About The Author
My name is Corina Becker, author of the "How to Read Step by Step" and "Benny Bee" series. I have more than 30 years of teaching experience after I completed the Junior Primary Teaching Diploma in South Africa. At Primary School Wilhelm Nortier, I was Senior Teacher in the Junior Primary Department, supervising the division.
In Namibia, where I first began teaching, I taught beginners to read, write and do mathematics for many years. The global ‘look-and-say’ method was imposed on teachers and children. It was believed to be a miracle-working method worldwide and that all children would be able to read in an instant using this method. Unfortunately, for many children the global "look-and-say" method was unsuccessful. Phonics were considered unimportant and they were not taught as part of the skill of reading, writing and spelling. The children need to learn that all words are constructed with symbols that represent specific sounds. Words are not only the visible symbols on the page. Each visual symbol represents an audible and specific sound which create the word when the sounds combine. This needs to be taught correctly and methodically.
I had to develop my own teaching materials because it was (and still is) difficult to find suitable materials to teach phonics, writing and reading simultaneously, step by step. Seeing the positive results in the many children I taught during the years, made me confident in my method. Therefore I had to write and illustrate these books myself, to create a tangible and systematic pedagogical tool. I can identify with the following excerpt from George Elliot's poem "Stradivarius":
"If my hand slacked,
I should rob God -- since He is fullest good,
Leaving a blank instead of violins.
He could not make Antonio Stradivari's violins
Without Antonio."
The books on this website are the result of many years of hard work, praying, and gathering experience while working with children who initially struggled to read, spell and write. Now I want to make these materials available to children, parents and teachers in order to help them build a solid foundation for reading, writing and spelling.
