collation_sounds_boo.. - Phonics International

Transcription

In a nutshell………
Synthetic Phonics Teaching:
The best way to teach the technical skills of reading (decoding) and spelling (encoding) in the English language is to
teach the core code knowledge of The English Alphabetic Code in systematic steps and the three core skills of:
1. READING - sound out and blend (synthesise) the sounds (phonemes) represented by the letters and letter
groups (graphemes) all-through-the-printed-word, from left to right (e.g. see ‘tray’, say “/t/ /r/ /ai/”, hear and
say “tray”).
2. SPELLING - segment (or split up) the smallest identifiable sounds (phonemes) all-through-the-spoken-word (e.g.
hear “tray”, identify /t/ /r/ /ai/) and then pull letter/s from memory to spell the word ‘tray’.
3. WRITING - record the correct shapes of the letters or letter groups (graphemes), from left to right, which
represent the phonemes identified from segmenting the spoken word from beginning to end.
The English Alphabetic Code:
We can identify around 44 phonemes (the smallest identifiable sounds in words) in the English language but there are
only 26 letters in The Alphabet to represent the 44+ sounds. Single letters and letters combined into letter groups act
as code for the sounds, for example; the grapheme ‘ie’ is pronounced /igh/ as in the word ‘tie’. The English Alphabetic
Code is complicated by the fact that it has many ‘spelling alternatives’ and ‘pronunciation alternatives’, for example; the
grapheme ‘ie’ can also be pronounced /ee/ as in the word ‘chief’. The Alphabetic Code, therefore, needs to be taught
explicitly and systematically for both reading and spelling. The chart immediately below illustrates the sounds and
spelling alternatives of the Phonics International programme as featured on the many versions of The Alphabetic Code
Overview Charts (all free in unit 1) and The Alphabetic Code Frieze Posters (provided throughout the 12 units of the
Phonics International programme):
sounds
/s/
/a/
/t/
/i/
/p/
/n/
/k/
/e/
/h/
/r/
/m/
/d/
/g/
/o/
/u/
/l/
/ul/
/f/
/b/
/j/
/y/
/ai/
/w/
/oa/
words with spelling alternatives
snake glass palace house cents scissors
apple
teddy letter skipped
insect cymbals
pan puppet
net bonnet knot gnome engine
kit cat duck chameleon bouquet
egg head said
hat
rat arrow write rhinoceros
map hammer thumb welcome
dig puddle rained
girl juggle guitar ghost catalogue
orange watch qualify salt
umbrella son touch thoroughfare
ladder shell
kettle pencil hospital camel
feathers cliff photograph laugh
bat rabbit building
jug cabbage gerbil giraffe fridge
yawn
aid tray table sundae cake prey
web wheel
oak bow yo-yo oboe rope dough
sounds
/igh/
/ee/
/or/
/z/
/ng/
/ngk/
/v/
/oo/
/oo/
/ks/
/ch/
/sh/
/th/
/th/
/kw/
/ou/
/oi/
/yoo/
/er/
/uh/
/ar/
/air/
/eer/
/zh/
words with spelling alternatives
night tie behind sky bike eider
eel eat emu sunny key chief sardines
fork dawn sauce chalk oars snore four
zebra jazz fries cheese breeze
gong jungle
ink uncle
violin dove
book should
moon blue flute crew fruit soup move
fox books ducks cakes
chairs patch
/gs/ exam
/chu/ picture
sheep chef station magician admission
thistle
there
queen
ouch owl plough
ointment toy
unicorn statue tube new pneumatic
mermaid birthday nurse earth world
(schwa)
mixer humour theatre
artist father palm half calves
hair hare bear where
deer ears adhere cashier
television treasure courgettes collage
Copyright 2008 Debbie Hepplewhite and www.PhonicsInternational.com
1
The Systematic Steps:
The Phonics International programme (program) provides many ‘strands’ of useful, flexible teaching and learning
resources divided into 12 units. The letter/s-sound correspondences featured on The Alphabetic Code Overview Charts
(select from the many versions free in unit 1) are introduced or revisited in the following order:
Please note that this order of introducing letter/s-sound correspondences can be used flexibly when Phonics
International is used as a spelling programme for older learners. For example; focus on a specific sound and teach all
the spelling variations for that sound using resources from whichever units these are featured. Phonics International
can also be used as an ‘intervention programme’ for learners of all ages with gaps in alphabetic code knowledge.
The Sounds Book Activity Sheets:
The core Alphabetic Code information and rehearsal of the core skills are provided on the Sounds Book Activity Sheets
which are available in all 12 units. There is detailed guidance for the ‘teacher’ on every Sounds Book Activity Sheet and
this can be shared with learners’ parents. Other Phonics International resources support the teaching and learning
provided on the Sounds Book Activity Sheets. Teachers need to decide how best to select and use the additional support
material in their context for their learners’ needs. The Sounds Book Activity Sheets, however, are essential for ALL
learners and should be used systematically, regularly - and where necessary - in a ‘layered’ way (that is, go back to
earlier work and revise as required whilst pressing ahead with new learning).
Basic Phonics Lesson Format:
The standard lesson format for introducing letter/s-sound correspondences has a very simple structure:
1. Revise old learning of the letter/s-sound correspondences of The Alphabetic Code taught to date (see chart
above for order of introduction).
2. Introduce new learning of ‘next’ letter/s-sound correspondence.
3. Include the new letter/s-sound correspondence to practise the three skills of blending, segmenting and
handwriting at word level using the cumulative word bank (sometimes with an emphasis on a particular skill as
decided by the teacher). Note that the Sounds Book Activity Sheets build up a cumulative word bank as
letter/s-sound correspondences are taught or revisited.
4. Extend to sentence level and text level work with cumulative word bank as appropriate (this will become part
of the basic lesson format over time). See variety of resources in each unit for extension work.
The basic phonics lesson format in the UK government’s guidance ‘Letters and Sounds’ is described as, “Introduction
(objectives and criteria for success); Revisit and review; Teach; Practise; Apply; Assess learning against the criteria”.
Phonics International can be used to complement ‘Letters and Sounds’ or as a stand-alone programme.
Reference document for Phonics International.
Keep in planning files.
Can be used for teacher-training purposes.
2
Heading on
Sounds Book
Activity Sheet
units
The Alphabetic Code information and word bank as included on
the Sounds Book Activity Sheets of Phonics International
s
1
a
1
t
1
i
1
p
1
Code information for the ‘teacher’ as provided
on each Sounds Book Activity Sheet for units 1 to 12
(Instructions for spelling and editing activities of the Sounds Book Activity Sheets are not described here)
sit, sap, sip, sun, nest, mist, fast, pots, bats, sips
Model how to say these words. Track under the words with the index finger to correspond with
saying the sounds as you say the words very slowly. You are teaching only the sound /s/ (not
“suh”) and the letter shape ‘s’ and how these work in some written and spoken words.
The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and log under’ and writes the letter ‘s’ as he/she
says the sound /s/.
ant, apple, act, add, man, bag, cat, hand, lamp, tap, sand, trap
saying the sounds as you say the words very slowly. At this point, you are teaching only the
sound /a/ and the letter shape ‘a’ and how these work in some written and spoken words. Say,
“In these words, the letter-shape ‘a’ is the code for the sound /a/. When you see ‘a’, say /a/.
Later I will teach you more code using this letter.”
The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and log under’ and writes the letter ‘a’ as he/she
says the sound /a/.
tin, taps, top, ten, hats, cats, spots, sat, cut, plant, tent
saying the sounds as you say the words very slowly. You are teaching only the sound /t/ (not
“tuh”) and the letter shape ‘t’ and how these work in some written and spoken words.
The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and log under’ and writes the letter ‘t’ as he/she
says the sound /t/.
insect, igloo, ink, imp, hit, miss, pink, milk, is, it, sit, its, sits
saying the sounds as you say the words very slowly. You are teaching the sound /i/ and the
letter shape ‘i’ and how these work in some written and spoken words. Notice how the volume
of the word is mainly provided by the /i/ sound. It is the vowel phonemes (sounds) which
provide most of the volume in spoken words. Ask the learner to say all the sounds all-throughthe-words in the third line. Can he/she then ‘hear’ the target words independently? If not,
model the sounding out and blending process. Tweak (adjust) the pronunciation of the ‘s’ in the
word ‘is’ to sound like /z/. This notion of ‘tweaking (or adjusting) pronunciation’ is very
important in the reading process.
The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and log under’ and writes the letter ‘i’ as he/she
says the sound /i/.
pit, pat, pits, pats, sips, taps, spat, spits, tip, sip, tap, sap, pip
Model how to say the sound /p/. (Not “puh”.) You are teaching the sound /p/ and the letter
shape ‘p’ and how these work in most written and spoken words. Ask the learner to say all the
sounds all-through-the-words in all the lines. Can he/she then ‘hear’ the target words
independently? If not, model the sounding out and see if the learner can then hear the target
words. If not, sound out and blend the whole words. Track under the letters with the index
finger at all times.
The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and log under’ and writes the letter ‘p’ as he/she
says the sound /p/.
3
n
1
c
1
k
1
-ck
1
c, k, -ck
1
nap, nits, naps, nips, ant, pant, tins, snap, pin, pan, tin, spin
Model how to say the sound /n/. (Not “nuh”.) You are teaching the sound /n/ and the letter
shape ‘n’ and how these work in written and spoken words. Ask the learner to say all the
finger at all times.
The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and log under’ and writes the letter ‘n’ as he/she
says the sound /n/.
cat, can, cap, cats, cans, caps, cast, act, scan, acts, scans
Model how to say the sound /k/. (Not “kuh”.) You are teaching the sound /k/ and the letter
shape ‘c’ and how these work in some written and spoken words. Say, “In these words, the
letter-shape ‘c’ is the code for the sound /k/. When you see ‘c’, say /k/. Very soon I am going to
teach you more written code for the /k/ sound.” Ask the learner to say all the sounds allthrough-the-words in all the lines. Can he/she ‘hear’ the target words independently? If not,
model the sounding out (but not the whole blended word) and see if the learner can then hear
the target words. If not, sound out and blend the words to model the whole process. Always
track under the letters with the index finger.
The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and log under’ and writes the letter ‘c’ as he/she
says the sound /k/.
kit, kin, kip, kits, kips, skin, skip, skips, skins, kiss
Model how to say the sound /k/. You are teaching the sound /k/ and the letter shape ‘k’ and
how these work in written and spoken words. Ask the learner to say all the sounds all-throughthe-words in all the lines. Can he/she then ‘hear’ the target words independently? If not, model
the sounding out and see if the learner can then hear the target words. If not, then sound out
and blend the whole words. Track under the letters with the index finger at all times. Say /s/
once only for ‘ss’.
The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and log under’ and writes the letter ‘k’ as he/she
says the sound /k/.
tick, sack, pick, tack, pack, sick, ticks, sacks, picks, packs, sticks
Model how to say the sound /k/. You are teaching three spelling variations for the sound /k/.
There are two different letter shapes for these three spelling variations. Say, “We now know
three ways to read and write the code for the /k/ sound.” Describe how you sound out /k/ once
only when you see the letters ‘ck’ together. The grapheme ‘ck’ is never used for the beginning
/k/ sound of a word. It is used commonly following short vowel sounds in single syllable words
such as ‘s-i-ck’. Ask the learner to say all the sounds all-through-the-words in all the lines. Can
he/she then ‘hear’ the target words independently? If not, model the sounding out and see if
the learner can then hear the target words. Track under the letters with the index finger at all
times.
The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and log under’ and writes the letters ‘c’, ‘k’ and
‘ck’ as he/she says the sound /k/.
cat, can, cap, cans, caps, act, scan;
kit, kin, kip, skip, skin, skips, skins;
tick, sack, pick, stack, packs, sticks
Model how to say the sound /k/. You are teaching three spelling variations for the sound /k/.
There are two different letter shapes for these three spelling variations. Say, “We now know
three ways to read and write the code for the /k/ sound.” Describe how you sound out /k/ once
only when you see the letters ‘ck’ together. The grapheme ‘ck’ is never used for the beginning
/k/ sound of a word. It is used commonly following short vowel sounds in single syllable words
such as ‘s-i-ck’. Ask the learner to say all the sounds all-through-the-words in all the lines. Can
he/she then ‘hear’ the target words independently? If not, model the sounding out and see if
the learner can then hear the target words. Track under the letters with the index finger at all
times. The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and log under’ and writes the letters ‘c’,
‘k’ and ‘ck’ as he/she says the sound /k/.
4
e
1
h
1
r
1
m
2
d
2
g
2
pen, set, ten, pet, net, neck, pecks, speck, pens, sent, tent, tents
Model how to say the sound /e/. You are teaching only the sound /e/ and the letter shape ‘e’
and how these work in some written and spoken words. Ask the learner to say all the sounds
all-through-the-words in all the lines. Can he/she then ‘hear’ the target words independently? If
not, model the sounding out and see if the learner can then hear the target words. If not,
sound out and blend the words. Track under the letters with the index finger at all times.
The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and log under’ and writes the letter ‘e’ as he/she
says the sound /e/.
hit, hat, hip, hen, hits, hens, hats, hips, hint, hints, has, his, hiss
Model how to say the sound /h/. It is just like a ‘breath’ with no voiced volume. Ask the learner
to say all the sounds all-through-the-words in all the lines. Can he/she then ‘hear’ the target
words independently? If not, model the sounding out and see if the learner can then hear the
target words. Track under the letters with the index finger at all times. Note that the
pronunciation of the words ‘has’ and ‘his’ needs to be tweaked so that the letter ‘s’ sounds like
/z/. Double consonant letters like ‘ss’ are sounded only once.
The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and log under’ and writes the letter ‘h’ as he/she
says the sound /h/.
rat, rip, ran, rats, rips, rent, trip, trap, trips, strip, strips, strap, straps
Model how to say the sound /r/ (closer to “err” than “ruh”). Ask the learner to say all the
finger at all times. When reading, say the sounds in clusters of consonant letters separately but
develop the ability to say the sounds quickly enough to hear the overall sound. Relate the
sounding of the consonants to a train speeding up until all the separate consonant sounds
blend together.
The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and log under’ and writes the
letter ‘r’ as he/she says the sound /r/.
mat, men, map, met, am, him, ham, maps, mint, mints, stamp, stamps
Model how to say the sound /m/. Ask the learner to say all the sounds all-through-the-words in
all the lines. Can he/she then ‘hear’ the target words independently? If not, model the sounding
out and see if the learner can then hear the target words. Track under the letters with the index
finger at all times. Say the sounds in clusters of consonant letters separately but develop the
ability to say the sounds quickly enough to hear the overall sound. Relate the sounding of the
consonants to a train speeding up until all the separate consonant sounds blend together.
The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and log under’ and writes the letter ‘m’ as he/she
says the sound /m/.
den, dam, dip, dim, red, mad, and, mend, dents, stands, hands, dampen
Model how to say the sound /d/. Ask the learner to say all the sounds all-through-the-words in
all the lines. Can he/she then ‘hear’ the target words independently? Say the sounds in clusters
of consonant letters separately but develop the ability to say the sounds quickly enough to hear
the overall sound. Relate the sounding of the consonants to a train speeding up until all the
separate consonant sounds blend together. Tweak the pronunciation of ‘dampen’ to ‘dampun’.
Vowels sounding closer to /u/ in some words is called the schwa effect. Experience of reading
words with the schwa effect will help beginners to spell such words correctly.
The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and log under’ and writes the letter ‘d’ (starting
like a ‘c’) as he/she says the sound /d/.
get, gas, gap, gets, tag, dig, peg, digs, pegs, stag, stags, magnet
Model how to say the sound /g/. Ask the learner to say all the sounds all-through-the-words in
separate consonant sounds blend together.
The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and log under’ and writes the letter ‘g’ (starting
like a ‘c’) as he/she says the sound /g/.
5
o
2
u
2
l
2
l, -ll
2
f
2
f, -ff
2
on, top, cot, hop, got, hot, pods, mops, dogs, rock, stop, spot, crops, ponds
Model how to say the sound /o/. Ask the learner to say all the sounds all-through-the-words in
the overall sound. Relate the sounding of the consonants to ‘a train speeding up’ until all the
The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and log under’ and writes the letter ‘o’ (starting
like a ‘c’) as he/she says the sound /o/.
up, mud, run, hug, hut, mugs, gum, gums, smug, stump, strums, us, put
Model how to say the sound /u/. Ask the learner to say all the sounds all-through-the-words in
separate consonant sounds blend together. Tweak the ‘s’ in ‘us’ to sound like /z/. Tweak the ‘u’
in ‘put’ to rhyme with ‘foot’.
