03

Sound Foundations
in Literacy

Phonics
Phonemic Awareness
Spelling Reliability

/ /
[ph] [o] [n] [i] [cs]
/ /
[ph] [o] [n] [e] [m] [i] [c] [a] [w] [are] [n] [e] [ss]
/ ,/
[sp] [e] [ll] [i] [ng] [r] [e] [l] [i] [a] [b] [i] [l] [i] [ty]

Background

The first thing to point out about phonics is that it was developed as a
first language learning tool. So it would be more applicable to the
teaching of the mother tongues spoken in Malaysia than the teaching
of English, if it was used as a whole system. Not only in the ordering of
content and skills practice is foreign language teaching different from
formal language training in the first language (L1), but also in the
typology of activities performed by learners in class and for homework.
[Type text]

The trained EFL professional considers which L1 practices can be

adapted for use in the foreign language classroom.
Many teachers and researchers suggest learners early phonic
experience working with sounds and letters should later prove useful in
helping students break down unfamiliar words and achieve greater
confidence and fluency. (Blevins 2006; Harrison, 2002; Hepplewhite,
2005). (Deering, 2006)
When working with foreign language learners, we intend to teach,
basically, the same syllabus material: content and skills, bearing in
mind the age, literacy skills and sophistication of our particular
group of learners and changing the emphasis and ordering of the
syllabus material accordingly.
The L1 practices of learning to say the alphabet aloud, taking spelling
tests and children reading aloud without the teacher or a cassette
modelling pronunciation beforehand are part of putting the cart before
the horse. Children surmise incorrect rules about spoken English:
they read with the rhythm and intonation of their mother tongue, spell
words according to their idiosyncratic sound-symbol correlation and,
when encountering new words, they may sound the pronunciation
out according to the names of the letters of the alphabet.
As David Lee writes in his book Language, Child and Society,
Language for the child is a predominantly spoken phenomenon, and
Modern linguistics differs from traditional linguistics in that it points
out the richness and complexity of the spoken language in its own right
(whether or not it is grammatically correct).
As Alan Kennedy writes in The Psychology of Reading, Written English
contains correspondence between sequences of letters and their
associated sounds. One-to-one assignment of sound to letter will be
weak in English because there are many more possible sounds than
letters, and Knowing the sounds of the letters will not necessarily
lead to the correct pronunciation of the word.
If our learners are made to focus on written symbols before they have
had adequate exposure to the sounds of English, their tendency will be
to use similar mother tongue sounds (which is perfectly natural) or to
base their production of unfamiliar English sounds on the sounds they
have practiced when learning the names of the letters in the alphabet.
Logically they will try to sound out the pronunciation of new words they
encounter by making associations between the name of the letter and
the particular sound that the letter represents in the whole word.
[Type text]

The experiment we are going to undertake this year in your schools will
be to see to what extent we can apply phonics principals in a foreign
language context and at the same time begin to use phonics tools in
your Behasa Malayu classes too.
By learning phonics, students are becoming aware of component
sounds in the language, blending those sounds, automating their
responses to those sounds and applying this knowledge and skill to
both speech and text. (Deering, 2006)
There are different approaches to phonics learning. The approach that
we will experiment with is called Synthetic Phonics. Synthetic is a
Greek word and it comes from the Greek word synthesis, which
means to blend.
Synthetic phonics involves a part-to-whole approach where students
first learn the individual phonemes represented by letters and letter
combinations. The student learns to apply these phonemic
generalizations to reading and pronunciation of text. E.g. a ant, b
book, t tiger, b/a/t = bat. (Deering, 2006)
2

Phonics and the sound system

With synthetic phonics in a first language (English) context, children

are taught to recognise all of the 44 pure sounds of the English
language that we use when we are speaking, along with the common
ways they are spelled; this is called the Alphabet Code. A simple/basic
alphabetic code is taught first, then the complex/advanced alphabetic
code (there are 130+ spelling variations!).
Children are taught to sound-out and blend the individual sounds from
left to right all-through-the-written-word for reading and to fetch the
sounds from memory for spelling, segmenting all-through-the-spokenword. The Alphabet Code is taught speedily, working from sounds
simply spelled with one letter to the more difficult, spelled with groups
of 2, 3 or 4 letters (graphemes).
Grapheme 1 Grapheme 2 Grapheme 3
c
a
t
b
ir
d
f
i
sh
kn
igh
t

[Type text]

Children are given plenty of writing practice. Multi-sensory mnemonics

(actions and/or letter-shape pictures) are used initially to help teach
the letter-sound correspondences.
Reading isn't introduced until Phase 2 in the programme and, at first,
the reading will be decodable, i.e. the reading texts only contain words
that can be sounded-out based on what the student has already been
taught, so no guessing is necessary.

