Name: Faun Robken
General Teacher Objective: To provide the teacher with lessons that can be used over and over again in a variety of ways that is easily adaptable to fit any phonetic rule.
General Student Objective: To practice the specific phonetic rules that the class has been learning. For example: blends, long or short vowel sounds, dipthongs, schwa, etc.
Title: Letter Combo
Course Name: ESL / Spanish I-IVGrade Level: 9-12
Content Objective of the Lesson: To practice spelling using specific phonetic letter combinations.
Language Objective: To help students hear the spelling of new vocabulary words, see the vocabulary words, spell the words and hear the words used in sentences.
Materials Needed: Two sets of the letters of the alphabet, each letter printed individually large enough to be seen from a distance (full paper size). The students could prepare these themselves or the teacher could have them prepared in advance.
Description:
1)The teacher divides the classroom into two teams. Each student in the team will receive 1-3 letters (depending upon the size of the group).
2)The teacher will call out a word; this word uses the phonetic combinations that the class has been practicing.
3)The students holding the letters that correctly spell the word run to the front of the room and organize themselves in the correct order. The first team to complete the word wins a point for the team.
4)Added bonus round: to make sure that the team knows and understands the meaning of the word give the team an opportunity to use the word correctly in a sentence for an additional point. OR the team could give an example of a word similar to the word that they had to spell (long “a” sound, sound of a vowel proceeding R, y in the first or final position, etc.). There are numerous choices in what the bonus round could be.
Extension: With smaller letters, pass out the alphabet to the students and have them arrange words that start with a specific letter, a sound, a phonetic combination, the spelling of a word that the teacher defines, etc.
Teacher Response to Activity: You must plan ahead for words that use only each letter of the alphabet. A possible change is to give each group 1-2 pieces of blank paper that can represent a double letter.
Title: Word Squares
Course Name: ESLGrade Level: 9-12
Content Objective of the Lesson: To provide example and non-examples of phonetic combinations that the class has been practicing AND to create a personal “dictionary” of each of the phonetic combinations for future use.
Language Objective: To provide students with a way to organize, practice and retrieve specific language information.
Materials Needed: Paper folded (2 times) to create four squares.
Description: Each individual piece of paper represents one phonetic sound, rule, combination, etc. The word square should be completed as the phonetic rule is taught and practiced and then added to the personal “dictionary” for further practice or review.
1)Hand out paper and instruct the students to fold the paper to create four squares.
2)Label the squares as “rule, examples, sentences using examples and non-examples”
3)In the square labeled “rule” the class together will write down the rule that the class has been practicing. For example: long a
4)In the examples box the students will write down examples of words that have the long a sound. For example: bake, cake, daisy, etc.
5)In the sentence example box the students will write a sentence using those words. For example: She bakes apple pie every Sunday.
6)In the final square the students will write non-examples or words that have an "a" in them but do not have the long "a" sound. For example: cat, rat, giant
7)When the students have finished their squares they then go around the room and share their squares, instructing the other students.
8)When the students find another example that they do not have on their word squares they can add it to their list.
9)Keep the word squares in a personal dictionary to be added to as each phonics rule is covered.
Extension: Word squares can be used in multiple ways. The categories could include: 1) definition, synonyms, antonyms and example. 2) definition, example, non-example, drawing. 3) prefix, examples that use the prefix, meaning of the words, words in a sentence. ETC.
Teacher Response to Activity: Make sure that you have a way for the students to save their work. They will get a lot more out of this activity than looking up the words and writing a definition but all of the work that they do to create the word squares should be valued by allowing them to save them in an area in the class. Also give them time to go over previous squares in class.
Also allow the students to share their squares with each other. This helps generate ideas.