Teaching syllable types: Two syllable words - emu, galah, turtle transcript
Elaine Stanley:
Once students have understood how to split words into syllables using those ‘wombat’ words and the vowel-consonant/consonant-vowel [VC/CV] structure with two closed syllables, these two examples can be introduced next. And these are actually two of the most valuable ones for students to know and use when they're reading and spelling two-syllable words.
We've got ‘emu’ words and ‘galah’ words. These are our names for them. We've chosen Australian animals' names. With ‘emu’ words, the first syllable is open. They've both got a vowel-consonant-vowel [VCV] pattern. In ‘emu’ words, the first syllable is open because we split after the first vowel, which makes an open syllable at the beginning. In ‘galah’ words, the first syllable is closed, because we split the word after the consonant and make a closed syllable at the beginning. Again, what students need to know to bring to this is they can identify those short and long vowels, because it's particularly important here, and also that they understand open and closed syllables.
The open and closed syllables that we've talked about already in our ‘wombat’ words, but also in these ones, ‘emu’ and ‘galah’ words, so the VC/CV pattern and also the VCV pattern, which we're going to talk about now, you'll find in our progression in Phase 10, that's where we teach them.
We'll put the link for the progression here for you, as well as our document listing lots of decodable words and sentences that are aligned with our progression, so you've got lots of example words there to use if you'd like to incorporate those into your lessons.
https://www.literacyhub.edu.au/search/literacy-hub-phonics-progression/
https://www.literacyhub.edu.au/search/decodable-words-and-sentences/
This is how I would introduce ‘emu’ words and ‘galah’ words, two-syllable words with that VCV pattern.
Teacher:
Today, we're going to learn about two-syllable words with a vowel-consonant-vowel [VCV] pattern. There are two ways to split words with this pattern into syllables. Sixty per cent of the time, which is most of the time, we split a vowel-consonant-vowel word after the first vowel, which makes an open syllable at the start of the word, like in the word ‘emu’. If we split that one, we've got e/mu, no consonant at the end, it's an open syllable, makes its long sound.
Forty per cent of the time, we’ll split a VCV word after the consonant, which makes a closed syllable at the start, like in ‘galah’. We've got gal/ah. Closed syllable, it's got a consonant at the end, the vowel makes it short sound.
When we see a word with a vowel-consonant-vowel pattern, we always try ‘emu’ first, because most often it will be an ‘emu’ word. And if ‘emu’ doesn't work, then we try ‘galah’.
Then I would demonstrate. I look at my first word there. I'm looking for my pattern. I can see my first vowel, vowel-consonant-vowel. I'm going to try ‘emu’ first, split after the first vowel, and then I get an open syllable. /t/, /u/, tu/lip, tulip.
Then I would do the same with the next one, ‘label’. Make an open syllable, la/bel and o/val. And it's good to have some examples where the vowel is right at the beginning of the word, so it's not always in the middle of the word.
Then we would demonstrate working out if they're ‘galah’ words, if they're not ‘emu’. We are going to do that with our first word.
Teacher:
Let's look, Kerrie, at our pattern first. What's our first vowel?
Student:
‘a’.
Teacher:
All right, so we've got our pattern, vowel-consonant-vowel. Let's try ‘emu’ first. Where do you split it?
Student:
After the ‘a’.
Teacher:
And what do you get?
Student:
‘cā/bin’.
Teacher:
Now is that a word you recognise?
Student:
No.
Teacher:
No. So if that doesn't work, let's try ‘galah’. So now we're going to split it where?
Student:
After the b?
Teacher:
Yes, after the consonant. Now what do we get?
Student:
Cab/in. Cabin.
Teacher:
Cabin. Is that a word you know?
Student:
Yes.
Teacher:
Yes, so if ‘emu’ doesn't work, try ‘galah’.
Then we do the same for ‘lemon’. Then you'd get ‘lē/mon’, and they go, ‘No, that doesn't work.’ Lem/on, ‘lemon’. And ‘visit’.
Now we're going to demonstrate how you would work out words that could have either, because that's what students are going to have to do in real life for reading and spelling. I've got these words to decode, and Kerrie can help me with one of them as well. I'll start with the first couple. I'm going to look for my pattern. The first vowel is u, vowel-consonant-vowel. I'm going to split after the first vowel. Try ‘emu’ words first. I get open syllable, hū/man, human.
Then ‘melon’. I'm going to try ‘emu’ first. Mē/lon. That doesn't work. I'm going to try ‘galah’, split after the consonant. Mel/on, melon. Okay, we'll do the next one.
Teacher:
Kerrie, what do we need to do first? Where's our first vowel?
Student:
First vowel is ‘i’.
Teacher:
And then we look for our pattern, vowel-consonant-vowel. What do we try first?
