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You have met vowel teams before, like ai in rain. Today Ben is reading a book about a stormy day, and he stops at the word cloud.
What do the o and the u do in cloud?
به انگلیسی
Diphthongs and complex vowels
Read and spell words containing diphthongs and complex vowel patterns (ow, ou, ew, ue, ie, aw, au) and words ending in -y as a vowel sound
What a learner can do afterwards
- Read words with variable vowel sounds (e.g. 'ow' in 'cow' vs 'snow')
- Decode words with diphthongs (e.g. 'cloud', 'blue', 'pie')
- Read words ending in -y pronounced as /ee/ or /igh/ (e.g. 'happy', 'my')
1 · Read
Some letter teams team up to make one new sound. Ow, ou, ew, ue, ie, aw, and au often do this.
Try it together
Ben reads the word 'cloud'. He blends the letters and hears one gliding /ow/ sound.
Watch out: ow can say two sounds. It says /ow/ in 'cow' but long o in 'snow'.
At the end of a word, y can be a vowel. It sounds like /ee/ in 'happy' or /igh/ in 'my'.
Diphthongs blend two letters into one sound, and a final y can say /ee/ or /igh/.
More to read
How to Teach Vowels: Complex Vowels
Some vowel sounds are tricky. They are called complex vowels. A diphthong is one of them. It is two vowel sounds sliding together into one sound. Say the word cow. Hear how the ow sound slides? That is a diphthong. Now say snow. The same two letters, o and w, make a different sound! Letters like ow, ou, ew, ue, ie, aw, and au can each make their own special sound. Try these words out loud: cloud, blue, pie, paw, and sauce. The letter y can act as a vowel too. At the end of happy it says /ee/, and in my it says /igh/. So when y sits at the end of a word, try a vowel sound first. A good trick is to pick one anchor word for each sound. An anchor word is a word you know really well. When you see those letters in a new word, think of your anchor word. It helps you remember the sound. Then try to read the new word. You can do it.
2 · Watch
به انگلیسی3 · Play
به انگلیسی
Take it off screen
Print a worksheetA4 with an answer key page for grown-ups. No screen, no internet.
Where it sits
Learn first
Nothing; this is a starting point.
Optional connections
This opens up
Then practise
24 questions wait behind this lesson, each with its answer explained. Every answer feeds the sky: stars light as they are learned, and dim when it is time to come back.