The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and log under’ and writes the letter ‘u’ as he/she
says the sound /u/.
let, lap, log, lid, lips, legs, luck, lump, plug, slaps, clamp, slugs, block, o’clock
Model how to say the sound /l/ (closer to ‘ul’ than ‘luh’). Ask the learner to say all the sounds
all-through-the-words in all the lines. Can he/she then ‘hear’ the target words independently?
Say the sounds in clusters of consonant letters separately but develop the ability to say the
sounds quickly enough to hear the overall sound. Draw attention to the abbreviation ‘o’ in
‘o’clock’ meaning ‘of the’ clock.
The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and log under’ and writes the letter ‘l’ as he/she
says the sound /l/.
log, lid, lap, lids, pal, pals, lick, sled, clips; ill, pull, hull, tell, mill, hills, doll, drill, tall
Model how to say the sound /l/ (closer to ‘ul’ than ‘luh’). Ask the learner to say all the sounds
all-through-the-words in all the lines but say /l/ once for ‘ll’. Can he/she then ‘hear’ the target
words independently? Short (single syllable) words ending with the sound /l/ are usually spelt
with the grapheme ‘ll’, then add ‘s’ for plural words. ‘Pal’, however, is spelt with the grapheme
‘l’. The ‘u’ in ‘pull’ rhymes with ‘wool’. The letter/s-sound correspondences in words with the
same pattern as ‘tall’ are t-al-l where the grapheme ‘al’ is pronounced /or/ [or /aw/].
The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and log under’ and writes the letter ‘l’, or letters
‘ll’, as he/she says the sound /l/.
fog, fat, fun, fig, full, fell, if, elf, film, felt, lift, self, golf, flop, flag, flaps, of
Model how to say the sound /f/. Ask the learner to say all the sounds all-through-the-words in
the overall sound. Pronounce the ‘f’ in ‘of’ as a /v/ sound.
The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and log under’ and writes the letter ‘f’ as he/she
says the sound /f/.
fit, fat, fell, rift, left, soft, films, frost; cuff, huff, puff, off, fluff, cliffs, staff, stiffen
Model how to say the sound /f/. Ask the learner to say all the sounds all-through-the-words in
all the lines but say /f/ once for ‘ff’. Can he/she then ‘hear’ the target words independently?
Short (single syllable) words ending with the sound /f/ are usually spelt with the grapheme ‘ff’,
then add ‘s’ for plural words as in ‘cliffs’. Tweak ‘stiffen’ to sound like ‘stiffun’ because of the
schwa effect.
The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and log under’ and writes the letter ‘f’, or letters
‘ff’, as he/she says the sound /f/.
6
s, -ss
2
b
2
j
2
y
2
ai
2
sad, set, sip, silk, sent, stuck, crust, sudden; moss, less, fuss, miss, dress, classes, lesson
Ask the learner to say all the sounds all-through-the-words in all the lines but say /s/ once for
‘ss’. Can he/she then ‘hear’ the target words independently? Short (single syllable) words ending
with the sound /s/ are usually spelt with the grapheme ‘ss’, then add ‘es’ for plural words as in
‘classes’. Tweak ‘lesson’ to sound like ‘lessun’ because of the schwa effect.
The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and log under’ and writes the letter ‘s’, or letters
‘ss’, as he/she says the sound /s/.
bin, bit, bat, but, bet, beg, bed, bag, ban, big, bug, bun, tub, grub, grab, bags, bricks
Model how to say the sound /b/. Ask the learner to say all the sounds all-through-the-words in
The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and log under’ and writes the letter ‘b’ as he/she
says the sound /b/.
jug, jag, jet, jam, jut, jets, jags, jugs, juts, just, jump, jumps, judo
Model how to say the sound /j/. Ask the learner to say all the sounds all-through-the-words in
all the lines. Can he/she then ‘hear’ the target words independently? Draw attention to the ‘u’
in ‘judo’ matching the /oo/ sound in ‘mood’. The ‘o’ in ‘judo’ is pronounced as its long vowel
sound. Remind the learner that the letters a, e, i, o, u can represent short vowel sounds as in
at, enter, in, on, up or those letters can represent long vowel sounds as in able, he, kind, no,
unit. The learner should try the short vowel sound when reading single vowel letters first and
then try the long vowel sound unless they can see that a single vowel letter and an ‘e’ wraparound a single consonant or it is the end letter.
The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and log under’ and writes the letter ‘j’ as he/she
says the sound /j/.
Words to blend with long vowel sounds: I, no, go, so, me, he, be
yet, yes, yen, yak, yam, yap, yell, yells, yelp, yaks
Model how to say the sound /y/ in its ‘consonant’ version as in the words above. Later you will
draw attention to the three sounds represented by the letter ‘y’ as in yes my mummy.
Ask the learner to say all the sounds all-through-the-words in all the lines. Can he/she then
‘hear’ the target words independently?
The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and log under’ and writes the letter ‘y’ as he/she
says the sound /y/.
aim, aid, rail, pain, maid, fail, paid, tail, rain, main, gain, snail, trail, plain, trains, faint,
painted, mailed
Model how to say the sound /ai/. Note that the grapheme ‘ai’ does not appear at the end of
words [see the ‘ai-ay’ sheet]. Ask the learner to say all the sounds all-through-the-words in all
the lines. Can he/she ‘hear’ and say the target words? The words ‘painted’ and ‘mailed’ have
the letters ‘ed’ at the end. In ‘painted’, the ‘e’ and ‘d’ are sounded out separately and the
blended pronunciation tweaked to the schwa ‘u’ sound as in ‘paintud’. In ‘mailed’ the letters ‘ed’
are simply the grapheme for the sound /d/. Familiarity with the spoken English language helps
the reader to know when to read the ‘ed’ verb endings in the appropriate way.
The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and log under’ and writes the letters ‘ai’ as he/she
says the sound /ai/.
The reader can decode these words with the grapheme ‘ai’ as an /ai/ sound and tweak the
pronunciation to /e/ (sed, agen). Alternately, the reader can learn that in these two particular
words, the grapheme ‘ai’ represents the /e/ sound: said, again
7
ay
2
ai, ay
2
w
2
oa
2
ow
2
oa, ow
2
day, say, may, ray, hay, pay, bay, lays, days, rays, play, stay, trays, stray, May, Sunday,
crayon, played
Model how to say the sound /ai/. Note that the grapheme ‘ay’ appears at the end of words [see
the ‘ai-ay’ sheet]. For plural words ending with ‘ay’, add ‘s’ at the end of the words. In words
like ‘crayon’ the grapheme ‘ay’ is used in preference to using the grapheme ‘ai’. In the verb
‘played’, the grapheme ‘ed’ represents the sound /d/. Ask the learner to say all the sounds allthrough-the-words in all the lines. Can he/she ‘hear’ and say the target words?
The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and log under’ and writes the letters ‘ay’ as
he/she says the sound /ai/.
The reader can decode the word ‘says’ with the /ai/ sound and then tweak the pronunciation to
‘sez’: says
aim, sail, pain, raid, train, snail, brains, paints; day, say, may, hay, play, tray, stray, crayons
The grapheme ‘ai’ does not appear at the end of words. The grapheme ‘ay’ can be the middle
or end grapheme. At this stage, remind the learner that he/she has learnt three spelling
variations (graphemes) for the /ai/ sound - a, ai, ay.
Ask the learner to say all the sounds all-through-the-words in all the lines.
The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and log under’ and writes the letters ‘ai’, or letters
‘ay’, as he/she says the sound /ai/.
wet, web, wag, wig, win, wilt, went, wind, wags, swig, swims
Model how to say the sound /w/. Ask the learner to say all the sounds all-through-the-words in
all the lines. Can he/she ‘hear’ and say the target words?
The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and log under’ and writes the letter ‘w’ as he/she
says the sound /w/.
oak, oats, coat, soak, boat, toad, soap, moat, moan, groan, float, cloak, croak, roast, boast,
toast
Model how to say the sound /oa/. Note that the grapheme ‘oa’ does not appear at the end of
words [see the ‘oa-ow’ sheet]. Ask the learner to say all the sounds all-through-the-words in all
the lines. Can he/she then ‘hear’ the target words independently? Say the sounds in clusters of
consonant letters separately but develop the ability to say the sounds quickly enough to hear
the overall sound.
The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and log under’ and writes the letters ‘oa’ as
he/she says the sound /oa/.
Blend these words with the long vowel sound /oa/: no, go, so
Note the speech marks and exclamation mark to show that someone is laughing: “ho ho ho!”
own, low, sow, row, mow, bow, grow, rows, bows, slow, mown, flow, glow, crows, grown-ups
Model how to say the sound /oa/. Note that the grapheme ‘ow’ can appear in first, middle or
end positions in a word [see the ‘oa-ow’ sheet]. Ask the learner to say all the sounds allthrough-the-words in all the lines. Can he/she then ‘hear’ the target words independently? Say
the sounds in clusters of consonant letters separately but develop the ability to say the sounds
quickly enough to hear the overall sound. The ‘ow’ grapheme can also represent the /ou/ sound
which will be taught later.
The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and log under’ and writes the letters ‘oa’ as
he/she says the sound /oa/.
Blend these words with the long vowel sound /oa/: no, go, so
Note the speech marks and exclamation mark to show that someone is laughing: “ho ho ho!”
oak, oats, soak, goat, toad, coat, soap, float, toast; own, low, row, bow, bowl, crow, slow,
grown-up
The grapheme ‘oa’ does not appear at the end of words. The grapheme ‘ow’ can be the first,
middle or end grapheme. At this stage, remind the learner that he/she has learnt three spelling
variations (graphemes) for the /oa/ sound - o, oa, ow.
Ask the learner to say all the sounds all-through-the-words in all the lines. Note the hyphen
which can split some compound words.
The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and log under’ and writes the letters ‘oa’, or
letters ‘ow’, as he/she says the sound /oa/.
8
ie
2
igh
2
ie, igh
2
-le
2
/u/ o
2
lie, tie, pie, ties, pies, tied, died, lied, tried, cried, fried, dried
Model how to say the sound /igh/. Ask the learner to say all the sounds all-through-the-words
in all the lines. Can he/she ‘hear’ and say the target words? The learner holds the pencil with
‘froggy legs and log under’ and writes the letters ‘ie’ as he/she says the sound /igh/. The
grapheme ‘ie’ at the end of people’s names commonly represents a sound which is in-between
an /i/ and an /ee/ depending on regional accent. As this is so common, you may wish to
mention this before you teach it formally - (for example, Debbie !)
high, sigh, night, light, fight, tight, might, bright, slight, frighten
Model how to say the sound /igh/. Ask the learner to say all the sounds all-through-the-words
in all the lines. Can he/she ‘hear’ and say the target words? In ‘frighten’, tweak the ‘e’ to the
schwa sound ‘u’ to say ‘frightun’.
The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and log under’ and writes the letters ‘igh’ as
he/she says the sound /igh/.
lie, tie, pie, dies, pies, tied, died, tried, cried, fries; high, sigh, night, light, fight, fright, might,
bright, tight
Ask the learner to say all the sounds all-through-the-words in all the lines. The grapheme ‘ie’
representing the /igh/ sound involves some trickiness of spelling. For example, flies is the plural
word for fly but lies is the plural word for lie. At this stage, remind the learner that he/she has
learnt three spelling variations (graphemes) for the /igh/ sound - i, ie, igh.
The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and log under’ and writes the letters ‘ie’, or letters
‘igh’, as he/she says the sound /igh/.
I, kind, mind, find, mild
little, able, table, cattle, bottle, middle, saddle, muddle, tickle, puddle, kettle, trickle, pickles
There are several graphemes which represent a sound which is close to two sounds “ul” (schwa
effect). These include the graphemes ‘le’, ‘il’, ‘al’ and ‘el’. The teacher may choose to mention
the ‘le’ variation during the ‘simple code’ stage as early books may include words such as ‘little’,
‘table’ and ‘puddle’. Use the words above to model with if the learner is not yet ready to blend
these examples independently.
The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and log under’ and writes the letters ‘le’ as he/she
says the sound /ul/.
(sun) son, a ton of…, front, infront of…, come, income, become, some, blossom, none, done,
undone, redone, Monday, London
Use the word ‘sun’: 1) to remind the learner that letter ‘u’ commonly represents the /u/ sound;
2) to remind the learner that different spellings for words which sound the same help the reader
to understand the intended meaning of the word (homophones).
Point out that letters written within slash marks as in /u/ above denote a sound (phoneme) and
not a spelling (grapheme). In the words above, the letter ‘o’ represents the /u/ sound. Tell the
learner that, later, he/she will be taught other words with this spelling feature. Introduce the
idea that in many words such as ‘some’ and ‘done’, the letter ‘e’ on the end of the word is not
pronounced (or ‘sounded out’). In effect, the grapheme ‘me’ represents the /m/ phoneme and
the grapheme ‘ne’ represents the /n/ phoneme. It is common that the letter ‘e’ on the end of
words is not separately ‘sounded out’ and it is helpful for a beginner reader to begin to
understand this early on. The teacher can model how to sound out these words saying. “In
these words, those letters (‘me’) represent the /m/ sound. In these words, those letters (‘ne’)
represent the /n/ sound.” Can the learner ‘hear’ the target words independently? Then ask the
learner to sound out the words.
The learner holds the pencil correctly and writes ‘son’ and thinks about the correct meaning of
‘son’ - and then writes ‘Monday’.
3
9
ee
3
or
3
z
3
z, -zz
3
w
3
wh
3
w, wh
3
eel, see, bee, meet, seed, leek, feet, feel, bees, heel, seeds, leeks, tree, green, bleed, freed, street,
streets, indeed, freedom
Model how to say the sound /ee/. The grapheme ‘ee’ representing the /ee/ sound can appear at
the beginning, middle or end of words. Ask the learner to say all the sounds all-through-thewords in all the lines. Can he/she ‘hear’ and say the target words? The learner now knows two
graphemes for the sound /ee/ - ‘e’ as in he, me, be; and ‘ee’ as in the example words above.
Tweak the pronunciation of the letter ‘o’ in ‘freedom’ to the schwa ‘u’ sound - ‘freedum’.
The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and log under’ and writes the letters ‘ee’ as
he/she says the sound /ee/.
Blend these words with the letter ‘e’ representing the long vowel sound /ee/: he, me, be
for, form, fork, fort, horn, corn, port, torn, born, cork, or, sort, forks, forms, storm, stork, snort,
orbit, sorted
Model how to say the sound /or/. Ask the learner to say all the sounds all-through-the-words in
all the lines. Can he/she ‘hear’ and say the target words? There are many spelling variations to
represent the sound /or/ which will be taught later (in unit 7). Tweak the pronunciation of the
letter ‘e’ in ‘sorted’ to the schwa ‘u’ sound - ‘sortud’. Some people might pronounce this closer
to ‘sortid’. The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and log under’ and writes the letters
‘or’ as he/she says the sound /or/.
zed, zip, zaps, zips, zig-zag, zed-bed, zest, zebra, zebras
Model how to say the sound /z/. Ask the learner to say all the sounds all-through-the-words in
all the lines. Can he/she ‘hear’ and say the target words? Tweak the pronunciation of the letter
‘a’ in ‘zebra’ to the schwa ‘u’ sound - ‘zebru’. The pronunciation of ‘as’ in ‘zebras’ is closer to
‘zebruz’.
The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and log under’ and writes the letter ‘z’ as he/she
says the sound /z/.
zed, zip, zips, zig-zag, zest, zaps, zebra; fizz, jazz, buzz, tizz, frizz, fizzes
Ask the learner to say all the sounds all-through-the-words in all the lines but say /z/ once for
‘zz’. Can he/she then ‘hear’ the target words independently? Short words with ‘short’ medial
vowel sounds ending with the sound /z/ are usually spelt with the grapheme ‘zz’. This is similar
to ‘ff’, ‘ll’ and ‘ss’. Then add ‘es’ for verb endings as in ‘fizzes’. Tweak ‘zebra’ to sound like
‘zebru’ and ‘fizzes’ to sound like ‘fizzuz’ because of the schwa effect.
