step063.htm/21DEC2001

Step 63 : Soft c, g

Six "steps" are given, but this may take longer.

The pupil has by now had a lot of practice in making a c say k, and a g say its hard sound as in go; but he has also met ch as in chop. C and G are the only two letters of the alphabet that can be 'hard' and 'soft'. The sound we learned first, as in Cat, Dog, is the 'hard' sound. The soft sound is the sound in their name, cee and jee, so that c sounds like sss and g sounds like j. They say this soft sound when followed by e, i, or y. This gives us six letter‑groups: ce ci cy; ge gi gy. You can either take them one at a time, or explain the general principle and let the pupil try out all six, and go on from there.

When soft c,g are introduced, some learners try to change every c/g into the new, soft sound. Say that all the words where c,g have previously said the hard sound will go on saying it, that we are not changing any words we have had already, but looking at new words.

Join the two letters (in joined writing) if you wish. This helps to imprint on the learner's mind that they go together. You will see that in the following columns (Steps 63-68) there are extra columns for ‑nce, and ‑age and ‑nge, which are common endings.

While the pupil is learning these new letter‑groups, play the previous games. Make (or buy) a new bingo, pack of pairs cards, s/ladders, and "Is it?". You may wish to make one "Is it?" for soft c, one for soft g, or six, one for each letter‑group.

This may be a good time to point out that printed material often shows

Soft c and g get too little attention in most phonic programmes and workbooks. You may find in a jumble sale a copy of Royal Road Book 5 ("The horse that could not run.") It is very good.


fence	pencil	cylinder
dance	city	fancy
advance	accident	Nancy
success	decide	Cynthia
necessary	excited	Cyril
December	scissors	bicycle

Double c: When you have a cc before a, o or u, it says k: accost, accord, accustom. When you have cc before e, i. or y (the letters that make c soft), the first says k, and the second says s, so that cc sounds like x: succeed, success, accept, accent, access, accelerate. Note that Dixon and Dickson sound the same.

If you can notice the "‑cess" in words, it helps to remember when you use cc and when ss: access success princess recess abscess necessary So when do you use c, when k, and when ck?

ck follows a short vowel in words in words of one syllable like pack peck pick rock duck.

The ack, eck, ick pattern is kept in packet (see page 45)

After a long vowel, the k sound is k: bake like stoke duke, week peak steak

In a long word ending in the sound ick, it is spelt ic: panic picnic frantic mimic logic magic fantastic Atlantic Pacific arithmetic

At the beginning of a word, the k sound before a,o, u is c: cat cot cut but before e i y it is k (because ce ci cy have the s sound):

Cat sat

Kettle centre set

Kitten city sit

cot

cut

cycle.

You see, you are learning how letters work together. Think about the following and why they

are spelt the way they are:

lack lake lace lacking lacing

lick like lice licking liking

duck duke ducking

trick trike trice tricking

prick price pricking pricing

make mace making

By now you may have started the pupil on reading books, or you have encouraged him gradually to read more and more of the words (that you know he can read) when you read together. He is now ready to start on James Webster's Shorty books (Ginn) to read at one sitting, or the early Trog books (Nelson), but the learner will read these so fast that it is not worth buying them. See if the school or library has them. If not, let the learner read any books with large print, just helping with words that have letter‑groups not yet taught, or irregular words. Use your judgment.

Soft g

My father's first name was George. All my life, until I learned the rule about ge, I wondered why his name had such an odd spelling. I learned this rule when I was 48! So you are way ahead of me!

In a word like age the first vowel has an e two letters later, so the

Regent first vowel is long.

digest

Stoke Poges

huge

The same thing is found with ce; face recent slicer grocer reduce.(ace ece ice oce uce)

If you want a short vowel in front of ge, instead of putting two g's (except in suggest,

exaggerate) we put ‑dge: badge hedge bridge lodge smudge This is voiced.

The unvoiced equivalent is tch: : patch fetch witch Scotch Dutch.

So, surprisingly, it is the simple rich much such which duchess that are irregular!

Words for Bingo

accept danger face grocer necessary

ambulance December fancy hedge police

bicycle decent garage hinge princess

chance digital general huge register

change excellent giant ice scarcely suggest

city except ginger imagine sponge village

Note the ar in scarcely does not sound as in car, but sounds like air. This is a very difficult

word.

Many words end in ‑nge. when ‑nge follows e,i,o,u the vowel is short (hinge), but a is

different. In orange the a sounds like i. In other words, the a is long:

range ranger change danger stranger mange manger angel

Write ge in these words. Say the word.

ca__ pa__ hin__ bad__ sled__ brid__ __ms

oran__s bud__rigar bad__r cotta__ banda__

an__l dan__r dun__on sur__on mana__ cabba__ villa__

gara__ passa__ dama__ lar__ jud__ fud__ spon__

chan__ __ntle Geor__ hu__ a__ ra__ sta__ wa__

frin__

Find the picture and write the word beside it (first 12 words from those above).

60/19SEP2001 Do one column a day. In words of more than one syllable, ‑age sounds like ‑idge.

In most ‑ange words, the a is long.

61/19SEP2001 gi,gy; ce, ci, cy

gi: *__raffe *en__ne di__tal ma__c tra__c __ant

ima__ne __nger re__ster

gy: *__mnastics E__pt zoolo__ biolo__ ener__ aller__

ce: *fa__ fen__ *pen__ *di__ *pri __ *sli__ *la__s *s__nt

‑nce: da___ adva___ gla___ Fra___ *ambula___

dista___ differe___ si___ pri___ pri___ss mi___r

C i: *Pen__l __ garette s__ssors de__de ex__ted

* __rcle __ty pre__ous __nema ac__dent electri__ty

CY: *__linder fan__ Nan__ bi__cle __ril __clone __gnet

Write the starred words beside the correct picture below.

Many words end in ‑age. The word AGE has a long, clear AY sound. When the ‑age is an

ending of a longer 2‑syllable word, we do not say it as a clear AGE. It sounds more like

‑idge. You could say each word first with a long a, vill‑ay‑j... vill‑idge, if you wanted:

village cabbage image bandage postage garage manage

In "barrage" (like camouflage, sabotage) we use more a French pronunciation, ba'rrahj.

Jokes (for dictation)

1. "How do you start a teddy‑bear race?"

" Say, 'Ready.... teddy .... go! "

2. "Gary, did your sister help you with this exercise?"

"No, miss. She did the lot."

3. Geography teacher: "Where is the River Nile?" (explain 'ph = f') (Step 94)

Norman: "You're the geography teacher ‑ you tell me!"

4. Knock! Knock! Who's there? Police'. Police who? (Silent k, Step 95)

Police let me in, it's cold out here!

5. "What's the difference between a bottle of medicine and a doormat?"

"One is shaken up and taken, and the other is taken up and shaken.