Oh god yeah, this very weird trend! It started in the 1980s and for a while it was quite popular. Now, at least in my state it's basically forbidden because it's been shown that children learn so many wrong spellings this way due to the weird characteristics of the German language you mentioned.
What's actually working for many children is going by phonetics and syllables. I can't remember how I learned to read in school, but a popular way to start is using easy words that have very clear syllables where you can't make mistakes ins sounding them oout so that the child learns the sound chorectly in combination with the letters/word. You add some words they have to memorise to build the first few short sentences, like "mit" (with). Children also usually use a table with pictures + starting letters to help with sounds, but that doesn't work for English of course because of so many different ways to say a letter...
Spelling has been a huge issue in elementary school and many children have problems even without that very questionable "reading through writing" method. German states work with a basic vocabulary, I think about 800 words, that children have to know and be able to spell correctly when they leave elementary school. There are also some preogressive methods to help children with spelling, working individually on their texts etc. But it's really a problem, not enough teachers, too many children in a class, too many things to teach and not enough time...
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What's actually working for many children is going by phonetics and syllables. I can't remember how I learned to read in school, but a popular way to start is using easy words that have very clear syllables where you can't make mistakes ins sounding them oout so that the child learns the sound chorectly in combination with the letters/word. You add some words they have to memorise to build the first few short sentences, like "mit" (with). Children also usually use a table with pictures + starting letters to help with sounds, but that doesn't work for English of course because of so many different ways to say a letter...
Spelling has been a huge issue in elementary school and many children have problems even without that very questionable "reading through writing" method. German states work with a basic vocabulary, I think about 800 words, that children have to know and be able to spell correctly when they leave elementary school. There are also some preogressive methods to help children with spelling, working individually on their texts etc. But it's really a problem, not enough teachers, too many children in a class, too many things to teach and not enough time...