Sound Pronunciations
1. Introduction
When a child knows the proper sounds of the alphabet letters, he or she can use those sounds to sound out or decode a word. This skill is essential for successful phonics instruction later on. The more accurately the sounds are taught to children, the easier it will be for them to learn to read and spell. Study the videos and chart on this page to learn the correct pronunciations of the letter sounds.Video: Sound Pronunciation Intro
There are 26 letters in the English alphabet, each of which has a name and at least one sound. It is the sounds of these letters (not their names) that we blend together to form words.NOTE: At this point, it is much more important for your child to know the sounds of the letters than their names. Knowledge of the letter names will be very useful for spelling, but we are not there yet! Reading precedes spelling!
There are over one million words in the English language, and at least 600,000 of them can be sounded out phonetically.↑ Top
2. Vowels
The five most common vowel sounds are also known as the short vowels: A (as in apple), E (as in egg), I (as in it), O (as in odd), and U (as in up). All the vowel sounds are continuant sounds, said “long and loud,” which means that you draw them out for two full seconds.Video: Vowels
3. Consonants
The consonants are the other 21 letters in the alphabet aside from the vowels: B, C, D, F, G, H, J, K, L, M, N, P, Q, R, S, T, V, W, X, Y, and Z. There are two types of consonant sounds: stop sounds and continuant sounds.- Stop sounds are also called “quick and quiet” sounds. Letters making these sounds are: B, C, D, G, H, J, K, P, and T. They have a sharp ending, with the sound stopping abruptly.
- Continuant sounds are also called “long and loud” sounds. Letters making these sounds are: F, L, M, N, Q, R, S, V, W, X, Y, and Z. Hold these sounds out for two full seconds.
Video: Consonants
4. Notation
We have a special way of writing the letter sounds, so that you (the adult) know when you should say the name of the letter and when you should say the letter sound. The stop (quick and quiet) sounds are written as a single letter between two slashes. For example, /b/ or /g/. Because these sounds are quieter and short, you may have to say them multiple times for children to hear. So we will sometimes instruct you to say “/b/ /b/ /b/,” meaning you should make the /b/ sound three times in quick succession. The continuant (long and loud) sounds are usually written as three letters between two slashes. For example: /mmm/ or /zzz/. This is to remind you that continuant sounds should be held for two full seconds. Many of our Phonological/Phonemic Awareness games require you to say two sounds or word parts with a pause in between. We write that pause with a bullet mark (•). One bullet mark represents a half-second pause. So, “/mmm/ • /at/” is the word mat split by a half-second pause. Likewise, “/d/ • • • /og/” is the word dog with a 1.5-second pause in the middle. ↑ Top5. Easier and Harder Sounds
The continuant (long and loud) sounds – F, L, M, N, Q, R, S, V, W, X, Y, and Z – are easier for children to hear than the stop (quick and quiet) sounds. NOTE: A lot of children get confused because the lower-case letters b and d look so similar. As you start using phoneme cards (with individual letters) in the Phonological/Phonemic Awareness games, we strongly recommend that you not show the d card until much later. Let the child develop a deep familiarity with the letter b; until then, you can reference d as simply “not b.” It is much better to simply separate out the introduction of these two letters. ↑ Top6. Sound Pronunciation Chart
Print out this sound pronunciation chart to use as a reference when teaching your child. It will remind you of the proper pronunciations of the letter sounds. ↑ Top7. Summary
Watch this short video for a refresher on the letter pronunciations!Video: Sound Pronunciation Summary
8. Letter Sounds with Kids
If you are careful to model the correct phoneme pronunciations for your children, they will absorb that knowledge and have a head start on being able to sound out words. As your child nears the end of our Phonological/Phonemic Awareness curriculum, quiz her occasionally on the letter sounds, as in this video below.Video: Letter Sounds with Kids
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30 Responses to “Sound Pronunciations”
Cleo
Thank you for the videos. I plan on sharing them with my aids, parent volunteers, parents and students during whole group, small group, brain break and tutoring. These are really amazing resources. I hit the jackpot!♤
Diana
Exactly, what I needed to help me, help my son Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!
Christine
Great resource 🙂
vineet jain
thanks. amazing videos. helped my child a lot
Stefan
Great resource! The charts are very helpful
Martha
Excellent resource! I will definitely use it with my students (Early Childhood Unit of Children with Autism). Most amazing and teacher friendly way to do Phonological/Phonemic Awareness I have seen in my life. Thank you for being that generous to share your experience with us. God bless you.
Christine
Explored the site today, Love it!!!!
Kathy from Georgia
God bless you for putting these resources on the web. They are so very useful and helpful. The video demonstrations are awesome and I am learning so much from them. I am learning the right way to help my two nephews (one in 1st grade and the other in pre-K). I started last night using one of the teaching strategies with my nephew in 1st grade and he grasped on to the concept. To know that I was helping him filled my heart with joy. Continue the gift of what God has given you by helping others to help our children. God’s blessing be with you forever. Kathy
Lisa
years ago Electric Company did phoneme exactly this way RRR A T/ RAT/ I have ALWAYS taught children this way
Mariela
Just looking for help for my little one and i found you….Thank you so, so, so much…God bless you
ADMIN – Hi Mariela,
Glad to hear it was helpful to you and your little one. Brings a smile to my face.
Tuli
You are amazing!!!! It feels like I have hit a treasure chest by finding your website.
I can’t wait to go through all the content and use it in my class!!
dungvwah
Great method of teaching. God bless your ability and thank you for broadening my knowledge.
Paskalina stephen
This is the best resource I have seen on pronunciation! Thank you.
Debbie
This website and all the information is truly amazing. I have 2 grandchildren (ages 5 and 8). One has dyslexia and this website has truly been a lifesaver. I can not thank you enough.
Miss Jones
Very interesting resources
Shuchi
This website is a complete package….Thank you for sharing……
Mary Kay
I can only find the Sound Pronunciation Chart for the Basic Vowel Sounds. Where can I find the others? Thanks you!!
Mary Kay
Never mind, I misread it! Sorry!!
Amy
Hi, the course is excellent. It’s very useful. I want to teach my child and my students in China. But the video is not available here. Can you help me to solve the problem? Thank you!
ADMIN – Hi Amy,
No sure what is going on for the video for you. The videos are hosted on youTube. Not sure what is going on for you, but they may be blocked in your school or location. You may need to try accessing them from another computer.
isioma
Please , I need the video.
ADMIN – Hello. There are videos for Numbers 1,2,3,7, & 8. If you are unable to play the videos, please try using another web browser.
emma
This helped my child really well!
Peter
Really helpful. For us in a remote place, no guidance, just internet, this was really helpful and that too for free.Thank you.
precious
Wow! This is really helpful. Thank you and keep it up.
Tobi
l really love these pages.
Tobi
l really love it, it really helps me a lot to understand the right sound articulation and word pronunciation.
Deloris
Back to the basics! Exactly what I will be sharing with my granddaughter.
Edmar
I found your video lessons worthy for my research about spelling enhancement. I would like to ask if I could use it for my research. I hope you allow me.
Sight Words Admin
We are happy that our resources can add to your research, Edmar.
Ericson Ramirez
Very very good, I love it!!