F–2Systematic Synthetic Phonics
A systematic synthetic phonics program with proven impact
Essential Letters and Sounds Australia (ELSA) is a research-based program tailored for Australian schools, designed to simplify routines and reduce cognitive load for students and educators.
Effective teaching within ELSA involves delivering high-quality, explicit instruction through structured daily lesson plans and using consistent terminology and resources. Key elements include repetition, reinforcement, and regular assessments to ensure all students keep up, rather than catch up.
ELSA is a 5-day-a-week program that is used for 36 weeks in Years F–2. Daily lessons take 35–45 minutes.
Evidence-based teaching strategies
In order to achieve its objectives of every student reading well and quickly, ELSA must be followed with rigour and fidelity. ELSA has embedded consistent and explicit teaching strategies to create a learning experience that is effective, relevant and enjoyable for both educators and students.
ELSA employs the use of a number of teaching strategies, that are used consistently and at certain points in each lesson. They are carefully designed to be simple for educators to implement and easy for students to understand and practice.
Read the ELSA Evaluation Pack for more information.
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Explore sample front-of-class presentations, teacher training videos and support material, including curriculum alignment charts.
The ELSA Teaching Subscriptions
The ELSA Teaching Subscriptions provide teachers with everything they need to implement the program in their classroom. This includes planned and prepared content for every lesson, 5 days a week for 36 weeks of Years F–2. Every teacher at your school using ELSA will need a 12-month licence to the Teaching Subscription.
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On-demand training and guidance
ELSA offers comprehensive and engaging on-demand training every day of the year, so all teachers will have a good understanding of what phonics is, and how to teach it, with no additional training needed. There are 60 training videos and two comprehensive handbooks in the two subscriptions.- Subscription
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Daily front-of-class presentations
The ELSA Teaching subscription includes daily front-of-class presentations, clearly labelled by year, week and day. These presentations provide all necessary content, guide teachers and students step-by-step, use a consistent structure and illustrations, and include interactive elements to keep lessons engaging and fast-paced.- Subscription
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Assessment and Intervention
ELSA provides comprehensive assessment materials to identify and address gaps in sound knowledge and reading skills. ELSA emphasises proactive support, with daily intervention activities and one-on-one interventions for students needing additional help.- Subscription
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Paired and independent reading resources
The ELSA eLibrary School Subscription and the ELSA Phonic Readers series make reading practice easy, with titles, aligned to Letters and Sounds, matched to each week of the ELSA progression across Foundation and Year 1.- Subscription
Classroom Resources
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Grapheme Cards
ELSA uses Grapheme cards to support students in remembering how to write, sound and spell using mnemonics and rhymes. There is one set of Grapheme Cards for Foundation and one for Year 1.- $
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Posters
A poster is available for each year level. Each classroom should have the relevant poster displayed to support students to use the GPCs to spell words and as a quick visual reference throughout the day.- $
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Activity Books
The Activity Books are used in the Apply section of each lesson when new content is taught and contain activities that support writing, spelling, reading and dictation. They are available for purchase in state handwriting fonts.- $
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Printable Resources
There are many printable classroom resources available through the Teaching Subscriptions, including HRS Word Cards, Grapheme Tiles and Sound Mats. They are used during lessons as well as in assessment and interventions.- Subscription
Meet the authors and experts who have contributed to Essential Letters and Sounds Australia
Watch and Learn
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5 mins
An introduction to Essential Letters and Sounds
ELSA is an affordable, easy to implement, evidence-based phonics program built for Australian schools.
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60 mins
Discover an evidence-based, explicit phonics program built for Australian schools
with Joanna Lake
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Curriculum-aligned, classroom ready
Contact Us
Full a full demonstration of Essential Letters and Sounds Australia, including of the Teacher Subscription, eBook Library, classroom resources and decodable readers, contact us today!