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Teaching Tips

December 15, 2020

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4 mins

Alphabet knowledge is one of the first building blocks of education, the moment when children begin learning the letters of the alphabet. As the stepping stones of language, learning the alphabet is one of the first ways we develop the skills necessary to read and write. In fact, studies show that the ability to name the letters of the alphabet during Pre-K and kindergarten is a well-established predictor of children's literacy skills later in life. Properly knowing the alphabet means that the child can distinguish between the 26 letters of the alphabet and can also verbalize those letter sounds. There are many different ways to approach teaching the alphabet, and because every child is different, multiple teaching methods should be considered to ensure that all students are on the same path toward mastering letter sounds.  

Tips for Teaching Letter Sounds

Many factors play a role in a child’s quest toward learning the alphabet. When teaching letter sounds, it's important to consider that students have varied learning styles. It is best to use a combination of visual, tactile, and auditory strategies in order to reach learners most effectively. Taking advantage of all possible approaches and beginning at an appropriate pace for the age group is key for making sure the child has learned the alphabet.  

Preschool vs Kindergarten

Establishing the child’s starting point is crucial for properly knowing where to begin in regards to the child learning letter sounds. In Pre-K, students are beginning to establish phonemic awareness, and these skills can grow quickly. By establishing the learner’s baseline, you are able to help them achieve greater growth throughout their Pre-K and kindergarten years. 

Start With Their Name

Taking full advantage of meaningful literacy during early childhood education is a great way to connect lessons with the student in an intimate and fun way. Starting with teaching the child’s name guarantees that there will be a personal connection to the letters of the alphabet and teaching the letter sounds of their name will help them to remember certain letters and touch on correct letter order as well. Start with their name and then move on to other personal buzzwords such as their favorite food, color, and so on.  

Capital Letters First

When teaching letter sounds, children typically learn capital letters first so it’s much easier for them to recognize capital letters than lowercase letters. When using visual materials for teaching letter sounds, begin with mastering capital letters of the alphabet and then move forward to incorporate lowercase letters as well. This allows them to have a foundation for letter sounds while then focusing on letter recitation overall.  

Use Visual Cues

Visual cues are a huge helping hand in the quest for properly teaching alphabet letters and sounds. Combining verbal and visual instruction to provide aid for the child allows them to commit the letters to memory and recall those letters later on. Consider using physically engaging alphabet resources to help give kids visual assistance in learning letters and sounds. Some great tools we suggest include:  

Letters or Letter Sounds First?

Each student is unique! Some children will have an easier time identifying the letter, while others may have a better time learning the sound before the corresponding letter. Take note of which direction the child is leaning toward and cater to their individual needs. But first and foremost, ensure you invest a healthy amount of time in establishing letter-sound-correspondence when teaching letters and sounds.  

Mix Up the Standard Alphabet Order

A great way to ensure that the student is properly able to identify and replicate alphabet letter sounds is to change up the alphabet order. This allows the teacher to see if the student has retained the alphabet properly or has maybe relied heavily on educational tools like songs and games to be able to identify letters. A-B-C Touch & Flip Cards are a great tool for mixing up the order to ensure each letter gets its own spotlight and that the child can confidently excel in mastering the alphabet.  

Make Letter Sounds Fun

One of the best parts of teaching letter alphabet sounds is watching the moment when it finally clicks for the child. Teaching letter sounds should be a fun experience for the child. That positivity helps encourage comprehension and encourages further development of these skills. Try playing games, singing catchy alphabet songs, or even assigning alphabet-based art assignments to help make learning the alphabet a fun experience.   

Learning Without Tears Knows Letter Sounds!

Once a child has confidently mastered letter sounds and the alphabet, they’ve taken the first step toward literacy, vocabulary, language development, and more. With a combination of enriching alphabet learning materials and enough consistent practice, any child will be on their way to confidently know the alphabet. 

Learning Without Tears seeks to help families, educators, and children get prepared for learning with innovative educational materials and professional resources. We want every child to be set up for success through each step of their learning journey, with engaging and worthwhile materials for K-5 students. Regardless of whether the child is learning in a traditional classroom or at home, Learning Without Tears provides access to proven curricula, industry insight, and enriching products that help make teaching and learning the alphabet a fun experience.  

Source: Piasta, Petscher & Justice, 2012 

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5 Fun And Easy Tips

Letter sounds are one of the very first things your child will encounter when they begin to explore reading.

