Many words have a rogue letter that makes no sound. Here are some more of them! Help the pupil to chunk words where necessary. Say the word and listen for the natural breaks. They often come after the vowel sound. Remember - each chunk of a word must contain a vowel - or a vowel sound (in the case for example of words with 'y' making a vowel sound.)
g: gnaw gnat gnome campaign gnarled
n: solemn hymn (but we pronounce the 'n' in hymnal) column condemn
h: honest ghost hour (revise from Level 3)
u: vague guy guarantee baguette c: scene scenery science scientist These could be called soft 'c' words, but they are different, as here each word actually has an 's' to say the sound 's', so the 'c' is not needed and hence is silent.
Note: As a point of interest, in the word 'gnu' all letters are pronounced.
Dictation:
Paul took a trip out of town for a few days in February because he fancied a change of scenery. To be honest, he had been working extremely hard and deserved a break. In addition, there was no guarantee that he would get another break before the autumn. He had picked up a pamphlet about the area at the local information desk and had decided to spend a day climbing a very tall hill to see the view at the top. He took his camera with him in the hope of taking some good photographs. He was fascinated to find, on his ascent, an old Oak tree. It had a very wide girth and very gnarled branches. It was rather chilly at the top of the hill, though he thought that the cold was preferable to the gnats of summer.
Teaching tips:
Revise adding 'ies': fancy/fancies Take off the 'y' and add 'ies'.
Study the word deserve: de-serve. No English word ends in 'v' so we add an 'e'.