INTRODUCTION

The following Supplementary classes are aimed at students who have never
been exposed to the Roman alphabet. The starting point of reading English for
this type of learner is to recognize the letters of the alphabet. Then students
need to be able to see words in two different ways: they need to see and
comprehend the whole word as a meaningful symbol and they need to be able
to understand and pronounce it as a series of sounds. The following classes
have been developed to help these learners with both tasks. When the classes
are introduced and in what order should be determined by the needs of the
students.

SUPPLEMENTARY

CONTENTS
Teaching the alphabet.

OUTLINE
1. The alphabet-chunking down
2. The alphabet
3. Alphabet sounds
4. Dictation
5. ABC song

YOU WILL NEED

2. Photocopies of the alphabet
3. Photocopies of the alphabet sounds
4. Same photocopy as in 2
5. Photocopies of the ABC song.

PROCEDURE
1.

The alphabet-chunking down.

Say each letter then write it on the board. Teach it in the following chunks (the
same division is made in the ABC song.):
ABCD/EFG/HIJK/LMNOP/QRST/UVW/XYZ Use this 4 step
comprehension/production model: 1. Pronounce each letter then point to it. Go
through all the letters several times. 2 Then ask at random Which one is D? or
simply D? and get them to point to each letter. 3. Now you point to a letter and
elicit its name. 4. Lastly have them listen and repeat, first one letter at a time
then the whole series in each chunk.

2.

The alphabet.
Photocopy and pass out the alphabet sheet containing both upper and lower
case letters. Conduct a dramatic reading. Set up a call and response with your
students by pronouncing the upper case letter in a deep resounding voice and
having them answer back as the chorus in a high lyrical tone taking the part of
the lower case letter. They should follow by reading the lowercase letters on the
photocopy as if from sheet music. Keep it lively and fun. Once youve gone
through the alphabet a couple of times ask them to repeat after you each time
you pronounce the capital letter in a bass voice, then you pronounce the small
letter in a small high voice.

3.

Alphabet sounds
Photocopy and pass out the alphabet sheet containing the letters organized into
sound groups. Go over pronunciation with students. Conduct a similar dramatic
reading.

4.

Dictation
Students put away photocopy 3 and now use the photocopy from activity 2 to
identify the letters you dictate. Have them circle each letter and connect the
letters in each sound group. Dictate the following letters

5.

ABC song
Teach your students the ABC song.

TOOLS
2.

The alphabet

Aa

Bb

Cc

Dd

Ee

Ff

Gg

Hh

Ii

Jj

Kk

Ll

Mm

Nn

Oo

Pp

Qq

Rr

Ss

Tt

Uu

Vv

Ww

Xx

Yy

Zz

3.

Alphabet sounds

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5.

ABC song

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SUPPLEMENTARY

CONTENTS
Teaching the main vowel and consonant sounds.

OUTLINE
1. Vowels: the short sounds.
2. Vowels: the long sounds.
3. The vowel names.
4. Consonants.
5. The consonant names.

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PROCEDURE
1.

Vowels: the short sounds

While teaching the names of the letters of the alphabet it is important to teach
the sound each letter makes. First say each word on the list- then write it on the
board. Draw a simple picture of what it means next to it and repeat the word. (If
necessary, translate vocabulary into the students language) Now repeat the
sound of each short beginning vowel twice and then the word. eg AA ant...
Students listen and repeat.
AA ant
E E egg
I I in
O O on
U U up

2.

Vowels: the long sounds

First say each word on the list- then write it on the board. Draw a simple picture
of what it means next to it and repeat the word. (If necessary, translate
vocabulary into their language) Now repeat the sound of the beginning vowel
twice and then each word. Students listen and repeat.
AA ape
E E eagle
I I ice
O O ocean
U U unicorn

3.

The vowel names

Write the vowels on the board in pairs of upper and lower case letters and teach
the names of the letters. Use this 4 step comprehension/production model: 1.
Pronounce each letter then point to it. Go through all the vowels several times.
2 Then ask Which one is O? or simply O? and get them to point to each
letter at random 3. Now you point to a letter and elicit its name. 4. Lastly have
them listen and repeat. First one letter at a time then the series: Aa Ee Ii Oo Uu

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4.

