My preschool is on its first year, it is very important for me to become accurate in the way I teach . I’m living in the Philippines. Filipino authors showed me different styles of sound blending. I am compiling my own visual aid for my pupils age 3 to 5. Some says, ma + t = mat is not the proper way. It should be m + at .Which is correct between the two? 
Is there a rule in sound blending?
People argue about this even in the US, and while m + at is popular in some areas, I have used both with different groups and I think that ma+t works better because it is more logical and consistent. English is written and read left to right, so it makes no sense to teach kids to start to the right (back part) of a word only to go BACK and read what’s on the left (the front part).
I Learned to read around 4 or 5 using the m+at method so its not like doing m+at is HORRIBLY! TERRIBLY Wrong and no one can ever possibly learn to read that way. Thousands of kids learned to read that way, but for those that struggle with longer and longer words the m+at way can cause problems. When you start teaching reading, you can not know if the child will struggle in a few months when the m+at way won’t work on longer, multi-syllable words.
The m+at (left to right) method of breaking down words will work on every syllable, every single time.
You can read “the” “mat” and “cap” using the left to right method and you can read “en-cy-clo-pe-d-ia” “dic-tion-a-ry” “diff-I-cul-ty” “hard-ship” and “bo-tan-ic-al” using the exact same left to right method. So I, when I teach, prefer and teach the left to right method.
The right to left or m+at rose to popularity when people began doing half-backed phonics methods where the students were taught “word families” mat, cat, sat, fat, etc…but it breaks down fairly quickly and can lead to word guessing and reading problems with many kids. With very, very young kids I like to be as consistent as possible.
Thank you so much. Now , after knowing that I am more confident in what I am doing. :laugh: Very helpful…Thanks