Sounding-out without the gaps

Some research has indicated that children learn to blend more

easily when they sound out continously (mmaann), rather
than with gaps between the sounds (m , a , n)..... even
when the gaps are small and the sounds are pure.

The problem with gappy phonics

Most children do learn blending in spite of gappy phonics.
But some children cant cope with the gaps, so they dont get blending.
The invisible sound which can block phonic blending.
The problem is that these gaps are not empty. They are filled with a tiny
sound that we dont notice in English, the glottal stop. Arabic even has a
symbol to represent the sound: Ill use an asterisk. Its that EastEnders sound that replaces the tt in butter: buh*uh. It was
adopted by Tony Blair when wanting to sound less posh. We use it all the
time without noticing, especially when words start with a vowel:
*Amazing! *Extraordinary! Its even there quietly at the beginning of
other sounds: *Mmm!.
When you make separate vowel sounds, "a, a, a you have to use the
glottal stop in order to start and stop the sound. So when a child sounds
out separately, m, a, n, he cant help putting the invisible sound into
the gaps. So he really is saying *mm, * aa, * nn Its those hidden
sounds which can block his blending.
Most children intuitively learn to delete the invisible sound from their
auditory imagery in order to blend just the three visible phonemes. But
some children cant cope with this extra task. So lets remove that
burden.
Another problem with gappy phonics
Much of the character of a consonant comes from the way it joins to the
vowel. You can see this especially with w and y. The "pure sound" of
w, without any "uh" has to be "ooo", and the pure sound of y can only

be "eee". (You can see this in the way the french spell "oui" when we
would write "wee". The first sound is a quick "ou" )
But it's really rare to hear a teacher teach w as "oo", and I have never
heard a teacher teach y as "ee". That's because the pure sound doesn't
really sound much like our idea of the way w or y sounds in words. We
only hear the characteristic w sound when it's combined with a vowel as
in "we".
For many children, my guess is that it's the same for lots of the letters.
For them, the "mm" in "mm, a, nn " doesn't sound much like
the m sound in "man".
If we teach smooth phonics, with continuous sounding, for win, we say
"oooiiinnn", and then the characteristic sound of the w appears in the
transition to the i. With smooth phonics, the w sound you hear in slow
blending, is almost the same as in a real normally spoken word.

Teaching smooth phonics

I've sketched out some logical stages for teaching continuous blending for
CVC words.
The idea is that the children get to be accurate and fluent on each step
before moving on to the next. For some children each step could take
days or weeks of brief daily practice, especially to unlearn old habits.
Other child could get the point much quicker.
Maybe: USE A HANDFUL OF EASY LETTERS
I suggest that instead of going though each step with all the letters, it
could be better to choose handful of easy letters that the child knows
really well. Go through the steps just with those easy letters. This
means that she can get on with learning the blending processes, without
coping with letters which are difficult for the child. So you could leave out
those troublesome letters that the child confuses, or which they have
trouble saying properly.

When the child can do all the steps with the handful of favourite letters,
then she, hopefully, will have got the idea of blending. Then you can go
back through the steps, and practice with all the other more tricky letters.

Step 1: Making long continuous

sounds (stretchies)
This is eventually for all the vowels plus
these continuous consonant sounds:
In Read Write Inc, they are called the "stretchy" sounds, because you
can stretch them.
f h l m n r s

y z

sh

th

(omitting soft g

and c for now)

Plus the weird vowelly ones (w,y), and the double phonemes:
w = ooo,
= djhjhjh

y = eee;

x =kssss,

ch = tshshsh,

qu = kooo,

We leaving the other, non-continous, stop consonants until later.

In Read Write Inc, these other consonants ( b, d, k, p, t, hard c & g) are
called bouncy, because you can't stretch them, you have to bounce off them.

If you're uncomfortable with some of the weirder soundings, like y=ee,

leave them for now.

just

I've put in diagrams to show the pointing technique.

But you don't need to show any diagrams to the children.... unless you
feel it would help. Do the blending just with the letters, as in the video.
Demonstrate on the board:

"mmmm"
Put your finger on the left of the line. Move sharply to pause
under the "m"
When your finger touches the button start sounding mmmm (pause while
you sound)
Move your finger sharply to the right and simultaneouslly stop sounding.
Demonstrate with different lengths of mmm,

short and long.

Get the children to practice with all the letters

Step 2: Vowel+stretchy

(Vowel+continuous

consonant)
Teach phonic words with a vowel and one of the continuous consonants:
examples:

am

an,

Al,

em, en, if,

ill,

in, Om, on, Oz, off, ox,

(Dont use irregular words like as, of )

Use nonsense words too, for practice. Make them up from the list.

step 2a
Teaching say it slow/ say it fast without gaps
(listening practice: no visible letters)

Demonstrate slow to fast (without looking at any letters):

I'll say it slow, then I'll say it fast:
"aaaaammmm.......... am"

(demo with other words)

Get the children to copy you.

Their turn:
You say it slow..... First they copy your slow version, then they say it
fast.

Demonstrate fast to slow

I'll say it fast, then I'll say it slow:
"Oz....... OOOOzzzzz",

"ill...... iiiiillllllll"

Their turn
You say it fast; First they copy it fast, then they say it slow.

