Teaching method

A Fast and Effective Approach

With the Butterfly method children are taught how to read, simply, swiftly and systematically. They are soon able to read, write and spell thousands of words independently. They learn:

• to blend letter-sounds together so that they form words: c+a+t = cat
• at a fast pace
• NOT to guess
• with weekly spelling tests and dictations

How the Classes Are Organised

At Real Action’s Butterfly Saturday Reading Schools our children are:

• placed in classes that match their reading ages: a child of ten, for example, with a reading age of six will join a class for children at this level
• moved up through classes swiftly as their reading levels improve
• not seated primary-school-style around tables interacting with each other, but
• seated in rows, facing – and interacting with – the teacher. This means that the teacher teaches every child simultaneously, all the time
• given two hours’ structured teaching – with a fifteen-minute break – every Saturday in term-time

Raising Literacy, Building Confidence

We find their behaviour improves as their reading improves. When they go to secondary school they tend not to follow the path that leads, via disaffection, to disruption, truancy, exclusions, possibly crime and/or a life of dependency.

Spread the Word

What can be done at our Butterfly Saturday Reading Schools can be done in a neighbourhood near you. Help us spread the Butterfly Effect.