Cycle 2

This task reviews reading the sound /ă/ as in trap.

Correcting the student:

• If the student says the letter’s name (/ā/) or a wrong sound (like /ŏ/), say: “This sound is /ăăă/.  Let’s read it together.  Get ready: /ăăă/.  Good.  Your turn…”
• If the student doesn’t hold the sound for two seconds, say: “Read this sound slowly like this: /ăăă/.  Let’s read it together.  Get ready: /ăăă/.  Good.  Your turn…”
• If the student says the sound at the wrong time, say: “Only read this sound when my finger is on this dot, like this: /ăăă/.  Let’s read it together.  Get ready: /ăăă/.  Good.  Your turn…”

This task introduces students to saying (not reading yet) the /th/ phoneme which some students find tricky.  That sound occurs in the second and third words in this task: the and they.

There are, of course, two acceptable ways to pronounce the: /thē/ and /thŭh/.  The reason instructors should segment /thē/ instead of /thŭh/ in this case is that students will be able to read /thē/ soon in the curriculum.  At that time, the script will have you teach students that this word can also be pronounced /thŭh/.  But the curriculum will represent the word the with an ē at the end of it until

the curriculum phases out the specialized orthography.  That makes this word decodable without having to teach an unaccented schwa sound that isn't represented by a consistent letter in our language.  The curriculum takes the same approach to the word a (which can be pronounced /ā/ or /ŭh/) in later cycles.

Correcting the student:

• If the student struggles to produce the /z/ sound, say: “Make the /sss/ sound…  Good, now watch how I change from /s/ to /z/ without moving my mouth: /ssszzz/.  Let’s try it together: /ssszzz/.”
• If the student pauses between the sounds, say: “Don’t pause between the /zzz/ and the /ထထထ/.  Listen: /zzzထထထ/.  Let’s say it together…  Now by yourself…”
• If the student shortens a sound, say: “Say both sounds slowly.  Listen: /zzzထထထ/.  Let’s say it together…  Now by yourself…”
• If the student struggles to produce the /th/ sound, say: “Put the tip of your tongue between your teeth, like this…  Good.  When I make this sound, it tickles my tongue.  Watch: /ththth/.  Now, let’s try it together: /ththth/.”

Note that they should be segmented as two sounds: /thththāāā/.  The diphthong /ā/ should be treated as one sound.

Count each sound on your fingers as you say a word slowly.