Korean Job Discussion Forums

[em]

Anyone got advice on how to get kids sounding things out?

I have one class where most of the kids will sound things out when they encounter a word that they have not seen before. But there are one or two who just don't seem to get it and instead of paying attention to the letters that comprise the word in question, they just say any word that comes into their heads that starts with the same letter.

These same kids do really badly on their spelling tests.

I've tried taking them through their alphabet with the sounds and encouraging these kids to sound things out but to no avail.

Any advice would be welcome. Particularly games that would involve sounding words out.

[whatthefunk]

Do they know phonics? I don't teach phonics, but the Korean teachers at my school do. Its the only good thing my school does. After a month or two in a phonics class, they are pretty godd at sounding things out and if they can't get it right, they at least try.

[em]

Hmmmm.

I had wondered about phonics. I just started to teach it to another class and it seems like a bit of a process. But maybe I'll give it a shot.

love your avatar, by the way.

[some waygug-in]

I think these are excellent suggestions for teaching begginer phonics.

I just thought I'd add one thing that I did. (It seems to be helping a bit)
This is for students who are a bit higher level, but still need some practice with phonics.

It took a bit of work, but that's OK. I made copies from Up and Away in Phonics level 2. I copied all the pages with short vowel sounds. (nine words / page) plus some of the long vowel sounds. I cut the pages up to make playing cards and laminated them. Each word has a little picture to help explain the meaning. You can color the pictures first, if you want to. I didn't, but I also bought some colored stickers (6 colors) then i made some 'crazy cards'.

I put one colored sticker on each card (except the crazy cards) and I made sure that the colors are dispersed evenly. I tried to ensure that there are 2 of each color for each vowel sound.

To play the game, each student gets 5 cards. One card is turned over to start the game. A student must play a card either following with the same vowel sound or the same color. If they have a crazy card they can play that instead. (they must choose the next category after playing a crazy card) . If they can't play, they must draw another card from the pile. The game continues until one student puts down all his or her cards.


If you have played "crazy 8's", this is the same game. I start with only introducing the short vowel sounds, otherwise the game is too complicated. After the students get used to the game and start recognizing word families, you can start inttoducing the long vowel cards.

Have the student say the word as they play the card.

The kids really get into this game, at least my students do.

cheers

[some waygug-in]

I've just noticed something bizzare about this forum. After posting the previous post, I noticed a number of spelling mistakes which weren't there when I typed it. When I clicked the edit button to correct the mistakes, the mistakes don't appear in the edit format.

How are you supposed to correct mistakes then?

Aigo

[em]

Thanks to everybody for the fantastic ideas! That's just the kind of thing I was looking for!

(Did I just end a sentence with a preposition? Somehow "that's just the kind of thing for which I was looking" sounds dorky.)

Secondly, you have raging allergies too, Noodle? I thought I had grown out of mine but there are some days here when I feel like I've just buried my face in a pile of freshly mown grass!

[ajuma]

Bingo is great, too. After (or while) teaching phonics, say the SOUND of the letter, NOT the letter. Even the slowest kids get it this way. And even kids who can read will benefit from it. You can progress to "hangman" after you've taught "c" "a" and "t"!