Ng words

How do you teach ng words?

Have the student say /ng/ with the mouth open; the back of the tongue lifts and the sound goes through the nose. "Hum through your nose with your mouth open. That's /ng/." Teach it with a vowel in front, since ng never starts an English word: ang, ing, ong, ung. We left out the -ing ending here, since jumping and singing belong to the ed and ing lessons; this list keeps ng inside base words.

What mistake do students make with ng words?

Students add a /g/ sound at the end (sing-g) or drop the ng to /n/ (sin for sing). Hold a hand in front of the mouth: no puff of air for /ng/. For spelling, a quick check is, "Did you hear /n/ or the nose sound?"

Where do ng words come in the sequence?

Ng is usually taught near the end of the digraph unit, followed straight away by nk, where n says /ng/ before k. In the sequence we use, the pattern is taught in Lesson 51.

Exceptions worth knowing

In finger, anger and longer, many speakers say /ng/ and then /g/. In danger and change, n and g say /n/ and /j/. In engage and ingredient, n and g sit in different syllables.

Decodable sentences

Every word in these sentences can be read at Lesson 51 or earlier, or is a heart word taught by then.

• The king had a long song.
• Hang the ring on the hat rack.
• We sang as the bell rang.