How do you decode "ball"

[lolalotta]

So we came across "ball" in a Songbirds book tonight, I wasn't sure how to explain we go about decoding that to my DD? Then it got me thinking about tall, call, hall, wall etc! Can anyone help? I had a look in the Oxford phonics spelling dictionary but I still couldn't work it out! Thank you!

[Balfe]

In my accent, the a represents an o.

[ineedamoreadultieradult]

In my limited experience 'all' is a red word and therefore has to be learnt not de coded. Then you would just add the other sound at the begining.

[parrotonmyshoulder]

The letter ‘a’ represents the sound ‘or’.

[MrsKCastle]

Well in my accent it's a bit like b-or-l, with the 'al' making the same sound as in walk, talk, always, already.

[Balfe]

All words can be decoded, you just need to know the code.

The 'll' is making the same sound it always does, it's the a that's acting the goat :)

[Marcine]

Depending on your accent, the a might make an or sound - borl, horl, torl. I would just say "in this word, the a makes an or sound" and mention the other all words.

What's a "red word" - is that from a particular scheme?

[MrsHathaway]

I think "all" is a grapheme in its own right, isn't it? As pp points out, it makes the same sound in several different words (all, ball, call, fall, etc).

It's better to say "aw" than "or", while we're here, or those from NI/Scotland/West Country will

[HarveySchlumpfenburger]

I would do it as the spelling 'al' represents the sound /or/.

Then you can show other examples like wall, tall, fall, all, call, talk, walk etc.

Ineed red words can be decoded. They just contain a bit of phonics that children haven't been yet taught. The usual procedure for teaching them should be to point out the 'tricky' bit and then blend them like you would any other word.

[CanIBuffalo]

Bloody vowels!

[sirfredfredgeorge]

It's better to say "aw" than "or", while we're here, or those from NI/Scotland/West Country will

I'm from west country and or and aw sound identical... so I'm by you, but I know it's different elsewhere, so your point still stands of course!

[MrsHathaway]

In parts of Bristol they even put an R in Dalek (darrrrlek) but I apologise for generalizing too far geographically

[Kokeshi123]

"al" represents the /aw/ sound.

t-al-k = /t/ /aw/ /k/
b-al-l = /b/ /aw/ /l/

I teach a lot of North American English speakers, so avoid putting /aw/ sounds and /or/ sounds into the same group.

I made a poster for the "word wall" which listed up these words in a group: wall, tall, ball, all, fall, call, mall, stall, walk, talk, and one or two others. With repeated practice, they eventually get it.

[Norestformrz]

In ball the sound /or/ is spelt a. So /b/ /or/ /l/

[Norestformrz]

I’d group ball tall hall fall stall squall water as having the same spelling for /or/
And walk, talk, chalk stalk having the same spelling
And
Saw, prawn, awful, yawn, shawl, tawdry, drawer as having the same spelling

All /or/ sounds (unfortunately there are 14 common ways to spell /or/ in English)

[sallythesheep73]

My 4 y. O. Would say b-all if you asked him to spell it.

[Dragonglass]

I am trying to work out how get /or/ in ball

To me it is b/aw/l

[GetTheGoodLookingGuy]

/or/ /aw/ and /au/ are all the same sound, but I can't hear any of them in ball. I would teach /all/ as a separate sound, (so b-all, c-all, f-all, w-all etc) but it's not in the phonic scheme my school uses.

[Norestformrz]

aw is the spelling for the sound /or/

[Norestformrz]

All is two sounds /or/ and /l/

[GetTheGoodLookingGuy]

I can see how way of pronouncing all is /or/ /l/, but that's not how I would pronounce it (Dorset). I can't find a video of the way I would say it, but it's the same sound in jewel (j-all).

[Dragonglass]

but aw and or are totally different sounds to me (I am sitting here saying aw and or over and over again )

[GetTheGoodLookingGuy]

So do yawn and born not sound the same for you, dragon glass ? At my school, we teach or, aw, au, oor, and ore all as the same sound - they all sound the same to me.

[Dragonglass]

no, there is a 'r' in born. It is a subtle difference for me, but locals with a stronger accent would have a bigger difference iyswim (I'm in the south-west)

[Norestformrz]

So would you say /saw and sore/ /porn and pawn/ /pot and pour and paw / etc differently

[Dragonglass]

I would slightly yes. But then I live in a city where the local accent says door as dorwer