Step041.htm/20DEC2001

Step 41: ar ,

The next five letter‑groups are vowel + r. The vowels are very important. The pupil can now learn the names of the vowels, which are the long sounds:

a (ay) e (ee) i (I) o (oh) U (you)

When you sing the alphabet, you are singing the names of the letters. When we sound out, we use letter‑sounds, but when we talk about letters, you should now be using their names, occasionally reminding that 'aitch says hhh..' and so on.

ar: (ay‑ar) says the sound in car and or as in fork. Children seem to find these easier to learn than the er ir ur which all make the same sound (term, bird, curl). If you wish to go slowly, do the ar,or, first and then the other three. If your pupil seems to be mopping it all up very easily, you can try the five together. Use your judgment.

ar: The mouth is fairly wide open for this. Try to make the r audible. Scottish reading attainment regularly comes out better than English, and I wonder if this is due to their clearer sound of the r. Try to say carr rather than cah. Most Americans sound the r. Look in the mirror, and see if your lips move forward towards the end of the sound, as they should. Exaggerate the r at the end of all five groups, for the next fortnight. Including words like "sharp" emphasises to the pupil that letter‑groups (like sh) once learned keep coming in.

Joke: What did the jack say to the car? "Can I give you a lift?" (Give: explain that English words do not end in 'v' so you have to put an ‘e’ after.)

Get the pupil to sound the sounds of the new words.

Choose Activities from the Contents page.