Printable guide · ages 6–8

Hece’s Sounds and Words

Each lesson works with printed cards that stand for sounds, syllables, words and short sentences. Ask the child to say the sounds, the word or the sentence aloud before choosing. The Turkish page uses Turkish words and the English page uses English words; neither is a translation of the other, because the two languages have different sounds and spelling. This set is practice with letters and sounds, not a reading or hearing assessment.

Materials: The screen is enough. Optional: paper cards with the same letters, syllables and words, and a pencil for tapping out sounds. Nothing is typed, recorded, photographed or shared. The device’s own voice can read whole words and cards; it cannot say single sounds, so you say those. Every task works with the sound off.

Open the lessons

What to notice

Notice whether the child joins every sound in order, counts sounds rather than letters or syllables, matches a sound to its letter, builds a syllable in the right order, reads from left to right, changes only one sound, and uses only what the sentence says. Pointing, saying and moving cards are all fine. Do not rush: a slow, careful reading is a good reading.

Ask “What sounds do you hear?”, “Which letter shows that sound?” or “What does the sentence say?” A star records the lesson task on this device only; it does not measure reading, hearing or skill. Real-child understanding, educator review and screen readers still need separate validation.

Lesson 1

Blend the sounds

Goal: Blend three or four separate sounds into one word.

Say the sounds yourself, as sounds and not as letter names: for k, make a short “k” and do not add a vowel after it. The device voice cannot say a single sound, so you model the sounds while the child reads the cards. The English cards use regular words such as cat, sun, dog and frog, in which each letter stands for one sound. The picture names under the choices are a help: the aim is to blend the sounds in order.

Starting point: Say the sounds of one word yourself, for example c, a, t, slowly and then fast, and let the child say the word.
A helpful phrase: “Say the sounds in order. Now say them closer together.”
A common mix-up: A child may say only the first sound or keep the sounds apart. Do not correct the word; say the sounds again slowly and join them together with the child.
Notice the transfer: Give a new word with three or four sounds and notice whether the child joins all the sounds, not just the first two.

Show: Hece builds “frog” by adding one sound at a time. Put the cards in the order Hece says them.

Lesson 2

Split a word into sounds

Goal: Split a short word into its separate sounds.

In English, counting letters does not always count sounds: “ship” has four letters and three sounds, and “bee” has two sounds. Hece asks for sounds, not syllables; the syllable lesson comes later. A star on a counting task only shows the number the child chose, so ask the child to say the sounds aloud while tapping.

Starting point: Say “sun” slowly and tap the table once for each sound.
A helpful phrase: “Say it slowly. Tap once for every sound.”
A common mix-up: Syllables, letters and sounds get mixed up: “ship” has one syllable and four letters, but only three sounds. In English two letters can make one sound, as in sh and ee.
Notice the transfer: Try new words such as hat, fish, bee or frog and notice whether the child counts sounds and not syllables or letters.

Show: Hece says “ship”. Put its sounds in the numbered places.

Lesson 3

Sounds and letters

Goal: Match the first or the last sound of a picture word to the letter that shows it.

Letters stand for sounds, but the device voice reads only whole words and letter names. When a letter button is read aloud you hear the letter’s name (for example “bee” for b), not its sound, so say the sound yourself. English often uses two letters for one sound, as in sh. Mixing up b and d is common at this age, so take your time.

Starting point: Show the card m and say the sound m. Ask the child for a picture word that starts with it.
A helpful phrase: “Say the word slowly. What do you hear first? Which letter shows it?”
A common mix-up: A child may pick a letter by its name or by its shape. Return to the sound: say it again and compare. b and d are mirror images of each other, which is normal.
Notice the transfer: Use a new word and notice whether the child finds the letter of the first sound and of the last sound without relying on the letter name.

Show: Say “hat” slowly. Put the letter of its first sound and the letter of its last sound in their places.

Lesson 4

Build the syllables

Goal: Build a two- or three-syllable word from its syllables, in the order they are said.

A syllable has one vowel sound, so clap or tap once for each one. English syllable breaks vary between dictionaries, so this lesson uses clear words: ap-ple, ba-na-na, pen-cil and ta-ble. A syllable is not a letter and not a single sound.