By recognizing the phonetic sounds that alphabetic letters make, your child will take their first big step toward associating words with their individual sounds, an essential tool for, when the time is right, sounding out words.

Most new readers start from the same place — by learning their letters! And no matter where your child is on their reading journey, working with them on their letter sounds is a great way to help strengthen their fundamental skills.

Here are five fun and effective tips for working on letter sounds with your child.

5 Fun And Easy Ways To Teach Letter Sounds

1) Touch And Feel Letters

Humans are tactile creatures, and we depend on touch to tell us a lot about the world around us. This is especially true of kids when they’re learning!

Although most traditional reading curriculums focus on auditory and visual cues for letters and their sounds, touch can be helpful, too. We have five senses, after all, so we might as well take advantage of them!

As opposed to relying solely on how a letter looks when it’s written (and flat), adding in a physical sensory element can help your child build a stronger connection to the letter sound they’re trying to learn.

Doing this engages an extra part of their brain while they learn. Not only will they know what the letter looks and sounds like but also what it “feels” like. Associating the “feel” of a letter with its pronunciation may help them gain a better understanding of letter sounds more quickly.

There are plenty of options for exploring reading through your child’s sense of touch. The best part? Your child will get to do one of their favorite things — make a mess! Letting them get messy with letters provides a great incentive to learn.

If you’d like to try this tactile learning style, you can get started by grabbing a few blank pieces of paper. Using a thick, dark marker, write out the letters you want your child to work on.

Then, you can simply grab whatever you have around the house that is malleable enough to form into letters. PlayDoh or kinetic sand are both great options.

We recommend saying the associated letter sound as your child looks at and forms the written letter with the PlayDoh or kinetic sand. You can also encourage them to shape their material over the outlined letter on the page if they need some extra guidance.

Feel free to also brainstorm words with them that share the letter sound they’re practicing. This could help them make even more connections to the letter and its sound!

If you don’t mind a little extra clean up, shaving cream can also be a great option! Simply spread out the shaving cream on a flat surface. Trace out the letter for them in the shaving cream, then ask them to do the same while you repeat the letter sound.

2) Connect Letter Sounds To Familiar Symbols

Letters and their sounds might be unfamiliar to your child. By making a connection between letter sounds and items or symbols your child might already be familiar with, you can help bridge the gap between what they don’t know yet and what they do!

Utilizing things that your child already knows and loves may encourage them to get more engaged with learning their letter sounds. Familiar ideas will also make them feel more confident and comfortable while learning.

For example, if you want to start with the letter “T,” consider printing out pictures of things that start with “T” that your child loves, such as trucks and tigers. Let your child choose which pictures to use, and then help them create their very own alphabet book with those images!

Working with your child to construct their personal letter-sound alphabet — a mixture of the specific picture you want them to learn to associate with a particular letter sound — is an easy and fun craft project that will pay off in the long run.

The more personalized you can make the learning process the more fun your young learner will have!

Familiarity can also help your child beyond simply learning the letter sound: it helps them build confidence! The more your child feels like they understand and know what they’re reading, the more likely they’ll be to develop an enthusiasm for learning.

3) Repetition, Repetition, Repetition

This technique focuses on repetition, which is great for getting your child familiar with their letter sounds. By consistently repeating the same letter sounds to them, you can help your child more easily pick up on them.

A great idea might be to focus on introducing your child to one letter sound at a time. You could make a “letter of the week” jar for your child. Place an empty jar on your counter labeled with the letter sound for the week.

Every time your child points out a word they’ve heard that starts with the letter sound of the week, they earn a “ticket” or “point” in the letter sound jar (you could also use stickers on a poster if you don’t have a jar handy).

Challenge your child to gain three or four points (or more!) during the day. You’ll want the jar to be somewhere your child sees it often — maybe in the kitchen so you can prompt your learner to think of a word while you’re making dinner or washing dishes!

They don’t have to rely on only the things they hear or see in real life, especially when it comes to those trickier letter sounds (like x, q, or z). Consider using some of your daily reading time to flip through magazines or books and point out the letter sound whenever you come across it.

Emphasizing repetition this way really gives your child the chance to focus intensely on a single letter and explore the primary sound it represents!

Giving them ample amounts of time, practice, and exposure to one sound at a time may help them with their learning longevity.

4) Digital Letters In The 21st Century

Technology is a huge new factor in modern-day learning. Not only do children learn how to read and write texts, but now they also have to learn how to use a keyboard at a very young age.

