As a teacher and a parent, I would often mispronounce words with odd spellings to highlight the peculiarity -
"scissors" might sometimes be pronounced "skissors" to show that silent "c", for example.

Here are some observations on French which may be helpful to some.

The "circonflexe" accent (circumflex) is only found on vowels, and can indicate that once upon a time there may have been a following "s".

This can be helpful to know to relate French vocabulary to the English.

For example, "château" becomes much more like "castle" when you imagine the "s" in it! "Fête" becomes closer to "feast" and "festival ", and "hôtel" becomes "hostel".

Try it out whenever you encounter this accent - it may help!

The acute accent ("accent aigu"), which only appears over the letter "e", can sometimes also indicate a "missing s" when it appears at the start of a word: By no means always, but often enough to be useful!

For example, "écran" becomes much more like our word "screen" if you slip an "s" in after the "é".

If you look in the dictionary for words beginning "é", there are many more examples:

échapper - to escape
échelle - scale (ladder)
  - the linear scale on an old radio or a thermometer resembles a ladder if you need help with that concept!
  - and you can use a ladder to "scale" a wall!
école - school
écolier/ère - school boy/girl or scholar
écran - screen as in TV, computer, movie
écureuil - squirrel
étable - stable
étude - study
étudiant - student
étrange - strange

are just a few which may be helpful. You could make your own list, or highlight those which work in your dictionary or vocabulary book!

Some are a little less obvious, but the connection is there: Écriture compares with Scripture much better if you slip in that "s", and thus connects "écrire" firmly to "writing" - which used to be "scribing" (remember those monks transcribing Holy Scripture - or Écriture Sainte!).

There's someone-elses more-comprehensive take on all this here!