Consonants
While teaching the names of the letters of the alphabet it is important to teach
the sound each letter makes. First say each word- then write it on the board.
Draw a simple picture of what it means next to it and repeat the word.
(If necessary, translate vocabulary into their language) Now repeat the sound of
the beginning consonant twice and then the word. eg Ba Ba bag. Students
listen and repeat.
bag

nut

can

cat

pen

circle

dog

rug

girl

fan

sun

giant

hen

tent

quilt

jam

wall

x-ray

kitten

yes

xylophone.

log

zip

mop

5.

The consonant names

Write the consonants on the board in upper and lowercase letters and teach the
names of the letters. Divide the letters into groups of 4 or 5 and teach them in
chunks. Use this 4 step comprehension/production model: 1. Pronounce each
letter then point to it. Go through all the consonants several times. 2 Ask
Which one is B? or simply B? and get them to point to each letter 3. Now you
point to a letter and elicit its name. 4. Now have them listen and repeat.

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SUPPLEMENTARY

CONTENTS
Games for letter and phonics recognition.

OUTLINE
1. Matching letters
2. Matching sounds
3. Phonic Slapjack
4. Alphabet Bingo
5. Phonics practice

YOU WILL NEED

2. To make alphabet cards
3. To make alphabet cards
4. To make alphabet cards

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PROCEDURE
1.

Matching letters
Write the alphabet in upper case letters on two sets of cards Do the same for
lower case letters (or photocopy, cut out and paste the letters from
Supplementary class 2.) Divide the students into groups. Shuffle together one
pile each of upper and lower case letters and hand out to each group. Have
them match upper and lower case letters. The winner is the first group to finish
matching the letters correctly.

2.

Matching sounds
Write the alphabet in upper case letters on two sets of cards. Do the same for
lower case letters. Divide the students into groups, hand out some upper case
letters and some lower case to each group and ask them to put the letters into
piles with the same sounds eg A, J, k, h, or B, c, D etc. The winner is the first
group to finish categorizing the letters correctly.

3.

Phonic Slapjack
Create a pack of cards with the alphabet written in both upper and lower case
letters. Shuffle the pack and divide it into equal piles, face down, one pile for
each player. Each player takes a card from the top of her pile and places it face
up in turn to make a pile between them. When two cards appear with the same
sound the first player to slap the cards- and then say the sound correctly- wins
all the cards in the pile. Play until the someone ends up with all the cards.

4.

Alphabet Bingo
Photocopy and hand out the bingo cards to students or make your own cards.
Read out letters of the alphabet randomly. First student to fill whole card wins.

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5.

Phonics Practice
Most of the sounds in the English language are contained in the following
words. First say each word- then write it on the board. Draw a simple picture of
what it means next to it and repeat the word. (If necessary, translate vocabulary
into their language) Students listen and repeat.
cat

tree

smoke

dog

man

turtle

fish

snake

chair

pig

car

house

sun

jump

oil

ping pong

hand

horse

bed

yarn

wheel

rabbit

moon

unicorn

robot

kite

book

leg

zipper

butter

three

strawberry

bread

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TOOLS
4.

Alphabet Bingo

A J K

M P R

E Z Q

Q N Z

X T I

W U I

Z X C

V B N

M N B

L K J

K H G

F D S

A S D

H F R

Q W E

T Y U

P O I

H M O

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SUPPLEMENTARY

CONTENTS
Teaching the alphabet. Writing letters.
Writing their names.

OUTLINE
1. Writing the letters of the alphabet
2. Letter shapes
3. Confusing letters
4. Alphabet backwriting
5. Writing names

YOU WILL NEED

1. Photocopies of the how to print letters

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PROCEDURE
1.

Writing the letters of the alphabet

First make sure they know the numbers 1-5. Then hand out photocopies and
go over each letter, both small and capital letters and have students follow
arrows to learn how to print letters correctly. Give them plenty of time to practice
or assign as homework.

2.

Letter shapes
Consider what the shapes of letters suggest to the students- an h might be a
chair, an o a ball etc.