A taught skill - nature versus nurture

The first language learning context

The ease with which a child can be taught to listen and unravel the
phonemic level of speech in order to link each phoneme with its written
symbol, appears to be heritable 'Good/bad phoneme-awareness runs in
families, just as musical talent does' (McGuinness, 1997). This
unravelling is necessary because speech consists of co-articulated
sounds blended into a rapidly produced sound stream.
The ability to manipulate speech sounds is a taught skill, not an
outcome of cognitive maturation or exposure to language. As their
literacy improves it should again become an automatic process for
literacy purposes and drop below consciousness unless it is actually
needed to deal with an unfamiliar written word.
For those children who lack any natural aptitude (due to normal
genetic variation, not a brain/learning defect) for untangling the
phoneme level of speech, really good direct teaching of the alphabet
code done first and fast, with plenty of revision, will enable them to
learn the skills necessary to become good readers.
Sound scientific research (in first language learning) along with
standardised testing has established unequivocally that, to be sure of
succeeding with all children an initial literacy programme needs to
teach all of the 44 sound/letter correspondences in English along with
the skills of sounding-out and blending.
[Type text]

This means that a synthetic/linguistic phonic scheme should be used

with all beginning readers without the addition of any whole-word
practices; guessing from picture, context and initial letter clues, letter
names, sight-words and, initially, whole-language reading books. It
seems so reasonable on the surface, a bit of phonics, a bit of look and
say, a bit of whole word guessing, who could argue with that? Well, if
you go on doing what youve always done, youll go on getting what
youve always got, in this case 25 to 30 per cent of the children in your
school unable to read properly. (Shadwell, 2006)
In synthetic phonics schools there is no long tail of underachievement.
There is no gender gap. Boys do not underachieve. Same kids
different teaching methodology.'' (Shadwell, 2006)
Phonics is only a small part of failure to learn to read poverty plays a
vital role, as does a very narrow curriculum, which narrows
expectations and reduces opportunities.

An example of a phoneme frame activity

Purpose: To develop the concept that sounds/phonemes are

represented by letters; to teach phonemegrapheme correspondences;
to develop segmentation skills; to give experience of blending
Type of activity: Demonstration & show me
Materials: a set of graphemes appropriate to the letter group; objects
or pictures to match the words; three small whiteboards, pens and
wipes; a puppet (optional)
Procedure
1. Children sit on the floor.
2. Three children are selected to be the writers for the class & sit at the
front, each with a large piece of paper and a pen.
[Type text]

3. Tell the children that they are going to help the puppet (if using one)
to spell some words & that they will need to listen carefully.
4. Select an object and ensure that the children know what it is.
5. Place the graphemes needed for the word just above the phoneme
frame in a random order, & tell the children that these are all the
letters they will need to spell the word.
sapmctgo

e.g. mat, sat, cat, map, tap, cap, top, pop, mop, pot
7. Point to the first box & tell the children to listen & tell you what
sound they can hear.
8. Say the word in a stretched out way, emphasising the focus
phoneme while you run your finger under the phoneme frame pausing
under the box for the focus phoneme. (You may need to repeat this in
the initial stages.)
9. Ask the children to tell you what sound they heard.
10. Ask the children to think about which letter shows that sound.
11. Select a child to come & identify the letter & to place it in the box.
12. Repeat the process for the remaining boxes.
13. Remind the children what word they have spelled.
14. All the children say each sound as you tap under each box & then
the word.
15. Tell the children that now they have to help the scribes to write the
word by calling out each sound.
16. Point to each grapheme in turn. The children call out the sound.
The scribes write each grapheme as the other children call out the
sound.
17. Invite the children to check whether the scribes have spelled the
word correctly by asking the scribes to hold their boards above their
heads so the children behind can see them.
18. The children respond and can give a clap for the scribes.
19. Continue with other words.
Variation
To increase the pace, instead of asking the children to come out &
show you the grapheme, you can use different coloured squares as
identifiers for the graphemes, so the children can just tell you, for
example, Its the red one.
Independent time
All children must have the opportunity to repeat this activity on an
individual basis within a small group.
Each child will need a set of graphemes and a phoneme frame.
[Type text]

