Silent Sounds

Activity

Title: Silent sounds Pronunciation focus: /e/and // Activity Type:paired work/group work Time: 10 to15 minutes Level:Upper Primary School Students Introduction This activity is a good way to practise the vowel and diphthong sounds, and it is really enjoyed by young learners. In Silent Sounds the teacher should mouth a sound silently, and the students guess the sound from the shape of the teachers mouth. Use the activity to contrast sounds that are often confused such as // and /e/ -found in words mat and met. Preparation Divide the board into two halves - left and right. Write two words, or draw two pictures, with contrasting sounds, for example: on one side of the board write cat and //, draw a picture, on the other side of the board, write the other bed and /e/, and draw a picture

Step1: The teacher says each word then students say each word. Step2: The teacher faces the students and says the sound, but silently! Mouth the sound //. Students point to the board to show you which sound they think you are making. Now model the next sound, /e/. Students see your mouth and point to the sound on the board. Next, choose one of the sounds and mouth it silently and the students quickly point to the board. Let the students to look at your mouth for each sound and to see the change in position. The students will see the movement. From a full open round mouth // to the bottom jaw or teeth move slightly up and your mouth is not so open and your smile is wide /e/. Show students the correct answer, make the sound out loud and then point to the board. Get the students to say the sound too. Remember the point is to be aware of the mouth, but also the sound well.

Step3: Put students in pairs or groups. One student mouths a sound, and the other guesses which it is. The teacher can contrast different sounds each time you play and can try more than two sounds. This silent sound activity can also be played with whole words. Minimal pairs where one sound in the word changes, are good fun to use, e.g. cat:cut, big:bag, been:bin, put:pet. The article below gives information on pronouncing phonemes- position of articulation. You can find the article here