3.

Confusing letters
Write the following letter pairs one at a time on the board and go over
pronunciation: JG, BV, QK, SX, MN, HJ, PB. Now dictate the letter pairs
changing the order of presentation. Check students work and go over any
difficulties.

4.

Alphabet backwriting
Students stand at the board in pairs. Student A faces the board while student B
practices writing letters of the alphabet on student As back. Student B should
randomly print one letter at a time using either upper or lower case letters. B
should trace the letter with his/her finger pressing fairly hard and using student
As back as a blackboard. Student A then has to reproduce on the board the
letter written on his/her back. After about 10 minutes they change positions.
Then pairs are switched so all students have had a chance to work together.
Once students have mastered writing the alphabet this game can be used for
spelling words or even writing whole sentences.

5.

Writing names
Help students (sound out and) write out their own names. Put the names of
students on cards or write randomly one at a time on the board. Ask Whose
name is this? or simply Who?. Students identify correct person. Now, how
many words can they make from their own names?

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TOOLS
2.

These letters with numbers show how to

print the alphabet.

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SUPPLEMENTARY

CONTENTS
Spelling basic vocabulary.

OUTLINE
1. Spelling strategy
2. Labels
3. Blended starter sounds
4. Silent E
5. Word jigsaw puzzles
6. First spelling bee
7. Alphabet scrapbooks

YOU WILL NEED

2. To make labels
5. To make word jigsaw puzzles

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PROCEDURE
1.

Spelling strategy
To teach students to write words from memory and not by copying write
vocabulary in large letters in the upper left corner of the board. This leads
students into using the eye accessing movements for remembered images.
(Most right-handed people will look up and to their left when accessing
remembered images.) Have them look up and take a picture of the word. Now
cover it (or erase it). They now write from memory. Show them the word. They
check; if what theyve written is not correct have them repeat steps. Use
selected vocabulary from Survival 1 list.

2.

Labels
Help students make and put big written labels on things in the classroom: book,
chair, table, wall, door, blackboard etc.

3.

Blended starter sounds

Work on their pronunciation of starter sounds from the Survival 1 vocab list:
briefcase British brother. France French friend. immigration international.
Swedish. Switzerland.

4.

Silent E
Teach them the Magic E. With words like: at hat fat mat rat mad rip pin pop tub
bar car hop us fad etc. where adding the silent magic e changes the
pronunciation of the vowel from a short sound to a long one.

5.

Word jigsaw puzzles

Write wordsets of 2 or 3 syllables from Survival 1 vocab list on cards with
enough space between the syllables to cut the cards out in a jigsaw pattern.
Mix up word fragments from sets and put into equal piles. Students then must
work in pairs to reassemble words correctly. First pair to assemble all words
wins.

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6.

First spelling bee

2 teams stand in lines facing each other. Teacher stands between the 2 lines at
board with a prepared vocab list from Survival 1. Teacher writes the end of a
word on the blackboard and asks first person to add the first letter to make a
word. (eg teacher writes ho student adds w, nd/a, es/y, ou/y, our/y, etc. Teacher
alternates between teams. If a student spells a word incorrectly (they choose
the wrong beginning letter) they have to sit down are eliminated from the group.
The same word is given to opposing team. Team with most members left
standing wins.

7.

Alphabet scrapbook
For homework they could create their own alphabet scrapbook using a page for
each letter. They cut out and stick in objects from magazine photos etc. that
begin with each letter.

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SUPPLEMENTARY

CONTENTS
Phonics practice.
Word games

OUTLINE
1. Phonics practice with short vowels
2. Phonics practice with consonants
3. Memory game
4. Phonic pick up
5. Word chain
6. Make a word
7. Bingo

YOU WILL NEED

3. to make word cards from photocopies
4. to make word cards from photocopies
7. to make bingo cards from photocopies

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PROCEDURE
1.

Phonics practice short vowels

Review and practice the following short vowel sounds:
pat pet pit pot putt put
bit bet sit set tin ten
men man bed bad mess mass
pot pat mod mad cod cad
cot cut pot putt not nut
Write the words on the board and go over them with students.