Step 2b
Teaching Say it slow while pointing to letters
Write up a word, e.g. am.

"aaaaaammmm"
Demonstrate:
Put your finger on the left end of the line. Move sharply to the first
button: "aaa"
Then, without a gap, move sharply to next button: "mmm".
Move sharply off the button, as you stop the mmm sound.
So there's no gap, just "aaaammmm".
Practise with very long and shorter soundings.
Get the children to sound it as you point.
Say it slow....say it fast
After say it slow, say it fast:
aaaammmm, am
For say it fast you move your finger fast along the word
Get the children to do the same

Step 3: Stretchy + vowel

vowel )

(Continuous consonant +
You might skip this step with some children

"zzzaaa"

(as in zap)

Same method as in the previous section. But only nonsense words are
available: ma_, za_, sa_, le_, ru_. sounding like ma(t), za(p).

Not "mar, sar..."

made from f
vowels.

l m n r s

v w

sh

th

plus

These are really CVC words, with the final consonant lopped off.
Remember to pause under both letters.

Step 4: Stretchy+vowel+stretchy
CVCs with continuous consonants.
Start with lots of listening practice for say-it-slow, say-it-fast, without
visible words.
Get the children to copy you in saying CVCs slow then fast.
Then you say some slow, they have to say fast.
You say some fast, they have to say slow.
Teach say-it-slow, while pointing to letters
Same method for pointing and sounding as for am in Step 2

"ssssaaaaammm"
Plenty of real words now: Sam, fan, jam, man, sun, fun, run, ran,

van, fin, fill, mill,Jill, sill, will, nil, chill, chin, shin, Val, Sal, shall,
sum, mum, ...

Step 5 Vowel+bouncy Vowel+stop

consonant
So far we have avoided the consonants that cant be sounded
continuously.
These are the stop consonants:
b

k p

Plus the hard sounds of g and c

In Read Write Inc, they are called

the bouncy ones

"aaaat"
My suggestion here:
Your finger starts on the left end of the line, pauses on a button "aaaa",
moves along to touch the t. Immediately bounce off the t as if it was
red hot
You don't pause under the t.
You say "aaaat" without any gap. Say the "t" just as you bounce.
Teach some real and nonsense VCs this way:
Og.

at, ad, ap, od, eb, eg, Ug,

Say-it-slow, say-it-fast.

Step 6 Stretchy+vowel+bouncy
Continuous consonant + vowel + stop consonant

"sssssaaaaat"
Demo, making a continuous sound, without gaps:

So you say, without any gaps: "ssssaaaat"

Demonstrate, teach and practise this.
Do say-it-slow, say-it-fast.
Word examples: mat, mac, mad, map, mag, sat, sac, sad, sag, Sid, sit,
sick, lot, lit, fat, fit, fob, fog, fig, fag, rat, rap, rag, rig, rep, (loads of
these)

Step 7
+vowel)

bouncy+ vowel

(stop consonant

"baa"
E.g.

ba.... sounding like the beginning of "bat" (not "bar")

This is where special pointing skill is needed, as this is the hardest step
yet.
It is a crucial join, which many children can't make when they do gappy
phonics.
Demo:
Say: "Get your mouth ready for the start" ... and we're going to land on
the aaa"
Your finger starts at the left end of the line.
As soon at it touches the b, it bounces off, making a quick dip, and
immediately onto the a. (As if the b is red-hot.)

As you make the bounce, you say "ba", and continue the "aa" as you
pause on the a
Then stop as your finger moves sharply to the end of the line.
Don't pause on the b
You are getting the children to slide from their "b" mouth straight into
saying the "aaaa", with no gap. It's a special kind of "aaa", the
"baa" kind.
Practice this with the children, for lots of combinations, all the vowels,
starting with the stop consonants, which are
b

k p

Plus the hard sounds of g and c

ba, be, bit, bo, bu, ca, ke, ki, co, cu, ga, ge, gi, go, gu..... you get the
idea

Say-it-slow, say-it-fast

Step 8

Bouncy+Vowel+stretchy
Stop consonant + vowel + continuous consonant

Examples:
ban, bin, bun, can, cam, pin, pan, pill, pal, till, Tom, tum, Tim, gun, gum,
Gus, bus,

"caaannn"
You move along the line steadily.
As soon has you hit the C, you bounce immediately onto the a .
Pause on the a, move sharply to pause on the n, then move sharply
along the line.
As you do the quick bounce, say "caaa", and continue the "aa" on the
pause dot.

Step 9:

Bouncy+vowel+bouncy
Stop consonant + vowel + stop consonant

Examples:
bat, bad, bag, back, dad, dab, dap, cab, cap, dig, big, pig,
kick, kip, kit, cat, cop, cod.... plenty

"cooood"

...cod

Step 10: Consonant -vowel-consonant

(any combination)
So now use a mixture of CVCs which can any of the patterns given above.
You have to quickly bounce off the stop consonants on your way to or
from the vowel.
You pause on the vowels and continuous consonants
You do say-it-slow and then say-it-fast on each word.