x exit

This is the consonant x.
x blends 2 sounds — /k/ and /s/ — to make a /ks/ sound

(There’s a practice sheet for reference for correct letter formation).

y yes

This is the sound /y/

Soon we’ll also learn that y can be a vowel or a consonant.
Y is usually a consonant, like in ‘yes’, when it’s at the start of a word.

As with /w/, /y/ is a very tricky sound to say in isolation. You have to try not to say “yuh”, because then you would say “y uh e s”. Some people say it sounds more like “ee” (ee e s)? Please send us a message with your thoughts. For now, like with /w/, we start saying “yuh” but drop the “uh” at the last minute. Not a perfect plan, and not perfectly executed in the video, but we welcome your tips!

The sound /y/ is very rarely spelled with an ‘i’ (onion)

(There’s a practice sheet for reference for correct letter formation).

z zig zag

This is the consonant sound /z/

If you’re American you’ll pronounce the letter z as “zee” instead of “zed”. But no matter how you say the name of the letter , the sound stays the same: “zzzzz”

/z/ can be spelled ‘zz’ (fuzzy)

Of course, /z/ is another loong sound. See how long you can say “zzzzz” before you run out of breath!

/z/ is commonly spelled as ‘s’ (more often than you’ll find an actual ‘z’ grapheme) in frequently used words like ‘was’, ‘as’, ‘is’, ‘boys’, ‘loves’: When an ‘s’ is after or between vowels (as, easy), when an s is after a voiced plural (boys).

(There’s a practice sheet for reference for correct letter formation).