Open syllable là gì

The first syllables in words like atom, centre, filter, shopping, rubbish and pullet contain a short vowel, which must be followed by a consonant in English. These are sometimes called closed syllables.

The first syllables in words like paper, being final, hoping, brutal and future end with a long vowel, and are sometimes called open syllables.

Tackling one syllable at a time

When learners start reading and spelling multi-syllable words, its useful to get them to practice reading and writing words which contrast closed and open syllables.

In my Workbook 7 and Workbook 8, I break multisyllable words up using little dots, so that learners get to practice writing lots of different syllable types in multisyllable words before they have to figure out where the syllable boundaries are for themselves.

However, most of the students I work with are being encouraged to tackle long words at school well before they get up to my Workbook 7, so Ive started introducing some input on tackling long words earlier, when they are studying vowel spellings in Workbooks 4 and 5.

Breaking up long words

We start off with compound words made out of words they can already spell, like catfish, suntan, dishcloth, himself and uphill.

This gets learners in the habit of stopping at the end of each syllable to blend, before proceeding on to the next syllable, and then putting the two syllables together. In compound words, both syllables are usually stressed and said as they are written there are no complications from unstressed vowels/weak syllables.

Next, I ask learners to break up words that look similar, but some have a closed first syllable, and others have an open first syllable e.g. never [nev-er] and fever [fe-ver].

The first step is to say each word one syllable at a time.

Many kids start clapping as soon as you mention the word syllable, and this can sometimes be helpful, but sometimes takes their attention away from whats happening in their mouths. Anyway we together decide what each spoken syllable is, and if there is an unstressed vowel in the word [like the er in butter or the ar in dollar] I ask learners to pronounce it as it is spelt.

Sometimes its useful to give learners each word written on a little slip of paper, and ask them to cut it in half between the syllables, then copy the two syllables with a space between them.

This helps learners to eyeball each syllable in turn, and say it very crisply, eliminating the blurriness that too often seems to happen in word middles.

Alternatively, I ask learners to assemble each word in two chunks using my movable alphabet [I provide the necessary spellings], then copy it, then write it themselves, saying each syllable as they write.

In general terms, this is how multi-syllable words are tackled in the excellent Sounds Write program, but I use my movable alphabet instead of a post-it note for each grapheme, for what could variously be called recycling or stinginess reasons. I just use a post-it note when I need a spelling thats not in my alphabet, like the ti in motion or the sc in science.

Open and closed first syllable wordlist

Heres a list of words which contrast initial open and closed syllables.

Sometimes there are a couple of ways a word can be segmented. I know there arent really two n sounds in dinner but when spelling it, I like to break up the doubled n and get learners to say n twice, to help them to remember to write both letters.

Of course I vary the wordlist depending on the age and likely vocabulary of the learner. I wouldnt use a word like fatwa with a young child, or a word like navman with a learner who knew nothing about in-car GPS systems.

I hope youll find this list useful in teaching learners how to break words up into syllables, and would welcome any feedback on it.