• Create a quiet place and a regular time to do homework and study.

• Talk to your child about what is happening at school.

• Encourage your child to show you all school work.

• Read with your child.

• Learning in a new language takes lots of energy. Ensure that your child gets plenty of rest.

• Help your child to find opportunities to use English outside of school.

• Be patient. Understand that learning a language is a complex, long-term process.

Phonemic Chart

This phonemic chart contains all of the 44 sounds, or phonemes, found in spoken English. It is divided into three sections:

• Vowels at the top left

Vowels are produced with the vocal tract open – air is not constricted or blocked at any point.

• Diphthongs at the top right

Diphthongs are phonemes with two adjacent vowel sounds

• Consonants at the bottom

When a consonant is produced a part of the vocal tract is closed, constricting or blocking the flow of air. Air can be blocked in a number of ways:

• Plosive sounds are produced by blocking and then releasing air. Plosive sounds are /p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/ and /g/.
• Fricative sounds are produced when air is obstructed by friction. Fricative sounds are /f/, /v/, /?/, /ð/, /s/, /z/, /?/, /?/ and/h/.
• Affricate sounds are produced with a plosive followed by a fricative. /t?/ is a combination of the plosive /t/ followed by the fricative /?/; /d?/ has a similar sequence of plosive and fricative.
• With nasal sounds, air has to come through the nasal cavity due to a blockage of air at another point in the vocal tract. /m/, /n/ and /?/ are all nasal phonemes.
• There is one lateral phoneme, /l/, where air is blocked by the tongue from coming through the centre of the mouth and so has to come along the sides of the tongue.
• Finally, the liquid phonemes /w/, /r/ and /j/ are all “semi-vowels”, where air is diverted around the tongue rather than actually obstructed.