ESL Phonics Lessons: Short a vs. Long a vs. Short e

Many ESL students have difficulty distinguishing the sounds short a / long a / short e. This lesson features a list of words using each sound, followed by sentences combining all of these sounds. Mastering these vowel sounds is essential for ESL students to improve their reading skills, pronunciation, and overall language proficiency. This lesson is designed to help students differentiate between the short “a” (as in “cat”), long “a” (as in “cake”), and short “e” (as in “pen”) sounds through a variety of engaging activities and exercises.

ESL Phonics: Lesson Objectives

Enhance Reading and Writing Skills: Develop reading and writing skills by using words and sentences containing these vowel sounds.

Differentiate Between Short “a,” Long “a,” and Short “e” Sounds: Help students recognize and distinguish between these vowel sounds in various words.

Improve Pronunciation: Practice accurate pronunciation of short “a,” long “a,” and short “e” sounds.

 Differentiating the short a / short e / long a sounds is an essential step in learning English phonics for ESL students. Explore the resources ESL Phonics section at Stickyball.net to find worksheets, games, and more to support your phonics teaching journey.

The free ESL phonics lesson below introduces an extensive word list comparing words with the short “a,” short “e,” and long “a” sounds, followed by several sentences that use many of these words. This ESL phonics lesson is available for free download, and you can download many more lesson like this in our textbook Phonics Monster: Long Vowels.