INPUT ARTICLE: Article: Do 1 vowel at a time. Start by saying the vowel sound. Ask your students to repeat it after you. Do this 2-3 times or more until your students have mastered the sound before moving onto the next vowel. Speak slowly as you do this. This is especially important for non-native speakers or adult learners who may not be able to tell the difference between vowels. Repeat this exercise over several different lessons on different days to reinforce it. Say a simple, 1 syllable word. Write it down in front of the students. Ask your students to say only the vowel in the word. Remind them not to use any consonants. For example, say the word "cat." Ask your students to say the vowel in the word, which is a short a. It may take students a few tries before they start doing it on their own. If they're struggling, help them out by sounding out the word. It's important to both write and say the word so that your students start to connect the letter to the sound. Short vowels typically appear at the beginning of words or sometimes in the middle. Give your students words that contain short vowels to help them recognize how they sound. Some great examples include: Short a: map, pal, cat, dad Short i: pin, mint, still, fill Short o: con, lot, dot, hop Short u: pun, nut, bun, hub Short e: pen, let, get, send To help students remember the difference, tell them that a long vowel states its name. In other words, a long a is pronounced like the letter a, as in lake or tape. Some examples you can use include: Long a: bake, fake, date, state Long i: fine, mine, shine Long o: rope, dote, note Long u: mute, cute, rude, dune Long e: me, he, she, theme Students may struggle with the difference between words like rat and rate or hop and hope. Make sure they understand that an e at the end of a word means that the first vowel before it becomes long. Use examples like hat and hate, cap and cape, dot and dote, and ball and bale. Once the students understand the concept, try giving them the words that don't end in e, like tap, bat, and far. Ask them how it would be pronounced if you added an e at the end. Since there are so many diphthongs and digraphs, it is best is to teach them separately. Organize diphthongs that sound alike together, and teach them in groups. Teach each group of diphthongs on different days. Show your student examples of the correct usage in each case. For example, teach oi and oy together. Remind your students that oy is often used at the end of words while oi appears in the middle of words. Use examples like toil and toy or coin and coy to show the difference between these 2 digraphs. For diphthongs that sound the same, use words and pictures to show their proper usage. For example, help students memorize the difference between meat and meet or read and reed.

SUMMARY: Ask the students to repeat the vowel after you. Isolate the vowels in the word. Share examples of short vowels. Introduce long vowels once they have mastered short ones. State that a "silent" e at the end of a word makes the previous vowel long. Introduce diphthongs 1 at a time.

INPUT ARTICLE: Article: There are pluses and minuses involved with both options, and you should weigh each matter carefully before making a final decision. Basic photo editing software is often sufficient if you only plan on creating simple collages, but it may not provide the right sort of tools needed to create more complex designs. If you use photo editing software you already have, you save on expense. Some special photo collage software is free, but the highest quality options do cost money and can be fairly expensive. Creating a photo collage with basic photo editing software can be labor intensive and time consuming. Special photo collage software often comes with templates and tools that make collage creation easier. Every program you might consider using has different tools, so you will need to look up a specific guide for your software in order to learn how to use it effectively. Begin by searching through the software help files or the software's instruction manual. If you find nothing within the help files, search the Internet. Tutorials can come in all-text form, pictorial form, or as video tutorials. Browse through a variety until you find one that seems helpful. Many programs allow you to undo your changes if you decide later that you do not like them, but just in case, it helps to save your collage each time you feel satisfied with your progress. That way, you can return to an earlier version if you later decide that you do not like the most recent changes you made to your collage. Saving frequently also helps to prevent you from losing your work. The quality of a digital collage can be dramatically affected by the quality of the paper you print it on. Standard printer paper is light and has a poor effect. You should at least consider using cardstock or photo paper. On the same note, you should also use a high-quality printer to ensure vivid coloring and depth.

SUMMARY:
Choose between your current photo-editing software and photo collage software. Read tutorials for your software. Save multiple versions of your collage at different stages. Print the final collage on high-quality paper.