Pronunciation Game – A Plural Party

Tricky Plural Nouns

Our teaching theme on Sprout English this week is all about the pronunciation of plural nouns. As Tanya pointed out in her recent post, plural endings are tricky. My own son, who is a seven-year-old native English speaker, has difficulty with plural endings. He often ends up tongue-tied when trying to pluralize words that end in “th” (/θ/), such as “months”, or “st” as in “nest”. His tendency is to change the /θ/ to /f/, which is easier to say, or to give the word an /Iz/ ending (nestIZ) rather than the trickier /s/ ending. Helping him work on his pronunciation when the problem comes up (without making a big deal out of it) is my current approach as a parent.

As a teacher, it can be difficult to find time to work one-on-one with kids who are having pronunciation problems. Finding games that the whole class can play is a great way to help individuals without making them feel uncomfortable. One game that can be adapted in a variety of ways is the traditional memory game “In My Suitcase”. In this game, students sit in a circle and take turns adding items (orally) to an invisible suitcase.

I am going on a holiday. In my suitcase I will bring…an alligator.

The second person repeats the first item and adds a second item with the next letter in the alphabet: 

I am going on a holiday. In my suitcase I will bring an alligator…and a bird.

When a student can’t remember one of the items that a previous student said, they have to ask for a hint, sit out, or pass.

An Adaptation for Practicing Plural Nouns

The “In My Suitcase” game can be changed slightly to practice plural nouns. To do this, the person who is “packing” must always bring more than one of an item. You can ask the students to overemphasize the endings of the nouns they choose.

I am going on a holiday. In my suitcase I will bring…two appleZ.

I am going on a holiday. In my suitcase I will bring two appleZ and…three bananaZ.

Adding Tricky “Rules”

If there are certain endings that you want your students to work on, you can take out the alphabetizing aspect of the game and introduce a “pronunciation rule”. Place the following rules on the board (or use this handout) and hold up a certain amount of fingers when you want a student to only choose a noun with a certain ending.

If you use the printout, decide if you want to give your students page one (no hint) or page two (with hints) or page 3 (IPA and hints).

Use only nouns ending in:

• RULE 1: “s, ch, sh, z, and j” sounds (=/Iz/ )
• RULE 2: vowels ( =/z/) 
• RULE 3: “b, d, g, l, m, n, r, v, w, y, voiced th” sounds (=/z/)
• RULE 4: “f, k, p, t” sounds ( =/s/)
• RULE 5: “voiceless th” sounds (=/s/)

To make this game easy, we have used the same sounds as in the Phonics worksheet (preview at the bottom of this post). If your students are familiar with IPA, please see page 3 in the PDF.

A Plural Party

Remembering a bunch of plural items may be too tricky. How many apples did she say? Instead, put the focus on the plural nouns themselves.

The first person turns to another student and says:

I’m hosting a Plural Party and I need you to bring…balloonZ.

The teachers adds a “Rule” by holding up 4 fingers. The second person notes the rule and turns to another student:

I’m going to a Plural Party and I’m bringing balloonZ. I need you to bring…hatS.

The third person notices that the rule has changed to 5. He might not be able to think of something logical, but that’s okay! He could say:

“I’m going to a Plural Party and I’m bringing hatS. I need you to bring…one hundred mothS.

In this way, it is only necessary for each student to remember what one person said before. Then they add their own example based on the number of fingers the teacher is holding up.

Reviewing Plurals

The teacher, or a designated party organizer, could keep track of all of the items mentioned while the game is being played. At the end of the game, you could review all of the items that will be at the Plural Party. As a follow-up to the game, why not have a real Plural Party in your classroom? Each student can be in charge of bringing in one set or group of things (decorations, food, etc.).
I’ll bring the plates. I’ll bring the chips! I’ll bring the tablecloths! 

Before you try this game, be sure to try this week’s featured Phonics Lesson. Find this lesson in the Phonics Cafe – Book 3.

     

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