Reading: Basic Decoding & Word Recognition: Lesson 2: Basic Phonics - Common Consonant & Short Vowel Sounds

Reading: Basic Decoding & Word Recognition

Lesson 2: Basic Phonics - Common Consonant & Short Vowel Sounds

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Before You Start

In Lesson 1, you learned the letters of the alphabet. Now, let's learn the sounds⁴ these letters make. This is called Phonics¹. Learning phonics is the key to learning how to read words.

We will learn about two types of letters: Consonants² and Vowels³.

Part 1: Common Consonant Sounds

Consonants are all the letters that are not vowels. Let's learn the sounds for some common consonants.

Letter	Listen for this Sound	Example Word
B b	/b/ as in ball	sports_basketball ball
D d	/d/ as in dog	pets dog
M m	/m/ as in man	man man
P p	/p/ as in pen	edit pen
S s	/s/ as in sun	wb_sunny sun
T t	/t/ as in top	arrow_upward top

Part 2: The Short Vowel Sounds

The vowels are A, E, I, O, U. They are special letters that are in every English word. Today we learn their "short" sounds.

Letter	Listen for this Short Sound	Example Word
A a	/æ/ as in cat	pets cat
E e	/ɛ/ as in pen	edit pen
I i	/ɪ/ as in sit	chair sit
O o	/ɒ/ as in top	arrow_upward top
U u	/ʌ/ as in sun	wb_sunny sun

Part 3: Let's Blend!

Now, let's blend⁵ the sounds together to read words. This is how reading works!

/c/ + /æ/ + /t/   arrow_forward   cat

/s/ + /ʌ/ + /n/   arrow_forward   sun

/p/ + /ɪ/ + /n/   arrow_forward   pin

Practice Activities

Quiz 1: What's the Vowel Sound?

Listen to or read the word. Which short vowel (a, e, i, o, u) do you hear?

1. map     -> Answer: a

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2. hit      -> Answer: i

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3. leg      -> Answer: e

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4. cup      -> Answer: u

Vocabulary Glossary

1. Phonics (*noun*)
   ភាសាខ្មែរ: ការផ្សំសំឡេង (Kaa Phsom Samleng)
   The method of learning to read by using letter sounds. ↩ back to text
2. Consonant (*noun*)
   ភាសាខ្មែរ: ព្យញ្ជនៈ (Pchoan-cho-neak)
   Any letter in the alphabet that is not a vowel. ↩ back to text
3. Vowel (*noun*)
   ភាសាខ្មែរ: ស្រៈ (Srak)
   The letters A, E, I, O, U. ↩ back to text
4. Sound (*noun*)
   ភាសាខ្មែរ: សំឡេង (Sam-leng)
   What you hear when a letter is spoken. ↩ back to text
5. Blend (*verb*)
   ភាសាខ្មែរ: ផ្សំ (Phsom)
   To mix sounds together to make a word. ↩ back to text

Homework Task

Practice reading these words aloud. First, say each letter sound. Then, blend the sounds to say the word.

• b - a - t   arrow_forward   bat
• p - e - t   arrow_forward   pet
• d - i - g   arrow_forward   dig
• h - o - t   arrow_forward   hot
• r - u - n   arrow_forward   run