Part 3: Vowel Teams (or Vowel Strings) with more than 1 sound

First of all, you need to know what the consonants and vowels are. English Vowels: a,e,i,o,u, and sometimes y, w When "y" or "w" appears at the beginning of a word or syllable, it is / they are NO vowels English Consonants: b, c, d, f, g, h, !, k, l, m, n, p, ", r, s, t, v, #, $, %and w & y if occurring at the beginning of a word or syllable' Now, you need to know the vowel sounds( Y and W: )s vowels( boy, cow )s consonants( you, wool

Regarding Consonants B Usually pronounced like the b in big. However, in words ending with -mb, such as comb, plumb, numb, bomb, etc, the b is silent. C Usually pronounced like k, as in cat. However, c takes on the sound of s when it precedes e, i or y, as in ceiling, cistern, cynic, etc. -dge Usually pronounced like j, as in bridge. G Usually pronounced as in go. However, before e, i or y, g is often pronounced like j, as in germ, ginger, gyrate, etc. -gh n some words, -gh is pronounced like f, as in laugh. However, in some words it is silent, as in high. H !or e"ample, head. However, in a few words, the h is silent, as in hour, honour, etc. K

#enerally pronounced like the c in cat. However, when followed by n, it is usually silent, as in knife, knave, knight, etc. L #enerally pronounced as in leaf. However, in a few words, the l is silent, especially when followed by k and f, as in talk, walk, half, calf, etc. S #enerally pronounced as in sun. However, in some words s is pronounced like $, as in nose, president, etc. n a few words, such as television and a$ure, s takes on a sound generally represented phonetically as $h. Th #enerally aspirated, ie, let out with a puff of air, as in think, third, etc. However, in some words, such as this, th is not aspirated. X Usually pronounced like in bo"%the sound is&ks'. However, when it is the first letter of a word, x is pronounced like $. Y #enerally pronounced as in yesterday. n some words, it takes on the sound ee, as in city. n yet other words, it takes on the sound ai, as in fly. Regarding Vowels A (efore two consonants, a is pronounced as in sand. )his also applies when it appears before a single consonant at the end of a word, as in fan. (efore a single consonant followed by a vowel, a is usually pronounced as in ate %the sound is ey'. (efore l and after * and w, a is usually pronounced as in call %the sound is like aw'. +ther e"amples are s*uash and wall. E (efore two consonants and before a single consonant at the end of a word, e is usually pronounced as in desk or ten. )his also applies when e appears before a single consonant followed by a vowel %ever', although sometimes e is pronounced ee in such cases, as in even. ,t the end of a word, e is usually silent, as in ate ,fate, etc- however, at the end of very short words, e usually takes on the sound ee, as in be. I (efore two consonants and before a single consonant at the end of a word, i is usually pronounced as in fit or fill. However, in some cases, before two consonants, i takes on the ai sound %rhymes with eye'. !or e"ample,wild. (efore a single consonant followed by a vowel, i generally takes on the ai sound, as in eye and tire.

(efore two consonants in some words and before a single consonant at the end of a word, o takes on the sound aw, as in rock and not. n other words, it is pronounced oh when it appears before two consonants, as in bolt. )he same applies when it precedes a single consonant followed by a vowel. ! (efore two consonants and before a consonant at the end of a word, u usually takes on either the short oo sound, as in pull and put, or the blunt uh, as in duck and jut. (efore a single consonant followed by a vowel, u takes on the long oo sound, as in .une.

*ea* %short e sound'+ bread, breath, dead, death, head, lead, read, wealth, *ea* %long e sound'+ bead, beat, breathe, eat, feat, heat, lead, leak, meat, neat, read, treat, weak, wheat *ea* %long a sound'+ break, great, steak

*ew* % /u(/ '+ dew, blew, chew, crew, flew, grew, knew, lewd, mew, stew, *ew* % /ju(/ '+ few, new, pew

*oo* %short sound / /'+ book, foot, good, hood, hook, look, nook, rook, soot, took, wood, *oo* % /u(/ '+ balloon, boot, cartoon, goose, loose, moose, loop, loot, moon, noon, poop, root, stoop, toon, toot, *oo* %schwa sound / /'+ blood, flood *oo* %long o sound'+ boor, floor, door, moor

*ou* %*au* "short" sound'+ bough, grouse, house, louse, mouse, plough *ou* %*ou* "long" sound'+ though

*ou* %schwa sound / /'+ enough, rough, tough

*ow* %*au* "short" sound'+ brown, cow, how, now, wow *ow* %*ou* "long" sound'+ blow, flow, grow, know, low, sow, tow,

She sells sea shells by the sea shore. Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. Now if Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, how many peppers did Peter Piper pick? If a woodchuck could chuck wood, how much wood would a woodchuck chuck? A woodchuck would chuck as much wood as a woodchuck could chuck, if a woodchuck could chuck wood.

