Art by J.C. Stan & Jovy Evans 1
a, e, i, o, u Copyright © 2019 by Micky Evans All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning or distributing any part of it in any form without permission. You are supporting writers and their hard work by doing this. Written by Micky Evans and illustrated by J.C. Stan and Jovy Evans ISBN: 9-781092999-91-5 Printed in the USA 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 First Edition, April 2019 2
About this book This fun-filled book follows the adventures of Billy the Brit, an adorable boy who inspires his peers around the world to speak English. He is a bit of a troublemaker and his curiosity may sometimes get him into trouble. Your child can sit back, have fun and enjoy while reading and learning short vowel sounds. Phonics teaches children to recognize individual letter sound. Teach your child the names of the letters and their sounds. Each short vowel sound comes with a picture of a mouth position and a brief explanation of how to produce the sound. This will help you to model the mouth position for your child. The target sound in each word is in red, so you can pay close attention to how your child articulates it. The words are added gradually. Practise the single words first before moving on to the sentences; that will build your child’s reading confidence. Help your child by saying each sound within a word, e.g. ‘mmmm - a – p’. To make it easer, we provide you with phonics steps. You can find them at the end of the book. Lovely illustrations will capture the imagination of your child and help you in teaching early reading skills. Sit next to your child, have fun and discuss what you see in the pictures. Ask questions and encourage your child to read. Your child will have fun and read without realizing it! 3
Phonics steps The goal of phonics is to enable beginning readers to decode new words by sounding them out. The reason phonics is so widely used is that research shows it works! This book has been designed to support children’s phonics development at home. To enhance your child’s early reading skills, follow these phonics steps: 1. Isolate the sound First, practise the target sound on its own, so your child can get comfortable with the mouth position. Focus primarily on the sound, not on its alphabetical name. Each short vowel sound comes with the mouth position based on Standard British Pronunciation. Read the short explanation and model the sound for your child. If you have another pronunciation preference, feel free to modify the mouth position. 2. Practise the sound Use the words on the first page of each sound to practise that particular sound. For instance, to practise the sound / A /say a a axe, a a apple, a a alligator. Ask your child to repeat and pay close attention to how they pronounce the sound. 3. Point and read On the next page, there are three-letter words with the target sound marked in red. Point with your finger to each letter and sound it out slowly. 4
Ask your child to repeat after you. Teach your child to use a finger to follow as they’re reading each sound within the word. m-a-p Encourage your child to point and read on their own. Focus on sounds and their connection to letters. If your child stumbles on a sound, help them to sound it out. 4. Blend the sounds Ask your child to read sounds a bit faster without pausing between them. This time your child will blend the sounds and the words will sound more natural. 5. Sound game abcde Use the alphabet on the last page fghijk to play a sound game with your lmnop child. Make a sound and let your child guess and point to the corresponding letter. For instance, when you say qr stu mmmmm your child should point vwqyz to the letter M. Switch roles. Ask your child to say a sound so you can guess the letter. You can use the alphabet to introduce new sounds as well. 5
6. Praise your child Your feedback will have a strong effect on how hard your child will try to become a good reader. Remember to give genuine praise at the end of every reading session. 7. Review Start a new reading practice by reviewing the last page from the previous day. Give your child plenty of practice, but don’t overload them. We suggest starting with one to two pages a day, depending on your child’s ability level. 8. Set the context After the single-words pages, your child will find some illustrations with short sentences below. Ask your child what is on the page. Discuss together what is in the pictures. This will arouse your child’s curiosity and set the context for the reading practice. 9. Reading practice Ask your child to point to and read individual words within a sentence. If your child is a struggling reader, sound out the words slowly and ask them to repeat. Next, encourage your child to read the whole sentence without pausing between the words. Repeat these steps to build your child’s reading confidence. 6
10. Challenge your child When your child becomes a more confident reader, pick a random sentence from this book and cover the illustration. The fox in socks. The fox in socks. Ask your child to point to and read the sentence. This time your child will show pure reading skills. Minimal pairs Minimal pairs are pairs of words that differ in only one sound. They will help your child to become aware of the difference between sounds, while keeping the rest of the word the same. To make it easer, each set of minimal pairs comes along with the illustration of Billy the Brit saying the target sound. While your child read minimal pairs, focus on the mouth position and the length of a target sounds. Let’s compare the words ’CAT’ and ‘CUT’. They differ only in the middle sound. To say the word ’CAT’ the mouth is wide open, while in the word ‘CUT’ the mouth opens less as lips remain neutral. The minimal pairs are at the end of this book. Practice them often, but don`t overload your child. We suggest 1 set of minimal pairs per reading session. Keep it fun and enjoy your child’s reading journey! 7
A aLesson1 a This is a short sound. To make the sound / A / stretch out your mouth and keep your jaw down. Keep your tongue almost flat at the bottom of your mouth. To practise this sound, ask your child to imagine biting into an apple with their mouth wide open. You can hear the sound / A / at the beginning of the words apple, axe and alligator. axe apple alligator 8
Lesson 2 f-a-n m-a-n p-a-n 9
b-a-t c-a-t f-a-t 10
h-a-t m-a-t r -a-t 11
c-a-p m-a-p t-a-p 12
j-a-m h-a-m y-a-m 13
Lesson 3 a cat 14
a rat 15
The cat on a mat. 1166
The rat in a hat. 17
a van 18
The ram on a van. 19
The crab is mad. 20
The dad has a nap. 21
E eLesson4 e This is a short sound. To make the sound / E / the cheeks are high with the mouth wide open. However, the jaw is half open and the mouth opens less than for the sound / A /. To practise this sound, ask your child to form a wide crescent with their lips. You can hear the sound / E / at the beginning of the words egg and Eskimo. egg Eskimo 22
Lesson 5 h-e-n p-e-n t-e-n 23
j-e-t n-e-t p-e-t 24
v-e-t w-e-t b-e-ll 25
b-e-d r -e-d w-e-d 26
p-e-g l-e-g k-e-g 27
Lesson 6 The pet is wet. 28
The pet on the net. 29
The pet on the jet. 30
The bed is red. The pet in a red bed. 31
My pet is the best pet. 32
Let, net, wet, I am the best pet. 33
I iLesson7 i This is a short and quick sound. The mouth is smaller, while the jaw drops just a little bit. The top front part of the tongue arches back towards the roof of the mouth. To make the sound / I / the mouth opens less than for the sounds / A / and / E /. Ask your child to smile slightly and quickly release the / I / sound. This sound you can hear at the beginning of the words ink and igloo. ink igloo 34
b-i-g Lesson 8 f-i-g d-i-g 35
p-i-g 15 w-i-g t-i-n 36
b-i-n p-i-n f-i-n 37
k-i-d l-i-d l-i-p 38
z-i-p h-i-t s-i-t 39
Lesson 9 This is a pig. 40
The pig has the wig. The wig is big for the pig. 41
The pig in a bin. The pig on a dig. 42
They chill on a hill. 43
O oLesson10 o To make the sound / O / the lips get round and move forward. The jaw is quite open. Ask your child to round the lips in the shape of a big ‘O’ and then make the short and snappy sound / O /. This sound you can hear at the beginning of the words otter and octopus. octopus otter 44
Lesson 11 o-x b-o-x f-o-x 45
c-o-t h-o-t p-o-t 46
h-o-p m-o-p p-o-p 47
c-o-g d-o-g l-o-g 48
t-o-p c-o-p s-t-o-p 49
Lesson 12 The ox in a box. The dog on a log. 50
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