A phoneme is the smallest unit of sound. Three are 44 different sounds in English, but only 26 letters. Therefore, some letters can have more than one sound. There are also combinations of letters such "__ng".
One of the first steps in learning to read is to become aware of the different sounds in a word. You can practice this by stretching out the word as you say it, emphasizing each sound. You can play a game by saying each sound separately, then have the learner say the whole word. This is what the beginning reader will be asked to do when he sounds out a word in early attempts at reading. Other activities, such as asking what the first or last sound is, can be helpful first steps. Later, the beginning reader will start to associate these separate sounds with letters of the alphabet (phonetics).
Learn to match beginning sounds.
Color the pictures that match: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Match ending sounds:
Letters:A, B, D, E, F, G,H, K, L, N, O, P, R, S, T, Y