While too much media time can be bad for your child, there are ways to be mindful about media consumption and incorporate media into their letter-sound learning. Especially for busy families, media can be a really useful asset to add to your parenting tool belt.

If you’re looking for a safe, personalized, and reliable place for your child to work on their reading and letter-sound skills, our online learning center has tons of playful games and exercises!

Your child can also use a simple keyboard to engage their letter-sound skills. For this activity, you can call out the sound of a letter and ask your child to hit or point to the letter it matches on a keyboard.

This exercise is easy and versatile, as you can use any keyboard you have around — on your phone, your computer, or a device designed for kids. And your child will probably love pretending to be a grown-up just like you!

5) Bingo

Classics are classics for a reason. And Bingo is a time-tested, kid-approved game!

If you’d like to take a shot at this activity, draw or print out a Bingo sheet that has pictures of things your child is familiar with (remember tip #2!). We recommend sticking to things they see daily, like apples (for the “a” letter sound), bikes (for the “b” letter sound), and so on.

To play, call out a letter sound and instruct your child to mark off the picture that begins with the same sound. If your child has siblings or neighborhood friends, consider inviting them to play along (it makes for a great virtual game, too).

The first to make it to bingo wins!

Making Letter Sounds Fun And Functional

We hope these tips were helpful and gave you some creative ideas for how to get your child engaged with letter sounds (while having a blast along the way!).

We always want to leave you with a reminder that on the journey toward helping your child become a confident, enthusiastic reader, it may take some time to discover what learning strategies are the perfect fit for them. That’s OK!

If you ever need a little extra help or want to switch up your child’s learning routine, our learning center is always open and full of engaging and effective exercises for your emerging reader!

Author

English alphabet: how and why to learn it?

The alphabet is one of the most basic structures in any language. Usually the very first language classes are devoted to its study, but this does not mean that a confident knowledge of the alphabet does not help even native speakers!

In countries where English is spoken, the alphabet is used regularly; its knowledge helps to inform the interlocutor of street names, abbreviations and other words and terms frequently used in the spoken language.

If your goal is to learn English and be fluent in it, knowledge of the English alphabet will be essential. That is why we have prepared this material dedicated to the English alphabet with pronunciation. After reading this article, you will receive all the tools necessary for its rapid development and further gaining knowledge.

Some interesting facts about the English alphabet

1. The most common letter in the English alphabet is the letter “E”; 11% of all English consists of this letter;
2. The least common letters are the letters “Z” and “Q”;
3. The letter “S” is not the most common, but it begins the largest number of words;
4. The English alphabet is close in composition to the alphabets of more than 100 other languages, which makes it one of the most common in the world;
5. The letters “C” and “G” are rooted in the Phoenician language, which had a similar symbol for the word “camel” (“camel”).

Structure of the English alphabet

The English alphabet consists of 26 letters, including six vowels and twenty consonants.

Vowels: The letters a e i o u are also sometimes referred to as vowels and the letter “y” - unlike other vowels, this letter acts as a vowel in 97.5 percent of words and as a consonant in all other cases. As in Russian, vowels are pronounced freely, without obstruction to the exit of air from the lungs.

Consonants: The letters B, C, D, F, G, H, J, K, L, M, N, P, Q, R, S, T, V, W, X and Z are consonants. As in Russian, consonants are pronounced with the creation of obstacles to the movement of air from the lungs with lips, teeth or tongue.

Important: Note that letters and their combinations can produce both vowels and consonants. We will talk more about the difference between the pronunciation of letters in different words at the end of the article.

English alphabet

The following table shows the English alphabet with transcription. Please note that the names of some letters differ from country to country. Native speakers will understand you no matter which version you use, but knowing the different names will come in handy for a better understanding. ex [eks] экс   Y y wy [waɪ] уай   Z z zed, zee [zɛd, ziː] zed, zi zee (USA)

How to learn the English alphabet?

To get started, we recommend listening to The ABC Song , a song used to revise the alphabet in schools. There are a large number of versions of this song, we offer one of them.

For further repetition, here are some more simple exercises that will allow you to learn the English alphabet:

1. Find video tutorials on learning the alphabet; such materials stimulate both auditory and visual memory. You can find one of the examples of such video lessons at this link: https://youtu.be/hq3yfQnllfQ
2. Write the alphabet on a piece of paper, saying the name of each letter when writing; practice writing in block and capital letters;
3. Choose a topic that interests you and try to find one word from this topic for each letter; you can use search engines to find suitable words.