The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and log under’ and writes the letter ‘z’, or letters
‘zz’, as he/she says the sound /z/.
wet, web, wag, wig, week, went, wind, wags, swig, swims
says the sound /w/.
whip, wheel, whisk, when, whack, whelk, wheels, whisks, whiff
all the lines. Can he/she ‘hear’ and say the target words? Traditionally, ‘wh’ is pronounced
with a slight blowing effect. Many people would now pronounce ‘wh’ the same as /w/.
says the sound /w/.
wet, web, wig, went, wind, will, wilt, sweep; whip, when, wheel, whisk, whelk, whiff
‘hear’ the target words independently?
The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and log under’ and writes the letter ‘w’, or letters
‘wh’, as he/she says the sound /w/.
Blend these words with the long vowel sounds: I, no, go, so, me, he, be, we
10
ea
3
ee, ea
3
e, ea
3
/z/
3
eat, sea, tea, meat, team, heat, seat, peas, mean, beam, feat, leaf, leaves, leak, beans, steam,
cream, treat, stream, scream
Model how to say the sound /ee/. The grapheme ‘ea’ representing the /ee/ sound can appear at
the beginning, middle or end of words. Ask the learner to say all the sounds all-through-thewords in all the lines. Can he/she ‘hear’ and say the target words? The learner now knows
three graphemes for the sound /ee/ - ‘e’ as in he, me, be; ‘ee’ as in see, meet, tree, green; and
‘ea’ as in the example words above. (Note the singular word ‘leaf’ and its plural word ‘leaves’.
In English writing, the end-letter ‘-f’ can be replaced by ‘-ves’ [pronounced ‘vs’] in words
denoting plurals.) The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and log under’ and writes the
letters ‘ea’ as he/she says the sound /ee/.
Blend these words with the letter ‘e’ representing the long vowel sound /ee/: he, me, be, we
see, bee, tree, meet, green, seeds, streets; sea, eat, tea, meat, steam, peas, stream
‘hear’ the target words independently? The grapheme ‘ea’ can represent the /ee/ sound as in
the ‘ea’ word examples above, but in other words the grapheme ‘ea’ can represent the /e/
sound like ‘head’. [See the ‘e - ea’ as /e/ sheet.] The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs
and log under’ and writes the letters ‘ee’, or letters ‘ea’, as he/she says the sound /ee/.
Note that some words sound the same when read but have different meanings; for example:
‘see’ and ‘sea’, ‘meet’ and ‘meat’. The different spellings help the reader to gain the correct
meaning of these words. This is common in the English writing system. Homophone: words
pronounced in the same way but differing in meaning or spelling or both.
egg, bed, pen, hen, pets, tent, went, spend; head, instead, bread, spread, dead, dreadful
‘hear’ the target words independently? The sound (phoneme) /e/ can be represented by the
graphemes ‘e’ and ‘ea’ as in the word examples above. [Note: The graphemes ‘e’ and ‘ea’ can
also represent the /ee/ sound as in he, me, be, we and eat, seat, team. See the ‘ee - ea’ as /ee/
sheet.] When ‘ful’ is the end part of words, it is spelt with only one ‘l’ and not ‘ll’ as in the
complete word ‘full’.
The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and log under’ and writes the letter ‘e’, or letters
‘ea’, as he/she says the sound /e/.
zip, buzz, is, his, was, bees, sees, trees, peas, fleas, flies, skies, tries, please, tease, cheese,
sneeze, breeze, wheeze, size, prize, surprise
The purpose of introducing the several graphemes which can represent the /z/ sound at this
stage is to help the beginner in two ways:
1) to be a flexible reader - able to apply the process of ‘tweaking pronunciations’ to achieve the
target words
2) to raise awareness of the need to pay attention to alternative spellings to help with spelling
correctly over time.
Revise how to say the sound /z/ and the sound /s/. Note that the /s/ and /z/ phonemes are very
similar. Tell the learner that there are many words with a letter ‘e’ at the end where the ‘e’
does not need to be sounded out separately if it forms a grapheme with the preceding letter. As
the concept of ‘split digraphs’ (or ‘magic e’) has not yet been taught, the beginner can decode
words such as ‘size’, ‘prize’ and ‘surprise’ by pronouncing the long vowel sound for the letter ‘i’.
Pronounce ‘ur’ as the /u/ phoneme in ‘surprise’.
Ask the learner to say all the sounds all-through-the-words in all the lines. Can he/she ‘hear’
and say the target words?
The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and log under’ and traces over the words below
as he/she blends the sounds.
was, is, his, please, breeze
4
11
-ng
4
-nk
4
v
4
v, -ve
4
oo-oo
4
hang, long, ring, bung, bang, sing, song, sung, sang, wings, tongs, sting, ping-pong, length,
brings, string, strong, strength
Model how to say the sound /ng/ as it is pronounced in the words above. Ask the learner to
say all the sounds all-through-the-words in all the lines. Can he/she ‘hear’ and say the target
words? There are some words where the letters ‘ng’ appear together whereby the letter ‘g’ is
sounded out separately in its ‘hard’ or ‘soft’ version (e.g.bangle, danger). Currently, however,
focus on the /ng/ sound. Grapheme ‘th’ has been introduced through use of the word ‘the’ for
simple sentence reading at this stage. Model how ‘th’ sounds in the words above.
The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and log under’ and writes the letters ‘ng’ as
he/she says the sound /ng/.
ink, sank, pink, tank, sunk, bank, hunk, mink, link, winks, bunk-beds, slink, stink, thanks,
blanket, trinket, thinking
Model how to say ‘nk’ as it is pronounced in the words above. Ask the learner to say all the
sounds all-through-the-words in all the lines. Can he/she ‘hear’ and say the target words?
Letters ‘nk’ actually represent two sounds, that is /ng/+/k/. It is very helpful, however, for both
reading and spelling purposes, if the learner is taught ‘nk’ as if it was a one sound unit.
Grapheme ‘th’ has been introduced through use of the word ‘the’ for simple sentence reading at
this stage. Model how ‘th’ sounds in the words above. The ‘e’ in ‘blanket’ and ‘trinket’ sounds
closer to /i/. The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and log under’ and writes the
letters ‘nk’ as he/she says the sound ‘ngk’.
van, vet, vat, vans, vets, vast, vent, vest, visit, invent, invented
Model how to say the sound /v/. Ask the learner to say all the sounds all-through-the-words in
all the lines. Can he/she ‘hear’ and say the target words? Tweak the ‘s’ in ‘visit’ to sound closer
to /z/. The ‘e’ in ‘invented’ sounds closer to /u/ (the schwa effect). The learner holds the pencil
with ‘froggy legs and log under’ and writes the letter ‘v’ as he/she says the sound /v/.
van, vans, vent, vet, vest, invest, vat, vast, invent; have, give, live, love, dove, above, glove
‘hear’ the target words independently? In the English written code, words which end with the
sound /v/ are spelt with the grapheme ‘ve’. In ‘love’, ‘dove’, ‘above’ and ‘glove’, the /u/ sound is
represented by the letter ‘o’. Further common examples include ‘other’, ‘mother’, ‘brother’,
‘come’ and ‘some’.
The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and log under’ and writes the letter ‘v’, or letters
‘ve’, as he/she says the sound /v/.
Blend these words with the /u/ sound. treat the letters ‘me’ in ‘come’ and ‘some’ as representing
the /me/ sound: love, dove, above, glove, come, some
look, good, book, took, cook, hood, hook, rook, nook, rooks, brook, stood, crooks, mistook,
looking
The two main pronunciations for the grapheme ‘oo’ are taught together as both pronunciations
are common. In flash card activities, the learner can say both sounds on seeing the grapheme
‘oo’. The learner says the ‘shorter’ version first (as in the words above) then says the ‘longer’
version as in the words ‘moon’ and ‘spoon’. The words ‘blood’ and ‘flood’ provide examples of a
third, less common, pronunciation.
The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and log
under’ and writes the letters ‘oo’ as he/she says the shorter sound on this occasion.
12
oo-oo
4
oo-oo
4
y
4
-y
4
moon, pool, room, food, cool, mood, fool, tools, tooth, spoon, stool, balloon, roof, roofs, hoof,
hooves
‘oo’. The learner says the ‘shorter’ version first (as in ‘look and ‘book’) then says the ‘longer’
version as in the words above. The words ‘blood’ and ‘flood’ provide examples of a third, less
common, pronunciation. Note the plural spellings of ‘roofs’ and ‘hooves’. It is common with
plural words for the final letter ‘f’ to change to ‘ves’ but ‘roofs’ does not change.
The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and log under’ and writes the letters ‘oo’ as
he/she says the longer sound on this occasion.
Note the spellings of the common words ‘to’, ‘do’, ‘who’ which end with the longer ‘oo’ sound.
Learn ‘who’ and ‘whose’ together. Practise writing these as you sound out the words to become
familiar with them: to, do, who, whose
look, wool, good, wood, hoods, stood; moon, pool, food, spoon, tools, blooms
‘oo’. The learner says the ‘shorter’ version first (as in ‘look and ‘book’) then says the ‘longer’
version as in the words above. The words ‘blood’ and ‘flood’ provide examples of a third, less
common, pronunciation.
The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and log under’ and writes the letters ‘oo’ as
he/she says both sounds on this occasion.
Note the plural spellings of ‘roofs’ and ‘hooves’. It is common with plural words for the final
letter ‘f’ to change to ‘ves’ but ‘roofs’ does not change. Note, also, the third less common
pronunciation of the grapheme ‘oo’ in the words ‘blood’ and ‘flood’: roof, roofs, hoof, hooves,
blood, flood
yes, yet, yob, yak, yell, yeti, yelps, yank, yeast, yesterday, yellow
Ask the learner to say all the sounds all-through-the-words in all the lines. Can he/she ‘hear’
and say the target words? The letter ‘y’ as used in the words above are usually considered to
represent a consonant phoneme. The letter ‘y’, however, commonly represents three different
sounds as in the words ‘yes’, ‘funny’ and ‘my’. The end sound in ‘funny’ is in between the
sounds /i/ and /ee/. It is helpful to learn all three pronunciations quite early on in learning to
read. Pronounce the ‘er’ in ‘yesterday’ as /u/.
The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and log under’ and writes the letter ‘y’ as he/she
says the sound /y/.
happy, daddy, funny, mummy, bonny, silly, baddy, tummy; tiny, sleepy, baby, puny, bony,
pony, stony, stormy, gloomy, greasy
Model how to sound out the letter ‘y’ in the words above. The pronunciation is between the /i/
and /ee/ sounds according to accent. In the examples above, the letter ‘y’ is representing a
vowel phoneme illustrating that the letter ‘y’ can be considered as both a vowel letter and a
consonant letter dependent upon its use in different words. Note that ‘double consonant’
graphemes indicate a preceding short vowel sound. In contrast, the words in the second column
are pronounced with long vowel sounds even where this is represented by a single vowel letter.
The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and log under’ and writes the letters ‘y’ as he/she
says the appropriate sound.
The words ‘key’, ‘donkey’ and ‘monkey’ may well appear in children’s literature so point out the
‘ey’ spelling for the end sound (taught in unit 9) and point out that the pronunciation of the
letter ‘o’ in ‘monkey’ is /u/ (revise from unit 2): key, donkey, monkey
13
x
4
ch
4
sh
4
th, th
4
qu
5
ox, box, fox, fix, six, mix, tax, wax, fax, text, oxen, taxi, foxes, boxes, maximum, vixen, relax,
mixing, fixed
The letter ‘x’ in the words above actually represents two sounds /k/+/s/. Teach ‘x’ as if it was
one sound unit ‘ks’. Ask the learner to say all the sounds all-through-the-words in all the lines.
Can he/she ‘hear’ and say the target words? When spelling, however, the learner will identify
the sounds “ks” in words which ARE spelt with letters other than ‘x’ such as ‘books’, ‘ducks’ and
‘likes’. The learner needs attention drawn to this by providing word lists with the different types
of spelling. (See /k+s/ Mini-Poster.) Reading is much more straightforward - simply see the letter
‘x’ and say ‘ks’. The letters ‘ed’ in ‘fixed’ are pronounced /t/. Note the schwa effect in oxen,
vixen, foxes and boxes - pronounce ‘e’ as /u/. The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs
and log under’ and writes the letter ‘x’ as he/she says the sound(s) /ks/.
chip, chat, chin, chop, such, inch, rich, much, chick, chips, chops, chicks, chink, chunks, munch,
riches, inches, chatty
Model how to say the /ch/ sound in the words above. Ask the learner to say all the sounds allthrough-the-words in all the lines. Can he/she ‘hear’ and say the target words? Explain that the
grapheme ‘ch’ represents different sounds such as the ‘ch’ in the word ‘school’ and the ‘ch’ in
the word ‘chef’. You will teach more about these pronunciation variations later.
The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and log under’ and writes the grapheme ‘ch’ as
he/she says the phoneme /ch/.
ship, bash, fish, shop, sheet, hush, shed, rush, shell, mash, shall, dash, brush, shut, splash, push,
cash, short, dishes, fishes
Model how to say the /sh/ sound in the words above. Ask the learner to say all the sounds allthrough-the-words in all the lines. Can he/she ‘hear’ and say the target words? Note the schwa
effect in ‘dishes’ and ‘fishes’ where the ‘e’ sounds closer to /u/. In ‘push’ sound out the letter ‘u’
like /oo/ as in ‘foot’.
The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and log under’ and writes the grapheme ‘sh’ as
he/she says the phoneme /sh/.
Read and spell these words where the letter ‘e’ represents the long vowel sound /ee/: me, he,
be, we, she
thin, thick, bath, path, moth, thud, thump, think, pith, three, maths, tooth, things, thanks,
thrilling;
the, then, this, that, there, their, with, smooth
The words in the left column are pronounced with an unvoiced /th/ and the words in the right
column have a voiced /th/. Compare ‘pith’ with ‘with’ and ‘tooth’ with ‘smooth’. Once this slight
difference has been pointed out, the main teaching and learning aspect to focus on is the
tongue-between-teeth-and-lips position of /th/ in contrast to the top-teeth-on-bottom-lip position
to say the sounds /f/ and /v/. Ask the learner to say all the sounds all-through-the-words in all
the lines. Can he/she then ‘hear’ the target words independently?
The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and log under’ and writes the letters ‘th’, as
he/she says the sounds /th/ and /th/.
Note the difference in spelling between ‘there’ and ‘their’. To help remember when to use these
words, associate ‘there’ with ‘where’ and ‘here’; and associate ‘their’ with ‘their things’ (because
‘their’ is used in the context of ‘belonging to’). Grapheme ‘ere’ for the phonemes /air/ and /eer/
are taught in unit 6: where? here or there? their things
quit, queen, quack, quick, quiz, quins, quest, quiet, squid, squeal, squirrel
In English writing, the letter ‘q’ is always followed by the letter ‘u’. In the first instance, teach
the grapheme ‘qu’ as if it was one sound unit of /kw/ when really it is two sounds of /k/+/w/.
Treating ‘qu’ as /kw/ is helpful for both early reading and spelling purposes. Ask the learner to
words? In ‘quiet’ the letter ‘i’ and letter ‘e’ need to be sounded out separately and the ‘i’
sounded out in its long version as /igh/.
The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and log under’ and writes the letters ‘qu’ as
he/she says /kw/ as if it was one sound.
14
ou
5
ow
5
ou, ow
5
ow, ow
5
oi
5
oy
5
out, our, ouch, shout, pouch, mouth, south, cloud, proud, sound, found, hound, mound,
ground, mountain, fountain
Model how to say the sound /ou/ as in ‘mouth’. Ask the learner to say all the sounds allthrough-the-words in all the lines. Can he/she ‘hear’ and say the target words? Tweak the
pronunciation of the ‘ai’ in ‘mountain’ and ‘fountain’ to be closer to /u/ (schwa effect).
The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and log under’ and writes the grapheme ‘ou’ as
he/she says the phoneme /ou/.
The words ‘our’ and ‘hour’ are pronounced the same but have different meanings. We return to
our house. What hour of the day is it?