 You will need the set of objects or pictures and a small board with a
phoneme frame.
The children place their set of graphemes in a line above their
phoneme frame.
Proceed as before, asking the children to listen for each sound in turn
as you tap the appropriate sound box and say the word in a stretched
out way.
s

p m

g o

t c a

Each child then identifies the phonemegrapheme match from their

own set and places it in the appropriate box.
Every child then writes the word, using the word in their own
phoneme frame as a model, saying the sound as they write the
grapheme, then the whole word.
Continue as time allows.
Variation
To increase the pace of the activity, instead of asking the children to
come out and show you the grapheme, you can use different coloured
squares as identifiers for the graphemes, so the children can just tell
you, for example, Its the red one.
Independent time
All children must have the opportunity to repeat this activity on an
individual basis within a small group.
Each child will need a set of graphemes and a phoneme frame.
You will need the set of objects or pictures and a small board with a
phoneme frame.
The children place their set of graphemes in a line above their
phoneme frame.
Proceed as before, asking the children to listen for each sound in turn
as you tap the appropriate sound box and say the word in a stretched
out way.
Each child then identifies the phonemegrapheme match from their
own set and places it in the appropriate box.
Every child then writes the word, using the word in their own
phoneme frame as a model, saying the sound as they write the
grapheme, then the whole word.
Continue as time allows.
5
[Type text]

Exploring A Framework

What you have read above applies to first language learning. In a

second or foreign language context phonics is rarely used as an
instructional strategy, whereas phonemic awareness is. When it comes
to spelling rules, second and foreign language learning stresses a
whole word and sentence level awareness instructional strategy.
The reason for this is clear. Literacy is not a second or foreign language
issue in the vast majority of contexts. Most learners do not start to
learn a foreign language until they have already mastered the basics in
their first language (mother tongue). In some cases, such as in
bilingual community contexts, then the child learner will be formally
taught the national (community) language in school and will learn their
first language (mother tongue) simultaneously at home or in less
formal learning environments. At a later stage in their formal education
(typically after the age of 10), then their mother tongue may be
introduced as a part of their formal education. Examples of this may
can be seen in Wales, The Republic of Ireland, Brittany (France),
Alsace-Lorraine (French-German border), Corsica, Switzerland. In all of
these cases, and many more, the term foreign language learning does
not apply.
So in order to explore the potential uses of phonics and phonemic
awareness in a foreign language context (our context in Perlis) we will
need a modified framework. We cannot use a first language framework
imported from a different culture and language community (e.g. the
UK), and expect it to be successful. We must also remember that the
community language (Bahasa Malayu) has a different sound system
and different spelling rules. The Alphabet Code does not match when
we compare English with Bahasa Malayu.
Additionally, in a foreign language learning context we have to have a
broader and perhaps more balanced approach when considering
instructional strategies.
What we perhaps can agree on are the general foundation blocks
required for literacy:

[Type text]

5.1

Instructional Strategies: in the classroom

1. a clear focus on instruction, through direct teaching;

2. effective use of teaching time;
3. systematic and challenging teaching of phonics, spelling and
vocabulary;
4. suitable opportunities for pupils to apply and improve their
developing skills in speaking and listening, reading and writing
across the curriculum;
5. high but realistic expectations of pupils, reflected in
improvements in both the quantity and quality of work produced,
for example in the range of reading and writing tasks
undertaken;
6. good interaction between teachers and pupils that constantly
tests and extends understanding and provides constructive
feedback on how improvement can be achieved.
5.2

Instructional Strategies: in the school

1. a willingness by GBs and curriculum leaders to take robust

action, including the setting of targets, to raise standards;
2. whole-school planning for literacy which takes full account of the
requirements of the curriculum;
3. systematic monitoring of the quality of educational provision and
standards of pupils achievements by GBs and curriculum
leaders;
4. practical training and support for teachers within the school;

[Type text]

5. close links with parents to reflect their interests and promote a

partnership in education.
Notes:

5.3

An Instructional Framework

In Phase 1 of this project we will need to focus on the following to

varying degrees depending on the Diagnosis and Assessment of the
pupils existing knowledge base. It will not be the case that all of what
is stated below will be required for all pupils or all classes. The
objective of Phase 1 is to bridge the learning gap, to identify what is
not known and then to help them to understand the gaps in their
knowledge base before moving on to Phase 2 - the practice and
production phase.
To help the pupils to:
1) discriminate between the separate sounds in words;
2) learn the letters and letter combinations most commonly used to
represent
3) these sounds in both Bahasa Inggeris and Bahasa Malayu;
[Type text]

