SPIRE Foundations: Sounds Sensible Tips for Nicknaming Sounds
Sheila Clark-Edmands has written clever ways for individuals using her program to
teach letter sounds to students. Throughout the program, Sheila provides
pronunciation guides that include nicknames, if you will, for each of the sounds.
Those “nicknames” are provided in the comprehensive list that follows:
| p | Lip Popper |
| b | Noisy Lip Popper |
| t | Tongue Tip Tapper |
| d | Tongue Tip Tapper The difference is that this one is considered the deeper 'tongue tip tapper' |
| c, k | Tongue Scraper (Low Front, High Back Tongue) |
| g | Tongue Scraper with Voice |
| f | Lip Cooler |
| v | Noisy Lip Cooler |
| s | Small Air Sound / Skinny Air Sound |
| z | Noisy Small Air Sound |
| j | Big Air Sound |
| m | Nose Air Sound (Closed Mouth) |
| n | Nose Air Sound (Open Mouth, Tip of Tongue) |
| w | Windy Sound |
| a | No Nickname / Continuous Sound The script reminds students that this is a continuant sound, and teachers draw attention to the shape of the mouth as the sound is made. |
| h | Windy Breath Sound |
| l | Tongue Lifting Sound |
| r | Tongue Lifting Sound / Voiced Soft Growl |
| x | Combination of /k/ and /s/ |
| y | Pronounce /y/ as /ye/ like in yellow (The e is pronounced softly) |