The words ‘your’ and ‘four’ have the same grapheme ‘our’ but they are pronounced as /or/. The
‘ou’ in ‘you’ is pronounced /oo/ as in ‘moon’. When is your birthday? Will you be four or five?
our, hour, your, four, you
owl, bow, cow, now, how, row, howl, down, town, gown, drown, brown, crown, towel, trowel,
frowning
The grapheme ‘ow’ has two main sounds as in ‘owl’ and ‘snow’. For this version model the
sound /ou/ as in ‘mouth’. Ask the learner to say all the sounds all-through-the-words in all the
lines. Can he/she ‘hear’ and say the target words? Tweak the pronunciation of the ‘e’ in ‘towel’
and ‘trowel’ to be closer to /u/ (schwa effect).
The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and log under’ and writes the grapheme ‘ow’ as
he/she says the phoneme /ou/.
out, shout, foul, mouth, crouch, sound, ground; owl, now, fowl, down, brown, growl, howling
‘hear’ the target words independently? Note the homophones ‘foul’ and ‘fowl’. Remind the
learner that words can sound the same but have different meanings. The different spelling can
indicate the meaning.
The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and log under’ and writes the graphemes ‘ou’, or
‘ow’, as he/she says the phoneme /ou/.
own, row, bow, slow, grow, crow, shown, flown; owl, row, bow, brow, frown, growl, howling
Remind the learner that the grapheme ‘ow’ can be pronounced /oa/ or /ou/. Ask the learner to
say all the sounds all-through-the-words in all the lines. Can he/she then ‘hear’ the target words
independently? Note the homophones ‘row’ and ‘row’, ‘bow’ and ‘bow’. Remind the learner
that words can have the same spellings but have different meanings. As the spelling is the same
in these homophone examples, the reader would need to know the context for pronouncing the
words correctly according to their meanings. The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and
log under’ and writes the letters ‘ow’, as he/she says the sound /oa/ for the first row and /ou/
for the second row.
oil, coin, foil, join, coil, soil, boils, joint, point, ‘oink’, spoil, ‘boing’, avoid, android, ointment,
joined, pointed
The sound /oi/ is represented by two graphemes ‘oi’ and ‘oy’. Ask the learner to say all the
sounds all-through-the-words in all the lines. Can he/she ‘hear’ and say the target words? Note
that ‘ed’ in ‘joined’ is pronounced /d/ and the ‘e’ in ‘pointed’ is pronounced closer to /u/
‘pointud’ (schwa effect).
The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and log under’ and writes the grapheme ‘oi’ as
he/she says the phoneme /oi/.
boy, toy, coy, joy, enjoy, ‘ship ahoy’, decoy, destroy, ploy, royal, oyster, employer, loyalty,
royalty, annoyed
The sound /oi/ is represented by two graphemes ‘oi’ and ‘oy’. Ask the learner to say all the
sounds all-through-the-words in all the lines. Can he/she ‘hear’ and say the target words? The
‘ed’ in ‘annoyed’ is pronounced /d/. Note the schwa /u/ effect in ‘royal’, ‘oyster’, ‘employer’,
‘loyalty’, ‘royalty’ and ‘annoyed’. In ‘decoy’ the ‘e’ is pronounced /ee/. In ‘destroy’ the ‘e’ is
pronounced closer to /i/ ‘distroy’.
The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and log under’ and writes the grapheme ‘oy’ as
he/she says the phoneme /oi/.
15
oi, oy
5
ue
5
-ue, -ue
5
er
5
ar
5
oil, coin, foil, soil, boil, join, spoil, avoid, android; boy, toy, joy, enjoy, annoy, destroy, royal
Model how to say the sound /oi/ as in ‘coin’. Ask the learner to say all the sounds all-throughthe-words in all the lines. Can he/she then ‘hear’ the target words independently? Note that,
generally, the grapheme ‘oi’ is used when /oi/ is the first or middle sound whilst the grapheme
‘oy’ is used when /oi/ is the end sound of the root word. Tweak the pronunciations of ‘destroy’
to ‘distroy’ and ‘royal’ to ‘royul’.
The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and log under’ and writes the graphemes ‘oi’ or
‘oy’ for the phoneme /oi/.
cue, hues, duel, muesli, rescue, argue, due, overdue, avenue, value, venue, undue, pursued,
statue, rescued, Tuesday, queue
The grapheme ‘ue’ in the word examples above really represents two sounds /y/+/oo/. In these
words, however, it is helpful to treat ‘ue’ as if it was one sound denoted as /ue/ (or /yoo/) for
both reading and spelling purposes. Ask the learner to say all the sounds all-through-the-words
in all the lines. Can he/she ‘hear’ and say the target words? Pronounce the ‘o’ in ‘overdue’ as
/oa/ and tweak the pronunciation of ‘er’ to /u/ (schwa effect). The grapheme ‘que’ in ‘queue’
represents the /k/ sound (taught in unit 11) so ‘queue’ sounds the same as ‘cue’.
The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and log under’, writes the grapheme ‘ue’ and says
/ue/ (yoo) and /oo/ - see /oo/ words below.
These are regular common words where the ‘ue’ grapheme represents the /oo/ sound. Draw
these to the attention of the learner: blue, glue, true, clue, Sue
cue, hue, fuel, argue, rescue, Tuesday, statue; blue, glue, true, clue, Sue, issue, tissue, accrue
Remind the learner that the grapheme ‘ue’ can be pronounced /ue/ (yoo) or /oo/. The reader
needs to be flexible when saying the sounds in an unknown word. Try /ue/ (yoo) first and if
that does not make sense of the word, try /oo/. Ask the learner to say all the sounds allthrough-the-words in all the lines. Can he/she then ‘hear’ the target words independently?
Most people would pronounce the ‘ss’ in ‘issue’ and ‘tissue’ as a /sh/ sound.
The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and log under’, writes the grapheme ‘ue’, and
says the sounds /ue/ (yoo) and then /oo/.
her, kerb, herbs, verb, herd, term, perky, perfect, hermit, permit, stern, thermal, serve, swerve;
sister, mixer, perfect, perform, hopper, slipper, jumper, joker, thermometer, temper, perhaps
The ‘er’ grapheme can represent a distinct sound as in ‘term’ or it can represent a less-distinct
sound closer to /u/ (schwa effect) as in ‘sister’. When reading, it is easy to sound out the ‘er’
grapheme in any word as the stronger /er/ sound and then tweak the pronunciation to /u/
where necessary. Spelling is not so easy and the speller needs to have some knowledge of the
words to be spelt. Ask the learner to say all the sounds all-through-the-words in all the lines.
Can he/she ‘hear’ and say the target words?
The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and log under’ and writes the grapheme ‘er’ as
he/she says /er/.
The words below are slightly tricky but very useful for early reading and writing. Draw
attention to the tricky parts: other, mother, brother, father, sister;
love, dove, above, shove, some, come, done
arm, car, far, jar, afar, cart, art, park, farm, dark, part, bark, harm, mark, tart, yard, hard,
lark, harp, charm, chart, shark, sharp, start, stark, alarm, garden, market, argue, sparkling
Model how to say the sound /ar/ as in ‘arm’. Ask the learner to say all the sounds all-throughthe-words in all the lines. Can he/she ‘hear’ and say the target words? Tweak pronunciation
where necessary.
The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and log under’ and writes the grapheme ‘ar’ as
he/she says /ar/.
The ‘a’ in ‘father’ is pronounced as /ar/. In some accents, words like ‘path’, ‘grass’ and ‘bath’
are pronounced with the /ar/ sound - “parth”: father, rather, lather, are
16
-ve
5
-ce
5
s, -ss, -ce
5
-ge
5
j, -ge
5
give, have, live, serve, shelve, carve, starve, twelve, sleeves, swerve, evolve, revolve, move,
valve, active, motive, groove
In English, the grapheme ‘ve’ represents the sound /v/ when this is the last sound of the root
word. Note that the ‘o’ in ‘move’ represents the /oo/ sound. Ask the learner to say all the
sounds all-through-the-words in all the lines. Can he/she ‘hear’ and say the target words?
The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and log under’ and writes the grapheme ‘ve’ as
he/she says /v/.
Revise these words where the letter ‘o’ represents the /u/ sound:
love, dove, glove, above, shove
fence, mince, dance, pence, force, voice, choice, fleeces, prince, chance, trance, palace, pounce,
bounces, advanced
In these words, the grapheme ‘ce’ respresents the sound /s/. This is often referred to as ‘soft c’
(letter name - ‘see’). In plural words such as ‘fleeces’ the ‘e’ is pronounced as an /u/ (schwa
effect). Ask the learner to say all the sounds all-through-the-words in all the lines. Can he/she
‘hear’ and say the target words?
The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and log under’ and writes the grapheme ‘ce’ as
he/she says /s/.
These are very unusual words and it is helpful to learn them together. They are pronounced
‘wons’ and ‘won’. Tell the learner to imagine a ‘w’ at the beginning of the words when reading
them: once, one
sunset, soft, soil, slippers; fuss, pass, glass, ass, dressing; fence, prince, palaces
The learner now knows three ways of representing the sound /s/. Spellings never begin with
double ‘ss’. Pronounce the ‘e’ as /u/ (schwa effect) in plural words like ‘palaces’. Ask the learner
to say all the sounds all-through-the-words in all the lines. Can he/she ‘hear’ and say the target
words?
The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and log under’ and practises writing the
graphemes ‘s’, ‘ss’ and ‘ce’ whilst saying /s/.
forge, hinge, large, barge, twinge, damage, garages, packages, baggage, savage, manage,
rummaged, cabbage
In these words, the grapheme ‘ge’ respresents the sound /j/. This is often referred to as ‘soft g’
(letter name - ‘jee’). No word ending with the sound /j/ is ever spelt with the letter ‘j’. In plural
words such as ‘packages’ the ‘e’ is pronounced as an /u/ (schwa effect). Tweak the
pronunciation of ‘-age’ according to regional accent. Ask the learner to say all the sounds allthrough-the-words in all the lines. Can he/she ‘hear’ and say the target words?
The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and log under’ and writes the grapheme ‘ge’ as
he/she says /j/.
jet, jut, jog, jam, jump, just, jolly, jester, jaguar; hinge, large, damage, savage, garage,
manage
Words which end with the sound /j/ never end with the letter ‘j’. Words which begin with the
sound /j/ can start with the letter ‘j’ or letter ‘g’ followed by letter ‘e’, ‘i’ or ‘y’. This will be
taught later (in unit 6). Pronounce the letter ‘u’ in ‘jaguar’ in its long version /ue/ (yoo). Ask the
learner to say all the sounds all-through-the-words in all the lines. Can he/she then ‘hear’ the
target words independently?
The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and log under’ and writes the grapheme ‘j’, or
grapheme ‘ge’, as he/she says the phoneme /j/.
17
-se
5
y, y, y
5
ce, ci, cy
6
ge, gi, gy
6
sense, tense, horse, morse, gorse, house, mouse, louse, grouse, expense, intense, immense,
nurses, purses
In these words, the grapheme ‘se’ respresents the sound /s/. In plural words such as ‘nurses’ the
‘e’ is pronounced as an /u/ (schwa effect). Pronounce the ‘ur’ in ‘nurses’ and ‘purses’ as the ‘er’
in ‘herbs’. Ask the learner to say all the sounds all-through-the-words in all the lines. Can he/she
‘hear’ and say the target words?
The learner holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and log under’ and writes the grapheme ‘se’ as
he/she says the phoneme /s/.
Teach that the plural of ‘mouse’ is ‘mice’ and the plural of ‘louse’ is ‘lice’. Revise the spelling
pattern of ‘your’ and ‘four’ and note that you can see this same pattern in ‘of course’ (‘our’
taught in unit 7): mouse, mice, louse, lice, your, four, of course
yes, yet, yellow, yesterday; my, by, shy, cry, try, dry; sunny, rainy, happily
The left column provides word examples of the letter ‘y’ representing a consonant phoneme.
The other two columns provide word examples where the letter ‘y’ represents vowel phonemes.
The ‘y’ in the words in the right column is pronounced as a sound between an /i/ and an /ee/.
The letter ‘y’ is pronounced as the long sound /igh/ in the middle column. The interchangeable
relationship between the letters and sounds of ‘i’ and ‘y’ in The Alphabetic Code should be
noted. In unit 9, letter ‘y’ is also taught as code for /i/. Ask the learner to say all the sounds allthrough-the-words in all the lines. Can he/she ‘hear’ and say the target words? The learner
holds the pencil with ‘froggy legs and log under’ and practises writing the letter ‘y’ whilst
remembering that it represents the sounds as in the key words of ‘yes, my mummy’.
Remember that when the letter ‘y’ appears at the end of a word, it is not going to represent its
consonant sound. When reading the end of a word, try the /igh/ or the /i-ee/ sounds.
cellar, ice, certain, cedar, cent, December; city, circus, cinema, decide, Cinderella; cygnet,
cycle, lacy, spicy, Cyclops
The letters ‘e’ or ‘i’ or ‘y’ following a letter ‘c’ alert the reader to pronounce the letter ‘c’ as the
sound /s/. The letters ‘e’ or ‘i’ can stand alone to represent a vowel phoneme (cell) or be part of
a letter combination which represents a vowel phoneme (circus). In ‘ice’ and ‘decide’ the split
digraph ‘i-e’ represents the /igh/ sound. In ‘certain’ pronounce the grapheme ‘ai’ close to /u/
(schwa effect). Say the underlined letters as their long vowel sound. Tweak other pronunciations
as necessary. Ask the learner to say all the sounds all-through-the-words in all the lines. Can
he/she ‘hear’ and say the target words?
The learner holds the pencil correctly with the tripod grip and practises writing the words below
whilst saying the words.
Words on additional sheet: /s/ once, dance, prince, peaceful, force, voice, choice, bounce,
chance, menace; ice, celebrate, certain, cedar, cent, December, certificate, century, cemetery,
celery; city, circus, circle, circular, decide, citrus fruit, docile, citizen, circumstances,
circumference; cymbal, life-cycle, bicycle, fancy, policy, literacy, numeracy, cylinder, vacancy,
secrecy
gem, germ, gentle, genius, gerbil; giant, gin, giraffe, ginger, giblets; gym, energy, allergy,
gyrate
The letters ‘e’ or ‘i’ or ‘y’ following a letter ‘g’ alert the reader to consider whether the letter ‘g’
represents the sound /j/ or /g/ in that particular word. The letters ‘e’ or ‘i’ can stand alone to
represent a vowel phoneme (gem) or be part of a letter combination which represents a vowel
phoneme (germ). In ‘gyrate’ the split digraph ‘a-e’ represents the /ai/ sound. Pronounce the ‘le’
in ‘gentle’ close to /ul/ (schwa effect). The single letters which represent long vowel sounds are
underlined. Tweak other pronunciations as necessary. Ask the learner to say all the sounds allthrough-the-words in all the lines. Can he/she ‘hear’ and say the target words?
The learner holds the pencil correctly with the tripod grip and practises writing the words below
whilst saying the words.
Words on additional sheet: /j/ large, range, emerge, arrange, advantage, change, postage,
lounge, challenge, lozenge; gentle, gently, general, gemstone, genius, genuine, germ, germinate,
generous, geography; origin, original, tragic, logical, magic, fragile, margin, surgical, digit,
imagine; bulgy, dingy, allergy, gymnastics, spongy, apology, ecology, energy, stingy, strategy
18
o, oe
6
‘o’ ‘oes’
6
ie, i-e
6
ee, e-e
6
[continued...]
no, go, go(es), so, also, judo, bingo, Pluto, banjo(s), bravo(s), piano(s), hello(s), radio(s), disco(s),
tomato(es), potato(es), echo(es), mango(es), hero(es), domino(es); hoe, doe, roe, woe, oboe, toe,
foes, woes, sloe, tiptoe, tiptoes, tiptoed, toptoeing, in the throes of….
Compare the words in the left ‘o’ column. Note that a letter ‘s’ is added to make the plural
words such as ‘banjos’ and ‘pianos’. In other words where the singular word ends in ‘o’, the
grapheme ‘es’ is added to make the plural words. The learner needs to group the words
together to become familiar with the singular and plural versions. In addition, the learner needs
to recall which words ending with the sound /oa/ are spelt with the ‘oe’ grapheme for the
singular word as in the right column. Ask the learner to say all the sounds all-through-thewords in all the lines. Can he/she ‘hear’ and say the target words?
so, no, go, to, do, who; goes, does, shoes
Here are some very common words to note. The three words in the right column all have the
same spelling pattern but are pronounced very differently. It is worth noting the different
pronunciations for these words.
pie, lie, die, tie; pipe, lime, dine, tide
Readers need to be alert to noticing two single vowel letters split by a single consonant letter.
