Nasalized a also known as ‘WHINY A’ is an important concept for your students to understand. This concept should be explicitly taught so your students can make sense of English: both the sounds and the spellings. If you have been studying up on the Science of Reading and making that shift I’m sure you’ve heard of the ‘whiny a’.
Why teach nasalized a / whiny a?
It’s so important to teach the proper sounds and spellings of words to students so they can make the sound symbol connection. Kids need to be explicitly taught how to read, the idea that they can just be ‘read’ to and will pick it up is a fallacy.
So, your students have participated in lots of vowel intensive drills and are becoming more fluent with their vowel automaticity and knowlege. Along the way they will come across some sounds that just don’t make sense. Whiny a is among that list of sounds and needs to be addressed.
Nasal sounds in English are sounds that are released through the nose while air is blocked from the mouth by lowering the soft palate (velum).
There are three nasal sound phonemes in the English language. All three of the nasal sounds in English are consonant sounds and are voiced sounds, meaning that the vocal cords are vibrating during the production of the sound.
When short a is followed by an -m, -n, or -ng the sound gets distorted and changes. We have affectionately come to call it the WHINY A sound. ‘Nasalized a’ will have a nasalized allophone when the phoneme appears immediately after a nasal consonant.
To be sure you are teaching this explicitly I have created a resource that will help keep you on track. Pointing out the ‘Nasalized a’ , the articulatory gestures and sound it makes will help your students along their reading journey. More importantly, it will help them make sense of our language and all of it’s nuances.
I have several phonics resources and ideas that you can find in my store and right here on my blog as well.
Whiny a Resource
This resource has lots of hands on activities to help you teach this tricky concept! I have included a center, a pocket chart sort, art and several practice pages.
Your students will decide if the picture makes a whiny a or short a sound. They will clip the correct a to complete the center activity.
The pocket chart sort serves as a center once your students understand it and need extra practice. It will be beneficial in small group as a guided activity also.
I’ve also included art because students love art! Art and phonics work well together. They will love creating a whiny a to display or take home. ( I’ve also included whiny a pin art for them )
There are several hands on pages to give them more practice on this skill. This resource will be an easy to use, low prep addition to your phonics materials that can be used for years to come.
If you have any further questions about how this resource can work for you reach out on instagram @teachingmore, fb Teaching and Much Moore or respond here in the comments and I’d be happy to give you some clarification.
