"Phonics" was the teaching method in Richmond, VA, 1967, where we'd recite the vowels, " . . .a-e-i-o-u, and sometimes y and w!". But try to say to a teacher nowadays that y and w can be vowels. One time in college it came up, where the teacher happened to ask how many vowels out of 26 letters, then he counted them off. This was in San Jose, California, with lots of ESL immigrants. Quite a few were showing off that we knew the vowels, reciting them along with the teacher as he counted to 5 with his fingers. Alas, I was the only one who said, "and sometimes y and w". They all thought I was crazy or stupid, regardless that fn ipso fn facto, y and w are fn vowels sometimes.
"Phonics" was the teaching method in Richmond, VA, 1967, where we'd recite the vowels, " . . .a-e-i-o-u, and sometimes y and w!". But try to say to a teacher nowadays that y and w can be vowels. One time in college it came up, where the teacher happened to ask how many vowels out of 26 letters, then he counted them off. This was in San Jose, California, with lots of ESL immigrants. Quite a few were showing off that we knew the vowels, reciting them along with the teacher as he counted to 5 with his fingers. Alas, I was the only one who said, "and sometimes y and w". They all thought I was crazy or stupid, regardless that fn ipso fn facto, y and w are fn vowels sometimes.