Student:
I'll try ‘emu’ word first, so I'll split it after the vowel.
Teacher:
Yes.
Student:
So, it's sī/lent, ‘silent’.
Teacher:
‘Silent’, is that a word you know?
Student:
Yes.
Okay, now to spell them, you would do the same thing, but again, you're splitting the word that you hear into syllables. Our first word might be ‘spider’, so then students would say spī/der. If they hear that long vowel sound at the end of the first syllable, they know just to use that letter on its own. Then they would do spi/der.
Our next one is ‘event’. Again, we'd split it, ē/vent. I can hear a long sound, there's no consonant after it, so I know just to use that letter on its own, event.
And then ‘travel’. You might have to help them at first, because they might go tra/vel, but if they hear a short sound, they know it's a closed syllable, it has to have a consonant after it, so ‘trav-‘. And I would help them as well by using what we call a spelling voice, to make sure they know it's trav/el.
Teacher:
We use our spelling voice to help you hear the sounds, but that's not how we say it. So, then trav/el, but we say travel.
Once students have an understanding and they've had an opportunity to apply those, you would be learning these further syllable types. In a ‘reptile’ word, it's a two-syllable word containing split digraph, or silent e syllable, as in those there, and the silent e syllable stays together. You would split the first word there into pan/cake. All right, that part of the word stays together.
‘Sealion’ words are two-syllable words containing a vowel team. The vowel team that's making a sound together would always stay together. In ‘peacock’, you're going to have pea/cock.
Then ‘lizard’ words, they've got an r-controlled vowel. You always keep the vowel and the r together in a syllable, so tar/get.
We are going to have a look at these last ones, which are ‘turtle’ words. They're two-syllable words containing a consonant -le syllable. The last syllable in the word has a consonant, and then it's followed by -le. We'll have a look at those. Those are introduced, as you can see there, at the bottom of Phase 19 of the phonics progression. You can see some example words there in that second column, just at the end. We've got ‘little’, ‘sprinkle’ and ‘turtle’. Again, you'll find more sample words in the decodable words and sentences resource that we shared with you, that you can use in your lesson.
For this syllable type, which we call ‘turtle’ words, there's a little rhyme to help us. We say: ‘consonant -le, count back three’. What we do to split these words into syllables, we start at the end of the word and then we count back three. We go 1, 2, 3, and we get tle at the end. Then we can work out what the other syllable type is. I can see the other syllable type is a closed syllable, because there's a consonant after the vowel, so the vowel's going to have it short sound. It's going to be lit/tle, little.
Teacher:
Kerrie's going to help us with ‘staple’. Kerrie, what do we do first?
Student:
Start at the end and you count back three. 1, 2, 3.
Teacher:
Then what does that leave us? What can you tell about the other syllable in the word?
Student:
It's an open syllable.
Teacher:
Yes.
Student:
Because it ends in a vowel, so that vowel would make its long sound.
Teacher:
So we have-
Student:
Sta/ple.
Teacher:
And put them together.
Student:
Staple.
Teacher:
Staple, like you staple your work.
Okay, and in that last one again, we start at the end, count back three. Now we're left with a vowel team, so you would only do these sorts of words when students have learned that. They know when they see ea, to try the long /ē/ sound first, so they get ea/gle, eagle.
Again, when you're writing words and spelling words, you're going to use your syllables.
Our first word is ‘dribble’. Again, students would split the syllables, drib/ble, and they will start to get to know, ‘If I hear a short sound, it has to have a consonant after it.’ So, it's going to be drib, and then I've got my consonant -le at the end, -ble. And this helps them know when to use a double letter in words like this. They would do drib, and then -ble. They know that to keep that vowel short, they have to have that double b.
Then your next word might be ‘table’. So, they do tā/ble. I can hear a long sound, it's at the end of the first syllable. I'm just going to use the ‘a’ to make it. They would do this, ta/ble.
And then the last one, ‘mumble’. That's easier because they don't have to double anything to keep that vowel short. They just have those two consonants already. Mum/ble, they've got mumble. Okay, they're already in there for them.
One more thing I wanted to come back to, which is from our last live session that we did, we introduced this chart and showed how you can really train students in their thinking.
When they're trying to spell a word and they've got lots of different patterns for long vowel sounds that they've learned, this can help them really go through a process of elimination to choose the right ones, or at least narrow it down. I said in the last session, I would come back to that first column and talk about it today when we talked about syllables. I just wanted to show again that this is where this applies.
If I gave students a word like ‘noble’, they're going to split it, nō/ble. They would think about, ‘”No”, I can hear the long vowel sound at the end of the first syllable, so I know just to use the o on its own.’ And they would know to spell it like that. So that's where this one really comes in, and they get to choose that vowel on its own when they hear it in that position in a word.