What are “Red Words” and How can we Teach Them?

English makes a lot of sense once you learn how it has evolved over the past 1,400 years. Young readers, however, need to learn a bank of seemingly “irregular” words (otherwise known as “red words” in OG circles) before they are necessarily ready to comprehend the complexity of the English language. 

Words like “was” and “give” seem like rule breakers, but are they really? The letter <a> often makes the schwa sound and the <e> in “give” seems unnecessary until you realize no words in English end in <v>, hence the added silent <e>. 

So what’s a teacher to do? How can we help our young learners add to their bank of “red words”?

This brief video will demonstrate how to teach students to read and spell red words.

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