Marvelous, Marvelous "V"

OK, so technically "V" is not a focus letter for this month's MGT theme. Those would be A, D, and U. However, the vocabulary used in many different activities lends itself to lots of practice of the /v/ sound. I really noticed this because typically /v/ is later acquired speech sound (around 6 years old), but for my younger 2nd language learners, this sound does not exist at all in Japanese.


We first encountered the /v/ sound in our Truth Tunes song, "Marvelous" from Job 9:10,"He does great things too marvelous to understand." They were initially very enthusiastically singing about the "Mable-ous" things that God does! This one has by far been the most requested song on the Truth Tunes CD to date.


When we got to Beaver Day, that's when the /v/ fun really began. We practiced teeth and lip placement for /v/ in isolation, then everyone practice saying "river" and "beaver".

"Beaber"
"Veaver"
"Veaber"
"BEAVER"

It was quite comical to listen to their very earnest attempts to get it right. But they FINALLY got it. The storybook for this month, entitled "Rowing Down The River", features a little girl in a canoe, who invites a variety of river animals to join her on the trip down the river. Each time, they repeat the line,"Move, over!"  The repetition gave my students lots opportunities to hear and practice saying the /v/ sound in several different words.


I still hear frequent developmental substitutions, but I'm pretty proud of their attempts at correct articulation. They definitely rose to the challenge!