A New Website for Practice with Short Vowels

There are certain rules about reading in English that we have talked about in class. For example, you know that a syllable is a piece of a word. You also know that every syllable must have a vowel (or a vowel sound) in it. The problem comes in pronouncing the vowel sounds. For example, the vowel "a" can sound like the "a" in "ape" or the "a" in "apple" or the "a" in "art" or the schwa sound as in the word "about". That is four different sounds for one vowel! Spanish speaking people have only one "a" sound---the one in the word "art" and that is all. Much easier, isnt it. How do we know which pronunciation of "a" to use? For Americans, it is easy. We don't even think about it. Please have sympathy for those who are just learning to speak English.
What should a person who is just learning English do? Well, one thing is to study the pronunciation key which is found at the beginning of every dictionary. The second thing to do is PRACTICE SAYING WORD FAMILIES THAT HAVE THE SAME VOWEL SOUNDS IN THEM. I found the website listed below through google. Click on it and try the practice exercises. I think it is a great website. (I hope it works when you click on it. http://rbeaudoin333.homestead.com/shortvowel_1.html