I was just browsing the internet yesterday and found an interesting video that was uploaded by a mother who excitedly teaching her son phonics. In the video, it was shown how she was proudly saying 'correct' all the time after her son decoded a CVC word. I was so touched by it actually, remembering not all the mother was willing to put the same effort at home to review what the child has learnt at school. Until I have seen something so wrong in the way she taught.
There was time when she wrote the word 'MUG' and her son decoded the 'U' sound just like 'U' in the word 'PUT', and for my surprised, the mother said 'CORRECT". I wonder why she did that, either she didn't know that it was wrong or she wanted to encourage her son by saying it's correct and that she might correct it later (which is not the right method in teaching phonics).
The vowel system is the most complicated sounds in phonics, because in terms of pronunciation and spelling, each vowels can have three or four sounds.
The letter 'U' has three different sounds which are:
1. Long U-1; such as in the word 'HUGE' /hjuːdʒ/
2. Long U-2; such as in the word 'TUNE' /tuːn/ or /tjuːn, tʃuːn/
3. Short U/Schwa; such as in the word 'UP' /ʌp/
The sound of letter 'U' in 'MUG' is the short U /mʌɡ/
So then, you can not change it into /mʊg/
I understand maybe she confused the word 'MUG' with 'PUT', but if she was not sure, It's better for her to consult the teacher not to lead her son in a bigger mistake in the future.
Beside those three basic sounds of letter 'U', there are handful of words with 'U' that are pronounced as short-oo such as 'SUGAR', 'PUSH', 'PUT' etc. In here, usually the phonics teacher will said to the learner that they are sight words or special words that they need to remember because they can't be decoded by the usual sounds rules. When later a learner reaches a deeper study of vowel U sounds, he will gradually know how to distinct the 'U' sounds and pronounce them correctly.
Let's go back to the child's case. Perhaps the mother heard some British pronounce the word 'mug' that way. Well, the acknowledged British English is the one with the short U as in this video:
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=mug+british+pronunciation
Some British say /mʊg/ because of their regional accent which has an impact to the phonological variation. You may read these two articles if you want to know more about it:
https://www.bl.uk/british-accents-and-dialects/articles/phonological-variation-across-the-uk
https://www.bl.uk/british-accents-and-dialects/articles/regional-voices-the-north-south-divide
Remember to always consult with someone who knows better, rather than put your child into bigger trouble in the future. I believe the teacher will always welcome and support you in doing this. Consistency is the most important thing here, so whether you follow British English or American English, follow it correctly and consistently.
Next, I will share my experience in correcting a learner's mistakes without discouraging him/her.
Comments
Post a Comment