🔤 English from Zero (ESL) · Lesson 1 of 8
Letters and sounds
The name of a letter vs. the sound it makes.
26 letters
The English alphabet has 26 letters. Each letter has a capital (big) form and a lowercase (small) form: A a, B b, C c… Names, the first word of a sentence and the word “I” start with a capital letter.
Name and sound
Every letter has a name and a sound. The letter B is called “bee”, but in a word it says /b/ as in bat. The letter C is called “see”, but in cat it says /k/. To read, you need the sounds more than the names.
First sounds
| a | /a/ as in apple |
|---|---|
| b | /b/ as in ball |
| c | /k/ as in cat |
| d | /d/ as in dog |
| m | /m/ as in moon |
| s | /s/ as in sun |
| t | /t/ as in top |
Vowels
A, E, I, O and U are vowels. Every English word has at least one vowel sound. Each vowel has a short sound (a in cat, e in bed, i in sit, o in hot, u in cup) and a long sound that says its name (a in cake, i in bike).
Tip
💡 Sing the ABC song — it is the easiest way to remember the order of the letters.
✏️ Practice: your turn
- Say the alphabet out loud, or sing it
- Find 5 things at home and say their first sound: b-b-ball
- Write your name with a capital first letter
- Find all the vowels in your name
🧠 Quick quiz
Answer all 4 questions correctly to mark this lesson as done.
0 of 4 correct
All lessons in English from Zero (ESL)
- 🔠 1. Letters and soundsThe name of a letter vs. the sound it makes
- 🐶 2. First wordsAnimals, family and things at home
- 🎨 3. Colors and numbersTen colors and numbers 1–20
- 👋 4. Hello! How are you?Introduce yourself and answer simple questions
- ❤️ 5. I like, I have, I canThree sentence patterns for talking about yourself
- 📖 6. First readingThree-letter words and sight words
- 🏠 7. Everyday EnglishMorning, food and play: English at home and around town
- 🚀 8. What’s nextA plan to keep learning, by age