Orange Octopus’s Sound

About the Sound

Orange Octopus’s sound is a “short” sound and like all vowel sounds is loud (uses voice). 

It is a very important sound because it is a  VOWEL SOUND.

In English, we have many many vowel sounds (not just the short a-e-i-o-u sounds).  We have the sound /eeeee/ in the word “me” or “leaf”  and the sound /oy/ in “boy” and the sound /air/ in “where” and “pair” and so on…  In fact, in English we have around 20 VOWEL SOUNDS!  (If you wish to explore them ALL see The Speech Sound Set – Complete Version). 

VOWEL SOUNDS are really important because they are the “glue” of our words and syllables. You can’t make a word without a vowel sound. 

Why are vowels hard to learn? 

1) the way in which vowels are produced may vary in words with the accent of the speaker

2) the positioning of the mouth is hard to explain.

Let’s talk more about the positioning of the mouth to make a vowel sound. 

When we make CONSONANTS, there is usually some CONTACT between the lips, teeth, and/or the tongue. It makes them easier to “feel” and to “see”. With vowels, there is no CONTACT between the teeth, tongue or lips (the articulators) when they are made.  Instead it is just a movement of the mass of the tongue in the mouth – sitting more backwards or forwards in the mouth, bunching upwards or sitting low,  tensing, untensing. This affects the shape of the mouth cavity, producing the different vowels.  The other thing that changes is how open the mouth is. Sometimes the jaw drops, sometimes the lips round.  

Voice is used with ALL vowel sounds. They are all loud. 

Sound Pair

Vowel sounds do not come in pairs. (This is a concept you will learn about with consonant sounds). 

When it develops

 There is not a lot of research on the development of vowel sounds in Australian children. Usually longer (untensed) vowels “ooo” and “ahhh” come early in a child’s speech. Vowels like this one usually come later but are usually in a child’s early words between 2 and 3 years.  

How it is made

The tongue is in a low back position. Draw your  jaw to open your mouth. 

Tips to Help 

Listen to Orange Octopus saying the sound. Often we think that this sound is made with a round mouthshape. In reality, the lips aren’t rounded, but if it helps children remember the sound and its letter link, it can be made with a widely opened oval mouth. 

Common Errors

Remember, some speech sound errors are perfectly NORMAL as a child progresses in their speech development.  

1) A child might produce the sound differently according to their accent.

For example, in the US, this sound might sound more like Upset Uncle’s /u/ sound in a word like “dog” (“dug”).  Accents aren’t errors! 

About the Letter

The lower-case letter used in this set is the non-cursive letter o. Non-cursive is what is most often seen in text and in the world around a child, so we encourage all written text to be presented in non-cursive in the preschool setting.

The letter is essentially a circle.

It starts with with a Curly Cat shape (See About the Letter – the letter C) and then joins up to complete the circle. 

The letter’s name is pronounced “oh”.  Sometimes this letter does make the long sound /oh/ in words (like “so” and “pony”) BUT with THIS alphabet card, we are only talking about the letter making Orange Octopus’s sound – the short /o/ sound. 

Activities

Colour-In

1. Learners can be shown how to form the letter, starting at the star. If there are two possible ways that the writer could head with their pencil (or crayon), they should head towards the smaller star next.  Try and give consistent instructions for the letter formation.  E.g. “Curly cat shape then join it up”.  2. Children can practise again and again within the outline. Using different colours can make it more fun.  3. Together look at the pictures, name each and LISTEN for the first sound of each word. It will begin with the target sound. 4. You can point to the first letter in each word. Name the letter. 

Find the Letter

 View the download on a digital device and point to the target letters or print out and circle/ underline the letters.  Try and encourage scanning of left to right of each line while looking for letters.