Remember This?! Series: Phonics and Phonemic Awareness ESL Instructional Support Kit

For this installment of the Remember This?! Series where we remember great resources for tutoring and teaching, let’s look at our Phonics and Phonemic Awareness ESL Instructional Support Kit! 

All five ESL Instructional Support Kits were created to help teachers, tutors and volunteers reduce their prep time by having flexible, grab-and-go activities to use in one-on-one, small group or all-class contexts. They are classic tools that don't lose their value as the years go by. 

The Phonics and Phonemic Awareness ESL Instructional Support Kit in particular includes about a dozen phonics and phonemic awareness activities focused on your current unit’s vocabulary which you can use with learners at any level. The kit also includes helpful background information for volunteers and teachers regarding phonics and phonemic awareness. 

Here’s a simple, fun activity from the kit to whet your appetite:

Pass the Spelling

This activity focuses on using phonics and phonemic awareness while “sounding out” how to write a word.

Materials Needed: mini-whiteboards, markers, erasers

1) Give each learner a mini-whiteboard and a marker.

2) Say a word from the weekly unit. Repeat it several times.

3) Say the first sound in the word. Have the learners repeat the sound, then write down the letter/s that correspond to that sound (digraphs such as sh, ch, ee, ea, etc. should be written together).

4) All of the learners pass their whiteboards to the left.

5) When everyone has a new whiteboard, say the second sound in the word. Have the learners repeat the sound, then write down the letter/s that correspond to that sound.

6) All of the learners pass their whiteboards to the left.

7) Repeat until the entire word has been spelled.

8) Have the learners spell the word out loud, and write it down on a mini-whiteboard so that they can check the spelling of the word on the whiteboard that they are holding. Note any silent letters or digraphs that occur in the word.

Want to see more? Download a copy of the Phonics and Phonemic Awareness ESL Instructional Support Kit and begin using one or two of these activities next week!

Previous installments in the Remember This?! Series:

• Remember This?! Series: Reading ESL Instructional Support Kit

• Remember This?! Series: Mini Pronunciation Lessons for Improving Final Consonant Articulation 
• Remember This?!? Series: Literacy Workstations for Pre-Beginning ELLs
• Remember This?! Series: Classroom Videos:  Activities for Adult ESL Learners
• Remember This?! Series: Speaking and Listening ESL Instructional Support Kit
• Remember This?! Series: Citizenship ESL Instructional Support Kit

For questions or comments about this Tutor Tip contact Tutor Training Coordinator, Meghan Boyle, at mboyle@literacymn.org.