This configuration of letters might indicate that the word needs to be pronounced with the long
vowel sound of the first vowel letter. The two split vowel letters, in effect, work in conjunction
so there is no need to pronounce any sound for the final ‘e’. In longer words, however, the final
‘e’ might be part of another grapheme such as the ‘er’ in ‘piper’. Whilst traditionally teachers
referred to the split digraph configuration as ‘magic e’ highlighting the final letter ‘e’, it is
actually any two single vowel letters which may work in conjunction to indicate that the first
vowel letter might represent its long vowel sound. Examples of this are the words ‘making’ and
‘baby’. Introduce the split digraph concept only through simple words as above at first.
Ask the learner to say all the sounds all-through-the-words in all the lines. When finger-tracking
the sounds under the word, point to the split digraph letters at the same time, with the index
and middle fingers, indicating that the split vowel letters are working together. End by pointing
to, and saying, the final consonant letter-sound correspondence, for example the ‘d’ in ‘tide’.
The learner holds the pencil correctly with the tripod grip and writes the words below whilst
saying the word being written.
Further examples: fine, hide, mine, white, twice, spine, crime, bikes, wipes, lines
Words on additional sheet: /igh/ I, I’m, mind, find, minus, wild, child, hind legs, behind, kind,
my, why, fly, by, try, drying, fryer, July, style, shyly, dye, goodbye; sight, high, lighten,
lightning, night, tightly, sigh, sighed, thigh, tightened; tie, ties, tied, cries, cried, flies, fried, die,
dies, died, dries, replies, mince-pies, shied away, tries, tried, lie, lies, lied, horrified; time, like,
hide, mice, side, outside, mime, wiped, lime green, wine, whine
bee, see, three, trees; eve, swede, theme, scenes
‘e’ might be part of another grapheme such as the ‘er’ in ‘scenery’. Whilst traditionally teachers
vowel letter might represent its long vowel sound. Examples of this are the words ‘competing’
and ‘scenic’. [Note: The split digraph ‘e-e’ mostly appears in multi-syllable words.] Pronounce ‘sc’
in ‘scenes’ as the /s/ sound.
to, and saying, the final consonant letter-sound correspondence, for example the ‘d’ in ‘swede’.
Further examples: compete, complete, centipede, stampede, Chinese
19
6
oe, o-e
6
ae, a-e
6
Words on additional sheet: /ee/ me, be, he, we, she, emu, emerge, behave, equal, easy, easily,
funnily, risky, key, donkey, monkey, money; see, seen, free, freely, steel, need, noble steed,
heed me well, feet, creep, greedy, deep, bleeper, seek, weeds, seems, steep, steeply; eat, feast,
meat, peas, steaming hot, peaches, cream treat, dreamer, bleached, reach, seams, beaming;
scene, evening, theme, swede, extreme, supreme, compete, completely, stampede, centipede
toe, hoe, doe, woe; tone, hope, dome, woke
‘e’ might be part of another grapheme such as the ‘er’ in ‘joker’. Whilst traditionally teachers
vowel letter might represent its long vowel sound. Examples of this are the words ‘hoping’ and
‘stony’. Introduce the split digraph concept only through simple words as above at first.
to, and saying, the final consonant letter-sound correspondence, for example the ‘p’ in ‘hope’.
Further examples: bone, home, rope, code, rode, stone, slope, alone, throne, telescope
Words on additional sheet: /oa/ no, so, also, go, ago, old, gold, fold, hold, told, bold, post,
most, bony, pony, only, hello, tomato, potato; oak, oats, coat, cloak, boat, float, soap, foam,
soak, hoax, goat, toad, road, moat, moan, groan, roast, toast, boast, throat; own, owner, row,
grow, sow (seeds), mow (grass), snow, flows, slow, glowed, show, throw, blow, bowl, low,
lower, stowaway; toe, hoe, foe, woe, oboe, home, hole, bone, stone, rope, hope, slope, lobe,
globe, probe, poke, smoke, rode, alone, abode, cope
sundae, reggae, Gaelic, Rae, Mae; name, same, made, cake
The grapheme ‘ae’ representing the /ai/ sound is rarely used in the English Alphabetic Code.
‘e’ might be part of another grapheme such as the ‘er’ in ‘baker’. Whilst traditionally teachers
vowel letter might represent its long vowel sound. Examples of this are the words ‘making’ and
‘baby’.
to, and saying, the final consonant letter-sound correspondence, for example the ‘m’ in ‘name’.
Further examples: make, tape, late, shame, shake, shade, blame, place, grapes, scraped
Words on additional sheet: /ai/ able, table, cable, range, danger, ladle, waste, paste, main,
claim, grain, plains, painter, stain, tainted, snail, sprained, aim, explain, drain; Monday,
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, layers, players, swaying; sundae,
Gaelic, reggae, name, date, place, make, made, race, graceful, pace, shame, blame, daze,
amazed; shaking, naming, dating, spacing, chasing, baby, lady, shady, hazy, crazy
20
ue, u-e
6
air
6
are
6
ear
6
cue, due, rescue, statue; true, glue, clue, blue; cute, tube, refuse; rule, flute, salute
‘e’ might be part of another grapheme such as the ‘er’ in ‘ruler’. Whilst traditionally teachers
vowel letter might represent its long vowel sound. Examples of this are the words ‘amusing’ and
‘saluting’.
When reading words with the grapheme ‘ue’ or ‘u-e’, the reader needs to decide which sound
the grapheme represents. If necessary, the reader may have to try the “yoo” sound and if that
does not make a real word, then try the alternative “oo” sound.
to, and saying, the final consonant letter-sound correspondence, for example the ‘b’ in ‘tube’.
Read the following words and write them in the “yoo” column or the “oo” column according to
how they are pronounced: hues, true, overdue, blue, flutes, tubes, duke, undue, clues, cute, rule,
tune, amused, cubes
Words on additional sheet: /yoo/ and /oo/ unit, uniform, unicorn, union, unite, unicycle,
Uranus, unisex, unison, unusual; cue, rescue, barbecue, overdue, statue, muesli; blue, true,
clues, glue, misconstrue, gruesome; cute, resume, tube, mule, assume, consume, acute, obtuse;
rule, flute, chute, salute, pollute, parachute; refusing, amusing, disputing, tuning fork, fuming;
pruning, ruling, saluting, polluting, parachuting
air, fair, hair, pair, chair, dairy, stairs, flair, éclair, fairy, hairy, despair, repair
The sound /air/ is represented by several graphemes such as ‘air’, ‘are’, ‘ear’ and ‘ere’. It is
important, therefore, that the learner is helped to find ways to recall which words are spelt
with which grapheme. Spend time to learn the meanings of these words and how to associate
this group of words together, for example through their use in a silly story. Ask the learner to
words?
The learner holds the pencil correctly and writes the grapheme ‘air’ as he/she says /air/.
bare, fare, hare, mare, wares, share, glare, scared, declare, stares, scarecrow, aware, flare
words?
The learner holds the pencil correctly and copies the sentence below. Note that the word ‘are’ is
the same spelling as the grapheme ‘are’.
bear, pear, tear, wear, wears, swear, bearer, unbearable, footwear, underwear, tearing
words?
21
ere
6
/air/
6
eer
6
ear
6
ere
6
ier
6
there, where, nowhere, therefore, everywhere, anywhere, werewolf, premiere
words? Pronounce the ‘a’ in ‘anywhere’ as the sound /e/ and the ‘o’ in ‘werewolf’ as the sound
/u/.
The learner holds the pencil correctly and copies the sentence below.
-air hair, fair, pair, flair, stairs; -are hare, fare, bare, wares, stares, flare;
-ear bear, pear, wears; -ere where, there; their
The sound /air/ is represented by several graphemes such as ‘air’, ‘are’, ‘ear’ and ‘ere’. This
results in a number of words which are pronounced the same but which have different
meanings. These are called homophones. Draw lines to join up the homophones above and talk
about what each word means. Say each word in a sentence, for example: “The pear was very
good to eat” and “I wore my best pair of gloves.”
Words on additional sheet: /air/ fairness, unfairly, staircase, disrepair, repairman, chairlift,
hairiness, hairless, airsickness, millionaire; care, careful, dare, dared, spare, barely, rarely,
square, compare, fanfare, prepare, unaware; polar bear, tears, wearer, wearing, wearable,
bearable, unbearable, swimwear, sportswear, bugbear; there, where, whereas, whereby,
wherever, somewhere, wherefore, wherewithal, whereabouts, thereupon
deer, beer, steer, sneer, cheer, cheerful, career, engineer, sheer, volunteer, mountaineer
The sound /eer/ is represented by several graphemes such as ‘eer’, ‘ear’, ‘ere’ and ‘ier’. It is
words? Pronounce the ‘ai’ in ‘mountaineer’ closer to /u/ (schwa effect).
The learner holds the pencil correctly and writes the grapheme ‘eer’ as he/she says /eer/.
ear, hear, fear, dear, near, year, appear, shears, clear, spear, nearly, tears, tearful
words?
The learner holds the pencil correctly and writes the grapheme ‘ear’ as he/she says /eer/.
here, mere, sphere, adhere, interfere, atmosphere, merely, persevere, sincerely, hemisphere
words? The ‘ph’ grapheme represents the /f/ sound (taught in unit 8).
The learner holds the pencil correctly and writes the grapheme ‘ere’ as he/she says /eer/.
tier, pier, fierce, skier, pierce, cashier, cavalier, chandelier, skiers, frontier, piercing, fiercely
words? The ‘ch’ grapheme in ‘chandelier’ is pronounced /sh/. The ‘o’ grapheme in ‘frontier’ is
pronounced /u/.
The learner holds the pencil correctly and writes the grapheme ‘ier’ as
he/she says /eer/.
22
/eer/
6
ir
6
ur
6
ear
6
/er/
6
wor
6
[continued...]
-eer deer, peer, sheer; -ear dear, tear, hear, shear; -ere here; -ier tier, pier
The sound /eer/ is represented by several graphemes such as ‘eer’, ‘ear’, ‘ere’ and ‘ier’. This
results in a number of words which are pronounced the same but which have different
meanings. These are called homophones. Draw lines to join up the homophones above and talk
about what each word means. Say each word in a sentence, for example: “The deer ran very
quickly” and “I wrote to my dear friend.”
Words on additional sheet: /eer/ eerie, eerily, jeer, veneer, pioneer, seersucker, overseer,
deerskin, veer, steering, mutineer; fearful, gears, rear, yearly, weary, clearance, dearly, dreary,
arrears, earring; hereby, hereafter, severe, severely, sincere, cashmere, biosphere, troposphere,
cohere, revere; tiers, pier, pierced, piercingly, cavaliers, gondolier, fierceness, cashier, fiercely,
frontiers
sir, girl, dirt, fir trees, bird, stir, first, shirt, skirt, birth, dirty, third, thirteen, thirty, thirsty,
birthday, squirted
The sound /er/ as in ‘fern’ is represented by several graphemes including ‘er’, ‘ir’, ‘ur’ and ‘ear’.
It is important, therefore, that the learner is helped to find ways to recall which words are spelt
words?
The learner holds the pencil correctly and writes the grapheme ‘ir’ as he/she says /er/.
fur, hurt, burn, burnt, curls, surf, nurse, purse, burst, burger, burglar, church, murder, lurks,
murky, murmur, spurs, spurned, surly, surgery, surname, unfurl
It is important, therefore, that the learner is helped to find ways to recall which words are spelt
words?
The learner holds the pencil correctly and writes the grapheme ‘ur’ as he/she says /er/.
earn, earth, early, learn, pearls, earl, heard, search, earthquake, earnings, rehearsal, research
The sound /er/ as in ‘fern’ is represented by several graphemes including ‘er’, ‘ir’, ‘ur’, ‘ear’ and
‘wor’. It is important, therefore, that the learner is helped to find ways to recall which words
are spelt with which grapheme. Spend time to learn the meanings of these words and how to
associate this group of words together, for example through their use in a silly story. Ask the
learner to say all the sounds
all-through-the-words in all the lines. Can he/she ‘hear’ and say the target words?
The learner holds the pencil correctly and writes the grapheme ‘ear’ as he/she says /er/.
-er her, fern, germ, terms, hermit, herd, certain, herbs, berth, perfect; -ir sir, girl, bird, firm,
dirty, birth, first, shirt, skirt, third, thirsty; -ur fur, hurt, turn, burnt, curls, burst, nurse, purse,
church, burglar; -ear earn, learn, pearl, early, earth, heard, search, rehearsal
Say as many /er/ words as you can in a sentence, for example: “Her skirt was very dirty” and
“Check for your purses and search for the burglar.”
worm, work, words, worst, worth, worse, world, worship, worthy, working, workshop,
worldwide, worthwhile, worthless
In the word examples above, the grapheme ‘or’ represents the /er/ sound but note that this is
only the case when following the letter ‘w’. It is important, therefore, that the learner is helped
to find ways to recall which words are spelt with which grapheme. Spend time to learn the
meanings of these words and how to associate this group of words together, for example
through their use in a silly story. Ask the learner to say all the sounds all-through-the-words in
The learner holds the pencil correctly and writes the grapheme ‘wor’ as he/she says “wer”
(/w/+/er/).
23
6
er, our
6
-re
6
-er
6
-le
7
-il
7
-al
7
Words on additional sheet: /er/ nerves, verse, expert, advert, person, vermin, deserve,
emergency, service, observe, superb; stir, girth, quirky, skirt, confirm, girder, squirm, virtual,
whirlpool, swirling, firmly; urgent, curve, occur, murmur, purple, return, further, disturb, u-turn,
turf, burden; yearning, pearly, learner, unheard-of, searchlight, unearth, earnest, earthwork,
dearth, earthling, earthenware; rework, worker, worsen, workman, bookworm, password,
clockwork, seaworthy, framework, earthworm, homework
sister, brother, perfect, perform, temper, perhaps, thermometer; colour, rumour, favour,
humour, savour, flavour, honour, glamour
In the words above, the graphemes ‘er’ and ‘our’ may be pronounced as /er/ but then need to
be tweaked closer to /u/ (schwa effect). It is important that the learner is helped to find ways to
recall which words are spelt with which grapheme. Spend time to learn the meanings of these
words and how to associate the words in each group; for example, through their use in a silly
story. Ask the learner to say all the sounds all-through-the-words in all the lines. Can he/she
‘hear’ and say the target words? Pronounce the ‘o’ in ‘brother’ and ‘colour’ as /u/.
The learner holds the pencil correctly and writes the grapheme ‘er’ and ‘our’ as he/she says /er/.
centre, metre, litre, acre, ogre, fibre, timbre, theatre, millimetre, centimetre, kilometre, millilitre,
centres, litres, metres
In the words above, the grapheme ‘re’ may be pronounced as /er/ and tweaked to /u/ (schwa
effect) or taught directly as /u/. The words above may be spelled with the ‘er’ grapheme in
some countries. It is important that the learner is helped to find ways to recall which words are
spelt with which grapheme. Spend time to learn the meanings of these words and how to
associate the words in each group; for example, through their use in a silly story. Ask the
learner to say all the sounds all-through-the-words in all the lines. Can he/she ‘hear’ and say
the target words? This grapheme is revisited in unit 12.
The learner holds the pencil correctly and writes the grapheme ‘re’ as he/she says /er/ or /u/.
[The teacher is left to complete this word list.]
In the words above, the grapheme ‘er’ may be pronounced as /er/ and tweaked to /u/ (schwa
effect) or taught directly as /u/. The words above may be spelled with the ‘re’ grapheme in
some countries. It is important that the learner is helped to find ways to recall which words are
spelt with which grapheme. Spend time to learn the meanings of these words and how to
associate the words in each group; for example, through their use in a silly story. Ask the
learner to say all the sounds all-through-the-words in all the lines. Can he/she ‘hear’ and say
the target words? This grapheme is revisited in unit 12.
The learner holds the pencil correctly and writes the grapheme ………….. as he/she says /er/ or /u/.
Words on additional sheet: schwa ‘u’ to perfect, to permit, performance, undergrowth,
thunderbolt, supermarket, partnership, hibernate, caterpillar, thermometer; colour, odour,
favour, labour, glamour, armour, savour, rumour, honour; centre, metre, litre, acre, fibre,
centimetre, kilometre, theatre, mediocre, ogre [-er is left for the teacher to fill in.]
little, able, table, cattle, bottle, middle, paddle, muddle, tickle, puddle, kettle, trickle, hackles,
sparkles, tackle, pickles, niggle
effect). These include the graphemes ‘le’, ‘il’, ‘al’ and ‘el’. The ‘le’ variation was introduced in
unit 2 during the ‘simple code’ stage and is revised here.
