Did you know that young children hear sounds in languages (called phonemes) more clearly than adults? It's true.
As children listen to and interact with those around them, they become familiar with the specific sounds of English. And when they view picture books with those abstract squiggly lines (we call letters) next to the pictures, they begin to make a valuable connection with written language.
Unfortunately for learning English, the next step is not so easy. With 26 letters and 44 sounds, many letters have two or three sounds. This is one reason why most ABC books use a simple letter-to-sound format, where 26 letters match 26 sounds. But since children need to know 40 sounds to begin reading, this format misleads them. Neither does it optimize your child's natural ability to hear all of the sounds.
With the Harbor Friends, 40 sounds come alive. As these whimsical characters become your child's reading buddies, they will happily connect each letter with its name, where the sounds can easily be heard and remembered!