2.

Phonics practice consonants

Review and practice the following consonant sounds:
pin bin
tin din
come gum
chin gin
tram dram
fan van
think this
sip zip
ship measure
how
sum sun sung
wet yet
Write the words on the board and go over them with students.

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3.

Memory Game
Use the photocopy to make sets of rhyming words. Place them face down on
the table in neat rows of five. Each student turns over two cards to find a
matching sound. When student finds one s/he keeps the 2 cards and gets
another turn until s/he misses. If the cards dont match theyre turned face down
in the same place. When all cards have been matched the player with the most
cards wins.

4.

Phonic pick up
Use the photocopy to make cards. Spread out cards on table, face up. Now
write a word on the blackboard. Students have to grab as many cards as they
can containing the same beginning sound but can only keep them if they can
pronounce them correctly. Student with most cards wins. (This game could also
be played using rhyming sounds or ending sounds.)

5.

Word chains
Write a word on the board. Students work in pairs. They can only change one
letter at a time to make a chain of words. The longest chain wins. For example
start the game with fat = sat-sad-mad- made. A variation of this game is to start
the new word with the last letter of previous one.

6.

Make a word
Write 2 letter beginning combinations on the board eg ST. In pairs students
have to add letters to make a word. ST = student study start etc.

6.

Bingo
Photocopy bingo cards and distribute to students. Randomly read off the
Survival 1 vocab list. First player to cover a complete line either across down or
diagonally wins.

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TOOLS
3.

Memory game

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4.

Phonics pick up

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3.

Bingo

address
bed
brother

American
beer
city

and
boxer
coffee

country
day
appointment embassy
France
friend

detective
floor
doctor

German
Japan
lawyer

hotel
international
listen

full
Italy
model

dollar
husband
nice

ask
horrible
nationality

document
pen
only

key
briefcase
come

journalist
British
computer

passport
photographer
pilot

poor
room
teacher

receptionist
secretary
es

suitcase
where
wife

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SUPPLEMENTARY

CONTENTS
Phonics practice
Spelling
Word games

OUTLINE
1. Silent letters
2. Missing vowels
3. Team words
4. Card scrabble
5. Hangman

YOU WILL NEED

3. to make word cards
4. to make letter cards from photocopies

41

PROCEDURE
1.

Silent letters
Teach the following common silent letters:

2.

scent

scene

scissors

know

knee

knot

wrong

write

wrist

right

fight

eight

would

could

should

fruit

suit

Missing vowels
Use words from Survival 1 vocabulary to write on board with missing vowels.
Students work in teams to supply missing vowels. Teacher alternates between
teams. For example teacher writes stdnt and a person from the first team has to
put in the u and the e. Organize like a spelling bee. If the student spells a word
incorrectly (they choose the wrong vowels) they have to sit down and are
eliminated from the group. The same word is then given to opposing team.
Team with most members left standing wins.

3.

Team words
Prepare 2 duplicate sets of large cards with the letters from words from the
vocabulary list. (You could target lexical sets, eg. professions or nationalities
etc.) Use the same number of cards with exactly the same letters distributed
among members of 2 teams. Teacher calls out a word and the students hold the
letters up to spell it. The first team to spell the word gets a point. Team with
most points is winner.

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4.

Card scrabble
Use the tools sheet to prepare 77 cards:
5 each with the letters e t a o h
4 each with n r s i d l
3 with

uwmc

2 with

gfypb

1 with

kvjxzq

The game is played in pairs. 2 students each have 6 cards face up in front of
them. The rest of the pack is placed face down with one card face up on top of
the pack. The first student tries to make a word using any of the cards
displayed. If s/he cant make a word s/he must take a card from the deck. A
student can take another ones card by adding to it. (eg hop/hope.) The winner
is the student who ends up with the most cards.

5.

Hangman
Have students work in pairs to play hangman with words from the vocabulary
list. On the board draw the same number of dashes as the word youre thinking
of from the list. The students take turns calling out letters. If the word contains
the letter called out, write it in the correct position. If not draw one part of the
hanged man.

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TOOLS
3.

Card Scrabble

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