Sound out and blend these words.
pupil, pencil, evil, April, anvil, basil, weevil, civil, nostrils, stencils, utensils, vigil, fossil, lentils,
tonsils
effect). These include the graphemes ‘le’, ‘il’, ‘al’ and ‘el’. Sound out and blend these words.
animal, final, signal, equal, several, horizontal, virtual, general, decimal, vertical, hospital,
capital, manual
24
-el
7
aw
7
au
7
al
7
oar
7
-oor
7
ore
7
-our
7
label, camel, panel, towel, parcel, tunnel, kennels, travel, travelling, traveller, jewel, jewellery,
flannel
Note that the final letter ‘l’ of the root word is usually doubled in England (see ‘travelling’) but
not in the United States; for example, ‘jewelry’ and ‘traveling’.
Words on additional sheet: “ul” single, circle, title, example, fable, possible, gentle, apple, cycle,
jungle; April, pupil, pencil, evil, nostril, basil, utensil, stencil, anvil, weevil; animal, final, signal,
equal, several, horizontal, vertical, general, decimal, virtual; label, camel, panel, kennel, parcel,
towel, tunnel, travel, jewel, flannel
saw, jaw, paws, claws, draw, thaw, flaw, lawn, hawk, dawning, prawns, straw, strawberries,
tawny owl, coleslaw, hawthorn, drawers, “squawk”
There are many graphemes which represent the /or/ phoneme (or /aw/ phoneme). In unit 3,
grapheme ‘or’ was introduced as code for /or/. Revise this. Now formally introduce the ‘aw’
grapheme above and, if preferred, use the notation /aw/ to symbolize the sound in the words
above rather than /or/. In some regions and countries, the ‘r’ is pronounced in words like
‘storm’ (an ‘r-controlled’ vowel) and so the /or/ symbol may not be considered accurate for
indicating the sound in the words above. Teachers need to make these decisions about the way
words are pronounced in their region and how they notate the phoneme.
Sound out and blend the words above.
sauce, saucer, haul, haunt, pause, author, applause, launch, haunches, automatic, astronaut,
August, autumn, Santa Claus, automobile, audience
There are many graphemes which represent the /or/ sound. Sound out and blend these words
with the ‘au’ grapheme. Note the ‘mn’ grapheme in ‘autumn’ which is pronounced /m/. Another
word with this unusual grapheme is ‘hymn’ (taught in unit 12).
walk, talk, chalk, stalk, all, call, ball, hall, fall, stall, talking, walking, tallest, smallest, falling,
calling, called, stalled
There are many graphemes which represent the /or/ sound. Sound out and blend these words
with the ‘al’ grapheme.
Take note of these words where the ‘al’ letters represent the two sounds /or/+/l/:
also, almost, always, altogether
Words on additional sheet: /or/ for, fork, port, fort, horns, torch, storm, thorns, morning, sport;
saw, jaw, paws, lawn, dawn, hawk, draw, drawers, claws, awful; sauce, saucer, haul, haunt,
pause, author, applaud, launch, automatic, August; all, call, ball, walk, talk, chalk, stalk,
talking, tallest, smaller
oar, soar, roar, boar, board, hoard, coarse, aboard, hoarse, overboard, keyboard, roaring,
floorboards, whiteboard
There are many graphemes which represent the /or/ (or /aw/) sound. Sound out and blend
these words with the ‘oar’ grapheme.
/or/ door, floor, flooring, indoors, outdoors; /oo+r/ poor, moor, spoors, poorly, mooring
There are many graphemes which represent the /or/ sound. Some people pronounce the words
in the right column closer to long /oo/ + /r/. Sound out and blend these words with the ‘oor’
grapheme.
ore, more, core, sore, tore, bored, chores, shore, snore, before, explore, adore, galore, ignore,
score, pinafore, sycamore, therefore, furthermore, restore, omnivore, herbivore, carnivore
these words with the ‘ore’ grapheme.
your, four, pour, court, fourth, mourn, mourning, downpour, resources, of course, yours truly
these words with the ‘our’ grapheme.
Words on additional sheet: /or/ oar, soar, roar, boar, board, hoard, aboard, hoarse, overboard,
floorboards; door, poor, moor, floor, spoor, poorly, flooring, indoors, outdoors, mooring; more,
core, bored, snore, score, shore, adore, galore, ignore, before; your, four, pour, court, fourth,
mourn, downpour, resources, of course, yours truly
25
-tch
7
ch, -tch
7
-dge
7
-ge, -dge
7
itch, itches, hatch, hatching, batch, pitch, latch, ditches, ditched, clutch, mismatch, snatched,
watch, stretcher
Revise the ‘ch’ grapheme when it represents the /ch/ sound. The grapheme ‘tch’ is another way
to represent the /ch/ sound.
1) Generally, the grapheme ‘ch’ follows long vowel sounds (bleach, pooch, reaches) but there
are some common words with short vowels which end in ‘ch’ and need to be especially noted;
‘rich’, ‘which’, ‘such’, ‘much’. Note also the word ‘touch’ which is pronounced with a short vowel
sound as the grapheme ‘ou’ represents the /u/ sound in this word. The grapheme ‘ch’ also
follows consonants such as ‘mulch’, ‘wrench’, ‘pinch’.
2) The grapheme ‘tch’ indicates a preceding short vowel sound as in ‘witch’, ‘fetch’, ‘thatch’,
‘notch’. Words are never written with the ‘tch’ grapheme at the beginning. The letter ‘a’ in
‘watch’ is pronounced /o/ (taught in unit 8).
chin, munch, chair, chat, poach, church, reach, chase, beach; match, fetch, catch, witch,
switch, hutch, stitches, kitchen
The graphemes ‘ch’ and ‘tch’ both represent the /ch/ sound. Revise the ‘ch’ grapheme.
1) Generally, the grapheme ‘ch’ follows long vowel sounds (bleach, pooch, reaches) but there
are some common words with short vowels which end in ‘ch’ and need to be especially noted;
‘rich’, ‘which’, ‘such’, ‘much’. The grapheme ‘ch’ also follows consonants such as ‘mulch’,
‘wrench’, ‘pinch’.
2) The grapheme ‘tch’ indicates a preceding short vowel sound as in ‘witch’, ‘fetch’, ‘thatch’,
‘notch’. Words are never written with the ‘tch’ grapheme at the beginning.
Remember these common words which do not follow the general pattern for the ‘ch’ grapheme:
rich, which, such, much
Words on additional sheet: /ch/ cherry, cherries, reach, cherish, churlish, champion, purchase,
crunched, winch; Dutch, notch, clutch, etchings, last-ditch, crutches, ketchup, thatch
fudge, cadge, ridge, sledge, pledged, smudged, drudgery, cartridges, porridge, midges,
begrudge, knowledge, edges
The grapheme ‘dge’ is another way of representing the /j/ sound. It indicates a preceding short
vowel sound as in ‘sledge’, ‘fudge’, ‘midges’, ‘cadge’. Words are never written with the ‘dge’
grapheme at the beginning.
The letter ‘e’ in ‘dge’ can also be re-used for other letter/s-sound correspondences as in
‘drudgery’ and ‘cartridges’.
large, baggage, age, page, damage, twinge, cabbages; edge, hedge, badge, judge, dodge,
fridge, smudges, lodger
The graphemes ‘ge’ and ‘dge’ both represent the /j/ sound. Revise the ‘ge’ grapheme (unit 5).
1) Generally, the grapheme ‘ge’ follows long vowel sounds (large), consonant letters (twinge)
and letter ‘a’ in two-syllable words like ‘baggage’ where the end of the word when spoken
sounds more like short vowel ‘ige’ (baggage is pronounced “bagg-ige”; cabbage is pronounced
“cabb-ige”).
2) The grapheme ‘dge’ indicates a preceding short vowel sound as in ‘hedge’, ‘fudge’, ‘fridge’,
‘bridge’. Words are never written with the ‘dge’ grapheme at the beginning.
Words on additional sheet: /j/ just, jest, jester, jovial, jealous, ajar, January, jacket, jackdaw,
joint, junior; germinate, giraffe, gymnasium, gentleman, giant, gyroscope, urgent, fragile,
biology, merger; plunge, sponge, range, strange, garage, village, forge ahead, orange, fringe,
wage; ledge, nudge, wedges, dredge, sludge, grudge, dislodge, partridge, footbridge, misjudge
26
x
x
“ks”
7
“gz”
kn
7
wr
7
-mb
7
sc
7
box, foxes, vixen, sixty, explain, extra, excuse, expect, expand, exercise, excite, excitement,
extinct, expert, export, express, extraordinary; exam, example, exert, exerted, exotic, exit,
exact, exactly, exist, existence, exhaust, exhausting, exhausted, exhibit (exhibition)
There is a slight variation of pronunciation for the letter ‘x’. Remember that this is an unusual
grapheme in that it is a single letter representing two identifiable phonemes (sounds). Point out
to the learner that when reading words with the letter ‘x’, simply tweak the pronunciation as
necessary. For spelling purposes, the learner needs to become familiar with the written words
as some words may NOT be spelt with an ‘x’ despite identifying the sounds “ks” and “gz” such
as ‘books’ and ‘eggs’.
Do not pronounce the ‘a’ in ‘extraordinary’ but remember it can help with spelling (extra ordinary)!
Pronounce the ‘ti’ as /sh/ in ‘exhibition’ (taught in unit 8) and note that the ‘x’ is pronounced
“ks” and not “gz”.
Do not pronounce the ‘h’ in the words above.
knee, kneel, knelt, knot, know, knowledge, knuckle, knit, knight, knife, knock
There are several unusual digraphs which traditionally have been referred to as if the words
had ‘silent letters’ - for example, the ‘k’ in ‘knit’. Increasingly, however, the concept of the
‘silent letter’ is being replaced by the understanding that the digraph (two letters together)
simply represents one sound (phoneme); that is, the ‘kn’ in ‘knit’ represents the /n/ sound.
Sound out and blend these words and regard the ‘kn’ grapheme as representing the /n/ sound.
See ‘kn’ and say /n/.
Pronounce the ‘ow’ in ‘knowledge’ as /o/.
wrap, wren, wreck, wrist, wring, wrinkle, wriggle, wrong, wrestle, wrapping, write, writing,
written
had ‘silent letters’ - for example, the ‘w’ in ‘wrap’. Increasingly, however, the concept of the
simply represents one sound (phoneme); that is, the ‘wr’ in ‘wrap’ represents the /r/ sound.
Sound out and blend these words and regard the ‘wr’ grapheme as representing the /r/ sound.
See ‘wr’ and say /r/.
Pronounce the ‘st’ in ‘wrestle’ as /s/ (taught in unit 8).
Note these words similar to ‘wrestle’ where the ‘t’ is not pronounced as the grapheme ‘st’
represents /s/: castle, whistle, rustle, nestle
lamb, limb, numb, bomb, dumb, thumb, succumb, climb, climbing, tomb, womb, plumber, comb,
honeycomb
had ‘silent letters’ - for example, the ‘b’ in ‘lamb’. Increasingly, however, the concept of the
simply represents one sound (phoneme); that is, the ‘mb’ in ‘lamb’ represents the /m/ sound.
Sound out and blend these words and regard the ‘mb’ grapheme as representing the /m/ sound.
See ‘mb’ and say /m/.
Pronounce the ‘o’ in ‘tomb’ and ‘womb’ as /oo/ (taught in unit 10).
scent, scissors, scythe, scene, scenic, scenery, science, scientist
Note in the words above that, in effect, a ‘soft c’ follows the letter ‘s’. This means that the
letters ‘e’, ‘i’ and ‘y’ alert the reader to pronounce the preceding letter ‘c’ as /s/. In contrast, in
words where ‘sc’ is followed by an ‘a’, ‘o’ or ‘u’, both the ‘s’ and ‘c’ are pronounced separately
(scatter, scope, scullery).
Sound out and blend these words and pronounce the ‘sc’ as /s/.
27
gu
7
bu
7
ch
7
rh
7
sh, ch
8
-ti
-ci
8
8
guess, guest, guy, guard, guardian, guilty, guitar, guide, guidance, disguise
had ‘silent letters’ - for example, the ‘u’ in ‘guard’. Increasingly, however, the concept of the
simply represents one sound (phoneme); that is, the ‘gu’ in ‘guard’ represents the /g/ sound.
In some words the additional ‘u’ also acts as a barrier between the letter ‘g’ and the the vowel
letters ‘e’, ‘i’ and ‘y’ therefore making it clear that the ‘g’ is to be pronounced in its ‘hard’ sound
/g/ and not its ‘soft’ sound /j/.
Sound out and blend these words and regard the ‘gu’ grapheme as representing the /g/ sound.
See ‘gu’ and say /g/.
buy, buyer, buoy, buoyant, build, builder, building
had ‘silent letters’ - for example, the ‘u’ in ‘build’. Increasingly, however, the concept of the
simply represents one sound (phoneme); that is, the ‘bu’ in ‘build’ represents the /b/ sound.
Sound out and blend these words and regard the ‘bu’ grapheme as representing the /b/ sound.
See ‘bu’ and say /b/.
school, chorus, chemist, chrysalis, character, chaos, chrome, chronic, chemical, cholera, chasm
The grapheme ‘ch’ represents three sounds; for example, in ‘chant’ it represents the /ch/ sound,
in ‘school’ it represents the /k/ sound and in ‘chef’ it represents the /sh/ sound.
In the word examples above, see ‘ch’ and say /k/.
rhino, rhinoceros, rhubarb, rhythm, rhymes, rhumba, rhombus, rhetoric, rhebok, rhinestone,
rheumatism, rhapsody, rhododendron
had ‘silent letters’ - for example, the ‘h’ in ‘rhubarb’. Increasingly, however, the concept of the
simply represents one sound (phoneme); that is, the ‘rh’ in ‘rhubarb’ represents the /r/ sound.
Sound out and blend these words and regard the ‘rh’ grapheme as representing the /r/ sound.
See ‘rh’ and say /r/.
Pronounce the ‘eu’ in ‘rheumatism’ as /oo/.
shut, shall, sheep, push, wish, sharp, fresh, shoot, rush, crash, shirt, harsh, shape, dashing,
short, bushes, shy; chef, chiffon, chalet, chute, parachute, chandelier, chassis, charades,
chivalry, chaperone, machinery
There are several graphemes which represent the /sh/ phoneme. Revise the ‘sh’ grapheme in the
left column which is the most common code for the /sh/ sound. Explain that in some words the
grapheme ‘ch’ can represent the /sh/ grapheme as in the examples in the right column. Remind
the learner that the grapheme ‘ch’ most commonly represents the /ch/ sound as in ‘chat’ and it
can also represent the /k/ sound as in ‘chemist’.
Pronounce the ‘et’ in ‘chalet’ as /ai/, the ‘is’ in ‘chassis’ as /i/ and the ‘i’ in ‘machinery’ as /ee/.
nation, motion, station, patient, patience, partial, initials, essential, torrential
There are several graphemes which represent the /sh/ sound: ‘sh’, ‘ch’, ‘ti’, ‘ci’ and ‘ssi’.
official, delicious, precious, special, musician, ancient, artificial, politician, suspicious
The grapheme ‘ou’ as in ‘delicious’, ‘precious’ and ‘suspicious’ is pronounced /u/.
28
-ssi
8
/zh/
8
-ou
8
‘-ous’
8
ph
8
mission, admission, permission, passion, expression, discussion, compassion, possession
Note that the end of every word is spelt ‘-ssion’ and this word-chunk is pronounced “shun”.