For teaching the First start with

and

phonemes !for articulation see my Phonics Page"

# $hree thin thie%es thought a thousand thoughts. Now if three thin thie%es thought a thousand thoughts, how many thoughts did each thief think? After the students master that one, mo%e on to # $hat which is theirs is neither more nor less than that which is thine. After the students master that both those abo%e, start mi&ing and

# $his thing and that thing are better than those things. !easy for nati%e speakers, but not so easy for none nati%es". # $he thin thief went through that thicket o%er there. If you really want to get tricky, add 't' and 'd'... # A thorn adorned a thicket. # If you buy a ticket to see the thicket, you get a thorn to adorn your thicket ticket.

# (harles )ickens had a thick thicket, which was adorned by a thousand thorns, and those thorns were adorned by a thousand tickets. *e called it the +)ickens $icket $hicket+, and the )ickens $icket $hicket was so thick that in the thick and thin of things I think it was the thickest ticket thicket that I,d e%er seen. -r try these... # $homas )undon dro%e down town to )o%e )ri%e. # $homas )undon dro%e down town to )o%e )ri%e in the dump truck. # $homas )undon dro%e down town to )o%e )ri%e in the dump truck. $homas dro%e the truck through the town and to the dump then down the dri%eway.

And if you are an .nglish teacher or .nglish student in China, Japan, Korea, or any Spanish#speaking nation, you can really confuse the heck out of the students by doing a tongue twister with %arious combinations of /s/ and and and . In /orea, where students are often heard to say things like, +Sank you,+ and +I sink you should...+, I would work on the /s/ and . I suggest one starts with some easy tongue twisters, then get progressi%ely harder !and longer" # $heodore sees a door. # $heodore sees a door and she adores $heodore. # I sank you and you thanked me. # I sank you and you thanked me0 I think I,ll sink you again. # I thought I shot a dot. # I thought I sought a shot of something super strong, but what I think I thought, and what I should ha%e thought are surely not things that I like to think about for %ery long. A)1AN(.) $-N23. $4IS$.5S # I thought I sought a shot, but I sought a thought instead. And the thought I sought was not a shot, but a thimble and a thread.

# She sees the three seas, and he sees that she sees what she sees when she sees the three seas. $he ultimate tongue twister of all time # I think that a thick, sick, chic chick surely, thoroughly sank its shank into the tank and drank.

*ow about some 'f' tongue twisters? 6In (hinese, there is an 'f' phoneme, but in /orean and 7apanese, there is no 'f' phoneme, which makes me wonder why they transliterate 8t. Fu9i as +8t. Fu9i+, instead of the correct, +8t. *u9i+.:

$he following tongue twisters is especially for the Japanese students # Fi%e funny fairies found fi%e funny frogs on 8ount Hu9i. [NOT FUJI!!!!!] # *u had the flu, and when *u flew the flu flew. # Fu found four frosty frappuccinos, and who did he find with them? Four fabulous females. # $he foreheads of four heads were fairly hairy for foreheads.

For the Koreans, who ha%e problems with 'f' and 'p'... # $he four fleas are poor fleas. # ;et the four poor fleas flee, please. # $he four fathers found that poor fathers had forefathers who were poor fathers, too. # Puns are fun, so ha%e some fun with fi%e fun puns< 6see my Puns Page:

None of the following languages /orean, 7apanese, (hinese, ha%e the phoneme '%', but the /oreans use 'b' for '%', and the (hinese use 'w' for '%'. I don,t know what the 7apanese do. So, for the Koreans # I put some %ile bile in a file and labeled it the +1ile =ile+ file. # +=erries %ary %ery much,+ said the berry fairy %ery well. # -ne should wear one,s best %est for the fest. In other words, one should wear one,s best fest %est.

And, for the Chinese # $he best fest in the 4est is the 1est Fest. # I,m %ery wary of %ery scary films. # $he %ery %ile %illain %ied %ery %ehemently for his %illage . # 1alerie %alues %olleyball %ery much.

And, for the Spanish#speakers # She,s says she,s special since she,s especially smart< # She spies the special school, which is especially special because of the especially special students, who study especially studiously.