Oral Reading: Getting All the Words Right
Check out these great ideas from Project Read Tutor Roger Williams, and feel free to share your own ideas.
“Cold” Reading
You are asked to read something that you have not seen before. It’s like taking a video driving test. You just know that suddenly there’s going to be a hog in the road. So you’re on alert. You’re careful. You’re reading [Read on...]
Word Families
Using word families is a great approach to teaching students to read. Word families (also known as phonograms or “chunks”) are beneficial because they help students recognize patterns in the English Language. Word families are composed of syllables or syllable endings that are pronounced the same way. For example, a common word family is the “an” family. The an family [Read on...]
Voiced and Unvoiced Sounds in English Pronunciation
One of the keys to learning how to read in English is pronunciation. When students can decipher the sounds that are associated with certain letters in words they will have an easier time sounding out difficult words. The English language has many variations when it comes to learning pronunciation, but by mastering just a few rules, students have a good [Read on...]
The Complete Phonic Handbook
“Phonetics” refers to speech sounds or how combinations of letters indicate pronunciation, and it has recently been regarded by many experts as a good way to teach literacy skills. The Complete Phonic Handbook by Diana Hope is in the Project Read office. It’s an excellent resource for teaching phonics skills as [Read on...]
Pronunciation Classes
Want to Lose Your ACCENT?
Want to speak English clearly?
This class cannot solve these problems for you, but we can teach you important skills.
If used consistently, these skills will greatly improve your English accent!
Saturdays, 10:00 am – 12:00 pm
Provo City Library Room 155 (around the corner from the circulation desk on the first floor)
Come Join Us!
Pronouncing -s Endings
Last month we talked about how to pronounce the ‘-ed’ ending. Another difficult ending pronunciation is the 3rd person singular ‘-s’ ending. Have your students use the following exercise to discover the simple pronunciation rule for themselves. To prepare, make flash cards for the following 30 examples and shuffle them. Also, give your student three category label cards for the [Read on...]
Pronouncing -ed Endings
Pronouncing -ed Endings
There is a simple rule to explain how the ‘-ed’ endings of simple past verbs are pronounced. When your students use the following exercise, they will discover this rule for themselves. To prepare, write the following 30 example verbs on flash cards and shuffle them. Also, give your student three category label cards for the sounds “t,” “d” [Read on...]
Tutor Talk Ideas
A. Teaching the difference between long and short vowel sounds
Try explaining the rule first and then showing examples. Let them see a pattern to show a reason behind it.
Teach spelling patterns first to pave the way for different sounds.
Start simple and then build on. For example, start with “can” and add an “e” to show that the “e” makes the [Read on...]
Phonics
These tips are from the Phonics Workshop held last month. We appreciate Judy Tuley and her willingness to share her expertise.
Several letters in the English language change sound depending on where they are in a word and which letters follow them.
The letter “c” can sound like “s” or “k” depending on which letters follow it.
C sounds like “s” when it [Read on...]
Using a Tape Recorder
A tape recorder can be an excellent educational tool, and many students have them (we also have several available in the office). Here are some ways tutors can use this tool:
1. Record the students as they read aloud. Ask them to play back their tapes. This might help a student identify his or her own reading problems and seek ways [Read on...]