4) read words by sounding out and blending the separate

phonemes;
5) spell words by segmenting the phonemes (graphemes) and using
their knowledge of
6) lettersound correspondences to represent the phonemes.
7) hear and identify initial, medial and final sounds in words;
8) distinguish between the alphabet letter sounds and phonemes;
9) write each letter, and combination of letters (graphemes,
consonant clusters) in response to each sound;
10)
identify and write phonemes in common words;
11)
discriminate all phonemes in words, to blend phonemes
into words for reading and to segment words into phonemes for
spelling;
12)
spell the common words presented as a part of the
instructional project;
13)
learn the common alternative spellings of long vowel &
diphthong phonemes.
Notes:

Phonemic Awareness Skills

Phonemic Awareness moves through three stages:

[Type text]

1. Sensitivity to sound properties within words

2. Conscious awareness of these sounds
3. Conscious and analytical manipulation of the sounds within words
Levels suggested are flexible - children may move on as soon as the
prerequisite skills are mastered.
Stage 1: Preschool to Early Year 1
Sensitivity:
1. Rhyming - recognition, matching, odd-one-out activities
2. Alliteration - beginning sounds
Stage 2: Early Year 1
Conscious Awareness:
1. Rhyming - creation of rhyme
2. Alliteration - beginning sounds
3. Isolation - beginning and ending sounds
4. Segmentation - syllables, 2 & 3 phoneme words
Stage 3: Years 1 & 2
Conscious & Analytical Manipulation:
Segmentation - 3 & 4 phonemes together
Blending - 3 & 4 phoneme words
Exchanging - Substitution, Deletion

[Type text]

6.1

Rhyming & Alliteration

Materials: Big books, picture books containing rhyme, pictures, picture

cards, rhyming bingo. Note: Nursery Rhymes are a great starting
point.
Teacher questions
Does_____ rhyme with _____ ?
Which one sounds the same as _____?
Which one does not belong? _____, _____, or _____.
Encouraging creation
Make a word that rhymes with _____.
Complete the sentence with a word that rhymes with _____.
Complete the sentence with a rhyming word _____.
Alliteration: Teacher questions
Do _____, _____, and _____ begin with the same sound?
Which words begin with the same sound? _____
Does _________ begin with _______?
What does _________ begin with?
Does ___ begin with the same sound as _______?
Ending Sounds: Teacher questions
Does _________ end with _____?
What does ________ end with?
Does ________ end with the same sound as ________?

[Type text]

6.2

Segmentation: Articulating the sounds

Materials: Blank cards divided into 2, 3, or 4 spaces. Blank letter

blocks, Letter blocks: m f s p t n a i h
N.B. It is suggested that only a limited number of letters is used in the
project and these are taught to the children prior to segmentation
training.
Letter cards:
CV and VC words. Using a 2 space card: Place a letter on a space for
each sound you hear in the word _____ (e.g. it, at)
>

CVC words: Using a 3 space card. Place a letter on a

space for each sound you hear in the word _____ (e.g. mat, hit)
>

CV to CVC words: 2 to 3 sounds. Using 2 and

3 space cards: Make the word ta. Good - now place p at the end of it.
Sound it out t - a - p. What word have you made? Now place the letters
on the 3 space card and say each sound - t - a - p. What word is it? tap.
Good. Now we can make words with three sounds.
6.3

Counting The Sounds

2 and 3 sounds.
Materials: Picture cards
Clap the sounds in the word ______ ( cv vc words e.g. ta, at)
Clap the sounds in the word ______ ( cvc words e.g. pin, tin)
How many sounds in the word ______? (vc, cv, cvc words )
6.4
[Type text]

Counting The Syllables

Materials: pictures, objects

Break the word into 2 parts, e.g., ti/ger
Break the word into 3 parts. e.g., oct/o/pus
Break the word into 2 or 3 parts, e.g., ze/bra, el/e/phant
How many parts in the word ________? e.g., 2 & 3 syllable words
6.5

Articulating The Sounds

Materials: 4 space cards, letter blocks.

