How To Teach Long Vowels

How to Teach Vowel Teams

how to teach vowel teams

Vowel teams are probably the most common source of reading and spelling errors as one vowel audio may exist represented by as many equally 6 dissimilar vowel teams (due east.g. long 'o' represented past 'oa', 'ow', 'oe', 'o_e,' 'ough' and 'ew' as in sew). In that location are 25 standard vowel teams and, consequently, it is vital that they are taught well.

In this weblog post, I am going to examine how to teach vowel teams. They are the focus of Office 2 of Phonics Hero and additional vowel teams ('oi'/'oy', 'ow'/'ou', 'oo', 'aw'/'au') are introduced in Part 3 (get access to lots of free resources in a Teacher Account hither). To teach vowel teams well, y'all firstly need to empathise how they work.

Nosotros have xviii vowel sounds in English merely only 5 vowel letters with which to represent them so it is necessary to utilize combinations of the vowel messages. The right terminology for 2 vowels working together to correspond 1 sound is 'vowel digraph'. The letters 'y', 'west', 'gh' and 'r' are likewise used in representations of vowel sounds (as in 'ay', 'ow', 'igh' and 'er'), so I quite like using the term 'vowel teams' with younger students. I use the terms "weak" and "strong" vowels rather than "brusque" and "long" vowels as it is difficult for young children to understand what is brusque or long virtually them (long vowels require 2 mouth movements rather than ane – a bit complicated for a six-year-old!). I'll be using those terms to refer to the sounds represented by vowel teams.

How to Teach Vowel Teams – Things You Need to Know

Why are consonant messages used in vowel teams?

There is logic to the use of consonants in vowel teams. We use the alphabetic character 'y' in vowel teams considering English words tin't end in 'i'. The 'y' stands in for the 'i' at the finish of a base of operations word (e.g. hail/hay). English words tin't terminate in 'u', then 'w' (literally a double 'u') stands in for the 'u' at the end of a base of operations discussion (due east.yard. tour/bow).

What is a diphthong?

A diphthong is not a new type of uncomfortable underwear, only rather one (complex) vowel sound formed by the combination of 2 vowel sounds in a syllable. It is sometimes referred to every bit a "glide" because the mouth glides from the position for i vowel to the position for another. At that place are eight English diphthongs, including the vowel squad pairs 'oi'/'oy' and 'ou'/'ow'. Virtually vowel sounds are made with the rima oris in one position, making 1 pure sound east.yard. /a/.

What are split digraphs?

The vowel digraph teams 'ee', 'ie', 'oe' and 'ue' are used in common words while 'ae' is used in a few technical words e.one thousand. 'aerate' and 'artful'. Split digraphs are separated members of a vowel team – they are separated by a consonant. For case, the 'ie' in 'bike' is split to become 'i_e'. Split digraphs combine the alphabetic character 'e' with the v vowels to stand for strong vowel sounds.

Examples of Separate Digraphs.

When talking about split up digraphs, be careful of the language you use. Do non utilise the terms "fairy eastward", "magic east", "bossy e" or "silent e", as they practise not help a student to understand the logic of our code. The 'eastward' is no more "silent" when it is split from its team fellow member (every bit information technology is carve up in 'eve', 'line', 'bone', 'rude' or 'cavern') than when information technology was right next to the other vowel. We are still looking at an eastward-controlled vowel spelling. Likewise, in that location is no logic in "silent messages" – all letters are silent! Nor is the letter of the alphabet 'due east' more bossy than whatsoever of the other vowels that come 2nd in a pair.

Lawmaking overlap

The complexity for reading is that some vowel digraphs represent more than than one audio. For example:

This is a focus of Part iii of Phonics Hero. When you lot come across alternative pronunciations for the vowel digraphs, have the fourth dimension to discuss the other uses, to analyze whatever confusion.

Why do we utilise gh in vowel spellings?

The 'gh' combination, like in the word 'loftier', was inherited from the Germanic languages that had an touch on on English language. We used to pronounce the 'gh' in One-time English, but equally something similar a 'k' sound eastward.m. the Gaelic discussion, lough (loch). The German for 'lite' is 'licht' and 'night' is 'nacht'. When Middle English changed to Modernistic English language, the sound was dropped or, in some words, inverse to the softer 'f', as in 'rough'. The 'gh' has been left in the spelling to show the give-and-take'south origin.

How To Teach Vowel Teams – Some Tips:

Teach the most common vowel sounds first – the potent /e/, /i/, /o/, /a/ and /u/. Function 2 of our interactive, click-and-go Phonics Lessons will help you systematically teach this logic.

