English spelling is at best confusing and at worst a hot mess.

It is no wonder so many ESL students struggle with making the connection

between written words in English and how they are pronounced. Sometimes
there doesnt seem to be any rhyme or reason to it. I am a big proponent of
teaching the phonetic alphabet to ESL students, primarily because I think it
makes a big difference in their ability to achieve accurate pronunciation. But
sometimes the phonetic alphabet is not an option. You might have ESL students
who are casually studying the language and do not want to cover any material so
academic. You might opt out of teaching the phonetic alphabet because you just
have too many other things to do. Or it might be some other reason. After all,
how many dictionaries use the phonetic alphabet when listing the pronunciation
for an entry? Whatever your reason for not using the phonetic alphabet, there is
good news. As unpredictable as English spelling and pronunciation may seem at
times, there are some rules that your students can follow when they encounter
unfamiliar words. Here are seven simple spelling and pronunciation connections
you can share with your students to help them achieve accurate pronunciation.

Remember Rules for Pronouncing Vowels

Before going through these rules with your students, they will need to
know the difference between short vowel sounds and long vowel sounds.
If you are unclear about these definitions, look for an explanation in a
standard English only dictionary or read about it here.

1
A Vowel Followed by a Single Consonant at the End of a Word
Is Pronounced as a Short Vowel
Words that conform to this rule are often some of the first that
students of English (as well as native speakers) learn to read. Pup
has cup. Man has ham. All of these words follow the short vowel +
consonant rule. You might see these words represented in this way. CVC.

2
A Vowel Followed by Two Consonants at the End of a Word Is
Pronounced as a Short Vowel
Words that conform to this rule may be single vowels followed by a
consonant blend (see below for an explanation of consonant
blends) or those that are followed by two distinct consonants. You
may see these types of words represented in this way. CVCC. Some
examples include the following: stops, want, hand, wish, and bark.

3
If a Vowel Is the Final Letter in a Word, It Is Pronounced as a
Long Vowel
A vowel at the end of a word may appear in a single syllable word or
a multisyllabic word. Either way, the pronunciation rule remains the
same. A final vowel at the end of a word is pronounced as a long vowel.
Some examples of single syllable words which follow this rule are go, pi,
lo, be, and he. Multiple syllable examples include ago and ego. You might
see these words represented like this CV.

4
If an E Appears at the End of a Word, It Is Silent. The Preceding
Vowel (Separated from the E by One or More Consonants) Will
Be Pronounced as a Long Vowel
Silent e is one of the first spelling rules children learn in school, and
no wonder since it is so common in English. If you are teaching

phonics, you might have students underline or cross out the silent e and
mark the preceding vowel as long. You might see words which follow this
rule represented in this way: CVCe. You can find examples throughout
the English language, but some of them are hate, care, note, flute, bite,
nice, and ape.

5
If Two Vowels Appear next to Each Other in One Syllable, the
Second Vowel Is Silent and the First Vowel Is Pronounced as a
Long Vowel
We see vowel combinations all the time in English. A general rule as
to their pronunciation is to say the first vowel and ignore the second.
These vowel combinations come in all kinds of match ups. You might see
words which follow this rule represented this way: CVVC. English
examples include true, beat, train, leaf, and load.

Consider Rules for Pronouncing Consonants

One thing to keep in mind when discussing consonant pronunciation are
consonant blends.A consonant blend is two or more letters that are
pronounced as one sound in English. Some blends are clearly two sounds
which become one complex sound (for example bl in black, tr as in
atrophy). They often include the letters l, r, or s but not always. Other
blends are actually only one English sound which is spelled by using two
or more consonants. These sounds include sh (wish), ch (chair), tch
(watch) and others.

6
If One Consonant Follows a Vowel in the Middle of a Word, It Is
Pronounced as the First Sound in the Next Syllable

Where a consonant is pronounced in a word does make a difference in

a students pronunciation, particularly if they speak slowly. Think
about the difference between pap-er and pa-per. Clearly the second is
the correct pronunciation while the first sounds, at best, strange, and at
worst like a different word entirely. Other examples include tele-phone
(not teleph-one), la-bor (not lab-or), lo-cate (not loc-ate) and pro-tect (not
prot-ect).

7
When Two Consonants Follow a Vowel in the Middle of a Word,
One Vowel Is Pronounced at the End of the First Syllable and the
Other Is Pronounced at the Beginning of the Next Vowel
Of course, consonant blends act as one consonant sound, but nonblend neighboring consonants will follow this rule. When a
consonant is doubled in the middle of a word, it also follows this rule.
Some examples include sub-ject, tal-ly, ab-ject, top-ple, and haz-mat.
Ultimately, English is a complicated language with complicated rules of spelling
and pronunciation. These rules, while generally true, do have exceptions. When
you teach them to your students, be sure that they know these rules are not hard
and fast and that exceptions can be found to each of them. They may choose to
use these rules to pronounce words they have never seen before, or they may
use the rules to determine the spelling of an unfamiliar word they have heard
pronounced. What matters most, however, is that these rules give your students
a place to start when they encounter a word that they do not know how to
pronounce.