New Game: Phoneme Feet!

Here’s another game from Mido, this time for spelling/phonics. It’s an alternative to the “Phoneme Fingers” that I introduce in the full phonics videos (2nd video on this page)

It works especially well for kids in Korea or Japan who have aΒ tendencyΒ to add extra sounds to the end of words!

1. Β Put the kids in groups.

2. Give each group a hula hoop which they put on the floor.

3. The teacher says a word.

4. The kids figure out how many phonemes (sounds) are in the word and put this many legs into the hula hoop! Β (e.g. for “right” there are 3 sounds, “r”, “igh”, and “t”)

5. The teacher says “freeze!”

6. Now everyone says the word together, counting the phonemes.

7. Β See which teams got it right!

Keep going with more and more words.

What do you think?

P.S. You can use the words on the phonics worksheets to make sure you don’t accidentally use any examples the kids don’t know how to do yet.

P.P.S. Β If you’re really up for it (and can make sure the kids have done all the sounds!) try simple sentences.

P.P.P.S. If you can’t get yesterday’s poster to work, check out the comments!

Richard Graham

I'm on a mission to make education Genkiβ€”fun, exciting, and full of life! Genki English has now been researched by Harvard University and licensed by the British Council around the world. The results have been magical! Now I'm here to help you teach amazing lessons, with all the materials prepared for you, and to double your teaching income so you can sustainably help many more students in the future!

3 Responses to “New Game: Phoneme Feet!”

  1. Evi

    Excellent idea!! Because it’s really hard for some kids not to add extra sounds in the end of the words!! It can even work with a rope if we don’t have a hula hoop!
    Thanks for sharing!!

  2. Maricris Podador Jayoma

    Wooowww!!!!
    I just found this one very timely and fitted for my grammar presentation on Saturday 4/14/2012.
    More powers to Genki English!!!!

  3. Jessie

    Oh, I like this idea!! Even though this might suit older kids (I’m teaching preschool ages) but I’m inspired and wanna try using a hulla hoop somehow in my class. πŸ˜‰

Comments are closed