Vowel teams: how to teach them

What is a vowel team?

A vowel team is a group of letters, usually two, that stands for a single vowel sound. Some teams spell long vowels, like ai, ay, ee, ea, oa, ow and igh. Others spell sounds that are neither long nor short, like the oo in book or the au in haul. The term covers both groups, though many programs teach the long vowel teams first and call the others variant vowels or diphthongs.

Vowel teams are the main way English spells long vowels in the middle and at the end of words. Silent e covers some of that work, but most long vowel words in grade 2 books use a team: rain, seed, boat, night, play, snow.

Why not teach 'when two vowels go walking'?

A rhyme still taught in many rooms claims that in a pair of vowels, the first one speaks and the second keeps quiet. It sounds helpful. It is wrong for a large share of vowel pairs. It works for ai, ee and oa most of the time, but it fails for ou, oi, au, oo, ie in many words, and ea in words like bread and great.

Researchers who checked the rule against real word lists in the 1960s found it held for less than half of the words it was meant to cover. Students who learn it end up confused when it fails, which is often. Teach each team as its own spelling with its own sound instead.

Which vowel teams should come first?

Start with ee, since it almost always spells long e and it shows up in many easy words. Ai and ay make a good pair to teach together because of their position rule. Oa and ow come next, then igh, then ea, which has the most exceptions. That order puts the most reliable teams first.

How do position rules help?

Several pairs split the work by position. English words rarely end in i or u, so ai, oi and au tend to sit in the middle of a word while ay, oy and aw handle the end. Rain and day, coin and boy, haul and saw all follow that split. It is one of the most useful patterns in English spelling because it settles a choice students would otherwise have to guess.

Position rules help much more with spelling than reading. For reading, the student sees the letters and only needs the sound. For spelling, they hear long a and must choose among a_e, ai, ay and others. Knowing that ay goes at the end narrows the choice at once.

How do you teach a vowel team step by step?

1. Say the sound and show the team: 'These two letters, a and i, work together to spell long a.'
2. Read a few words with the team, blending the team as one sound.
3. Mark the team in each word by underlining both letters.
4. Read a mixed list with the new team and older patterns, including silent e.
5. Sort words by spelling when two teams share a sound, like ai and ay.
6. Spell words from dictation, saying the position rule out loud.
7. Read a short passage with several words using the team.

How do students choose between spellings?

This is the hard part, and it lasts for years. Most long vowel sounds have three or four common spellings. Position rules help, frequency helps, and so does knowing a word's meaning, as in meet and meat. But some choices just have to be learned word by word through reading and writing them many times.

Teach students to try the most likely spelling and then check whether it looks right. Writing a word two ways, like trane and train, and picking the one they have seen before is a real strategy that good spellers use. It works better and better as students read more.

• Long a in the middle of a one-syllable word: try a_e or ai.
• Long a at the end: try ay.
• Long o at the end: try ow, then o.
• Long e: ee and ea are both common; check the meaning if it is a homophone.

When do vowel teams get taught?

Usually in the second half of first grade and through second grade, after silent e and often after r-controlled vowels. They take longer than earlier patterns because there are so many. Plan on weeks, not days, and keep reviewing older teams as new ones arrive.