More Tricky Words
Often these “tricky words” are only taught as “sight words” that children just have to learn by heart. If too many words are taught this way, many children will not be able to remember them all, which can lead to discouragement and/or resorting to guessing. The more logic and patterns that children can see in these words, the less difficulties they will have in reading and spelling them.
Most of the words included in lists of “sight words” or “tricky words” are completely (or at least partly) regular once children learn more than just the simple code where each letter has a single sound and they know a few combinations like “ai”, “ay”, “ee” ….
Learn to read and spell these words in groups with similar rules and/or explanations. Where possible, link them to things children already know. Don’t try to learn too many new things at once – try practising one group a day, e.g. “to, do, who, two” from Tricky Words 3. The next day “said”, the next “what”.
Remember to pause the videos at strategic points so that children can work out the answers before they are given.
Tricky Words 2 – so, go, no, he, we, be, the – A vowel on the end of a short word often says its name. (The vowels are “a”, “e”, i”, “o”, “u” and sometimes “y”. All other letters are consonants. “The” can sound slightly different depending on whether the next word in the sentence starts with a consonant or a vowel sound.) “Me” and “she” follow the same pattern.
Tricky Words 3 – to, do, who, one, two, said, what
- To, do, who, two – the fourth sound of “o” (/o/ /O/ /u/ /oo/).
- Two, who – silent “w”.
- Said – compare “pay/pays/paid” with “say/says/said”.
- What – Beware of “w” – ant/want, also “was”. “Wh” and “qu” do the same.
“Do you see one face or two?” What do two children do when they have a mulberry tree in their backyard?
Tricky Words 4 – here, there, where, come, some
- Here – In some places in the world it is easy to hear the /r/ sound and see that the first sound for “ere” is made up of /E/ and /r/.
- There, where – The second sound of “ere” sounds like /air/.
- Come, some – The third sound of “o” (/o/ /O/ /u/ /oo/) and “Sometimes there doesn’t seem to be any reason for a silent ‘e’.”
Tricky Words 5 – your, were, many, their, could
- Your – Uses the first sound of “our” (/or/, /er/, /our/, /oor/ in four, journey, hour, tour)
- Were – “Sometimes there doesn’t seem to be any reason for a silent ‘e’.”
- Many – “Any” and “many” have a most unusual sound for “a” (/e/).
- Their – The second sound of “eir” sounds like /air/ (/eer/, /air/).
- Could – “Oul” sounds like short /oo/ – could, should, would.
Click on the bottom right hand corner of each video to see it full screen. If you have trouble seeing the videos try Tricky Words 2, Tricky Words 3, Tricky Words 4, Tricky Words 5
To see the other videos go to Videos for Children
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