Pronunciation Competition (vowels)

This was written up by my colleague, Doris. We joined both our classes for this game, and the students really enjoyed it. It takes a bit of preparation though.

Vowel Sound Pronunciation Bee/Games

Divide class into 4 groups. Each group has to choose as its name one of the vowel phonemes (e.g “We are the /I/ group”).

On OHP, put a Snakes & Ladders game board. Project on wall. Each group has a different colored post-it note that they move around the board (projected on the wall) as a playing piece. The first group to reach the finish point will win.

Having two teachers present (or else a teacher and an assistant) makes this flow better.
Have a dice on hand. Each number corresponds to a type of activity. Roll the dice to select the activity.

All teams play all the time for all the activities. The dice is also rolled by the two teams winning each activity to determine how many spaces on the game board they get to move.

Games/Activities

1. Many Words: The teacher assigns a vowel sound to each group (or uses the team name for the first round). The teams have 1 minute to write on the whiteboard as many words with that sound as they can think of. The 2 teams with the most correct words get to throw the dice and move on the board.

2. Sound Chain: Two teams line up facing each other. The teacher says a vowel sound. The first person on the A team has to say a word that contains that phoneme. Next, the first person on the B team also says a word with the same phoneme. The same word cannot be repeated. This continues, back and forth between the two teams, until one team makes a mistake, repeats a word that has already been said or can’t think of a word fast enough (5 second rule) and loses. The winning team gets to roll the dice to advance on the board. (With two teachers present, all four teams are playing at the same time, A against B, C against D).

3. Fake Words: (prepare a list of nonexistent words that follow the spelling rules/phonemes the class has been studying-ahead of time). The teacher writes a “fake” word on the board for each team (or a representative from each team) to pronounce following the patterns they have studied before. If they are correct, they get to roll the dice and advance.

4. Find it-Bring it: (prepare cards with minimal pairs before hand. Mix them up and put them in bags to be handed out to each team). The teacher calls out two or three words (ex. Cat , chicks). Students must rummage through their cards, select the ones the teacher said, and run to the teacher with the cards in hand. The first two teams to bring the correct cards get to roll the dice and advance. (In their sets, they would have had to make the decision between the “cat “or the “cut” card, or the “chick” or “cheek” card).

5. Rhyme it: Two teams line up facing each other. The first person on the A team has to say a word. Next, the opposing person on the B team has to say a word with the same vowel sound. The second person on the A team can choose to change the vowel sound and say a different word for which the second person on the B team must find a rhyming vowel sound word. The same word cannot be repeated. This continues, back and forth between the two teams, until one team makes a mistake, repeats a word that has already been said or can’t think of a word fast enough (5 second rule) and loses. The winning team gets to roll the dice to advance on the board. (With two teachers present, all four teams are playing at the same time, A against B, C against D).

6. Sound Sentence: The teacher assigns a vowel sound to each group (or uses the team name for the first round). The teams have 1 minute to write on the whiteboard a sentence which contains as many words with that sound as they can think of. The 2 teams with the most correct words get to throw the dice and move on the board.