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A Sequential Phonics Program - Program Overview - PDF Files - Pictures - Audio - Video - Reading Street - Blog
A Sequential Phonics Program - Program Overview - PDF Files - Pictures - Audio - Video - Reading Street - Blog
On this page you can listen to the sound or sounds for each letter of the alphabet. The sound bars for each letter are shown below it. Click on the triangle to hear each sound. Some letters can represent more than one sound. Beginners should listen to only the first sound for each letter.
Important Note: If you are just starting this program, do not be discouraged by all of the sounds. The letter sounds are taught one at a time over a long period, with enough practice to help you remember them. You will only need to learn the basic, most common patterns to begin reading. By the time you finish the Advanced Phonics Patterns book, you will have learned all of these sounds.
Information About Vowel Sounds
There are five vowels in English, a, e, i, o, and u, with the consonant y sometimes representing a vowel sound in words. Each vowel can represent several different sounds. You can hear each sound for a, e, i, o, and u by clicking the sound bars below each vowel. Note that the terms long vowel and short vowel do not apply to the size of the printed vowel or the amount of time that it takes to pronounce the sounds. The terms long and short are just terms for the different vowel sounds.
- The first sound bar demonstrates the short vowel sound.
- The second sound bar demonstrates the long vowel sound. It is easy to remember the long vowel sounds because they are the same as the names of the letters.
- The third sound bar demonstrates a third vowel sound that is neither the short or the long sound. These sounds are less common. In this program, we call these dotted vowel sounds. Two dots are placed above the vowel to indicate the dotted sound. The dots look like a German umlaut, which means "not the usual sound."
The vowel i sometimes acts as a consonant, representing the sound for y - as in onion and union.
Information About Consonant And Vowel Sounds
A few consonants can represent more than one sound.
- The letter c sound like s when it is followed by e, i, or y - as in cent, city, and cycle.
- The letter g usually sounds like j when it is followed by e, i, or y - as in gem, giant, and gym.
- The letter s sometimes sounds like the letter z - as in has and raise.
- The letter x sounds like the letter z when it is at the beginning of a word - as in xylophone.
- In some words the letter x sounds like the a combination of the g and z sounds, /gz/ - as in exhaust. (This sound is not shown below.)
- The letter u always follows the letter Q q in words, like this: Qu and qu. In this case, the letter u is not pronounced as a vowel. The two letters work together to show the /kw/ sound - as in quit and queen. However, in a few words, the letters qu work together to show the /k/ sound - as in antique and conquer.
- The letter y can be used as both a consonant and a vowel in words. The consonant sound is heard in these words - yo-yo, yes, yawn. It can represent three possible vowel sounds - the long ē sound as in happy, the long ī sound as in my, and the short i sound as in gymnastics.
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A a
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B b
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C c
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D d
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E e
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F f
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G g
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H h
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I i
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J j
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K k
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L l
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M m
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N n
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O o
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P p
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Qu qu
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R r
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S s
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T t
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U u
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V v
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W w
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X x
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Y y
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Z z
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