Teaching english phonetics games

Divide your class into two teams and have them form two lines in front of the board. Write the first set of four words on the board. The students at the front of the line must read the set of words, race to the board once they have identified the word that sounds different and circle it. The first student to circle the odd word scores a point for the team. This is a game that is best played in pairs or small groups — a really fun way to practice homophones!

Each group gets a set of cards; each student gets five cards. The remaining cards are put in a draw pile. For example:. S2: Yes, I do. Now, to keep the matching pair the S1 must use both words correctly in a sentence or two. In this game, students must connect words that have the same vowel sound. Take a look at this Pronunciation Maze as an example.

But you can create your own maze. You can have students take turns on one maze. Place students in a line and whisper a phrase to the first person in line. The stranger the phrase, the more difficult the activity will be. For a real challenge, start the chain with a tongue twister. Each person quietly passes the message to the next person in line, and they only get one chance to say it.

That is why careful pronunciation is so important. When the message gets to the last person in line, they say it out loud so their entire team can hear. Odds are, the message will have changed from the front of the line to the end of it, but it is possible for students to carefully pass the message without errors. You can have two teams compete to see which team makes the fewest errors while passing the message along. If you like, have each person write down the phrase they hear before they pass it to the next person so you have a better idea where the pronunciation issues occurred in the line.

Play again this time starting at the opposite end of the line or mixing up the order of the students. This game challenges their listening skills and gets students moving around the classroom at the same time. Label each wall of your classroom with one phonetic symbol representing a sound you want your students to practice. Students race to the wall with the correct symbol for the sound they heard. Anyone who runs to the wrong wall is eliminated and must sit down.

You can also eliminate anyone who gets to the wall too late though that is optional. Each round, make a Simon says statement, eliminating anyone who runs to the wrong wall. The last person standing wins the game. Some sentences in list A and B should be identical. But other sentences should differ by a minimal pair or two.

Then put students in pairs and give one person list A and the other list B. Students should then read their sentences to each other, carefully, and decide together if the sentence in list A and the sentence in list B are the same or if they are different.

Have students write their answers down and then award ten points for every correct answer. The team with the highest score wins the game. If you like, play two or three rounds with different lists of sentences.

Phonics is key because breaking words into their constituent sounds helps kids understand and build their literacy skills, bit by bit. Phonics activities like the ones here will help build reading fluency in young students. Plus, for more help teaching phonics, check out this free guide from our friends at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt on teaching the science of reading. Post anchor charts around the room to help kids remember important rules like silent E, vowel blends, and hard and soft C and G.

Find all our favorite phonics anchor charts here. Most kids start learning phonics by mastering the beginning sounds of words. Have kids color in the words that start with the matching sound on these cute free worksheets. Grab this free printable chart and print out copies for your students to use with their phonics activities.

Combine fine motor skills practice with phonics work with these free beginning digraph wheels. Tip: Add small dots on the back to mark the right answers so kids can self-correct their work.

Learn more: Playdough to Plato. Sounding out words letter by letter is a lot more fun when you slap each letter with a flyswatter! This is a great idea for active learners. Learn more: Frugal Fun 4 Boys. This one will also keep active learners moving and happy! Write words in sidewalk chalk, then walk or hop, or skip along them, sounding the word out along the way.

Simple but fun! Learn more: Coffee Cups and Crayons. As students move from box to box, they change one letter to make the new word represented by the picture. Grab a stack of plastic cups and some ping pong balls for this fun phonics game!