Monday, December 22, 2008

What is the Orton-Gillingham Approach?

What is the Orton-Gillingham approach? Learn about the Orton-Gillingham methodology, who are good candidates for learning the Orton-Gillingham approach, and who Orton and Gillingham were. You can also view a video of a teacher employing an Orton-Gillingham approach here.


See also my blog post about a free webinar on the Orton-Gillingham methodology here.

Friday, December 19, 2008

ESOL Teacher Resources - Minimal Pairs for ESOL Students' Pronunciation (Part 3)

In Part 1 of this series of posts on Minimal Pairs, I shared minimal pairs exercises that practice consonant sounds in English. In Part 2 of this series, I shared minimal pairs exercises that practice vowel sounds in English. In this post, Part 3, I will share more minimal pairs exercises that can be used to practice murmur diphthongs and special vowel sounds.

Contrast the following sounds:
long and short vowels with r-controlled vowels
/ar/ with /er/
/or/ with /er/
/oo/ (as in “look”) with /oo/ (as in “zoo”)
Special vowel sounds
had hard
lad lard
bid bird
fist first
fen fern
pet pert
am arm
ham harm
con corn
sot sort
hut hurt
cussed cursed
cub curb
luck lurk
gill girl
gem germ
cave carve
stoke stork
far fur
shark shirk
star stir
hard heard
barn burn
heart hurt
cart Kurt
dart dirt
farm firm
park perk
for fur
store stir
born burn
short shirt
form firm
warm worm
torn turn
bored bird
court Kurt
pork perk
full fool
pull pool
skull school
look Luke
soot suit
wood wooed
could cooed
hood who’d
should shooed
crone crown
sit sight
fool foul
crowed crowd
calf cough
boot bout
hack hawk
frock frog
stack stalk
hat halt
suck sulk
nuke nook
wooed would 
soul soil
tack talk
laughed loft

Note: Information adapted from the Decoding Strategies for Literacy Development manual published by Reading Horizons.

Friday, December 12, 2008

ESOL Teacher Resources - Minimal Pairs for ESOL Students' Pronunciation (Part 2)

In a previous post, I shared examples of minimal pairs that can be used to help students practice consonant sounds in English. In this post, I am sharing minimal pairs that can be used to practice vowel sounds in English. (See also Part 3 for minimal pairs practice with murmur diphthongs and special vowels sounds.) 

                           Contrast the Following Sounds:
/ă/ and /ĕ//ŭ/ and /ŏ//ĕ/ and /ā//ĭ/ and /ĕ/
bag beg
tan ten
fan fen
pat pet
bat bet
sat set
ham hem
rad red
pan pen
mat met
and end
man men
sad said
gas guess
had head
hut hot
sup sop
gut got
nut not
mud mod
sub sob
rub rob
cup cop
cub cob
cut cot
dug dog
hug hog
jug job
pup pop
bus boss
miss mess
bucks box
duck dock
bum bomb
but bought
putt pot

bet bait
gel jail
let late
pen pain
pest paste
sent saint
shed shade
test taste
west waist
wet wait
fell fail
let late
get gate
sell sale
tell tale
fed fade
wed wade
less lace
shell shale
chess chase
bit bet
him hem
lid led
pig peg
sit set
tint tent
will well
miss mess
lift left
gym gem
spill spell
knit net
chick check
did dead
bid bed
big beg
hid head
pit pet
/ē/ and /ĭ//ŏ/ and /ar/
teen tin
heap hip
heel hill
peel pill
eel ill
deep dip
green grin
greet grit
sleep slip
meet mitt
sheen shin
sheep ship
cheap chip
sleeper slipper
wheat whit
deeper dipper
jaw jar
dock dark
lock lark
mock mark
pock park
shock shark
box barks
hawk hark
knock nark
laws Lars
hot heart
cot cart
clock Clark

Note: Information adapted from the Decoding Strategies for Literacy Development manual published by Reading Horizons.