This pronunciation lesson is designed for 3-6-year-old children to help them pronounce the letter z using its phonic sound.
Learning phonic sounds is important for children as this helps them to learn how to read. This is the first step in learning spelling and vocabulary.
In our previous video lesson, we learned about phonics, the importance of learning phonics, and the phonic sound of the letters up to y. This video lesson is the 26th in a row of learning the sound of letters.
Does Learning Phonics Help?
Building and using brain networks occurs when you educate your child to decode words on a page and connect them to their understanding of phonemes. Additionally, learning phonics improves cognitive abilities like logic, pattern recognition, and problem-solving.
Once they’ve figured it out, the children will be able to read more easily and quickly. Phonics can make it easier for children to read material that is more difficult. A greater selection of reading content may become available to a child as their reading fluency improves. As a result, their capacity for comprehension and familiarity with various literary genres will both increase.
Building a child’s phoneme library is one advantage of phonics in the early years. They will become better at recognizing distinct syllables, rhymes, alliteration, and other patterns. This will not only improve their verbal communication abilities, but it will also give them more opportunities to express themselves creatively in English.
How to Pronounce the Letter z Sound?
Z is a consonant and produces a continuous consonant sound, which means it is produced for a few seconds with even and smooth pronunciation.
The ‘z sound’ /z/ is voiced, which means the vocal cords vibrate as we pronounce the sound of the letter z. It is the counterpart to the unvoiced sound’ of /s/.
To pronounce the /z/ sound, bring the front of the tongue close to the tooth ridge. The tongue is kept tense by forcing air between the tongue and the roof of the mouth and out past the teeth. The front sides of the tongue touch the side teeth toward the front of the mouth. The lips are held slightly tense during the sound.
A few examples of the pronunciation of the letter ‘z’ with the sound /z/: zebra, zeal, zinc, zesty, zero, zipper, zucchini, etc.
How to Introduce the Pronunciation of the z Sound to the Child?
- Invite the child to the table and tell them, today we are going to learn the sound of the letter ‘z’ produces.
- Show the child what the letter ‘z’ looks like and the sound of the letter ‘z’.
- Say it several times by producing the /z/ sound.
- Ask the child to repeat the sound after you.
- Show the child a picture or miniature of words starting with ‘z’ such as zebra.
- Repeat the sound of the letter z every time while showing the image of the zebra.
- Now show another picture and again produce the letter ‘z’ sound.
- Ask the child to pronounce the letter ‘z’.
Other Ways to Introduce the Letter z Sound to Children
- Zoo! – Plan a journey to the zoo. Put together the special animals you may see, by means of reading or analyzing books, watching motion pictures, and filmstrips. Make a list of questions about things the children want to find out. Let the youngsters do tasks after the journey, such as making books or artwork projects for one-of-a-kind animals, fit words and photos of zoo animals.
- Z Creature – positioned the letter “Z” on a piece of paper. Have the children make their personal letter “Z” creature through including arms, legs, eyes, and anything else their imagination leads them to make as part of their creature.
- Ziploc bags – There are actually 2 types of Ziplock pouches. Add some tempera paint and water or gel in the bag and allow the child to put some playing stuff like shells, leaves, pebbles etc. Let the children close the zip once they are done with adding things. Invite them to make “new” shades by mixing them collectively. Let them play with those bags as jelly bags.
This video allows the child to explore the short consonant sound of the English letter ‘Z’ and learn words starting with it, such as zebra zipper and zucchini. The sounds are repeated for each word so that the child can hear and pronounce the letter accurately.
Related Pronunciation Videos:
- Pronunciation of the letter ‘j’
- Pronunciation of the letter ‘o’
- Pronunciation of the letter ‘s’
- Pronunciation of the letter ‘y’
For more pronunciation and English language resources, click here.
Video created by: Strykun Olena
Tags
- alphabet letters
- english language
- phonic sound
- primary level
- pronunciation
