Most students have a difficult time distinguishing short vowels from long vowels, and there are certain things teachers can do to help them master these skills. A solid teaching plan for teaching this topic is an important first step, and it may be exactly what you need. This vowel teaching plan is designed to help students recognize and remember vowels, and can also produce short vowels and long vowels.

Materials

• Songs for teaching grammar
• Letter cards for teaching vowels

Learn the Differences

The first step to mastering vowel sounds is understanding the difference between short and long vowels. Long vowels are the easiest for students to learn because they sound the same as their names. For example, long sounds like the sound o in the word ocean and long sounds like the sound of corn.

Short vowels are more challenging for learners to understand because they sound very similar to each other. For example, the short word in the word big is very similar to the short e in the word beg, and the short word in the word cop sounds similar to the short word in the word cup. Children need to be able to recognize and produce these sounds before they can learn the rules for reading and spelling them.

Short vowels:

Short vowels have curved symbols above them ă, è, ĭ, ŏ, ŭ.

Here are some examples of short vowels: bun, bop, bed, tong, bat.

Long Vowels:

Long vowels have straight lines above them ā, ē, ī, ō, ū.

Here are some examples of long vowels: face, though, lie, foot, use.

Procedure for Lesson

Follow this procedure to make sure the learner understands how to recognize and pronounce each vowel in the alphabet.

1. Check the names of the letters a, e, i, o, and u. Discuss that the letter "y" is sometimes used as a vowel. This may be confusing for students to understand at first.

2. Expose each vowel card and ask students what vowel they hear when you say the following words: baby, beef, rose, rise, unicorn. Explain to students that it is easy to hear vowels in words that say their names, these vowels are long vowels.

3. Call students to come over and take turns painting a straight line over each vowel you go along with. For example, write the letter "a" on the board and call a student to draw a straight line over the "a" and say, "A long sound like a croak. Do this for each vowel.

4. Teach students long vocal songs to help them remember. Frequently using creative learning experiences, such as songs, can better engage students in lessons and help them retain information more easily and for a longer period of time.

5. Next, go to the top of the short vowels. Display each letter card on the board and explain that sometimes vowels don't say their names and have different sounds. Ask students what vowel they hear when you say the following: apple, bed, pig, frog, bug.

6. Call students to attend and take turns painting a curved line over each vowel you go along. For example, write the letter "a" on the board and call a student to draw a curved line over the "a" and say "Short vowels sound like the ah in crocodile." Continue to do this for each vowel sound.

7. Next, teach students a short vocal song to help them remember. You might try swapping two songs - a short and a long vowel song - to make sure students think and challenge them more.

To help learners remember short and long vowels, continue to practice songs every day so that they have memorized them. If your students have an online learning portal, you might consider videos recording their best achievements to broadcast them. This way, you can share the video with parents, and also use it as a tool to remind students of the lyrics if they start to forget.

References

Pelan Pelajaran Vokal Pendek dan Panjang