Teach the concept of pair--differing in one characteristic.

Describe how "shoes" or "gloves" are different only in one characteristic--fitting left or right.

Teach the concept of voiced and unvoiced phonemes (e.g., s and z).

Describe how some sounds make the voice box vibrate and some do not (e.g., s, z).

Teach the p and b--lip stops (bilabial plosives).

Describe how the lips pop open on the p and b.

Teach the t and the d -- tongue stops (alveolar plosives).

Describe how the tongue taps the mouth of the roof behind the teeth when pronouncing the t and the d.

Teach the k and the g -- throat stops (velar plosives).

Describe how the tongue scrapes in the back of the throat when pronouncing the k and the g.

Teach the f and the v -- lip airs (labiodental fricatives).

Describe how air passes between the teeth on the lower lip when pronouncing the f and the v.

Teach the voiced and the unvoiced th -- tongue airs (interdental fricatives).

Describe how air passes between the teeth on the tongue when pronouncing the th sound.

Teach the s and the z -- narrow sounds (alveolar fricatives).

Describe how the air passes between the closed teeth when pronouncing the s and the z.

Teach the sh and the zh -- wide sounds (palatal fricatives).

Describe how the air passes between the pursed lips when pronouncing the sh and the zh.

Teach the ch and the j -- wide stops (affricates/stop fricatives).

Describe how the air is pushed over the tongue in the back when pronouncing the ch and the j.

Teach the m, n, and the ng -- nasal sounds (bilabial, alveolar, and velar stops).

Describe how the air is blocked by the tongue (at lips, teeth, back of mouth) and escapes through the nose when pronouncing the m, n, and the ng.

Teach the h, w, and the wh -- wind sounds (velar stop, labiovelar glide, and glottal glide).

Describe a puff of air passing out the open mouth, with pursed lips, or tightening of the throat when pronouncing the the h, w, and the wh

Teach the l, and the r -- lifters (liquids).

Describe how the tongue lifts in front or the back when pronouncing the l and the r.

Teach the "borrowers" (c, x, qu, y) if needed for students' names.

Describe how c, x, qu, and y do not have their own sounds but borrow basic sounds from other letters.

c borrows k or s sounds (e.g., Candy, Cindy).

x borrows z, ks, gz (e.g., xerox, tax, exact).

qu borrows kw, or k (e.g., quick, unique).

y borrows ee, ie, i (e.g., Mandy, my, gym).

Teach the front vowel sounds (e.g., m ee t, b i t, g a te, s e t, a t, u p).

Describe how tongue is in front of mouth and gradually goes from near top teeth to behind bottom teeth as mouth gradually opens.

Teach the open vowel sound (e.g., B o b).

Describe sound made by wide open mouth.

Teach the back rounded vowels (e.g., P au l, P o e, f oo t, b oo t).

Describe tongue in back of mouth and lips gradually rounding.

Teach the diphthongs (e.g., i ce, oi l, ou t).

Describe mouth sliding between two-vowel positions.

Teach the basic r-controlled vowels er (her, fur, sir), ar (car), or (for).

Contrast a ( a m) - ar (c a r), e (l e t) - er (h er ), o (B o b) - or (f or ).

The following r-controlled vowels lack a simple spelling and are not always taught to beginning readers: n ear , b ear , t our .

Copy the teacher in making the basic sounds of American English.