Use exaggerated speech when you are intentionally teaching words. Speak to your child in a slow and measured tone, drawing out each sound contained in the words that you say. Ask your child to repeat the words to you. Read to your toddler each day, pointing out the rhyming words and letter sounds in the story.
Teach your child simple rhymes. Recite the rhymes with your toddler, making sure that your child pronounces each word correctly. Don't pressure your child to pronounce the words perfectly at first, but gently remind her of the correct pronunciation if she struggles with a word or sound.
Relate symbols and pictures to speech. Show your toddler the picture of a familiar animal and pronounce the animal's name. Encourage your child to say the name too. Make a game out of coming up with other animal's names that begin with the same letter sound, or that rhyme with it. Point out familiar symbols on signs when you are in the car. Say the symbol's names and ask your toddler to repeat them.
Teach letter sounds at the same time that you teach the letters themselves. Say the alphabet to your toddler, then tell him the sound that each letter makes. Look at alphabet puzzle shapes or magnets as you teach about the letter sounds. Talk about words that begin with the letters that you show to your toddler.