Your article "Schools back to what works best" (June 15) refers to Victoria's choice to adopt the "synthetic phonics" program across their government schools. They suggest that once this happens, including explicit instructions in phonics, all will be well along with no more funding needed.
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However, while it is beneficial to have a strong suit in the phonetic ability to decode words, reading is so much more. It is the ability to obtain meaning from the written word. For that you need vocabulary comprehension. The homophones, "pear", "pair" and "pare" all sound the same but have different meanings. Dictionary definitions and writing words in sentences to demonstrate their meaning are important as is vocabulary building.
For the implementation of the new phonics program, student absences provide a risk to full coverage of each phonetic lesson by every student. And classes are often split into other classrooms.
In fee-paying private schools such as those in the Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn, there are extra able and trained Literacy LSAs employed to help small groups of students get up to speed and also provide some vocabulary extension.
This model should also be extended to public schools. All Australian students deserve no less.
Angela Wall, Weetangera
Cash on delivery
Where there's a will there's a way. What a fantastic effort by Lindy Lee, NGA and Heavy Haulage Assets ("One smooth run for our epic sculpture", June 19).
Sue Dyer, Downer
Hamas should pay
Robert James (Letters, June 18) asked about the 274 Palestinians said to have been killed when Israel rescued four hostages. These are Hamas supplied figures, and therefore unreliable. There were no doubt some civilian casualties, given Hamas had imprisoned the hostages in a civilian area, but Israel estimates around 100 combatants were killed.
Of course, there would have been far fewer civilian casualties if Hamas had not attacked the rescuers and hostages from all directions with gunfire and rocket-propelled grenades, or indeed, not kidnapped them in the first place.
If any compensation is to be paid it should be paid by Hamas.
Alan Shroot, Forrest
We need to diversify
Senator Jacqui Lambie, with her unique talent for saying it like it is, has belled the cat on Australia's trade by stating that Australia has put all its eggs in one basket with China.
Australia's lazy approach to developing a broader trade network has left us vulnerable to such actions as China's recent tariffs on our wine, barley and lobsters.
As bad as that action has been for Australian exporters, those losses fade into the background of bleating pandas compared to the hurt Australia could feel if China abandons Australia as a provider of iron ore in favour of its Simandou project in Guinea.
Simandou, estimated to contain the world's largest untapped reserves of high-grade iron ore, is expected to come on line next year.
Ian Pearson, Barton
LNP is out of gas
It's becoming clearer and clearer the Coalition is running out of ideas about global warming and power generation. Otherwise they wouldn't have proposed to introduce nuclear power on a massive scale. They haven't done any costings.
They are offering us a post-dated cheque on bank that has crashed.
Sankar Kumar Chatterjee, Evatt
Fading fast?
Is Mr Dutton suffering from radiation sickness? Yes, that would be tragic, but it might explain the lack of logic.
Geoff Davidson, Braddon
What's the smell?
Why is it that whenever Peter Dutton and his band of merry jesters start talking about nuclear energy my bulls--t detector goes into hyperdrive?
Chris Ryan, Kirrawee, NSW
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