Why Letter Sounds and not Letter Names?
Over the past years of serving in inner-city first-grade classrooms, I have seen a lot of confusion in students when it comes to the difference between letter names and letter sounds. Students are typically taught the two at the same time, along with an object that has the same beginning sound as the letter sound.
Some children can, quite quickly, understand the difference among the three in their minds and produce the needed sounds when reading, or on paper when writing. But many others have a great deal of trouble. For this reason, I think that it is not necessary to teach letter names: at home, in Pre- K, Kinder, or first grade, as they are not really important and do not relate to beginning writing or reading.
As for giving examples of words that use that sound, that’s good, but it is best to use three or four different words each time you give examples. That way student will not get fixated on just one word as belonging exclusively to a letter. Listen to how different the mere pronunciations of the names are in relation to the actual sound, as needed in reading and writing:
The pronunciation of letter names: B, D, T, V, P and Z have their letter sound at the beginning pronunciation of their letter name, but end with a long E sound. Letter C begins with the sound of S. Letter G begins with the sound of J. Letter E has its own long vowel sound only.
Then: F, L, M, N, S, and X have a short E sound at the beginning of the pronunciation of their letter names, while the sound that they make is at the end of the pronunciation of their letter name!
The pronunciation of letter names J and K end with the sound of long A, while A and H both begin with the sound of long A. Letter name H ends with the sound of ch! Even when you say letter names A and I by themselves, you can hear them end with letter name E. Letter name I begins with the sound of O and ends with the name of E. Letter name Y begins with the sound of W and ends with the name of long I. Letter name W begins with the word “double” and ends with the letter name U. Letter name U begins with the sound of Y and ends with the letter sound for OO, while Q begins with the sound of C or K and ends with the sound of long U.
Then O is in a category of its own, having its long and short sound exclusively. So, why not just leave letter names out altogether and use sounds only. It has got to be faster, easier and less confusing for our students.
