Phonics & Pronunciation

Activities
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Mexican wave game

All students sit in a line, the 1ststudent does a star jump
and says the phonic. The next student repeats this and
the student at the end of the row says a word. The end
student then runs to the other side of the line and they
each move along one place.

Duck, duck, goose

Students sit in a circle on the floor. 1 student, Bob
stands up and taps the head of each student whilst
saying a word i.e. apple. Bob will eventually tap a
students head and say a different word, such as
orange, this student should then jump up and catch
Bob before he sits in their seat. If they catch him then
Bob repeats this process. If they dont catch Bob they
are the next person to be it.

Dictation
Get students into a line. Say a word to the first student
bat then each student should whisper bat down the
line. The last person should write it on the board. Then
the person at the start goes to the back of the line. The
next person now at the front has to think of a 1 letter
variation mat whisper it down the line and the last
person has to replace the b, with an m on the board and
the person at the front of the line goes to the back and
the process is repeated.

Musical chair phonics

Put flashcards on chairs. Get student to walk around the
chairs and walk past teacher who has a flashcard with
the letter e on it and they walk past and slap it and
saying the phonic. Then when flashcard goes down they
have to sit down. Then when students sit down they
have to pronounce the flashcard on their chair correctly.
After each round remove a chair.

Phonics puzzle game

Draw a jigsaw puzzle on the board with forfeits and the
phonics words in different sections of the puzzle. In turn
students throw a sticky ball to the board and whichever
piece it lands on they have to do either the forfeit or say
the word.

Phonics Board slap

Split your board into two or more sections. Write a
different phonic in each. Draw a starting line at the back
of the room. One student form each team stands behind
the line. You call out a word. They have to hop, skip,
frog leap, ballet dance, crawl or any other action to the
board, slap the correct phonic for the word you called
out and then shout out the word themselves. The
student who does it correctly first, without any foul-play,
is the winner.

Phonics tag
One student listens for oa phonic words and should run
to one wall, another listens for ow phonics words and
should run to the opposite wall of the room. If their
phonic word is called i.e. soap or crow they should to
run to their wall before the other student turns to catch
them.

Fire Squares
If your phonics lesson has 3 or more similar yet different phonic
sounds in it then this game is great. For instance, if your sounds
are ireourand ore.Start by brainstorming some words for
each of the different phonics on the board. Then draw on the floor
3 different squares- big enough for all students in the class to
stand in when they need to. Assign each square 1 of the phonic
sounds then in between each square draw red fire and 1 central
stepping stone. Students start by standing in 1 square. Teacher
then shouts out a phonic word relevant to a different square and
each child should then quickly run to the next square without,
stepping into the fire. The teacher can count down from five and
any students who are not in the correct square when the time runs
out are eliminated.

Shiritori
1 student says a word book and the next student has
to say a word that starts with the sound of the end of
the previous word cap then the next pin and so on.
This game is best with higher levels with more of a
grasp of phonics.

Oops game
Make 2 bags with phonics words in. The aim is to collect
as many cards as possible from the bag. In turn
students pull a card out and try to say word correctly. If
they can then they get to keep the card. In the bag are
also 6 oops cards and 4 stars. The oops cards mean
students have to put all their cards back into the bag
and the stars are worth 3 cards.

Non musical chairs

Put all phonics words up on the board, have the chairs
in the middle of the classroom, get students to walk
around the chairs, teacher holds their hand out, each
student has to slap Teachers hand and say a phonics
word, when teacher puts hand down they have to sit
down, student with no chair then holds their hand out
too and the students tap their hand and so on.

Whisper down the line

Students make two lines. Whisper the phonic or word to
the first two students then they must whisper it down
their line. When it reaches the student at the back of
the line they must run to the board, write it and shout it
out. If they do it first and correctly they win.

Rhyme game
Get students tomake a rhyme using the phonic words
and other words with the same phonic sound and
present to class in a straight forward way or by rapping
it. This is ideal for higher levels.

Balloon volley ball

Divide the classroom into two equal halves. Use a row of
chairs as a dividing line through the middle. Put a team
on either side. Blow up a balloon and give it to one
team. The aim is to hit the balloon over to their
opponents side and make it touch the floor on the
opposite side of the fence to gain a point. Set a theme
or category, each time a student hits the balloon they
say a related word. Penalise them for not doing so.

