Abstract: An interactive teaching apparatus and a method for teaching graphemes, i.e., letter symbols of an alphabet; grapheme names, phonemes; and phonetics are disclosed. The apparatus comprises a display of graphemes wherein each of the letters is color-coded with at least one of a plurality of distinctive colors. Each of the distinctive colors corresponds to a characteristic of sound production associated with at least one phoneme or speech sound of at least one of the graphemes. The letters are accompanied by a plurality of visually perceivable images, each of which is positioned adjacent to at least one of the graphemes and has a name including at least one phoneme of at least one adjacent grapheme. The apparatus also includes a plurality of individually-activated, sound generating devices, each of which is associated with one of the graphemes and generates the name or at least one phoneme associated with the grapheme.