CVC TO CVCC words - 3 to 4 sounds:
Using 3 and 4 space cards and letter blocks make cvcc words:
Plurals: Make fan. Good. Now add s. What does it say? f - a - n - s -fans.
Place the blocks on the 4 space card. What is the word? fans
CVCC words:
Using a 4 space card and letter blocks: * Make the word_______. Say the
word slowly; stretch it out. (e.g., pins, mist, pant).
6.6

Nonsense CVCC Words

Counting The Sounds: - 4 sounds

CVCC and CCVC words:
How many sounds can you hear in the word _______? (e.g. trop)
6.7

Blending

Word Extension
CVC words:
Say the words slowly; stretch them out like a piece of elastic in your
hands; (e.g. sit s s s s i i i i i t).
CVCC and CCVC WORDS:
Say the words slowly; stretch them out like a piece of elastic in your
hands; (e.g. wwwwaaaannnntttt, ssssttttoooopppp)
Telescoping
Materials: puppets, pictures
VC or CV words:
[Type text]

What word is the puppet trying to say? Say the sounds fast. (e.g. a - t
aaat at).
CVC words:
What word is the puppet trying to say? Say the sounds fast. (e.g. m - a
- t mmaaat mat).
Substitution
Attempt only after segmentation and blending training. Materials: 2,3
and 4 space cards.
CVC words:
Beginning Sounds: e.g., Make sat. Now change s to f. What does it say?
fat.
Ending Sounds: e.g., Make fin. Now change n to t. What does it say? fit.
Middle Sounds: e.g. Make pan. Now change a to i. What does it say?
pin.
CVCC words
Beginning Sounds: e.g., Make
___________________________________________
Ending Sounds: e.g., Make
______________________________________________
Middle Sounds: e.g., Make
______________________________________________
CCVC words:
Ending Sounds: e.g., Make
______________________________________________
Middle Sounds: e.g., Make
______________________________________________

CCVC words:
Ending Sounds: e.g., Make
______________________________________________
Middle Sounds: e.g., Make
______________________________________________
Deletion
[Type text]

CVC words:
e.g., Make fat. Take away the f. What does it say? at.
CVCC words:
Beginning Sounds: e.g., Make pant. Take away the p. What does it say?
ant.
Middle Sounds: e.g., Make fist. Take away the s. What does it say? fit.
Ending Sounds: e.g., Make nips. Take away the s. What does it say? nip.
CCVC words:
Beginning Sounds: e.g., Make
___________________________________________
Middle Sounds: e.g., Make
______________________________________________

A Catalogue of Spellings

The top spellings for phonemes and their percentages of the 17,000
most frequent words. (Adapted from: Fry, 2004)
Phoneme

Principal spellings in order of frequency and

example words

//

a (sack), 97%; a_e (have), 3%

//

a (bacon), 45%; a_e (bake), 35%; ai (raid), 9%; ay (play),

[Type text]

6%
// //

ar (parable), 29%; are (bare), 23%; air (fair), 21%; ere

(there), 15%; ear (bear), 6%

/ /

ar (bar), 89%; are (are), 5%; ear (heart), 3%

/ /

a (ball), 22%; au (haul), 19%; aw (saw) 10%

/b/

b (big), 97%

//

ch (chair), 55%, t (feature), 31%; tch (catch), 11%

/d/

d (do), 98%

//

o (other), 24%; u (up), 20%; i (panic), 18%;

e (enough), 11%; ou (famous), 5%

/e/

e (bed), 91%; ea (bread) 4%

//

y (very), 41%; e (beware), 40%

//

ear (fear), 25%; eer (deer), 18%; e_e (here), 14%; ier (tier),
7%

//

le (table), 95%

//

er (teacher), 77%; or (odor), 12%; ar (cellar), 8%

/f/

f (fox), 78%; ph (phone), 12%; ff (stuf), 9%

/g/

g (girl), 88%; gg (egg), 5%; x (exit), 3%

/h/

h (hot), 98%

//

wh (white), 100%

//

i (hit), 92%; i-e (give), 6% y (gym), 2%]

//

i_e (pipe), 37%; i (Bible), 37%; y (by), 14%; igh (right), 6%

//

ge (age), 66%; j (jet), 22%; dge (edge), 5%; d (soldier),

3%

/k/

c (car), 73%; k (kit), 13%; ck (sick), 6%; ch (choir), 3%

//

x (six), 90%; cks (kicks), 10%

/ /

qu (quit), 97%

/l/

l (leg), 91%; ll (tell), 9%

/m/

m (mad), 94%; mm (dimmer), 4%

/n/

n (no), 97% [kn (know)<1%]

//

ng (sing), 59%; n (monkey), 41%

/ /

o (hot), 94%; a (want), 5%

//

o (focus), 73%; o_e (hope), 14%; oa (boat), 5%; ow (row),

5%

[Type text]

