Words Skills: Language and Activities for Talking About Words Chapter 5: Rhymes Words Skills: Language and Activities for Talking About Words

Before we begin . . . Beware of heard, A dreadful word, It looks like beard, But sounds like bird What is the point of this poem? What are they poking fun at?

Here is the full stanza from Pronunciation Tips for Foreigners Beware of heard, a dreadful word That looks like beard, and sounds like bird, And dead: it's said like bed, not bead— For goodness' sake don't call it "deed"! Watch out for meat and great and threat (they rhyme with suite and straight and debt).

Last Class We began looking at rhymes. We did an in class experiment where we tested rhyme awareness among education majors with a high level of competence in English (you!). In particular, we looked at a scene from the movie Shrek and asked if students could understand the rhyme-based joke.

Last Class We demonstrated that rhyme awareness was quite low (which was surprising to me considering how competent in English this class is on average). I have since done this experiment on my UE classes and with the exception of two students who went to high school abroad, none of the students were able to see the joke.

Why rhyme? But, as one student asked, “Why is rhyme important? And why should we teach it?”

(1)Cultural Awareness: More Access to media such as songs, poems, children’s literature, and proverbs. (2) Phonemic Awareness and Skills: The awareness that words are made up of sounds that can be segmented and manipulated to make new words. (3) The ability to organize, memorize and predict in texts that use rhyme. (4) A Tool for teaching decoding skills: When texts rhyme kids see patterns from words and are able learn phonetics inductively. As well, difficult words can be decoded if they rhyme with words that have regular phonetic patterns. (5) As a teacher, the ability to clarify pronunciation based on pronunciation of well-known words. Rhyme also highlights weaknesses in pronunciation. (World and word do not rhyme for example). (6) Intrinsic motivation: rhyming is an instance of language at play and therefore intrinsically motivating.

Reasons to Rhyme #1: Access to Media Though not all songs, poems and children's stories rhyme, many do. It is one more dimension for understanding and appreciating literature and music. In Class Task 1: We are going to listen to the song “The Lemon Tree” stopping to point out the rhyming words.

Reasons to Rhyme #2 Phonemic Awareness/ Phonological Awareness (2) Phonemic Awareness and Skills: The awareness that words are made up of sounds that can be segmented and manipulated to make new words. What are some phonemic awareness skills?

A child can hear separate words in sentences.

A child can hear separate words in sentences A child hears syllables in words (ba-na-na)

A child can hear separate words in sentences A child hears syllables in words (ba-na-na) A child hears onset, or the first part of a word (f-ox, sh-eep)

A child can hear separate words in sentences A child hears syllables in words (ba-na-na) A child hears onset, or the first part of a word (f-ox, sh-eep) A child hears rime, or the ending of a word (f-ox, sh-eep)

A child can hear separate words in sentences A child hears syllables in words (ba-na-na) A child hears onset, or the first part of a word (f-ox, sh-eep) A child hears rime, or the ending of a word (f-ox, sh-eep) A child hears individual phonemes, or individual sounds in words  (/c/ + /a/+/ t/ = cat)

A child can identify words beginning with the same letter sound, such as bear, bat, ball and bean.  This is called  alliteration.

A child can identify words beginning with the same letter sound, such as bear, bat, ball and bean. This is called alliteration. A child can reconstruct words by blending sounds such as /f/ /r/ /o/ /g/ in frog.

Cleary rhyming is a complex phonological awareness skill because it involves segmentation (stripping the rime out of a word) and then blending with a new onset.

#4 A Tool for Teaching Decoding Skills When rhyme is incorporated into children’s texts, children are able to see patterns of similar letter combinations and link them to patterns of similar sounds. For example, in the Cat in the Hat, by Dr. Seuss kids can learn that an A-T has an /AT/ sound.

From the Cat and the Hat: Rhyme can also serve as a clue for decoding words with unfamiliar spellings. From the Cat and the Hat: Then that cat went right in. He was up to no good! So I ran in after As fast as I could! A child who had a good sense of rhyme but was uncertain of how to decode could might be able to use good as a clue.

In class task 2 With a partner, read a children’s book and find rhyming words in it.

End of Section 1 The first section of this course, What’s in word? is finished. We have looked at ways to talk about words with our students and how to develop word skills in our students.

Review: SHOUT Shout is a five-letter word. It begins with S. It ends in T. T as in tiger. You spell it S-H-O-U-T. It’s another word for scream or yell. It’s the opposite of whisper. It rhymes with pout. It has one syllable.

Review: SHOUT It has three consonant letters. It has two consonant sounds. It has two vowel letters. It has one vowel sound. It has one consonant digraph, S-H, that makes a /ʃ/ sound, like the /ʃ/ sound in /sheep/. It has one vowel digraph. It doesn’t have any consonant blends.

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Letters and Sounds When talking about the sounds that letters make use these expressions: (The) B makes a /b/ sound. (The) S-H makes a /ʃ/ sound. Note: make and sound collocate strongly.

Exercise 5-1 What sound do the letters in bold make? century later knight philosophy ocean

Talking About Silent Letters Use these expressions when talking about silent letters. Lamb has a silent B. The T in watch is silent.

Exercise 5-2 What are the silent letters in these words? debt island raspberry sign autumn

Clarifying Pronunciation Similar to clarifying letters. That's /b/ as in boy. That's /k/ like the /k/ in cat Choose a well-known noun with a well-known pronunciation.

Exercise 5-3 Clarify the pronunciation of the letters in bold: brother peach machine west saw laugh