CRESS Guide and HowTo

Page in Progress, Unfinished Version 0

 

CRESS is simple to learn and use.

Don’t be shocked or judge a book by its cover

It looks different from traditional spelling but is magically simple and related

Everything learned applies to standard English and provides a bridge to it

 

How

Just learn a few simple facts about pronunciation, e.g. how your tongue moves to make sounds

This guarantees full phonemic awareness, the holy grail of reading education

Use the regular alphabet but in a simple way that is easy to learn

Just write as you speak, one symbol for each sound… regularly and consistently

No exceptions to learn

 

The Alphabet

Use the same alphabet as standard English spelling, quickly readable without much learning

Most consonants require no learning:

p as pot

b as in bought

t as in taught

d as in daughter

k as in caught

g as in got

f as in fat

v as in vat

s as in sap

z as in zap

h as in hat

l as in lot

r as in rot

Vowels are extremely simple

Simply use just the 5 basic vowels to fix English spelling chaos

1.     Just remember the BASIC PRONUNCIATIONS

2.     i as in pit, e as in pet, u as in put, o as in pour, a as in pot

3.     This is all that needs to be learned, the rest is simple logic

Big Tip:

Say the vowel letters with these individual sounds when reciting the alphabet

It’s good to say the phrases: i as in pit, e as in pet, u as in put, o as in pour, a as in pot

Just memorize these… there is NOTHING ELSE TO LEARN

 

A Simple Trick Simplifies Everything

Just use the same alphabet as standard English spelling

Just learn a few simple facts about pronunciation, e.g. how your tongue moves to make sounds

Just use 3 simple movement arrows < > ^ to show neighboring sound adjustments

The extra arrow symbols make perfect sense in terms of tongue position so require no learning

            < = move the tongue frontward, > = move the tongue backward, ^ = move the tongue upward

These symbols are already on your keyboard

Imagine seeing the tongue in an x ray from the left side.

Students can easily sketch the tongue for themselves.

When you raise the tongue in vowels, just point up with the ^ arrow

For consonants and vowels use forward < and back arrow > to show tongue adjustments

Don’t worry, it’s worth it:

1.     Reading and spelling become easy.

2.     Words look similar to standard English spelling.

3.     Computer translation (transliteration) exists, both to and from standard English spelling.

4.     The length of text is shorter, with fewer keystrokes, and taking up less paper or screen space.

 

See for Yourself: CRESS is Very Simple

Just use the same alphabet as standard English spelling

Here are basic vowel adjustments:

            i^ as in Pete not i as in pit

            e^ as in bate not e as in bet

            u^ as in boot not u as in put

            o^ as in boat not o as in bore

            a< as in bat not a as in pot

            a^ as in but not a as in pot

You can hear and feel these yourself so no need to memorize

1.     Say them super super slow stretching them out

2.     Pay attention to how your tongue moves

3.     Practice sliding your tongue back and forth with and without the arrow

Here are basic consonant adjustments:

            t as in tin, t< as in thin

            d as in dough, d< as in though

            s as in sin, s< as in shin

            z as in buzzer, z< as in measure

You can hear and feel these yourself so no need to memorize

1.     Say them super super slow stretching them out

2.     Pay attention to how your tongue moves

3.     Practice sliding your tongue back and forth with and without the arrow

In a few cases, two sound symbols are joined because the pronunciation involves two distinct sounds:

            ai as in bite

            au as in bout

            oi as boy

            ts> as in chin not ts as in pits

            dz> as twice in judge not dz as in ‘The lids in…”

You can hear and feel these yourself so no need to memorize

1.     Say them super super slow stretching them out

2.     Pay attention to the two parts that you pronounce separately

There’s an understanding that the symbols represent a general area of tongue placement without specifying fine detail

            This is evident in a^r as in hurt where the tongue is a bit higher than in the a^ in but.  It might even be written a^^ but this clutters the system.

Some letter combinations might be optional alternatives after basic phonetic learning

1.     These could make CRESS look even more like traditional spelling

a.      th, sh could be retained for s< and s> respectively

b.     ch, j could be retained for ts> and dz> respectively

2.     These would be less systematic, less phonemic, and less phonetically indicative but visually conservative