About this activity
Fourteen of the easy-onset words — aaapple, uuup, ooopen, eeevery, uuunder, aaafter, aaalways, eeeat, iiin, ooon, ooover, eeeasy, aaask, ooorange — as a spelling task. Derived from the flashcard deck, and it is an odd one by design: the stretched spelling is a cue rather than a real spelling, and building it letter by letter makes the student dwell on the vowel that has to be started gently.
How to use it in a session
Say the word with the stretch, have the student say it, then build it. The extra vowels slow the whole thing down, which is the useful side effect — a student spending five seconds on the start of apple is spending five seconds thinking about an easy onset. Ask for the real spelling too, so the student knows the stretched form is a cue and not how the word is written.
What to listen for
Watch the production while the letters are being placed. Divided attention is where a technique shows whether it is automatic, and a gentle onset that survives spelling is closer to conversational than one produced on a clean repetition. Notice whether the student needs the stretch shortening — the goal is a normal-length word with an easy start.
Carrying it home
The stretched words are memorable enough to use as a family joke rather than a drill. Saying aaapple at breakfast is practice that nobody has to schedule.
Questions
- Are these the real spellings?
- No. The repeated letters are a cue for stretching the first vowel. It is worth telling the student that directly so the spelling does not carry over into their writing.
- Do I need to sign in?
- No, it plays free with no account.
- How is this different from the flashcards?
- Same words, built from letters. It gives fewer productions per minute and more dwell time on the start of each word, which suits some students.