A Little Something for Teachers 12

 

 

Here is a little poem

I just came up with

Though I am making no claims

If you catch my drift.

 

I was saying the ABC:

Aka, the alphabet,

When suddenly it occurred to me

The sounds we get.

 

Phonics we call it

Meaning letter sounds

And from just twenty-six letters

Several abound. 

 

Eight sounds I got

From twenty-six letters,

I am sure if given the chance

You’d do better.

 

Three stand-alone

If you see what I mean,

Three letters could not fit under

The other five themes.

 

I’d let you guess

But how would I know?

Where in this particular poem

Could you show? 

  

With that said

Let me say what they are:

These three stand-alone letters

Are H, O and R.

 

From the three singles

To the only double:

If you said I, I would ask you Y-

What an odd couple!

 

Five of them gone,

Twenty-one to follow,

I trust this is not too much info

For you to swallow.

 

Two categories of three:

The first is A, J and K,

Say them slowly and repeatedly

And you’ll hear the ‘A’. 

 

You can stop now

There is more to come,

You cannot ramble on forever

You’re not that dumb.

 

The second class of three

Are Q, U and W,

Repeat these over and over

Until you hear the ‘U’.

 

The only way to do this

Is to stop saying A, J and K,

Now you can practise Q, U and W;

It’s the only way.

 

Here is a set of five

That uses the È accent,

Pronounced like our Bajan ‘eh’:

Full of intent. 

  

F, L, M, N, S, X

Hear the initial sound!

If you did not, you’re totally deaf

Or your ears are on wrong.

 

Just nine letters more:

All in category eight,

These all carry the ‘E’ sound-

Isn’t the ABC great?

 

 B, C, D and E

G, P, T, V and Z:

The phonetic sounds of the ABC

In its entirety.  

    

Twenty-six letters

I’ve known all this time

And only a few moments ago

This came to mind.

 

And what is more,

I used to be a teacher

And believe me, I only just noticed

This phonetic feature. 

 

I have a strong feeling

That you just did too

So, to me you should be grateful:

Aren’t you?

 

You might be saying

That I have nothing to do

But I dare say if you are reading this,

The same applies to you.

 

Stewart Russell © September 21, 2025