How to pronounce letters correctly?

Once you have learned the English alphabet, you will be able to confidently take the next steps in learning the language. One of the obstacles you will have to face is the mismatch between the letters and their correct pronunciation.

Throughout its history, the English language has borrowed words from many other languages. The different origin of words leads to the fact that they are read differently; that is why in English most letters correspond to several sounds. For only 26 English letters, there are as many as 44 sounds - 24 consonants and 20 vowels.

This inconsistency was played up by the English writer Charles Ollier, who coined the word “ghoti”, which reads like “fish” (/fɪʃ/)/. According to the author's intention, “gh” should be pronounced like /f/ in the word “enough” (/ɪˈnʌf/), “o” like /ɪ/ in the word “women” (/ˈwɪmɪn/), and ti like /ʃ/ by analogy with the word “nation” (/ˈneɪʃən/).

What to do when the English alphabet is learned?

If it is impossible to know the correct pronunciation of a word by its spelling, how can one avoid mistakes in communication? In our opinion, the only reliable way is to simply learn the words that make up the basic vocabulary of the English language. This will allow you not only to communicate easily, but also to extrapolate the pronunciation of less common words with accuracy.

To cope with the task of mastering the basic vocabulary, we suggest you use the Lingvist application. Our application will allow you to quickly learn four thousand words that make up the backbone of the English language, and the built-in conversational module will allow you to never doubt the correct pronunciation!

To get started, simply register using the following link and start using Lingvist on the web. You can also install our application on iOs or Android to be able to easily gain new knowledge.

Phonetics of the Russian language for foreigners | Russian alphabet pronunciation Letters Sounds

Russian alphabet for foreigners: often not only foreigners who begin to learn Russian, but also advanced level foreigners cannot pronounce some Russian sounds correctly. We will talk about what letters of the Russian alphabet cause difficulties for foreigners , we will give recommendations for teachers on how to teach phonetics of the Russian language, what phonetic exercises for foreigners need to be performed and what difficulties may arise in their implementation, we will separately talk about how to put the pronunciation of Russian sounds , which cause the greatest difficulties for foreigners.

Russian as a foreign language

all letters of the Russian alphabet can mean several different sounds, for example: the letter E can mean the sounds [E], [YE], [I], and sometimes even the letter E can mean the sound [Y] (after the consonants Zh, Sh, C without accents: price, wife).

Setting the pronunciation of is another difficulty for teachers of Russian as a foreign language when teaching Russian to both beginners and foreigners continuing to study Russian. Below we give recommendations, how to put the pronunciation of Russian sounds in the lessons of Russian as a foreign language.

Rules for staging Russian sounds. Teaching the phonetics of the Russian language

Phonetics of the Russian language for foreigners: work on staging any sound of the Russian language you need to start with the formulation of phonemic hearing , i. e. first you need to ensure that the foreigner distinguishes sounds by ear. This is important because many Russian sounds sound the same to foreigners. For example, if your student says “grandfather” instead of “girl”, and when you correct him, he answers that he said so, then this means that your student does not distinguish sounds [D] and [V] by ear, they are for it sound the same.

In order for foreigners to learn to distinguish sounds by ear, we recommend doing the following exercises :

Exercise "Playing with cards" :

1. Take two sheets of paper, write on them the sounds you will practice. For example, on one sheet we write D, and on the other - V. Let's give these cards to a foreigner. The teacher pronounces the sounds [D] and [V] in random order, and the foreigner must raise the corresponding card. Of course, the teacher must tell the foreigner if he makes a mistake.

2. Then the teacher pronounces syllables, for example: wa - yes, du - wu, ava - hell, etc. , and the foreigner must raise the “D” card or the “B” card.

Phonetic dictation exercise :

The teacher dictates sounds, syllables, words to the student, and the foreigner writes down what he hears.

! Please note that in the exercise “Playing with Cards” and “Phonetic Dictation”, when practicing consonants, you do not need to dictate words that end in voiced paired consonants (B, C, D, D, F, Z), because. when pronouncing at the end of a word, voiced paired consonants are stunned. For example, if you dictate to a foreigner “bow”, “meadow”, then the foreigner will write down “bow”, “bow”, because “meadow” is pronounced like “lu[K]”, while your foreign student will not make a mistake, because this is a phonetic, not a spelling dictation.

