These activities are linked to the Think article - Young learners and the phonemic chart Phonemic beep dictation
This is a version of beep dictation. In this activity there are some missing words which are replaced by a beeping sound. The key to this activity is that the sound indicates a particular phoneme.

• Write some symbols and words from the dictation you are going to do under the symbols.
  
  /i/............................................................
  /I/................................................... /aI/
  leave..................................................... live.................................................arrive
  sleep..................................................... sit ..................................................find
  read

• Then read the dictation saying the appropriate sound for each gap. Students must select the correct word from that sound to fill the gap.
  "I...........the house at eight o'clock. I............at work at about nine. Then I ..........at my desk and .............my emails..."

Using songs

• Choose a song that has lots of rhyming words in it at the ends of its lines.

• Take the rhyming words out of the song and put them on a worksheet or on the board.

• Ask the students to match them to the symbols they include.

• Give them a hint of how many words for each symbol.

• Then talk about how songs often have rhyming words at the ends of lines.

• The students listen and attempt to put the words back into the song.

• This can be attempted before they listen with more advance learners.

Nicola Meldrum

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