Dealing with Individual Sounds

What is the phonemic chart?
- Each symbol represents an individual sound in English- a phoneme. There are twelve vowels, eight diphthongs and twenty-four consonants.
Why use them in class?
- English spelling is not phonetic. Therefore a student needs a ‘key’ to help decipher how words sound.
- It develops learner autonomy i.e. students can use dictionaries to ‘see’ the pronunciation at home or without the help of a teacher.
- It gives a visual presentation of English.
- There may not be corresponding sounds in L1 therefore students need to have this highlighted. Students need to be made aware of the differences between L1 and English.
- Some sounds in English are very ‘near’ to one another and to the student’s ear, may be so indistinct that they need highlighting. E.g. /i:/ and /I/
- As a teacher you can use it as a clear correction tool.
How can it be used?
- Differentiation activities i.e. with sounds that students cannot discriminate between. You can show the two phonemes and then say words which contain either sound and students have to circle/point to etc. the one that they heard.
- Ask students to use a dictionary to find the pronunciation of a word and so develop autonomy.
- Phonemic bingo i.e. play bingo but where numbers usually are place phonemes. Say words and the students cross off the sounds that they hear.
- Illustrate connected speech by transcribing parts of sentences to see what happens to create speech.
- Play matching games i.e. match the sound and the word.
- Play rhyming games etc.
When Do We Use Phonemes?
- Use phonemes at all levels
- When you introduce new language
- During correction
- During presentations
- As warmers/coolers etc.
Useful Books