oa ea
Vowel digraphs
oa
This is not a common pattern, but a single letter-group (digraph), where oa says o. (long vowel)
Like all vowels and vowel digraphs, it is slightly different when placed before r: Oar board soar hoar-frost.
ea
The most common sound for ea is the long e as in cream.
Quite a few words have the short sound as in bread.
In just three words the sound is the long a: break steak great.
Ear has different sounds: bear (4 words) earn (12+ words) heart, hearth (2 words).
In some of Mona's previous published books and the video lesson above, she says that when a vowel follows another vowel the first usually says its name, or: "When two vowels go walking, the first does the talking."
Because there are many exceptions to this rule, she now prefers not promote its use.
Links will take you to a quickview page in Google Docs where you may download the PDF for local printing by clicking File then Download original. This guide contains download and print tips.
oa
ea