[General] The little known English baby alphabet

[Karate Chris]

I have been teaching foreign students for 7 years now. I find that they all know the ABC alphabet. However, none of them ever seem to have been taught the 'baby alphabet' which is the first alphabet we all learn as kids in English schools. This tends to affect their ability to pronounce the vowels. So, they will be able to say A, E, I, O, U very easily, but will be unable to say a, e, i, o, u. When it comes to reading this is especially important. I have made a Youtube video to display this and can explain about how to use this when reading English. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bogOlqLMX0. The letter 'e' on the end of a word is the key to this as it will change the vowel sound in a word.

 

[emsr2d2]

Re: The little know English baby alphabet

So, they will be able to say A, E, I, O, U very easily, but will be unable to say a, e, i, o, u.

Welcome to the forum. :hi:

I'm a little confused. Are you saying that they recognise upper-case letters but not lower-case? I've never heard of the 26 lower-case letters being called the "baby alphabet".

 

[jutfrank]

Re: The little know English baby alphabet

So, they will be able to say A, E, I, O, U very easily, but will be unable to say a, e, i, o, u.

I understand completely what you mean, Chris. You mean they don't know how to say the 'baby alphabet' pronunciation of these letters.

Anyway, what's your question?

By the way, you've made an error in the way you've pronounced u in the song at the beginning of the video. It sounds like a schwa.

 

[SoothingDave]

Re: The little know English baby alphabet

You mean long and short vowels?

 

[GoesStation]

This post was the first time I'd ever seen the phrase "baby alphabet". Are you sure it's something that's taught at "English schools"?

 

[emsr2d2]

I'm struggling to remember back far enough to my early school days (plus I was taught to read and write at home by my parents before I started school), but I think we were simply taught "the alphabet", and the letters were described as "big letters" and "little letters".

 

[Skrej]

I remember them being called big and little letters at first, until we were weaned off those terms in favor of 'upper/lower case' and 'capital'.

I'm still confused on how the letter size (regardless of the terminology) has anything to do with pronunciation, though.

 

[jutfrank]

I'm surprised that nobody quite seems to understand this (especially you, emsr2d2) because I was certainly taught this as a kid. I really thought everyone was familiar with it.

Karate Chris is not talking about small letters, he's talking about pronouncing the letters of the alphabet not as we normally do as /ei/, /bi:/, /si:/, /di:/, /i:/, but rather as /ae/, /b/, /k/, /d/, /e/, etcetera.

He's calling it the 'baby' alphabet because it is taught to very young children, not because the letters themselves are small.

 

[Tdol]

I'm surprised that nobody quite seems to understand this (especially you, emsr2d2) because I was certainly taught this as a kid. I really thought everyone was familiar with it.

It's an age thing- I was taught the traditional alphabet and came across this alphabet from nephews and nieces.

 

[Roman55]

I'm surprised that nobody quite seems to understand this (especially you, emsr2d2) because I was certainly taught this as a kid. I really thought everyone was familiar with it.

Karate Chris is not talking about small letters, he's talking about pronouncing the letters of the alphabet not as we normally do as /ei/, /bi:/, /si:/, /di:/, /i:/, but rather as /ae/, /b/, /k/, /d/, /e/, etcetera.

He's calling it the 'baby' alphabet because it is taught to very young children, not because the letters themselves are small.

I agree with jutfrank. It seemed obvious to me what Karate Chris was talking about, even though I never learnt this myself. I don't know if it was even taught then. By the time I got into the English school system, I was way beyond learning the alphabet.

 

[jutfrank]

It's an age thing

Yes, that's what I figured.

 

[Tdol]

I think they called it the alphabet.