Words on additional sheet: /sh/ shall, wish, sharp, fresh, shirt, splash, shape, rushing, short,
shy; chef, chiffon, chalet, parachute, chassis, charades, chaperone, machine, machinery; nation,
motion, patient, station, patience, partial, initials, essential, torrential, confidential; official,
delicious, precious, special, musician, ancient, artificial, politician, suspicious, optician; mission,
admission, permission, passion, expression, discussion, compassion, possession, procession,
aggression
vision, division, television, confusion, invasion, illusion, persuasion, leisure, measure, treasure,
pleasure, azure, beige, visual, casual, usual, collage, barrage, courgette, delusion, genre,
montage, photomontage, deluge
These words have an unusual pronunciation which is denoted as /zh/. You could almost
describe this sound as a ‘soft j’! Teachers usually teach the word ending of words like ‘vision’
and ‘division’ as a chunk - that is ‘sion’ = “zhun”. You could also teach the word endings of
‘leisure’, ‘measure’, ‘treasure’ and ‘pleasure’ as a chunk - that is ‘sure’ = “zhu” (a schwa effect).
The ending of ‘azure’ is more pronounced: “a - zh - ure”. The ‘ei’ in ‘leisure’ is pronounced /e/.
The ‘ea’ in the words above are also pronounced /e/. The ‘ei’ in ‘beige’ is pronounced /ai/. The
‘a’ in ‘collage’, ‘barrage’, ‘montage’ and ‘photomontage’ is pronounced /ar/. The first ‘e’ in
‘genre’ is pronounced close to /o/ and the final ‘e’ is pronounced as a shwa /u/.
couple, cousin, moustache, nourish, flourish, limousine, double, troubles, mucous, tough, rough,
enough, touch, roughage, serious, flourished, famous, touching, enormous
The grapheme ‘ou’ is another way of representing the /u/ phoneme. This grapheme is most
commonly used as part of the suffix ‘ous’ which forms adjectives such as the words ‘famous’,
‘serious’ and ‘enormous’. See ‘ous’ sounds book sheet for further examples.
Sound out and blend all the words. Discuss the meanings of the words and say them in simple
sentences.
anonymous, porous, vicious, precious, previous, rigorous, conscious, hideous, hilarious,
numerous, devious, gracious, dangerous, studious, curious, courteous, tedious, atrocious,
hazardous, envious, ambitious
The suffix ‘ous’ commonly forms adjectives as in the words above. The suffix ‘ous’ is made from
two grapheme-phoneme correspondences: ‘ou’ + ‘s’ = /u/ + /s/. All the graphemes underlined
represent the /sh/ phoneme.
sentences. Find further examples.
graph, telegraph, orphan, photo, photograph, phase, phone, telephone, elephant, sphere,
hemisphere, phrase, triumph, phobia, phantom
The grapheme ‘ph’ is another way of representing the /f/ phoneme. Point out that the words
‘photo’ and ‘phone’ are just shortened versions of the words ‘photograph’ and ‘telephone’ but
that this is not the case with ‘graph’ and ‘telegraph’ and ‘sphere’ and ‘hemisphere’.
sentences.
29
-gh
8
g,gg,gh
8
ch,ch,ch
8
wa
8
qua
8
war
8
rough, tough, enough, roughage, cough, coughing, trough, laugh, laughter, draughts
The grapheme ‘gh’ is another way of representing the /f/ phoneme.
The grapheme ‘ou’ in the words in the top row is pronounced /u/.
The grapheme ‘ou’ in the words in the middle row is pronounced /o/.
The grapheme ‘au’ in the words in the bottom row is more dependent on regional accent and
could be pronounced as /a/ or /ar/.
sentences.
Words on additional sheet: /f/ fit, foot, roof, flat, first, after, lift, draft, fresh, crafts; off, huff,
puffin, puffing, gruff, raffle, suffer, toffee, stuff, shuffle; photo, graph, orphan, triumph, sphere,
hemisphere, elephant, phone, telephone; rough, cough, laugh, tougher, enough, trough,
laughter, draughts, roughage, coughing
gap, give, got, peg, log, grab, grapes, grand, legs, go, goes, gone, great; egg, eggs, reggae,
digger, straggly, foggy, maggot, baggy, jogging, jagged; ghost, ghettos, ghastly, ghoul, ghost
town, ghostwriter, gherkin, ghetto
The sound /g/ is represented by the three graphemes ‘g’, ‘gg’ and ‘gh’. The grapheme ‘gg’ does
not appear at the beginning or the end of words except for the word ‘egg’. The grapheme ‘gh’
is a rare grapheme although people are aware of it because of its use in the words in the right
column above. Remind the learner that the grapheme ‘gh’ can also represent the /f/ sound as
in ‘rough’.
sentences.
chips, such, chat, much, chess, chart, rich, chilly, chain, chase, choose; school, chemist, chorus,
chasm, Christmas, chrome, chronic, chrysalis, chaos; chef, chalet, parachute, chassis, chiffon,
chivalry, chute, machinery
The grapheme ‘ch’ represents the three sounds /ch/, /k/ and /sh/ as in the three columns above.
sentences.
was, want, wasp, wand, wash, waft, watch, waffle, wander, swan, swap, swamp, swallow,
swat, swashbuckling, swatch
Where the letter ‘w’ precedes the letter ‘a’, the reader is alerted to the possibility that the ‘a’
might be pronounced as the /o/ phoneme. The easiest way to approach this letter combination
is to see ‘wa’ and consider whether to sound out “wo”.
The letter ‘s’ in ‘was’ is pronounced /z/.
sentences.
quarry, quarrel, quality, squat, squash, squabble, squatter, squalor, squander, squad, squadron,
quadrangle, qualify, qualification, quadrilateral, quarantine
Where the grapheme ‘qu’ precedes the letter ‘a’, the reader is alerted to the possibility that the
‘a’ might be pronounced as the
/o/ phoneme. The easiest way to approach this letter combination is to see ‘qua’ and consider
whether to sound out “quo”. The learner needs to become familiar with these words.
sentences.
war, warm, warmth, warn, wart, ward, warden, warp, towards, warning, wartime, wardrobe
Where the letter ‘w’ precedes the grapheme ‘ar’, the reader is alerted to the possibility that the
‘ar’ might be pronounced as the
/or/ phoneme. The easiest way to approach this letter combination is to see ‘war’ and sound
out “wor”.
sentences.
30
gn
8
-st-
8
-ey
9
eigh
9
-ea
9
-aigh
9
gnat, gnaw, gnash, gnarled, gnome, sign, align, aligned, reign, feign, foreign, malign, foreigner,
design, campaign, designer, consignment, resign
The grapheme ‘gn’ is another way of representing the /n/ phoneme. The grapheme ‘ei’ in ‘reign’
and ‘feign’ is pronounced /ai/.
The grapheme ‘ei’ in ‘foreign’ and ‘foreigner’ is close to /u/ (schwa effect).
sentences.
hustle and bustle, whistling, rustle, jostle, trestle, wrestle, castle, thistle, gristle, gristly,
mistletoe, nestle, nestling, listen, fasten, hasten, glisten, christen, christening, fastener
The grapheme ‘st’ is another way of representing the /s/ phoneme. The phoneme /s/ in the
words above is usually followed by /u/ - the schwa effect.
sentences.
they, grey, prey, survey, obey, disobey, surveyor, curds and whey, wheyface, convey, conveyed,
heyday, conveyance, conveyor belt
The grapheme ‘ey’ is another way of representing the /ai/ phoneme. This grapheme is used
rarely to represent the /ai/ sound but some words like “they”, “grey” and “survey” are
commonly-used words.
sentences.
eight, weigh, eighty, sleigh, weight, outweigh, eightieth, neighbour, neighbourhood,
neighbourly, pennyweight, lightweight, heavyweight
The grapheme ‘eigh’ is another way of representing the /ai/ phoneme. This grapheme is used
rarely to represent the /ai/ sound but most of these words are commonly-used words.
sentences.
break, great, steak, beefsteak, breakneck, breakage, windbreaker, breakaway, break in, break
out, breakwater, breaking and entering, greatness, great-aunt, greatcoat, Great Britain,
steakhouse, greatly
The grapheme ‘ea’ is another way of representing the /ai/ phoneme. This grapheme is used
rarely to represent the /ai/ sound but most of these words are commonly-used words. There
are just three ‘root’ words with this grapheme-phoneme correspondence: break, great, steak.
Note that in the word ‘breakfast’, the ‘ea’ grapheme is pronounced /e/ - not /ai/.
sentences.
straight, straight angle, straighten, straightforward, straightening, straight face, straightjacket,
straightaway, straight-laced, straightedge, straight and narrow
The grapheme ‘aigh’ is another way of representing the /ai/ phoneme. This grapheme is used
rarely to represent the /ai/ sound but most of these words are commonly-used words. There is
just one ‘root’ word for the words and phrases above: straight.
sentences.
Words on additional sheet: /ai/ they, grey, prey, osprey, obey, disobey, survey, convey,
heyday, surveyor; eight, weight, freight, “neigh”, sleigh, neighbour, eighth, eighteenth,
underweight, overweight; great, steak, break, greater, greatly, greatest, outbreak, breakdown,
heartbreak; straight, straighten, straighter, straightest
Words on additional sheet: /ai/ able, table, cable, range, arrange, danger, ladle, waste, taste,
toothpaste; aim, first aid, wait, grain, paint, faint, refrain, tainted, Spain, attainment; display,
decay, delay, crayon, always, maybe, holiday, layers, portray, bricklayer; reggae, sundae;
same, became, fade, shade, blame, invade, upgrade, persuade
31
-ey
9
-ie
9
-y
9
-ie
9
donkey, monkey, money, storey, chutney, journey, honeymoon, honeysuckle, honeycomb,
paisley, parsley, abbey, galley, hockey, pulley
The grapheme ‘ey’ is another way of representing the sound between the /ee/ and /i/ phonemes
dependent upon accent.
This grapheme also represents the /ee/ phoneme as in the word ‘key’. If the reader sees ‘ey’
and says /ee/, the reader can then tweak the pronunciation of the whole word if necessary.
sentences.
Words on additional sheet: /ee/ he, me, we, she, be, equal, decoy, decent, recycle, medium,
medieval, region, de-ice; knee, cheek, sleek, indeed, greedy, cheese, freedom, agreement,
disagree, speech; beach, sea-shore, squeak, feast, easy, dream, stream, please, meaning, speak;
theme, scene, scheme, compete, complete, supreme, concrete, extreme, phoneme, grapheme
movie, pixie, pixies, budgie, freebie, pinkie, rookie, oldie, calorie, calories, hankie, collie, genie,
cookie, cookies
The grapheme ‘ie’ is another way of representing the phoneme which is pronounced between
/ee/ and /i/ dependent upon regional accent. It is often used for spelling abbreviated words
(budgie) and people’s first name especially as shortened ‘pet’ names such as: Debbie, Georgie,
Alfie, Maizie, Stevie, Annie, Susie. You will also see this grapheme in plural words where the
singular word ended with the letter ‘y’ and has been replaced by the word-ending ‘ies’ such as
cherry, cherries, story, stories. The learner has to learn through experience how to spell these
words for writing and needs to be very attentive to the details of spellings when reading
widely.
Sound out and blend all the words above. Discuss the meanings of the words and say them in
simple sentences.
story, stories; cherry, cherries; berry, berries;
party, parties; lorry, lorries; daisy, daisies
system, symbol, syrup, crystal, mystery, gym, hymn, rhythm, myth, gymnastics, cymbal
The grapheme ‘y’ is another way of representing the /i/ phoneme as in the words above. The
letter ‘y’ has a close relationship with both the letter ‘I’ and the phonemes /i/ and /igh/.
sentences.
Words on additional sheet: /ee/ - /i/ rainy, sunny, funnily, easily, dreadfully, happily, mainly,
especially, gratefully, patiently; alley, honey, money, valley, kidney, jockey, medley, chimney,
trolley, barley; pixie, movie, bookie, budgie, rookie, undies, zombie, calories, freebie, pinkie;
mystery, and /i/ system, crystal, gymnastics, myth, rhythm, hymn, syrup, symbol, cymbal
thief, brief, chief, relief, niece, grief, grieving, priest, series, field, specie, species, frieze, diesel,
hygiene, hygienic, fiend, retriever, showpiece, disbelief, mischief, windshield, grievance, makebelieve, unbelievable
The grapheme ‘ie’ is another way of representing the /ee/ phoneme.
sentences.
32
ei
9
/u/ o
10
ew
10
ui
10
either, eider duck, eiderdown, neither, heist, Heidi, seismic, seismograph, poltergeist,
Fahrenheit, Poseidon, feisty
The grapheme ‘ei’ is a very rare way of representing the /igh/ phoneme. The words ‘either’ and
‘neither’ are very common although some people pronounce the grapheme ‘ei’ in these words
with the /ee/ phoneme.
sentences.
Words on additional sheet: /igh/ kind, mind, mild, blind, wildest, finding, winding, behind,
climb, idle; pie, pies, necktie, magpie, piebald, French fries, terrified, magnified, horrified,
certified, qualified; alike, guide, awhile, arrive, besides, divide, inside, invite, lively, politely
Words on additional sheet: /igh/ why, shy, fly, style, July, type, apply, reply, hyena, python,
hygiene, cycle; higher, lights, fight, brighten, frightened, slight, night, knight, lightning,
frightening; either, neither, heist, seismic, eider duck, eiderdown, seismograph, poltergeist,
Fahrenheit, Poseidon
letter pattern: ie /igh/ tied, untie, died, cried, fried, freeze-dried, Pied Piper, satisfied, classified,
tongue-tied, denied, occupied, preoccupied; /ee/-/i/ eerie, genie, birdie, caddie, collie, cookie,
goalie, brownies, varied, prairie; /ee/ grief, thief, thieves, chief, chiefs, briefcase, piece of glass,
field, shield, belief, believe, achieve, shriek
son, ton, won, wonder, wonderful, front, upfront, sponge, tongue, among, monkey, money,
honey, come, welcome, becoming, some, somewhere, fearsome, burdensome, troublesome,
onion, pigeon, love, mother, brother, unbecoming, done, underdone, outdone, other
There are several graphemes which represent the /u/ phoneme and ‘o’ is a less common
grapheme for this sound. This Sounds Book sheet revisits the letter ‘o’ as code for the /u/
sound (see unit 2). Identify other graphemes in the words above which are code for the /u/
phoneme.
In words of this type, the pronunciation is sometimes closer to the schwa effect.
Words on additional sheet: /oa/ no, go, so, also, long ago, solo, duo, trio, volcano, patio,
buffalo, avocado, Eskimo, mosquito, zero; roam, shoal, afloat, throat, approach, boastful,
goalpost, cloakroom, toadstool, coastguard; window, slowly, rainbow, shadowy, sorrowful,
unknown, glowing, burrow, meadow, tomorrow
Words on additional sheet: /oa/ doe, foe, hoe, roe deer, roebuck, ice floe, tiptoe, mistletoe,
woebegone, oboe; dome, globe, ozone, smoke, telephone, remote, explode, keyhole, tadpole,
quote; dough, though, although, doughy, doughnut
Words on additional sheet: long /oo/ teaspoon, shampoo, cockatoo, foolproof, cartoon, soothe,
monsoon, cocoon, kangaroo, bamboo; blue, clues, true, glue, glued, accrue, misconstrue,
gruesome, gruelling, rueful, fondue; prune, dilute, conclude, include, pollute, fluke, truce,
delude, overrule, parachute
yew tree, chew, crew, brew, drew, threw, screw, shrew, shrewd, jewelry, corkscrew, cashew
nuts, sewage, strewn
There are many graphemes which represent the long /oo/ sound. Sound out and blend these
words where the ‘ew’ grapheme represents the long /oo/. The grapheme ‘ew’ can also represent
“yoo”. When you see the grapheme ‘ew’ flashcard, say “yoo-oo” to show you know the
alternative pronunciations. When you see the grapheme ‘ue’ flashcard, remember to say “yoooo”. ‘Jewelry’ can also be spelt ‘jewellery’.
suit, fruit, juice, bruise, cruiser, recruit, suitor, juicy, grapefruit, suitable, sluice, lawsuit,
recruitment, bruised
There are many graphemes which represent the long /oo/ sound. Sound out and blend these
words where the ‘ui’ grapheme is code for the long /oo/. This grapheme for the long /oo/
sound is not that common although some of the words with this spelling are common like
‘fruit’.
33
ou
10
/oo/ o
10
eu
10
ew
10
-iew
10
ough
11
you, soup, group, wound, route, troupe, rouge, coupe, recoup, mousse, coupon, soufflé,
boulevard, bouffant, bouquet, roulette, boutique
There are many graphemes which represent the long /oo/ sound and ‘ou’ is a more unusual
grapheme for this sound. Sound out and blend these words where the ‘ou’ grapheme
represents /oo/. Many of these words have French origins. Use a dictionary to look up their
meanings.
to, do, movie, lose, losing, move, moving, movable, remove, removal, improve, prove, disprove,
approve, approval, disapprove, disapproval, tomb, womb, who, whose, for whom
There are many graphemes which represent the long /oo/ sound and ‘o’ is a more unusual
grapheme for this sound although these words above are common. Sound out and blend these
words where the letter ‘o’ represents long /oo/.
