Reading expert Linda Farrell: Sounding Out New Multisyllabic Words

Sounding Out New Multisyllabic Words

If they saw the word ‘r-o-b-i-n’ and they, I said, “How many vowels do you see?”

“Two.”

“Together, apart?”

“Apart.”

“See a ‘silent e’?”

“No.”

“How many syllables?”

“Two.”

“What’s the word?”

“/roe-bin/.”

“Could be /roe-bin/. You decoded it perfectly. Flex that first ‘o’ to a short ‘o’ instead of a long ‘o.’”

So the kid goes /rah-bin/. Oh, robin. And if the word’s in his vocabulary, he’ll go — “Oh! Robin.” And if the word robin isn’t in his vocabulary, he’ll go /rah-bin/, /rah-bin/. And you know it’s not in his vocabulary, and you say, “That word’s /rah-bin/. It’s like a bird. What’s that word?” “Robin.”