Phonic Sound for Letter L /l/
Letter L and its /l/ sound can be a bit difficult to teach. There are actually two slightly different sounds of L and they are known as the light and dark L sounds. So how do you know when the letter L sound is light or dark?
Generally, when L comes before the vowel, it is light, and if it comes after the vowel, it is dark. The dark L sound is a stronger sound compared to the light L sound.
With letter L it's really easiest to just teach the light L sound to a child first, and that is what we'll focus on here. It's going to be a bit tough if you get too technical and begin teaching a child all these little nuances of sounds. So again, when teaching reading, stick with the simple, basic code.
Here, we will just teach the light L sound, and all the words will have the L before the vowel. For example:
LET - /l/ /e/ /t/
LAP - /l/ /a/ /p/
CLUB - /c/ /l/ /u/ /b/
Try saying the above words out loud, and to really isolate and clearly hear the /l/ sound, try stretching out the /l/ sound while you say it. For example: LLLLLLET, LLLLLLAP.
Learning Activity for /l/
- Print the letter L and lower-case "l" on a piece of paper.
- Show your child the letter L and demonstrate the proper sound of L (/l/)
- Have your child repeat the /l/ sound several times.
- Practice the /l/ sound with the following words:
- LEG
- LID
- LOG
- CLIP
- FLAG
- CLOCK
- With the above words, ask your child to identify the /l/ sounds in each of the words.
- Practice stretching out the /l/ sound: /lllllllll/
- Point to letter L and ask what sound does this make?
- Work on the worksheet provided below for letter L and its sound.
Letter L Worksheets
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