The grapheme ‘wh’ is a very rare grapheme
for the /h/ phoneme.
Words on additional sheet: long /oo/ crew, I grew up, you drew, she threw, the wind blew,
jewels, jeweller, brewery, chewy, brewing; suit, it suits me, suitor, fruity flavour, juicy
grapefruit, fruitful meeting, suitably, breadfruit, unsuitably, bruises; you, soup, to soup up a
car, groups, troupe of actors, rouge (make-up), coupon, mousse, soufflé, through
deuce, feud, feudal, neurotic, neutrality, neural, European, pneumatic drill, pneumonia, liqueur,
euphoria
There are many graphemes which represent “yoo” (/y/+/oo/). Sound out and blend these words
where the ‘eu’ grapheme, more or less, represents “yoo”. This is a rare grapheme for “yoo”.
This vocabulary is more appropriate for older learners.
new, newt, I knew, news, ewe, few, pew, dew, dewy, stew, sinew, mews, newborn, curfew,
mildew, newborn, pewter, newspaper, Dewey
There are four main graphemes which represent the /yoo/ sound. These are ‘u’, ‘ue’, ‘u-e’ and
‘ew’. Rare graphemes include ‘eu’ and ‘iew’. Sound out and blend these words above where the
‘ew’ grapheme represents the /yoo/ sound. The grapheme ‘ew’ can also represent the long /oo/
phoneme. When you see the grapheme ‘ew’ flashcard, say “yoo-oo” to show you know the
alternative pronunciations. When you see the grapheme ‘ue’ and ‘u-e’ flashcards, also
remember to say “yoo-oo”.
Words on additional sheet: “yoo” argument, unique, future, stupid, genuine, soluble, human,
ambulance, calculate, fortunate; argue, queue, continue, discontinue, revenue, subdued, rescue,
barbecue, refuel, undervalue; sand dunes, fortune, costume, dispute, produce, attitude,
gratitude, contribute, tribute, refuse
Words on additional sheet: “yoo” feud, feudalism, neutral, pasteurise, euphonium, eureka,
grandeur, eurhythmics, eucalyptus, therapeutic; newt, skewer, curfew, mildew, nephew,
Newton, pewter, newborn, renew, sinew; view, review, preview, viewing, overview, viewfinder,
interview, interviewee, interviewer
view, review, viewpoint, preview, viewing, viewfinder, viewed, overview, interview, interviewer,
interviewee
There are four main graphemes which represent the /yoo/ sound. These are ‘u’, ‘ue’, ‘u-e’ and
‘ew’. Less common graphemes include ‘eu’ and ‘view’ is the one root word for ‘iew’. Sound
out and blend these words above where the ‘iew’ grapheme represents the /yoo/ sound.
ought, nought, fought, bought, brought, thought, thoughtful, thoughtless, thoughtlessness,
thoughtfully, thoughtfulness, wrought iron, overwrought, sought, forethought, aforethought
The grapheme ‘ough’ is a very rare spelling variation of the /or/ (or /aw/) phoneme. Words
such as ‘ought’, ‘nought’, ‘bought’ and ‘thought’, however, are used very commonly.
simple sentences.
34
augh
11
/aw/
11
/or/
11
ch
11
qu
11
same content as
sheet above but
with a different
‘sound’ notation
aught, naught, taught, caught, fraught, daughter, untaught, haughty, haughtily, distraught,
naughty, naughtiness, naughtily, goddaughter, granddaughter
The grapheme ‘augh’ is a very rare spelling variation of the /or/ (or /aw/) phoneme. Words
such as ‘taught’, ‘caught’ and ‘daughter’, however, are used very commonly. Note that there
are common spelling alternatives for the whole words ‘aught’ (ought) and ‘naught’ (nought).
simple sentences.
ought, nought, bought, brought, sought, thought, thoughtful, overwrought;
aught, naught, caught, naughty, taught, fraught, daughter, distraught
The graphemes ‘ough’ and ‘augh’ are very rare spelling variations of the /aw/ phoneme. The
word ‘ought’ has the same meaning as ‘aught’, and ‘nought’ has the same meaning as ‘naught’.
It is more usual to see the ‘ought’ and ‘nought’ spellings. Whilst the ‘ough’ and ‘augh’
graphemes as code for /aw/ are very rare, the words above are not rare.
simple sentences.
Select a few of the words above from both columns and write some simple sentences:
ought, nought, bought, brought, sought, thought, thoughtful, overwrought;
aught, naught, caught, naughty, taught, fraught, daughter, distraught
The graphemes ‘ough’ and ‘augh’ are very rare spelling variations of the /or/ (or /aw/)
phoneme. The word ‘ought’ has the same meaning as ‘aught’, and ‘nought’ has the same
meaning as ‘naught’. It is more usual to see the ‘ought’ and ‘nought’ spellings. Whilst the
‘ough’ and ‘augh’ graphemes as code for /or/ (/aw/) are very rare, the words above are not
rare.
simple sentences.
Select a few of the words above from both columns and write some simple sentences:
Words on additional sheet: letter pattern: ought /or/ ought, bought, nought, sought, brought,
thought, thoughtful, thoughtfully, throughtless, forethought, aforethought, wrought, wrought
iron, overwrought; /ou/ bough, boughs, plough, ploughs, ploughed, ploughing, drought, Slough;
/oa/ dough, doughy, though, although, doughnut; /u/ borough, thorough, thoroughly,
Scarborough; /oo/ through, throughout, see-through, throughway; /u/+/f/ rough, roughly,
roughage, tough, toughen, enough, slough; /o/+/f/ cough, coughed, coughing, trough, troughs;
/u/+/p/ hiccough
school, scholar, chaos, anchor, chasm, orchid, chorus, scheme, chemist, chronic, chord, echo,
stomach, arachnid, mechanism, chameleon, chrysalis, headache, orchestra, archaeology, archaic
Revise that the grapheme ‘ch’ is a less common spelling variation of the /k/ phoneme. This ‘ch’
spelling variation for /k/ has Greek origins.
Note that in ‘headache’ the grapheme ‘che’ represents the /k/ phoneme.
simple sentences.
quiche, conquer, conqueror, bouquet, mosquito, piquant, marquetry, marquee, parquet,
briquette, masquerade, quay, croquet, croquette, etiquette, mannequin, tourniquet, lacquer,
racquetball, marquis, marquess
The grapheme ‘qu’ is a less common spelling variation of the /k/ phoneme. It has French origins
as can be seen by other spelling features of the words above. The grapheme ‘et’ is pronounced
/ai/ in ‘bouquet’, ‘parquet’, ‘croquet’ and ‘tourniquet’. The grapheme ‘ay’ is pronounced /ee/ in
‘quay’. Note that in two words the grapheme ‘cqu’ is code for the /k/ phoneme.
simple sentences.
35
que
11
quar
11
-gue
12
-ine
12
-ine
12
queue, cheque, clique, pique, picturesque, unique, uniquely, plaque, brusque, discotheque,
boutique, oblique, obliquely, technique, mosque, antique, physique, grotesque, arabesque
The grapheme ‘que’ is a less common spelling variation of the /k/ phoneme. It has French
origins as can be seen by other spelling features of the words above. Pronounce the ‘th’ as /t/ in
the word ‘discotheque’.
simple sentences.
Words on additional sheet: /k/ caravan, capital, carnival, carpet, cupboard, custard, cultivation,
contents, contented, collapse, incredible, creatures, clattering; kindly, skeleton, kaftan,
kaleidoscope, keepsake, unkempt, kernel, kestrel, kettledrum, keypad, kidneys, skirker,
kitchenware; socket, bottleneck, chopsticks, ramshackle, shockingly, wickerwork, woodpecker,
seasickness, blockbuster, bricklayer, cockleshells, double-check, shuttlecock; preschool,
technology, melancholy, leprechaun, chronology, bronchitis, backache, mechanic, architect,
charismatic, chamomile, hierarchy, chaotic; conqueror, bouquet, parquet, mosquito, etiquette;
technique, statuesque, opaquely, mystique, uniqueness
quart, quarter, quarterly, quartet (quartette), quarters, quarterfinal, quarterback, quartz
The grapheme ‘qu’ preceding the grapheme ‘ar’ alerts the reader to pronounce the ‘ar’ as the
/or/ (or /aw/) phoneme. Note the words ‘quarry’ and ‘quarrel’ below with ‘rr’ where the reader
pronounces the letter ‘a’ as /o/ like other words with the ‘qua’ pattern (quad, quality, quantity).
The ‘a’ in quarantine is pronounced /o/.
sentences.
quarantine, quarry, quarrel
rogue, vogue, catalogue, intrigue, intrigued, ague, fatigue, fatigued, plague, plagued, vaguely,
vagueness, vague, colleagues, synagogue, league, monologue, dialogue, prologue, epilogue,
travelogue
The grapheme ‘gue’ is a less common spelling variation of the /g/ phoneme. It has French
origins.
simple sentences.
Note the unusual grapheme ‘ngue’ which represents the /ng/ phoneme:
tongue, tongue-tied, meringue, harangue, haranguer, harangued
Words on additional sheet: /g/ garden gate, garage, dragon, overgrown, groceries, gigantic,
galaxy, garlic, glossy, golfer; digging, bigger, rugged, baggage, logged in, staggering, giggles,
struggling, shrugged, bedraggled; lifeguard, guitarist, guinea fowl, guarantee, guilder,
disguised, guilty, guesswork, guesthouse, Guernsey; brogues, leagues, vaguely, plagued, fatigue,
in vogue, monologue, dialogue, catalogue, colleague
shine, twine, alpine, canine, feline, define, defined, saline, refine, refinery, turbine, mine,
combine, combined, declined
The letter pattern ‘ine’ in the words above can be decoded asa straightforward split digraph ‘ie’ with letter ‘n’ therefore pronounced /igh/+/n/. This letter pattern ‘ine’, however, should alert
the reader to the possibility of alternative pronunciations such as “een” in ‘ravine’ and “in” in
‘jasmine’. The reader needs to be flexible and aware of the possible pronunciations when
reading unfamiliar words with the ‘ine’ letter pattern.
simple sentences.
engine, famine, masculine, genuine, genuinely, feminine, medicine, determine, jasmine, examine,
crinoline, intestine
The letter pattern ‘ine’ is pronounced in the words above as “in” which is two phonemes:
/i/+/n/. The grapheme ‘ne’ is simply representing the /n/ phoneme.
simple sentences.
36
-ine
12
mn
12
ps
12
alm
12
alt
12
-ture
12
magazine, gasoline, routine, sardines, submarine, ravine, machine, machinery, marine,
limousine, vaccine, cuisine, trampoline, pristine, latrine, nectarine, tambourine, iodine
The letter pattern ‘ine’ has French origins and it is pronounced in the words above as “een”
which is two phonemes: /ee/+/n/.
simple sentences.
Words on additional sheet: letter pattern -ine /igh/+/n/ whine, entwined, skyline, pineapple,
moonshine, confined, guidelines, turbine, ninety, inclined; /i/+/n/ imagine, medicine, determined,
illumine, discipline, genuine, destined, masculine, feminine, engine; /ee/+/n/ trampoline,
margarine, aquamarine, tambourine, chlorine, figurine, magazines, mezzanine, sardines,
routinely
autumn, autumnal, column, columnist, solemn, solemnly, condemn, condemnation, hymn,
hymns, mnemonic
The grapheme ‘mn’ is a very rare spelling variation of the /m/ phoneme but words with this
spelling variation are used commonly.
In ‘autumnal’ and ‘condemnation’, the letter ‘n’ is pronounced as /n/. In ‘columnist’, people
choose whether to pronounce the letter ‘n’.
In contrast, the grapheme ‘mn’ represents the /n/ phoneme in the word ‘mnemonic’.
simple sentences.
psalm, psyche, pseudonym, psychiatry, psychiatrist, psychology, psychologist, psoriasis, psychic,
psychedelic
The grapheme ‘ps’ is a very rare spelling variation of the /s/ phoneme. It has Greek origins. This
level of vocabulary and code information may be considered to be more suitable for older
learners.
simple sentences.
Revise that in these words, the ‘al’ grapheme is code for the /ar/ phoneme:
psalm, calm, balm, palm, almond
alms, almshouse, psalm, psalms, palm, palms, balm, balmy, embalm, embalmed, embalming,
calm, calmly, becalmed, calming, almond, almonds, qualms
alf
calf, half, halfway, behalf
alv calves, halves
The grapheme ‘al’ is a very rare spelling variation of the /ar/ phoneme. Some words with this
spelling variation, however, are used commonly. The letter ‘m’ or ‘f’ (or ‘v’ for the plural
version) following the grapheme ‘al’ alerts the reader to say /ar/. The reader simply needs to
become familiar with the very few words where the ‘al’ is pronounced /ar/.
simple sentences.
halt, malt, salt, salty, saltiness, exalt, exaltation, halter, waltz, falter, falteringly, halting, paltry,
alter, alternating, unalterable, basalt, cobalt, saltpeter, altar, altruism, altruistic, Malta, Maltese
The letter pattern ‘alt’ alerts the reader that the letter ‘a’ might be pronounced as an /o/.
simple sentences.
picture, capture, future, nature, pastures, fixtures, gesture, culture, venture, temperature,
stature, fracture, furniture, literature, structure, features, vulture, mixture, creatures, sculpture,
dentures, nurture, posture, puncture, departure, adventure, signature, lecture
The letter pattern ‘ture’ in the words above can be pronounced close to a /ch/ phoneme
followed by a schwa: “chu”.
simple sentences.
Note that ‘mature’ and ‘immature’ are pronounced differently from the words above and closer
to simple code: mature, immature
37
eau
12
-re
12
-n-
12
/y+oo/ beauty, beautify, beautiful, beautician, beautifully /o/ bureaucracy
/oa/ beau, bureau, chateau, plateau, tableau, trousseau, bureaucrat (schwa), portmanteau
The grapheme ‘eau’ can represent two main sounds: /yoo/ as in ‘beauty’ and /oa/ as in ‘beau’.
The grapheme ‘eau’ is pronounced /o/ in the word ‘bureaucracy’.
simple sentences.
centre, metre, litre, fibre, ogre, theatre, mediocre, acre, goitre, timbre, sceptre, ochre, lucre,
sabre, meagre, calibre
There may be some variation of spelling of the words above. In these words, the ‘re’ is
pronounced as a schwa /u/. Some of these words may be spelt with ‘er’ in place of the ‘re’
according, for example, to the accepted regional spelling variations. The teacher needs to point
out this variance and decide which spelling is usually accepted in the region for the learner to
adopt. Draw up a chart to make the differences clear.
simple sentences.
Note the words ‘cadre’ and ‘genre’ where the ‘re’ is pronounced as /r/+/u/: cadre, genre
fungus, fungi (or funguses), fungal, language, English, anguish, languish, linger, angle, dangled,
bangles, wrangle, strangle, newfangled, congress, conquer, vanquish, defunct, adjunct, anchor,
zinc, uncle, function, junction, juncture, puncture, tincture, precinct, succinct, lynx, Sphinx,
larynx, punctual, banquet
The grapheme ‘n’ is sometimes code for /ng/. In unit 4, however, for convenience of teaching
beginners, the letters ‘nk’ were taught as a special case as if it was one sound unit of /ngk/ sometimes denoted as /ng+k/ or simply /nk/. This is because there are many early, simple
words which are spelt with the letters ‘nk’ like ‘bank’, ‘sink’, ‘tank’, ‘chunk’, ‘bunk-beds’. Treating
‘nk’ as one unit of sound at the beginner stage is useful for both reading and spelling skills.
Notice that many of the words above still include the /ng/ phoneme followed by the /k/
phoneme but the spelling for the /k/ phoneme include the alternatives ‘ch’, ‘qu’ and even ‘x’
(which is /k+s/). At this stage of learning, it is straightforward to consider the letter ‘n’ as
alternative code for the /ng/ phoneme.
38

collation_sounds_boo.. - Phonics International

Transcription

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