and published by Oxford University Press. It is taught in over 5000 schools in the United Kingdom, making it the country’s most popular way for children to learn to read using phonics.

In the Read Write Inc. Phonics programme, children learn sounds and the letters that represent them, and how to form the letters. Then, they read books written using only the letters they have learnt (and a small number of separately taught ‘tricky words’). This gives children plenty of early success and builds up their reading confidence.

What is Fred Talk?

If your child’s school is using Read Write Inc. Phonics, teachers will introduce your child to a toy frog called Fred once he or she is ready to start reading words.

Fred can only say the sounds in a word and needs your child to help him read the word. Fred will say the sounds and children will work out the word. For example, Fred will say the sounds c–a–t, and children will say the word cat. This is Fred Talk: sounding out the word.

You will find a useful phonics audio guide to all these sounds in our Sound Pronunciation Guide video. It is really important to say the sounds clearly to help your child learn them. We say ‘mmmm’ not ‘muh’ and ‘lllll’ not ‘luh’ when teaching the sounds. This really helps children when they learn to blend sounds together to read words.