Owls, eagles and toucans, named the Norwegian way

Six birds, six Norwegian names, and a picture list that says which is which. UGLE is the owl, ØRN the eagle, GRIBB the vulture. Two of the words — PELIKAN and TUKAN — are the English pelican and toucan with the c swapped for a k, so they read almost instantly. The others have to be searched for properly, letter shape by letter shape.

ØRN is the interesting one. It is three letters and it opens with a character English has no use for, so a child scanning a row often reads straight past it. Tell them to look for the slashed o and the word appears at once. PAPEGØYE, the parrot, is the longest here at eight letters and carries that same letter in its middle, which makes a useful pair to notice.

Use it wherever a child needs something to do with their hands and their eyes at the same time — waiting rooms, the last ten minutes of a lesson, a long car journey with a clipboard. Nothing has to be written, only circled, so a beginner who cannot yet spell GRIBB can still finish the page and feel the words are theirs. Say each one aloud as it is found; a Norwegian word that has been seen and heard sticks far better than one only seen.