1. Reading and Writing 101
Consonant Sounds

2. Learning Objectives

To learn how to use the Consonant Phoneme
Charts.

To understand the 21 consonant sounds in
English.

3. Introduction

You can easily read and spell when you are
familiar with letter sounds.

As proof, do you face any of the following
when you read and spell:
1) Slow down when you face bigger words
2) Say out a big word when you spell
3) Confused between letter sounds, such as 'en' or
'on' , 'ir' or 'er', 'tion' or 'sion', when you spell

If you do, that's because you are relying on
your knowledge of letter sounds!

4. Letter Sounds

Therefore, to function effectively in reading
and spelling, letter sounds must be mastered.

Letter sounds are called Phonemes.

A Phoneme is the smallest sound unit
produced when you read a word.

These words all have 3 sounds.
1)'cat' - /c/ /a/ /t/
2)'tad' - /t/ /a/ /d/
3)'con' - /c/ /o/ /n/

5. Phonemes

In English, there is a total of 44 phonemes from
26 alphabets – 5 vowels and 21 consonants.

5 vowels – 20 phonemes

21 consonants – 24 phonemes

Like vowels, these 21 consonants represent 24
phonemes because some combine to form
digraphs – or two letters one sound. For
example, 'ch' and 'th'
1) chair , chest , champion
2) thumb , feather

6. Phoneme Chart

We have organised vowel phonemes into a
convenient chart for you to refer.

This chart serves as a 'dictionary of sounds'.

Refer to your chart in your Learning Guide.

You will see it organised in alphabetical
order, boxes and colours.

We will explain this in further detail.

7. Phoneme Chart – alphabetical order

Alphabetical order is as follows:

b , c , d, f ... z

The chart will show the phonemes produced by
these 21 consonants from the first - /b/ as in 'bird'
– to the last - /z/ as in 'zebra'.

From this, you can see that:
1) Like vowels, the same phoneme can be
represented by different consonants letters.

Q: Write down all the representations of the
sound /j/.

8. Phoneme Chart – boxes

The letters inside the boxes produce the same
phoneme – the letters are called graphemes.

The first sound, /b/ as in 'bird', is represented by
'b' but the /c/ sound is represented by: /c/, /k/,
/ck/ , /ch/ and /q/.

The chart tells us that:
1) Some phonemes have more graphemes than
others and the first grapheme is the most
common for that particular phoneme.

Q: Which phoneme has the most graphemes?

9. Consonant Phoneme Chart - colours

The colours show 6 types of sounds.
1) Red – Plosive (exploding)
2) Orange – Liquid (flows smoothly)
3) Yellow – Affricate (friction and explosion)
4) Green – Nasal (nose)
5) Blue – Semi-vowel (sounds like vowels)
6) Violet – Fricative (friction)

These show the 7 colours of the rainbow
(except for indigo)!

10. Types of Consonant Sounds

Plosive – a consonant phoneme made by
stopping the air completely then suddenly letting
it out (like an explosion).

Liquid – a consonant phoneme made by closing
the mouth passage but allowing the air to escape
without friction (like water flowing).

Fricative – a consonant phoneme made by
forcing the air out through a narrow opening
(like rubbing where there's friction).

Affricate – a consonant phoneme consisting of a
plosive and a fricative (explosion and friction).

11. Types of Consonant Sounds

Nasal – a consonant phoneme made by closing
the mouth passage and forcing the air through
the nose. (nasal passage)

Semi-vowel – a consonant phoneme made in
the same way as a vowel but not producing a
beat/syllable. (like a vowel sound)

Q: Read each type of consonant phoneme from
B to Z. Can you feel the closing of your mouth
or throat? Note: Vowels do not need to close
mouth or throat; they are created using the
tongue (open passage).

12. Learning Activity

Group yourself into teams.

Play the games on your Learning Guide. You
may start from Game 1 and complete the list up
to Game 4.

Each 'win' is a point.

The team with the highest score wins.

13. Discussion

What are consonants?

How many types of consonants are there?

What's the difference between consonant and
vowel sounds regarding the mouth and throat?

14. In Summary

Consonants are letters from b to z, excluding
the vowels – a, e, i, o & u.

There are 6 types of consonant sounds –
plosive, liquid, fricative, affricate, nasal and
semi-vowel

Consonant sounds are created with the closing
of mouth and throat unlike vowel sounds,
which is created with an open passage.