Starting point: Clap the syllables of a familiar word such as monkey, then build one word from the cards.
A helpful phrase: “Clap once for each beat. What do you say first?”
A common mix-up: A child may split a word by letters or sounds (p-e-n-c-i-l) instead of by beats. Say the word slowly with the clap and show that every beat has a vowel sound.
Notice the transfer: Offer another word, such as monkey or window, and notice whether the child builds the syllables in the order they are said.

Show: Hece says “table”. Put its two syllables in their places.

Lesson 5

Read the word

Goal: Read a short regular printed word by saying its sounds from left to right.

Here reading means decoding: the child sees a word, says its sounds from left to right and blends them. The device voice reads a word only after the child has chosen it, so it never gives the answer in advance. The words are regular short words, with one sound for each letter; the word “the” appears later in sentences and is taught as a whole word.

Starting point: Write a three-letter word on a card yourself and let the child point to each letter while saying its sound.
A helpful phrase: “Point to the first letter and say its sound. Now the next one. Now blend them.”
A common mix-up: A child may guess from the first letter or from the picture. Cover the picture, read letter by letter, then check against the picture.
Notice the transfer: Offer a new word that differs by one letter (cat and cot) and notice whether the child reads to the end of the word.

Show: There are three pictures. Read the word cards and put each word in the place of its picture.

Lesson 6

Change one sound

Goal: Change one sound of a short word to make a new word, one step at a time.

Changing one sound at a time shows how words are built. The cards show the spelled word. The English examples are regular words in which each sound has its own letter. A ladder changes exactly one sound at each step, so two sounds changing is not a step. You can do the same with paper cards: swap one letter card and read the new word aloud.

Starting point: Put the cards c, a, t on the table and read “cat”. Swap the first card for h and read the new word.
A helpful phrase: “Which sound changed? Which sounds stayed the same?”
A common mix-up: A child may change two sounds at once or make something that is not a real word. Say: one card at a time, and read the new word aloud.
Notice the transfer: Give a new starting word and notice whether the child names the sound that changed and the sounds that stayed the same.

Show: The picture shows a bat. The sounds a and t stay. Put the missing first sound in the empty place.

Lesson 7

Read the sentence

Goal: Read a short sentence word by word and say what it tells.

A short sentence is a small story that answers who and what. Reading it means saying the words in order, then asking what they say together. A sentence begins with a capital letter, ends with a full stop and says only what is written. In English, small words such as “the” and “a” are learned by sight, while the others can be sounded out. On paper, write one word per card and let the child put the cards in order.

Starting point: Write “The cat sat.” on paper and slide a finger under each word as you read it together. Ask who the sentence is about.
A helpful phrase: “Who is it about? What does it say?”
A common mix-up: A child may guess from the picture or from the first word instead of reading to the end, or may add things the sentence does not say. Say: read it to the end and tell me only what the words say.
Notice the transfer: Give a new short sentence and notice whether the child reads every word, says who it is about and uses only what is written.

Show: Read the sentence. Put the card that says who in the first place and the card that says what it does in the second place.

Lesson 8

A sentence for the picture

Goal: Choose the sentence that fits a picture by reading every word, including the word that tells where.

To match a sentence to a picture, the child reads every word and then checks it against what can be seen. Small words that tell where, such as “on”, “in”, “under” and “next to”, can change the picture completely. If one word does not fit, the sentence does not fit, even when the other words do. The pictures in the tasks carry letters instead of names, so the child has to read. A child who cannot see the pictures needs an adult to describe them.

Starting point: Put a small ball and a box, or a cup and a book, in front of the child. Say “The ball is on the box.” and move the ball; then ask for a new sentence for each place.
A helpful phrase: “Which word tells where? Does the picture show that?”
A common mix-up: A child may choose a picture after reading only the first words, or because a picture looks familiar. Say: read to the end, then check the word that tells where.
Notice the transfer: Say a new sentence about the toys and notice whether the child shows the matching place and can name the word that tells where.

Show: Read both sentences. Touch the two pictures that fit them.

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