Zz

consonant 14 · tongue tip

Everything for
this sound

The activation, the inside of the mouth, a mouth up close, the beat, the reading and the sheet to print. All on this page.

Work on it here or take the printed sheet. The mirror, the activation and the syllables in the book work just as well without a screen.

See the other sounds

Place

Behind the teeth

Manner

Continuous

Voice

Voiced

Air

Thin and steady

Before you start

The activation exercise

S and Z are twins. The only difference is the buzz.

1

Teeth together and a smile, just like for s.

2

Start with sss, then turn the voice on: zzz. Hand on the throat.

3

Be a bee: a long zzzz, flying around the room.

One

The Z inside

4 steps. Listen to them, or use the arrows to go at your own pace.

1 of 4

The tip comes close

Just like S: almost touching, with a thin gap.

2 of 4

The soft palate closes the nose

The air has only that gap.

3 of 4

The air flows without stopping

Thin and steady, just like S.

4 of 4

But the throat buzzes

Like a bee. That buzz turns S into Z.

Two

Slowly, up close

The same mouth, syllable by syllable and up close: this is the model they'll copy in the mirror.

Ten of each

Now on za

Tap each time they say it. At ten, it moves on to the next one.

0 / 10
All five, done.
Great work, both of you.

Three

The beat

English has strong and weak beats. Tap the table on the strong one as you say it. Touch a pattern to hear it.

Four

What they can read

Only sounds they've already worked on. The words with a heart are learned by heart. Touch any of them to hear it.

To take with you

The Z sheet

The two pages you use every day: practice with tally marks and tracing, and reading with the words. Print it as many times as you need.

Download PDF · 2 pages

If something doesn't work, write to hola@rootafamily.com.
This page goes with card 14 of the book. It isn't a diagnosis and doesn't replace an assessment by a speech-language professional.