Teaching someone who has previously learnt non-phonetically

[bluecastle]

I am a newbie teacher, and my current student has learnt some English but in an unexpected way: she knows all the letters but doesn't associate them with a sound. She can therefore spell out words but doesn't know what they mean or how to work this out.

She has a very good memory, and I suspect much of the work we've done has been based on her remembering the sounds of words without necessarily understanding what they mean.

So my question is - how do I work with this?

So far I have decided to focus on listening and speaking. For example, we watch a video and I ask her questions about it, and then branch into a more general conversation on a related topic.

Can anyone advise on how best to approach this situation? She is a solo learner.

[Susan]

Sorry if I appear dumb: I don't understand this. Can you give an example. What I don't get is: if she doesn't associate a letter with a sound, how can she spell out a word? Surely when she spells out the word, she's saying d.o.g. which means she's producing the sound.

If you could give some examples, I'm sure someone here can help you.