How to Teach Magic E in ESL Classes
Alex CaseMagic E is a simple spelling rule that not only helps students pronounce new words like “pane”, but also explains other spelling rules like double letters in “planning” and “bigger”. It is therefore vital to all classes, starting from young and low-level learners. This article gives tips on how to explain Magic E to all kinds of learners, and there is also an article on this site on how to practise Magic E.
What students need to know about Magic E
Magic E is the most regular and important pattern in the larger topic of silent E. As most native English speakers learn in primary school, a letter E after a short vowel sound and a single consonant makes the vowel “say its name”. This means that the vowel changes to the sound of the name of the letter, meaning the version we sing in the alphabet song (“A” = /ei/, etc). There are therefore pairs of words with and without the final E which change from the normal short pronunciation of the vowel to a long sound or diphthong, as in:
- at/ ate (the diphthong /eɪ/, like “A” and “eight”)
- gen/ gene (a long /i:/ sound, like “E” and “Jean”)
- sit/ site (the diphthong /aɪ/, like “I” and “sight”)
- rod/ rode (the diphthong /əʊ/, like “O”, “oh” and “road”)
- cut/ cute (the long sounds /ju:/, as in “U” and “you”)
- supper/ super (the long sound /u:/, as in “do”)
As you can see from the last two examples, U is a bit of an exception, as there are two options, which match the other four vowels in different ways. /ju:/ is how the letter is said but is not just a vowel sound, whereas /u:/ is a vowel sound but not exactly how the letter is pronounced (and so not actually an example of the letter saying its name).
Although the rule is called Magic E, the same rule works for some suffixes which often replace the final E, as in -ing and -er in “diner” and “rating”.
The Magic E rule above mentions single consonants after the vowel, meaning that a short vowel before double consonants and E does not “say its name”. Instead, the double consonants can be said to “block” the action of the final E, as in “ratting” keeping the short vowel sound of “rat”, not changing to the diphthong of “rate/ rating”. This can be seen in pairs like hopping/ hoping, winning/ wining (in “wining and dining”), scrapping/ scraping, tapping/ taping, whipping/ wiping, sitting/ citing, and slimming/ sliming.
More obviously, words which have a vowel which is already long or a diphthong cannot become even longer or even more of a diphthong when you add a final E. These pairs are therefore pronounced the same, as in “born/ borne”. There are also many pairs which don’t exist but we would know how to pronounce if they did, like “need” and “neede”.
Typical student problems with Magic E
Magic E is such a simple and widely applicable rule that students usually have little problem learning it and then quickly finding hundreds of examples which help reinforce what they have learnt. It can also be brought up again when double letters in comparative adjectives and -ing verbs are taught, both as review of Magic E and to make those topics much more logical and so easier to learn. Perhaps the only major issue with Magic E is students trying to overuse it, as there are also other ways of spelling the vowel sounds above.
Typical problems with teaching Magic E
An issue with both presenting and practising Magic E that you will need to think about is that they often depend on having pairs of words such as “’Nam”/ “name”, “pet”/ “Pete” and “mem”/ “meme”. As shown with these examples, issues with such pairs include one not being as common and useful as the other, one having to be a name instead of an actual dictionary word, and the other not existing in English. As there is a lack of pairs with two words which are suitable vocabulary for the same level of students, using rare and even made-up words to contrast with the other is probably justifiable. This is especially true with certain letters, especially E with Magic E, where perhaps the only useful pair of real words is “gen/ gene”.
The other thing to think about when choosing words to use in presentation and practice is what to do with words which also show additional spelling changes (“will/ while”) and other pronunciation changes (“hug/ huge”, “wag/ wage”, etc).
How to present Magic E
Every class from beginner to Advanced will sooner or later have problems spelling and/ or pronouncing words like “cane” and “panning”, and the rule above is simple enough to be briefly introduced or revised at that stage, perhaps followed by some short practice. You can also make sure that such an opportunity comes up naturally. This can be done by making a gapfill listening task that has Magic E in one or more of the gaps, or including it in pronunciation materials on other points, e.g. including examples of Magic E in a lesson on /ɒ/ and /əʊ/ minimal pairs.
To present Magic E in a planned lesson on this point, I like to give students words that they know most of that I have put into pairs like “plan/ plane” for them to analyse for patterns, in order to elicit the rules above.
Poems can also be a good way of presenting Magic E, with activities such as:
- adding rhyming words by pronunciation and meaning, then working out why they rhyme
- putting lines into order by pronunciation and meaning, then working out why they rhyme
