X is for X

As a teacher of young children who are learning how to read and becoming familiar with spelling patterns and what not, it dawned on me that for X, I could discuss the different sounds that X possesses.  Were you aware that X actually has two three sounds? At the beginning of words,  X makes the /z/ sound like in Xenon and Xenia.   The other two sounds that X makes is /ks/ as in wax, tax, mix, fox, sexton, or crux and /gz/ as in exit or auxiliary.  The /ks/ sound is more common and more widely used.  I didn't even realize that X could say /gz/ until I started working as a tutor.  The owner of the center I worked at had been working on a spelling rule book for most of her adult life and one of the rules had to do with the various sounds X could make! If you take a look at all the words I have used that contain x, you just might be able to figure out when X makes certain sounds. Although I did give away when it makes the /z/ sound. Good luck figuring out the tricks. :)



P.S. Pardon the lateness of this post. Somehow I got pink eye again on Friday. It has mostly cleared up as of today (I think).