When a foreigner began to distinguish Russian sounds by ear, the teacher can already change places with the foreigner, i.e. the teacher shows the card, and the foreigner says what is written. At this stage, another problem arises: a foreigner hears and understands how a Russian sound should sound, but cannot pronounce it correctly. The greatest difficulties for foreigners arise when pronouncing the following sounds: [S], [Y], [R], [F], [C], [W], [Sh] . Below we will consider the rules for setting these sounds and give recommendations on how to explain Russian phonetics to foreigners, how to conduct phonetic exercises for foreigners.

Russian alphabet - Letters I, Y

The pronunciation of the Russian vowel sound [Ы] causes difficulties for almost all foreigners. For example, foreigners pronounce "mi" instead of "we" and "beat" instead of "be".

The pronunciation of the vowel sound [I] causes much less difficulty for foreigners. The Russian sound [I] is similar to the English sound [i:]. To pronounce the sound [I] you need to point the tongue forward and touch the tip of the tongue to the lower teeth. When pronouncing [I], your students need to smile a little :).

Let's return to the formulation of the problematic Russian sound [Ы] . When pronouncing it, the whole tongue must be pushed back and strain the back of the tongue . Now the tip of the tongue no longer touches the lower teeth, but is pushed back. When we pronounce [ы], we no longer smile (of course, such a complex sound!)

In order to help foreigners strain the back of the tongue when pronouncing the sound [ы], there is the following trick: we will use helper sounds [К] and [G]. The pronunciation of the sounds themselves [K] and [G] usually does not cause difficulty for foreigners, but when they are pronounced, the back of the tongue automatically tenses, and this is what we use in our phonetic exercise for foreigners:
yk – yg – yk – yg – yk – yg – yk – yg
ky – gy – ky – gy – ky – gy – ky – gy - s - s - s - s - s - s - s
ky - km - we - washed
gy - hmy - we - washed
ky - kvy - you - howl
gy - gvy - you - howl
ky - kby - would - was
gy - gby - would - was
soap, was, exit, exhibition, was, son, cheese, letters, smart

Russian alphabet - Letter Y

The attention of foreigners beginning to study the phonetics of the Russian language should be paid to the letter of the Russian alphabet Y. The sound [Y] is found in Russian speech much more often than the letter Y , because the vowels E, E, Yu, I are at the beginning of the word, vowels and after the letters b and b denote two sounds: [YE], [YO], [YU], [YA], for example: [YO] lka, with [YE] hat, kal [YA] n.

Difficulty in pronouncing the sound [Y] (often this sound in transcription is denoted as [j]) usually occurs in foreigners if the letter Y is at the end of the word, for example: foreigners pronounce "sanatorium" instead of "sanatorium" or "my" instead "my". Very often, foreigners do not distinguish by ear the sounds [Y] and [I], then it is advisable to do the exercise “Playing with cards” with foreigners.

How to explain to a foreigner the difference between the sounds [Y], [I] and how to teach a foreigner to pronounce the sound [Y]?

It is necessary to explain to a foreigner that the sound [Y] is pronounced VERY briefly. The sound [And] can be sung: and-and-and-and-and-and-and-and-and-and ..., and the sound [Y] must be pronounced very briefly , as if someone pricked with a pin: OH! The sound [Y] is pronounced with a much greater voltage than the sound [I], when the sound [Y] is pronounced, the middle part of the tongue rises more, so a narrower gap is created between the palate and the tongue and the air stream breaks out with more pressure, more powerfully.

Pay attention of foreigners to the spelling of the letter of the Russian alphabet Y :

Foreigners often confuse not only the sounds [Y] and [I], but also the letters Y, I. Y), they do this by analogy with writing the letters Yo and E, because. it is not necessary to put a dot over the letter Y in writing.

The teacher should draw the foreigner's attention to the fact that when writing the letter Y, you should always put a tick over the letter, because the absence of a check mark above the letter Y is a spelling and grammatical error. Compare: "my favorite cowboy" and "my favorite cowboys."

Russian alphabet - Letter Р

When pronouncing the Russian consonant sound [Р], the tense tip of the tongue vibrates near the alveoli (these are tubercles above the upper teeth) under the action of an air jet.