/ /

oi (oil), 62%; oy (toy), 32%

//

u (bush), 61%; oo (hook), 35%; o (woman), 5%

/ /

or (for), 97%; ore (core), 3%

//

ou (shout), 56%; ow (howl), 29%; ou_e (house), 13%

/p/

p (pin), 96%, pp (happen), 4%

/r/

r (run), 97%

/s/

s (say), 73%, c (cereal), 17%; ss (toss), 7%

//

ti (action), 53%; sh (shy), 26%; ci (special), 5%; ssi

(fission), 3%

/t/

t (top), 97%

//

th (bath) 100%

//

u (bus) 86%; o (ton), 8%

/ / or / /

u (human), 59%; u_e (use), 19%; oo (moon), 11%; ew

(few) 4%

/v/

v (very), 99.5%

/w/

w (way), 92%; u (suede), 7.5%

//

i (onion), 55%; y (yes), 44%

/z/

s (was), 64%; z (zero), 23%; es (flies), 4%, x (xylophone),

4%

//

si (incision), 49%; s (pleasure), 33%; g (garage), 15%

[Type text]

How reliably do vowel spellings represent phonemes?

(Adapted from: Johnston 2001)

Corresponde Phoneme, example word, and % of reliability in
nce
common words
a_e

[A] // (cake) 78%

ai

[A] // (rain) 75%

ay

[A] // (play) 96%

e_e

[E] / / (these) 17%

ee

[E] / / (feet) 96%

ea

[E] / / (seat) 64%; /e/ (head) 17%

ei

[A] // (rein) 50%; [I] [or [E] // / / (either) 25%

ey

[I] // (monkey) 77%

ie

[E] / / (field) 49%; [I] // (tied) 27%

i_e

[I] // (five) 74%

o_e

[O] // (stove) 58%

oa

[O] // (coat) 95%

ow

[O] // (snow) 68%; [aw] // (how) 32%

oe

[O] // (toe) 44%; [OO] / / (shoe) 33%; [u] // (does)

22%
(only 9 words in sample)

ou

[aw] // (out) 43%; [u] // (touch) 18%; [or] / / (your)

7%

u_e

[OO] / / (rule, refuse) 77%

oo

[OO] / / (boot) 50%; [oo] // (book) 40%

ew

[OO] / / (blew) 88%; [OO] / / (few) 19%

ui

[i] // (build) 53%; [U] / / (fruit) 24%

au

[aw] / / (cause) 79%

aw

[aw] / / (saw) 100%

oi

[oi] / / (join) 100%

oy

[oi] / / (boy) 100%

ia

[E-a] / /-//(piano) 54%; [e] // (Asia) 46%

y (unaccented) [i] // (lucky) 100%

[Type text]

All the common English spellings

/a/ mat
/ae/ ape, baby, rain, steak, eight
/air/ hair, square, bear
/ar/ jar, fast, aunt, heart
/e/ peg, bread, said, friend
/ee/ sweet, me, beach, pony,
people
/i/ pig, wanted, cygnet, busy
/ie/ kite, wild, light, fly
/o/ log, want, because, yacht
/oe/ bone, soul, boat, snow, dough
/oi/ coin, boy
/oo/ book, would, put
/oo/ moon, stew, soup, do
/or/ fork, ball, sauce, law, door
/ow/ down, house
/u/ plug, glove, tough, does, flood
/ur/ burn, person, work, first, ogre
/ue/ (y-oo) unit, cue, you, fuse,
mew
/b/ boy, rabbit, build
/c/k/ cat /key, duck, school, unique
/ch/ chip, watch
/d/ dog, ladder, rubbed
/f/ fish, cofee, photo, rough

[Type text]

/g/ gate, egg, ghost, guest

/h/ hat, whole
/j/ jet, giant, cage, bridge
/l/ lip, bell, sample, pupil
/m/ man, hammer, comb
/n/ nut, dinner, knee, gnat,
gone
/ng/ ring, sink
/p/ pan, happy
/k-w/ queen
/r/ rat, cherry, write, rhyme
/s/ sun, dress, house, city, mince
/sh/ ship, mission, station, chef
/t/ tap, letter, debt,
/th/ thrush
/th/ that
/v/ vet, sleeve, of
/w/ wet, wheel, penguin
/x/ (k-s/g-z) box, exist
/y/ yes
/z/ zip, fizz, sneeze, is, cheese
/zh/ treasure, Asia, azure,
/uh/(schwa) button, the,
computer
N.B. colours indicate examples of
code overlap