Consonant

Graphemes are the alphabet letters, or letter combinations, that represent a single sound (phoneme) in a written word.
An example of a single letter (grapheme) representing a single sound (a phoneme) can be seen in the following words: sat, pat and dog.
Some sounds are represented by two letters and are called digraphs such as the ‘ch’ in ‘chip’ or ‘sh’ in ‘shop’ or ‘ea’ in ‘head’ and the ‘ai’ in ‘rain’.
Other sounds can be represented by 3 (trigraphs) or 4 (quadgraphs) letter combinations such as ‘igh’ in ‘light’ and ‘eigh’ in ‘eight’.
Phonemes are the smallest units of sound of a language; which we blend together to form words.
The English Language has 44 phonemes, 24 consonants and 20 vowels, represented by the unique symbols of the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).
The 44 phonemes of English (UK) are represented by more than 280 letter or letter combinations. Most letters therefore never make just one sound and that sound can be made by more than one letter or letter combination.
We have created over 1,000 videos that split words into their individual phonemes, showing which letters are making which sound in each word. You can access these videos in two ways:

1. 
   If you want to know which letter or letter combination represents a sound, click on the relevant phoneme button on the English Phoneme Chart (https://www.teachphonics.co.uk/phonics-phoneme-chart.html );
   
2. 
   If you want to know what sound a letter or letter combination makes and see supporting animations, click on the relevant letter or letter combination on the Alphabet Keyboard (https://www.teachphonics.co.uk/phonics-alphabet-chart.html ).
   

We hope you find these useful.
Phonics, Phonological AwarenessConsonants, digraphs, Graphemes, International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), Phonemes, Phonics, Phonological Awareness, Vowels

Games to Develop Listening Skills – Part 7 – Phonemic Awareness

April 8, 2021lucyteachchildrenLeave a comment

Phonemic awareness is our ability to split words into their smallest sound units (individual phonemes) and to manipulate these sounds through segmentation, blending, substitution and deletion. This is based on what we hear and say, not the written word.
These games are great for playing in the car or when waiting in queues and hopefully soon when out and about with other friends and family.
We usually introduce this concept to children using one syllable CVC words, a word that has a Consonant followed by a Vowel and then another Consonant, such as cat, dog, sit, peg and sun.
Play, ‘I hear with my little ear…’
This is based on the game I spy with my little eye. In this version you say;
“I hear with my little ear the words (for example) cat, cake, key and kite. What sound do these words begin with?” The answer is they begin with the sound ‘k’ remember it is about what they hear not the spelling or letter names.

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  To begin with focus on helping your child to identify the first sound in words, remember it is about what you hear not the spelling, so shop, ship, and chef all start with the same first sound ‘sh’; fish, photo, fog would also have the same initial ‘f’ sound. Try not to correct your child based on spelling conventions, as it is sounds you are working on – spelling comes later.
  
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  Next help your child to listen and identify the last sound in a word such as ‘t’ in cat, sit and hat.
  
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  Then focus on the medial, or middle, sound in the word such as ‘a’ in mat, lap and tap.
  

Once your child can identify the initial, medial and final sounds in a word the next step is to playing with the words through oral phoneme segmentation and oral phoneme blending. You are probably doing this already with your child without really realising it.

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  Segmentation – being able to split words into their individual sounds, for example ‘cat’ into c-a-t.
  

Play, ‘How many sounds (phonemes) can you hear?’
This is a simple oral segmentation game just ask; “How many sounds (phonemes) can you hear in the word ‘hat’? The answer is 3. If your child can not count, they can show you using their fingers. The important thing is for them to hear and pick out the individual sounds in the word not the number of letters used to spell the word.

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  Blending – being able to blend individual sounds together to say a word, for example d-o-g into dog. This is achieved by saying the sounds over and over again getting quicker until it sounds and can be identified as the word (a tricky skills to learn).
  

Play, ‘I’m thinking of a word and it has the sounds (phonemes)… What is the word?’
This oral blending game seems easy but can be very trick skill for some children to master, so do not be surprised if they find it hard to begin with. Use CVC words to begin with, but do keep trying as it is a very important skill to learn; be patient and over time they will get there.
Say “I’m thinking of a word and it has the sounds (phonemes) l-o-g what is the word?” The answer is log.