For example, ask your students to say “e” together. Explain that their mouth, tongue, teeth, and lips did not move. Next ask them to pronounce “b. ” Ask them what they did with their mouths. They should respond that they briefly closed their lips. It may take a few tries or lessons before your students understand the concept, especially if they are young. Keep going and provide plenty of different examples.
As you show each vowel letter, ask the class or student to repeat after you. This will help teach them how to pronounce each vowel. Keep repeating several times for each vowel, and reinforce the lesson on different days.
Y is used as a vowel instead of a long i or long e at the end of words. Boy, pay, fly, busy, many, and my are all good examples of this. Y is a consonant when it comes at the beginning of words, such as yacht, yellow, or yes. While y is most often found as a vowel at the end of words, some older words are exceptions. This includes myth and hymn.
The different digraphs are ai, ay, ee, ea, ie, ei, oo, ou, ow, oe, oo, ue, ey, ay, oy, oi, au, and aw. Show each digraph written on a card with a picture of a word that uses that digraph. For example, show “Boy” on a card with a picture of a boy. This can help visual learners grasp the lesson. Digraphs that end in y or w tend to come at the end of words. Some words have 2 vowels in a row, but these vowels are pronounced separately. These include chaos and violet. Remind your students are not diphthongs because they are not pronounced together as 1 sound.
Speak slowly as you do this. This is especially important for non-native speakers or adult learners who may not be able to tell the difference between vowels. Repeat this exercise over several different lessons on different days to reinforce it.
For example, say the word “cat. ” Ask your students to say the vowel in the word, which is a short a. It may take students a few tries before they start doing it on their own. If they’re struggling, help them out by sounding out the word. It’s important to both write and say the word so that your students start to connect the letter to the sound.
Short a: map, pal, cat, dad Short i: pin, mint, still, fill Short o: con, lot, dot, hop Short u: pun, nut, bun, hub Short e: pen, let, get, send
Long a: bake, fake, date, state Long i: fine, mine, shine Long o: rope, dote, note Long u: mute, cute, rude, dune Long e: me, he, she, theme
Use examples like hat and hate, cap and cape, dot and dote, and ball and bale. Once the students understand the concept, try giving them the words that don’t end in e, like tap, bat, and far. Ask them how it would be pronounced if you added an e at the end.
For example, teach oi and oy together. Remind your students that oy is often used at the end of words while oi appears in the middle of words. Use examples like toil and toy or coin and coy to show the difference between these 2 digraphs. For diphthongs that sound the same, use words and pictures to show their proper usage. For example, help students memorize the difference between meat and meet or read and reed.
Make your own flash cards by writing down words on note cards. Make sure to use both simple vowels, such as cat and dad, and vowel digraphs, like neat and read. Add pictures to the flashcard to help students remember vocabulary. You can also buy flashcards at bookstores or anywhere school supplies are sold. Ask students to practice flash cards in groups. If you have a mixed class, be sure to put non-native speakers in groups with native speakers to help them learn more quickly.
For non-native English speakers, let them listen to a recording of a native speaker before listening to their own recording. Ask them what they notice between the native speaker’s vowels and their own.
Phonics Hero Phonics Bloom Hooked on Phonics Reading Rockets
Better yet, ask the students to make their own chart. Give them several words with different vowel sounds. Ask the students to organize the words by their vowel sounds.
Old MacDonald Row, Row, Row Your Boat Where is Short E? Apples and Bananas
