How Do I Identify Long Vowel Sounds?

The alphabet contains five vowels.

A, E, I, O and U are all vowels within the alphabet. When these vowels are used in a word, they either use a long vowel sound or a short vowel sound. It can be difficult at first to identify what qualifies as a long vowel and what qualifies as a short vowel. After learning how to spot self-identifying vowels, it will become much easier.

Instructions

1. Identify the vowels in a particular word.

2. Say the word out loud.

3. Repeat the word out loud slowly, and listen to your pronunciation of each vowel. Ask yourself, "Did the vowel name itself?" For example, if you were to say "Ohio," you would hear "O," "I," and "O" identify themselves. The sound of each of those vowels sounds exactly like the name of the letter. In the word "lasagna," the vowels sounds like "uh," "ah," and "uh." None of those vowels sound like the name of a letter.

4. Identify the vowel as a long vowel if it does identify itself, like in the "Ohio" example. Identify the vowel as a short vowel if it does not identify itself, like in the "lasagna" example.

References

• Game Classroom: 1st Grade-Vowel Sounds