Reading Instructional Resources Database - Instructional Activities (Search Results)

Phonology

What is Phonology?
Speech is the most typical form of language, and in order to understand speech, a child must be able to clearly hear, distinguish, and categorize the phonemes within the speech. A child who is unable to distinguish between similar phonemes may develop difficulties with comprehension. A child who has difficulty with English phonology may not be able to hear the difference between words like thin and fin or here and hair, and those words may confuse the child when they come up in context.

What does teaching Phonology look like?
Phonology activities help children to clearly hear and distinguish similar speech sounds when they are embedded in the context of words and sentences. Phonology activities help children to pay attention to the subtle differences that exist between similar sounding words, and how to correctly identify and distinguish potentially ambiguous words.

ACTIVITY: For this activity, children are asked to determine if two words are identical (the same word repeated twice), or if they are similar but different. Children can give a "thumbs up" or "thumbs down" for each pair of words, or two students can compete to see who gets the most right.

Suggested words:

carro-carro, corral-correr, talón-melón, mira-tira, maleta-chaqueta, ratito-ratito, malo-palo, fresco-fresno, barrer-barro, galleta-galleta, hilo-hilo, fama-llama, metro-letra, encima-encina, insensible-imposible, cobro-cabra, broche-brocha, general-general, garage-gargajo, cuadro-cuadro, mono-moño, breve-breve, milpa-muela, lima-clima, cuchillo-cuchillo, raspa-rasca, copa-corbata, explorar-explotar, broma-toma, hueso-hueso, helado-Helena, fresa-fresa, valor-tambor

Notes: Phonology activities such as this one could be used with children of any age.

Reader Type: Pre-readers, emergent readers, and developing readers

Language: Spanish

ACTIVITY: You will need to come up with ten sentences that contain a word that could be spelled with or without an accent (the sentence should only make sense with one of the words, though). For half of the sentences, read the sentence aloud with the ambiguous word pronounced incorrectly. For the other half read the sentence with the correct word in place. After each sentence, ask students if the sentence makes sense the way you have read it.

Example sentences:

El es tan fuerte _________ un león. (como)
El _______ enfermo. (está)
Necesito una ______ para el caldo. (papa)
¿Dónde _______ por mi zapatos. (pago)
Mi _______ se llama Roberto. (papá)
¿_______ llego al parque. (Cómo)
El gatito _______ leche. (mama)
________ casa es de mi abuelita. (Esta)
Mi _______ es muy bonita. (mamá)
Ya ________ la entrada al cine. (pagó)


Notes:

Reader Type: Pre-readers and emergent readers

Language: Spanish

ACTIVITY:

Sometimes children's productive phonology lags behind their receptive phonology (children may be able to hear subtle differences in speech, but may not be able to produce those differences when they speak). Teach children to focus on the subtle phonological differences by parroting what they say when they speak incorrectly.

Example: if the child says, "I want to go pray outside," repeat it back as a question — "you want to go pray outside? Do you want to pray? Or do you want to play?"

Notes: In this activity, if the child doesn't hear the difference when YOU say the two words there is cause for concern.

Reader Type: Pre-readers

Language: English

ACTIVITY: For this activity you will need a collection of word pairs that sound very similar to each other (e.g. hair - here, mail - nail, ache - ate, etc.). Working one-on-one, say each word pair to the child and ask the child if the words are different or if they are the same. Sometimes, to keep the child honest, you will have to repeat one word twice (so it really is the same). This activity can be done with real words or nonsense words (nonsense word lists are easier to generate).

Suggested word pairs:

hill-hail, when-hen, lame-lane, parrot-pellet, smack-snack, shell-fell, grain-drain, bill-pill, slab-slap, meal-kneel, tight-kite, guide-tied, flew-flow, owed-old, bit-pit, chin-gin, beat-beak, break-brick, free-three, mask-mast

Notes: For this activity, it is important that you not over innunciate the words. Say them as naturally as you would in real conversation. With the difference exaggerated, it is likely most children may hear the difference between mail and nail, but in natural conversation those two words may sound exactly identical to some children.

Reader Type: Pre-readers and developing readers

Language: English