Preview New Letters

Activity Purpose:

The purpose of this activity is to become familiar with the shapes, sounds, and classifications of the 8 new letters in this unit.

Instructions:

1. Read the information below to familiarize yourself with the characteristics of this lesson’s letters.
2. Then look through the flashcards and become familiar with the following letter characteristics (don’t worry about memorizing everything perfectly at this stage).
   • Letter Shape
   • Letter Name
   • Letter Sound
   • Letter Classification

New Letters:

• The 1st new letter is  
  • Name: Mor Ma (“Ma” means horse)
  • Initial Sound: “m”
  • Final Sound: “m”
  • Classification: low class consonant
• The 2nd new letter is 
  • Name: Nor Noo (“Noo” means rat)
  • Initial Sound: “N”
  • Final Sound: “N”
  • Classification: low class consonant
• The 3rd new letter is  
  • Name: Gor Gai (“Gai” means chicken)
  • Initial Sound: “G”
  • Final Sound: “T”
  • Classification: middle class consonant

• The 4th new letter is  
  • Name: Dor Dek (“Dek” means child)
  • Initial Sound: “D”
  • Final Sound: “T”
  • Classification: middle class consonant
•  The 5th new letter is
  • Name: Dtor Dtao (“Dtao” means turtle)
  • Initial Sound: “Dt” (I call this the “angry D”–it’s a “D” sound but spoken in a harsh sounding way)
  • Final Sound: “T”
  • Classification: middle class consonant

• The 6th new letter is
  • Name: Or Ang (“Ang” means bowl)
  • Initial Sound: “Or”
  • Final Sound: “Or”
  • Classification: middle class consonant

1. Thai Vowels and Placeholders
The next two letters you will learn are vowels. Thai vowels are never written alone. If we want to write just the vowel, we usually pair it with the consonant (อ), so it is not left alone, as you see below.

Two other common place holders you will see are the dash and the dotted circle (below). You’ll get used to seeing all three of these symbols very quickly. Note that when words are written, the place holders are dropped and replaced with consonants.

• The 7th new letter is  
  • Name: Sara Aah
  • Sound: “aah”
  • Classification: long vowel
• The 8th new letter is 
  • Name: Sara ee
  • Sound: “ee”
  • Classification: long vowel

Flashcard Activity

1. Look at the letters and listen to the audio.
2. Practice pronouncing the names of the letters.
3. Make a mental note of…
   1. whether each letter is a vowel or a consonant
   2. whether the vowels are long or short
   3. whether the consonants are low class, middle class, or high class (you will learn the set of pronunciation rules given to each class of consonants later).

After you have completed the activity, click on the red “complete” button below.