How to Teach a Phonics Lesson: Listening Game

(Carla Stanford) We are going to start with a listening game. A listening game is where you ask kids to pull out their listening ears and put them on, and you are going to help them hone in on the ability to hear sounds that they're going to need in order to do the work in the lesson. In a listening game, you can use tools. The tools help kids connect what they're hearing to the position that they're hearing it in a word that you're giving them. So you can use a roller coaster, you can use Elkonin boxes or sound boxes, or you can use tapping. So the roller coaster is really great when you want kids to hear beginning, middle, and ending sounds. So a roller coaster works like this. Kids move their hand like a roller coaster, and they can say a word. So my word is cat, and they can think about the /k/ and the /ă/ and the /t/, so they can say cat, and then they can isolate different sounds.

This rollercoaster motion is really great for them to make. It helps them be actively engaged and it helps give a position. So if I say the word is cat, and the kids repeat cat, and they take their hand and make the rollercoaster, they say /k/, /ă/, /t/, and then you could say, give me the beginning sound. And you could point to that space on the rollercoaster, and they could say /k/. So it's really great to give them this physical reminder of where the sound would be. 

You can also use Elkonin boxes, and those are just sound boxes. Basically, it's just boxes and you have kids push the sound and you can model on the board, and they can just use their fingers and push in the air. They could use an Elkonin box, and it helps them represent the sounds with a physical action. So if my word is stop. Repeat, stop. They could push /s/, /t/, /ŏ/, /p/. Stop. 

Also tapping. Tapping is the easiest because they also can use it in dictation and tapping is just where they use their fingers to represent sounds. As a teacher, I'm always going to go left to right. It does not matter how the kids do the work, but these are all tools that you can use in the listening game to ensure that when you are asking kids to listen for a sound, that they have a way to connect it. 

So I'm going to give some examples. So if I were going to teach the digraph 'sh', which says /sh/, then I could use my rollercoaster and I could say, "All right, boys and girls, we're going to use our rollercoaster. I'm going to say the word. You are going to repeat the word, we're going to use our rollercoaster, and I'm going to ask you to give me this first sound that's going to be right here. Get ready. My word is shop. Repeat. Shop. /sh/, /ŏ/, /p/. This sound." And they'd say, /sh/. And I'd say, "good job. Next word. My word is shell. Repeat. Shell. /sh/, /ĕ/, /l/. Shell. This sound. /sh/." 

So the rollercoaster gives you an opportunity, a space. The rollercoaster gives you a space and a way to quickly show kids the sound they're looking for and listening for. In the listening game, you're always going to plan your work based on where you're going. So I'm going to use the '-ck' rule as an example for that. In the '-ck' rule, it is so important that kids are able to hear short vowels because in the '-ck' rule. The rule goes like this: "Immediately after a short vowel at the end of a one syllable word, when you hear /k/ you spell it, '-ck', hooray!" And so in order for kids to spell using the '-ck' rule, they have to be able to hear short vowels.

So I back that up and I go, "Oh my goodness. In my listening game, I need my kids to be able to hear short vowels." So my directions would go like this. "Hey, boys and girls, pull out your listening ears. Put 'em on. Here's what I want you to listen for today. I want you to listen for the vowel sound in the word. We're going to use our rollercoaster, and when we get here, that is going to be our vowel sound. I'll say the word, you repeat the word, we'll do the rollercoaster and we'll give the sound. Here we go. Our first word is rock. Repeat. Rock. /r/, /ŏ/, k/. Sound /ŏ/. Good. Our next word is luck. Repeat. Luck. /l/, /ŭ/, /k/. /ŭ/." 

And what happens is, if you are using a tool, you can just give the motion for this middle sound. You're taking your voice out of it, and the kids can think quickly and they're not having to parse apart the sound they heard from weird directions. They can just say the vowel sound and you can move on. And you can get through a large amount of words for practice in a very short amount of time. Because remember, the listening game is all about setting kids up to be able to hear what they have to be able to hear in order to do the work in the phonics lesson.

(narrator) Reading Universe is made possible by generous support from Jim and Donna Barksdale; the Hastings/Quillin Fund, an advised fund of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation; the AFT; the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation; and anonymous donors.