A sound wall using speech lips to match the articulation of speech sounds/phonemes to the letters/graphemes that represent those sounds. Many sound walls only show the letter sound and lip pictures. Others also include the picture of a key word that has the target sound. Less frequently, teachers combine a word wall with a sound wall. In this case, the word she would go under the digraph sh, and not under s. The benefit for Multilingual Learners (MLs) is that a…
Phonics is an important component of teaching students how to read and write. Phonics connects sounds with letters and combinations of letters. In the English language, there are 26 letters and 44 sounds (called phonemes). A grapheme is how to spell each sound with either a single letter or letter combinations. It is part of both structured literacy programs and balanced literacy programs. Teaching a newcomer phonics has many similarities to teaching a native English speaking student phonics. Use a…
Teaching phonics is an important aspect of a literacy program. This is especially true for ELLs. Phonics is the relationship between sounds and the letter or letters used to write them. Phonics connects sounds with letters and combinations of letters. In the English language, there are 26 letters and 44 sounds (called phonemes). A grapheme is how to spell each sound with either a single letter or letter combinations. Phonics helps students learn specific sounds in the English language. For…
Using phonics writing activities is one way for students to practice their phonics skills. Writing helps students segment words and then write down the sounds that they hear. Students with more advanced phonics skills can practice vowel patterns, silent letters, and other letter combinations. When students are writing, they are practicing letter sound knowledge or encoding. Have students write words to practice a spelling pattern. Word Chains or Word Ladders Writing words with the same spelling pattern will give students…
Word building activities are a hands-on way for students to practice phonics skills. Breaking apart or putting together words helps students to focus on the individual sounds that letters or letter combinations make. Students can use word puzzles such as word chains or word ladders. The activities are fun for students as they learn how to read. or ELLs it is helpful to include pictures of the words that you are using, or at least for any unfamiliar words for…
Decodable books are books that have controlled text. The words are simple to decode. They typically follow a sequence of skill progression such as short vowels, digraphs, long vowels. This is helpful for students as they are at the beginning stages of reading. The benefit of using decodable text is that students do not encounter many unfamiliar words that they can not figure out by using the strategy of sounding it out. One challenge of these books, especially for ELLs…
Phonics is an important component of teaching students how to read. For ELLs it is important to include pictures when possible to help with vocabulary development. Stay away from nonsense words. Here are some phonics activities to use with your English Language Learners and emergent readers. Build the word For these phonics activities use magnetic letters, letter tiles, or simply pieces of paper with letters written on them. Have students practice building words that have the phonics pattern that they…
Learning how to read is a complex process for all students. When you are teaching reading to ELLs, there is the added challenge that they are learning the vocabulary of English as they learn how to read. Some ELLs have the benefit of knowing how to read in their native language. This is helpful as many of the same skills will transfer over as they learn how to read in English. For young ELLs they are learning to read for…
Teaching rhyming and word families are simple ways to include phonemic awareness and phonics activities. Recognizing and producing rhymes is one aspect of phonemic awareness. This is a skill that emergent readers experience through games, listening to stories and nursery rhymes. For older ELLs, rhyming often does not come as naturally. Rhyming ability is one predictor of reading success. It is not necessary to spend a large amount of time on rhyming activities. Short exposure is just as beneficial as…