Teaches the Shapes-Sounds of the letters with Animals formed in the shapes of the lowercase letters. Teaches the lowercase letters first. Teaches letter sounds before letter names. Teaches short vowels before long vowels.
Letters are symbols and are very abstract for young children.
The more abstract learning is, the less the students understand and remember. Zoo-phonics uses Animals in the shapes of lowercase letters before teaching the actual letters. Sequentially, the child learns first the Animal Shapes, then the Merged Animal-Letters and finally, when developmentally ready, the letters themselves. Teaches letter sounds before letter names. We do not read with letter names, we read with sounds.