So, when pronouncing the sound [R], the tip of the tongue is slightly bent upwards, touches the tubercles above the teeth and is tense. But it is quite difficult for a foreigner to make the tip of the tongue vibrate. To help a foreigner, we turn to the helper sounds [T] and [D], during the pronunciation of which the tongue automatically takes the desired position at the alveoli.

Let's start our phonetic exercises.
Let's start the motorcycle!
dr – dr – dr – dr – dr – dr – dr – dr – dr – dr – dr – dr – dr – dr – dr – dr – dr…
Whose motorcycle started up?

Let's do some more exercises (pronunciation of the sound [P]):
dra - dra - dra - dra - dra - dra - dra - fight
dro - dro - dro - dro - dro - dro - dro - fraction dru - dru - dru - dru - dru - friend
tra - tra - tra - tra - tra - tra - tra - trauma
tro - tro - tro - tro - tro - tro - tro - rope
tru – tru – tru – tru – tru – tru – tru – coward

To practice the pronunciation of the soft sound [P'], in phonetic exercises, after the letter P, you need to use vowels that soften the previous consonant (E, Yo, I, Yu, Ya).

Russian alphabet - Letter Zh

Another letter of the Russian alphabet, the letter Zh, is unusual for foreigners both in its spelling (some foreigners call it a butterfly) and in its pronunciation.

When pronouncing the sound [Ж], the tip of the tongue is raised to the alveoli (to the tubercles behind the upper teeth) and the tongue is pulled back.

To produce the zhu zhzh the sound [Ж], we again turn to helper sounds: the consonant [Г] and the vowels [О], [У]. The sound [G] will help to pull the tongue back, and the sounds [O] and [U] will help to stretch forward and round the lips.

Phonetic exercises for foreigners:
gzhu - gzhu - gzhu - zhu - magazine, beetle, buzz, tell
gzho - gzho - gzho - zho - yellow, alien, knife, circle

Pronunciation of sound [Ш] is similar to pronunciation of sound [Ж], but the difference lies in the fact that the sound [Ш] is pronounced without the participation of the vocal cords (no voice, only noise). Below we will talk separately about the letters of the Russian alphabet Sh and Shch. How to explain the Russian sound [Ts] to foreigners?

The Russian sound [Ts] is a single and indivisible sound, although it looks like a combination of sounds [T + S], which is why some foreigners pronounce two sounds [TS] instead of the letter Ts. In this case, the foreigner must be explained that the sound [T] must be pronounced as briefly as possible !

It is better to work out the pronunciation of the sound [Ts] in words where the letter T is after the letters T or D, for example: fathers, to the father, with the father, thirteen, thirty, twenty, twelve, well done ...

Russian alphabet - Letters Ш and SC

Foreigners often confuse the sounds [Ш] and [Ш] and do not even distinguish these sounds by ear. In this case You already know what to do! Of course, do the exercise "Game with cards. "

Compare how the tongue and lips are positioned when pronouncing the sound [Ш] and the sound [Ш]:

When pronouncing the sound [Щ], the entire tongue moves forward, the middle part of the tongue is raised to the palate, the tongue is tense. When pronouncing the sound [Ш], the lips are less extended forward than when pronouncing the sound [Ш]. When pronouncing the sound [Ш], the corners of the lips are slightly stretched, and when pronouncing [Ш], we do not smile.

! The sound [Щ] is pronounced LONGER than the sound [Ш].

The sound [Щ] causes much more difficulties for foreigners. It is necessary to ensure that foreigners pronounce the sound [Щ] softly. Therefore, in the phonetic exercise, we use the vowel sound [I]:

Seek - look - shchi - shield
Seek - seek - shche - cheek
Seek - seek - shche - brush
Seek - seek - shchi - feel

How to perform phonetic exercises correctly when teaching phonetics of the Russian language to foreigners

When you do any phonetic exercise , you must adhere to the following scheme:

1) When teaching the phonetics of the Russian language, the teacher first reads the letters, syllables, words, and the foreigner listens to the teacher and follows the text.
2) Then the teacher reads and the foreigner repeats.
3) And only now the foreigner reads independently.

If you need to explain to a foreigner the position of the tongue when pronouncing a sound, you can show it with your hands. For example, the right hand is rounded, fingers pointing to the floor. Now your right hand is the palate, alveoli and teeth. And from the left hand we will make a tongue. Now you can show foreigners the position of the tongue in the mouth.

Thanks to this, we will be able to do without an intermediary language when explaining almost , which, of course, is a big plus.