After a student learns the basics about syllables based on auditory cues, they are ready to learn syllable division of written words. Multisyllable words can have a lot of letters, and we need a plan or strategy for figuring out what all those letters say. When we come to an unknown multisyllable word, we can […]
To finish up the ‘blockers’ rules, we teach students about the double ff, ll, ss rule (sometimes referred to as the ‘Floss Rule’). Rather than adding a different consonant to block the vowel, we double the end consonant, and, strangely, for only the letters ‘l’, ‘f’, and ‘s’. Any word that has a short vowel […]
Now that students have a general understanding of blocking rules, we introduce them to a couple more variations of that concept by continuing with the -ck expectancy. The -ck rule functions the exact same as blocker -dge and copycat -tch but is just a different sound after the vowel. To ‘protect’ the vowel with a […]
After the student has had some practice with the ‘-dge’ rule, we introduce a very similar rule. This is the ‘-tch’ rule, also called the “copycat rule.” Tutor: “The next blocker rule we are going to learn is very much like the ‘-dge’ rule you just learned. Today we are going to learn about spelling […]
As students develop their literacy skills, they will need to learn some expectancies to help them read and spell more challenging words. The first one we teach is the ‘dge’ rule, or Blocker D. The letter ‘j’ will never be the last letter in an English word. You don’t use a ‘brij’ to cross over […]
When you think of the letter ‘q’, what sound do you think of this letter making? Are you able to think of a word that doesn’t have a ‘u’ directly following the ‘q’? Pretty difficult, huh? Most words that exist in English with a ‘q’ and no ‘u’ are derived from Semitic languages and are […]
Let’s be honest: thinking of a letter borrowing something is pretty absurd. Especially when the thing it’s borrowing is another letter’s sound. This concept is even more strange for students who are just beginning to learn about the English language and how letters function on their own and within individual words. Pair that with affixes, […]
After a student has learned Borrower C, we introduce Borrower G. The visual aid for this rule is also a train track. During the introduction, the tutor should point out the similarities and differences between the diagrams for ‘C’ and ‘G’. Tutor: Believe it or not, there is another borrower rule that is related to […]
Because the English language is based upon many different languages from different times and places, some letters and sounds overlap. We call these letters “borrowers” and we seek to teach them to our students in memorable ways. The letter ‘C’ is the first of 5 borrowers in our program. It can be pronounced two different […]
There are several letters used in English that have no consistent sound association, which we call ‘Borrowers.’ This helps to convey the idea that they are ‘borrowing’ sounds from other letters. The first of these is the infamous ‘Y.’ The ‘Y’ makes different sounds depending on where it is in a word. Contrary to popular […]