In spelling teaching, teach the most mutual vowel squad spellings of a vowel sound first, due east.k. for the long 'a' sound teach 'ai' earlier 'ay' and eventually 'eigh' as an extension for those who can manage the more advanced logic.

In reading instruction, teach the most common pronunciation of a vowel team start east.g. 'ey' equally long 'e' (e.chiliad. 'donkey') before 'ey' every bit long 'a' (east.g. 'they').

Teach irregular vowel team spellings every bit photographic camera/catchy words east.thousand. 'people' and 'leopard'.

DO NOT teach "when 2 vowels become out walking, the offset one does the talking". While it holds true for some common words, this pattern is true in less than 40% of vowel team pronunciations e.thou. it does not apply in 'oi', 'au', 'ou' and 'ew' and in r-controlled vowel teams, such as 'our' – the vowel sounds are completely changed.

Given the number of influences on the English linguistic communication, it is better to talk about "usual"' patterns rather than use the term "rules".

Teach the logic of the code in regards to the placement of vowel teams e.k. English words don't end in 'i' and then 'ai' is used in the middle of a base word and 'ay' at the end. They don't end in 'u' so 'ow' and 'aw' are used at the end of a word, not 'ou' or 'au'. Teach the patterns explicitly due east.m. 'ai'/'ay', 'oi'/'oy', 'ei'/'ey'.

If students are to employ plastic or magnetic letters in vowel teamwork, be certain to buy those that have the digraph equally 1 piece.

Apply sound (Elkonin) boxes and/or sound buttons to highlight the fact that a 'squad' tin correspond a single vowel sound.

To help students understand separate digraphs, have them place the component sounds of a word (e.g. 'cake' includes /c/, /a_e/ and /k/). Take them represent the e-controlled vowel spelling every bit 'ae' on newspaper then cutting the messages apart and insert the consonant (in this case, 'thousand'). We've fabricated a worksheet for each of the dissever digraphs – download our FREE worksheets here. Use Phonics Hero's FREE worksheets!
Aid students empathise the power of a vowel team'south power, together or dissever, to make a strong sound by teaching weak/stiff pairs, such equally chip/bite, mad/fabricated. Utilize plastic or magnetic letters that have vowels in a different colour to consonants as the difference highlights the teams.

Because in that location are no rules that tell us when to employ certain representations of vowel sounds, other than placement rules related to apply of 'i' or 'u' at the terminate of words, mastery is dependent on familiarity with words. Apply of the Phonics Hero games is ideal for giving students multiple exposures to each word, in reading and spelling. Get started with a Teacher Business relationship here.

If children are unsure which spelling selection to apply, suggest that they have a become with a vowel table, similar the instance below. They should try each spelling pick and brand a decision as to which one looks right. A vowel tabular array will help children place the correct vowel team.
The Phonics Hero games also enable a student to have a go and make the decision about which ane looks right. In the example below, a child is having a become at representing 'birthday'. Children can try each spelling choice, clicking it to remove it, and clicking the tick when they have made a conclusion. Practice choosing the correct vowel team with Phonics Hero.
Do phoneme searches for representations of a vowel sound or vowel team searches for lawmaking overlap in decodable text.

Create a vowel sound chart with your students, showing the various ways of spelling a vowel sound and a central word/pic as a retentivity jogger. Create a copy, cutting it upwards into cards then have students do a give-and-take/film sort, recreating the chart.

In tutoring, I like students to select an image of each spelling that is meaningful to them. Together, we create a reading or spelling slide show with each slide showing the vowel teams for a particular audio with an prototype for each, e.g. ane lilliputian girl in beloved with all things "Frozen" chose equally her long 'o' images: snow for 'ow', Olaf for 'o', and the advertising film for the Frozen movie for 'o-e'.

There are lots of activities involving games and movement that you can apply to teach vowel teams. Hither's ane idea: Relieve the lanyards with plastic cardholders from Professional Learning you go to. Write the vowels, w, y and gh on cards in ane colour. Write consonants on cards in some other colour. Put the cards into the holders. Ask students to each wear a lanyard. Call out a word and ask the students wearing the required letters to stand up in order to spell the word. Who will be function of the vowel team representing the vowel sound will be a source of word. This activity emphasises the need for a team try.

Be certain to make your vowel team teaching systematic, explicit, sequential, multisensory and cumulative.

Writer: Shirley Houston

With a Masters degree in Special Education, Shirley has been teaching children and training teachers in Commonwealth of australia for over 30 years. Working with children with learning difficulties, Shirley champions the importance of didactics phonics systematically and to mastery in mainstream classrooms. If you are interested in Shirley's assist as a literacy trainer for your school, drop the team an e-mail on info@phonicshero.com