Last one standing

All students participate, stand up and when someone
calls out a word with C or G in (for example) they
should sit down for C words and stand up for G words.
Students who make a mistake are eliminated. The last
student standing wins.

Find, slap, say

Give each student a set of phonics cards. Stand at the
side and say a relevant word. The students must race to
find the right card in their pack, run up to the board,
slap down their card and then shout out the word.

Bounce it
Have students sit in a circle, use a ball and throw it to
another student saying either the phonic sound or the
word that has the phonic in it, then they do the same to
another student and so on. Varying speeds make this
game more fun. However, rules are needed.

Hide the Flashcard

Have 1 student stand outside the classroom whilst
another student inside the classroom hides the
flashcard. When the student comes back in everyone
chants the word- louder as they get nearer to the
flashcard and quieter as they move further away from
it.

Electric shock
Form a long line of all your students. Tell them to hold
hands. You stand at one side and tell them that you are
going to put your finger in an imaginary power socket.
When you do this you will act out the shock and say a
phonic or word. Shake your arms up and down to create
a wave effect through the class, each student saying
the sound or word as the shock travels down the line.

Kung fu phonics
Write the phonic or word on the board. Stand your
students up and get them to find a space in the room.
Drill them like a martial arts club. Each time they do a
punch or kick, standing on the spot, they shout out a
phonic or piece of vocabulary.

Turtle phonics
Bring a student from each team up into the middle of
the room. Put a phonic card on either side of the room.
This game works with phonics which arent familiar to
the students or that are confusing for them. Have them
stand back to back and link arms. Shout out a word and
have them battle to overpower their opponent to race
and touch the correct card.

Intonation activity
Write a phrase on the board such as Hello, How are
you? Goodbye etc. Give them a range of people that
they should practice saying it to i.e. a person in the
street, a baby, your friend who you havent seen for 5
years, your boss, a family member who is dying.

Ping Pong phonics

After introducing the sound and some relevant words to
your students bring 4 of them up to the front. Give them
a pen and a ping pong ball each. When you shout out
the word they have to write it on the floor then bounce
the ping pong ball onto it. Every time the ball hits the
floor they say the word. Bring the next 4 students up
and do the same again.

Phonics clapping
Put students into pairs. Have them stand up facing each
other. Establish a simple beat. First beat students clap
their own hands, second beat they clap each others. Tell
them that each time they clap they say the sound then
on the 4thbeat they have to say a word for the sound. A
chant develops such as b b b bird, b b b baker etc. If
there is already a chant in place, have the pair race
against the rest of the class to finish the whole chant.

 Robot
To drill word or phonic words, get your students to stand
up and do a robot action. Each movement is
accompanied by a syllable of a word.
Phonics shoes
Using none permanent marker pens, write a different
phonic on each of your students shoes. When you
shout out a word they must hop on the correct foot
whilst chanting it.

 Shout me to death
With a phonic or new word, tell your students that if
they shout it at you long enough and loud enough you
will die. Dramatise it several times and trick them into
drilling.
Hold up your hand phonics
Students write the phonics on pieces of paper. When
you shout out a word, they hold up the correct phonic.

 Phonics Star
Draw a huge start on the classroom floor with a
different sound on each point. Stand students in the
middle. Shout out words and have them run to the
correct point and say it themselves.
Mexican wave actions
All students sit in a line. First student jumps up and does
a star jump (or other action) whilst shouting out the
sound. The next in line does the same and so on.

Crocodile River
Students are divided into 2 even groups. Draw a river on the floor down the
middle of the classroom about a meter wide and have 1 group of students
on either side. Assign each group either a phonic ue words like blue or
oo words like goose or 2 different grammar points. To begin 1 person is a
crocodile, this could be the teacher, the T.A or if you have an odd number
of students then use a student. The crocodile then stands in the middle of
the river and shouts out different phonic words with the relevant phonic in
it, the group with this phonic have to cross the river without being caught
by the crocodile, if they are caught they become a crocodile too, when
students are caught their feet must still be in the river at the time of
capture. You could also use other animals like shark and small fish.