Why do we need to know Syllables?

What is Syllables? Why do we need to know Syllables?

When you want to spell a really long word that you haven't heard of before / spelt before. Take "Availability" for example (and I'm not sure I spelt that right!) How would you attack it?

Would you "say it slowly"? Of course not! You would break it down into the smallest possible chunks (a-vail-a-bil-i-ty - of course if you already know how to spell super you could write that part as a known word then get on with the rest). Which is why we teach our students how to break words down into syllables to make the words more managable.

It also helps to learn orthographic features of words for example that when you hear 'ing' in a word you spell it "i-n-g" and that the a sound at the end of 'tig/er' / 'moth/er' / 'com/pu/ter' is represented by "er".

How many types we use Syllable? 

1. A closed syllable ends in a consonant. The vowel has a short vowel sound, as in the word bat.

2. An open syllable ends in a vowel. The vowel has a long vowel sound, as in the first syllable of apron.

3. A vowel-consonant-e syllable is typically found at the end of a word. The final e is silent and makes the next vowel before it long, as in the word name.

4. A vowel team syllable has two vowels next to each other that together say a new sound, as in the word south.

5. A consonant-le syllable is found in words like handle, puzzle, and middle.

6. An r-controlled syllable contains a vowel followed by the letter r. The r controls the vowel and changes the way it is pronounced, as in the word car.

How to divide words into syllables?

Divide off or separate any compound words, prefixes, suffixes, and root words that have vowels, such as sports/car, house/boat, un/happy, pre/paid, re/write, farm/er, hope/less

Divide between two middle consonants, such as hap/pens, bas/ket, let/ter, sup/per, din/ner.

Never split up consonant digraphs as they really represent only one sound (“th”, “sh”, “ph”, “th”, “ch”, and “wh”).

Usually divide before a single consonant such as o/pen, i/tem, e/vil, re/port.The only exceptions are those times when the first syllable has an obvious short sound, as in “cab/in”.

Divide before an “-le” syllable such as a/ble, fum/ble, rub/ble, mum/ble. The exceptions would be “ckle” words like “tick/le”.