Letter Land

evelyn317

包包媽咪

妳睇o下以下的網址有無妳想

ALAL

thank you Maria and other mums sharing about rules from other phonic learning tool. They are very very useful. I also use Longman Phonic for Kids to reinforce my son's memory on alphabet sound.

I also notice the following rules from a book :

'Below is The Four Rules of Spelling strategy devised by Neil Mackay, which works
for around 80% of English words. By learning these few rules many words can be
spelt.

Rule 1
All words are made up of syllables (beats), each containing a vowel (aeiou)

Rule 2
Single vowels in syllables can only make two sounds. They either say their names -
as in ace, emu, ice, open, use or their sounds as in at, egg, in, on, ugly

Rule 3
Vowels say their sounds in closed syllables - syllables with a consonant after the
vowel e.g. cat, ink, sock, umbrella

Rule 4
Vowels say their names in open syllables - syllables with a vowel on its own or
ending in a vowel e.g. o/pen, ra/zor '

Any comment on that?

包包媽咪

Hi evelyn317,

我book mark 晒您既網址啦!
唔該晒

包包媽咪

TIKTIKMA

Hi all,
I'm the new in this topic, it is my pleasure to meet Marie and Kitty and Rain in the Letterland showroom this evening. I just brought programme one Teacher's Guide. Hopefully, I could buy more and my son could learn more from Letterland.

Jokey2828

Dear ALAL,

Thank you for your sharing on Neil Mackay's Four Rules of Spelling Strategy. I have never heard of him, and indeed have some reservation of his rules.

Rule 1
Actually, the term “syllable” means a word or that part of a word that contains a single vowel sound. I think the concept is too abstract for a kindergartener to grasp.

Rules 2, 3 and 4
Try this sentence. “All was lost as many hares raced around the village swamp.” Here the single symbol “A” stands for 8 sounds.

One reason it is so hard to learn to read English is that English sounds do not correspond exactly to the letters, and there are many irregularities and exceptions to the so-called rules.

I think we must also treat the “two vowel men go walking” concept with care. Obviously, it does not work for words like “eight”, “obey” and “great”.

Jokey2828

ALAL

thank you Jokey for your reminder.

it's not only hard to learn but hard to teach at home, especially when kids are in traditional schools.

510

Hi

I'm new to this thread and thanks for sharing all the information herein.  I've really learned a lot here.

Sorry for a stupid question - I've long forgotten the IPA I learned in my secondary studies:

How should I pronounce the "a" in Annie Apple's alphabet song?  When composing words like "cat" or "pat", it should be pronounced as "ae" .  However, I always sound like I'm pronoucing like "a:" (as in "arm" or "father") or "e (inverted)"
(as in "about" or "ago") when singing the line "Annie Apple she says a".  Should I really sing it as "ae" so that it is easier to "blend"?

Definitely I'll be asking for some outside help (e.g., a class or native speaker) but just want to correct myself first.

Thanks in advance.

Jokey2828

Hi 510,

The /ae/ in Annie Apple is the short A sound. When you look up the dictionary, you will find /kaet/ for "cat" and /paet/ for "pat". Letterland did not change the sound to make it easier for blending.

As a matter of fact, in British English the letter "A" can stand for as many as 8 phonemes in IPA.

I hope I understood your question correctly.

Jokey2828

510

Dear Jokey2828

Thanks for your prompt reply.  In fact, I'm referring to the sound of the last "A" in the lyrics "Annie Apple she says A".  Should the last A be pronounced as /ae/ then?  When I listen to the song, it seems like a /a:/ to me.

Perhaps due to my own bad habits, I used to be pronouncing the /ae/ like "ma-a-are" (like a sheep bleats) so if I sing as "Annie Apple she says /ae/", it doesn't sound like what it plays as.  If I treat the last A as /a:/, i.e., "Annie Apple she says /a:/"or "Annie Apple she says /(inverted) e/", it sounds ok, but I get into trouble when put it into blending.  Please kindly advise.

Thanks again.

Jokey2828

Dear 510,

The sound "a" you hear in Annie Apple is /ae/. This is the British accent.

I think you are used to speaking the American accent /ae/. The two accents are remarkedly different. I had the confusion too when I first listened to the song.

Jokey2828

510

Dear Jokey2828

Thanks a lot.  So now I have to struggle whether to sing all the songs by myself or make up some stories why the Letterland characters make sounds differently when they travel to different countries  

In fact, I first noticed "ZigZag Zebra" when hearing the songs, but gradually there are more and more minute differences coming out.  I've tried to look for some resources in the web but most of them are discussing on the vocabularies or styles (e.g.,
AussieSlang).  I'll try to dig out all those differences from some reference books then.  Please kindly let me know if you've any good reference on this.

