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.

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.

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.