Cheers.

Jokey2828

Dear 510,

Do you think that it is really necessary to dig out all the differences among the various accents? Besides British and American accents, there are Australian, New Zealand, South African and Canadian accents, just to mention a few.

Given the unique linguistic environment in Hong Kong, children are exposed to various accents, the most popular ones being Chinglish, Filipino, British, American and Australian.

I let my child listen to the Letterland songs although for practical reasons, I also sing to her myself.

If you really want to find out the differences, a handy and effective way is to compare a British with an American talking dictionary.

Jokey2828

510

Dear Jokey2828

Totally agree that there are countless different accents and it sounds ignorant to dig out "all".  What I meant is that I'm interested to find out most noticeable differences between British (or RP) and American pronunciation/accents instead.  

Since I've selected Letterland (UK-based) for my kid and I've been greatly influenced by American accents (e.g., in movies), I just want to get myself explained when problem arises (like my previous stupid question: why I could not blend /k/, /a:/, /t/ to my usual /kaet/, or when I'm saying different "glass" or "laugh").  When paying attention to my own pronunciation, I could find myself mixing English & American pronunication even in a single sentence.  Just want to try my best to let my kid expose to one, at least a consistent one at a time.  Besides, it may also help me do blendings with the Letterland characters & stories.

What I'm planning to do a few quick revisions on IPA, get acquainted with the UK+US pronunciation symbols from dictionary with dual pronunication notations (e.g., Cambridge Advanced Learner's), then watch a few British movies with an American talking dictionary.   

Have found an amazing website with pronunciation animations: [Sounds of English by U of Iowa] though it is American based.

Thanks again.  Your replies have cleared most of my concerns.

Jokey2828

Dear 510,

Can you tell us the address of the amazing website? Thanks.

Jokey2828

510

Dear Jokey2828

In fact, it is embedded in previous message:

http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/

Pronunciation is illustrated with animations and movies.

Hope you all enjoy it.

Cheers.

Jokey2828

Dear 510,

Oh yes, I forgot. Thank you.

Jokey2828

一家三口

我想知這套 Letter Land, 那裡有售 & 價錢多少? 我的女兒4
歲, 是否適合?

510

Personally, I think it is suitable for all phonics learners, including me, except when they are learning other phonics systems like JP (just to avoid confusion).  The characters and stories are attracting enough.    Even toddlers could pick up the characters easily.  You may read the posts earlier in this thread to have more ideas.

For pricing info, you may have a look at their website - www.letterland.com or check with the shop -  ETC at 26532789 (Wed or Sat).

Hope it helps.

Jokey2828

最近我個女學串what字，經常串成wat。Phonetically, 她是對的，因為what 字本身並沒有/h/音。為了幫助她，我利用Letterland的概念，自創了一個故事，效果不錯。現在給大家參考吧。

Wicked Water Witch是一個問題人物，經常問Hairy Hat Man “What? When? Where? Which? Why? Whom” 等問題，Hairy Hat Man 被問到口啞啞，所以這些字我們便聽不到/h/音。不過Hairy Hat Man 其實也問題多多，不時問Wicked Water Witch “Who” 和 “Whose” 的問題，Wicked Water Witch 同樣被問到口啞啞，所以我們聽不到/w/音。(當然講這故事時要盡量表達得有趣味啦)﹗

我作這個故事並不是因為Letterland的不好，而是透過這個故事，我可以為阿女一次過提供串問題字的定律，就是 W 和 H 必定走在一起 (除了個How字)，阿女串起來便會比較容易。希望同樣地對大家有用。

Jokey2828

510

Dear Jokey2828

Thanks for sharing your interesting stories.

I took some time going through the old posts and found that, in fact, you'd discussed the /a/ vs /ae/ issue with Charis and BBMMUMMY in some earlier discussion.  Sorry to make you repeat this.

Btw, I'm considering about the Picture Code Cards and Supplementary CDs for Programme One & Two.  I guess that the Code Cards could save me some time in preparing the "ch", "wh" combinations (as I need to draw on whiteboards or take out the Guides everytime) and the CDs should be about the blends & digraphs.  Is it right?  Have you bought any of them and do you think they are useful?

Thanks and regards,
510

PS: A few more links to share:
Paul Meier's IPA chart
Vowels of British and American English
Vowels of British and American English (second link)