"how do you say" an activity to teach pronunciation

How Do You Say ?
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Activity
Title: How do you say ?
Pronunciation focus: difficult sounds
Activity Type: group work
Time: 20 minutes
Level: Upper Primary School Students/Junior Secondary School
Students
Introduction
This activity helps students to work in a fun and collaborative way on
how to pronounce the words they are learning. The teacher selects a
group of words to review. Choose words that the class find difficult to
pronounce.
Preparation
Here are some examples of words you could use on a topic of food at
home: Dumplings, sausages, lettuce, fridge, cupboard, etc These words
all contain difficulty to pronounce sounds.
Step1: Put the students in groups of six. Each student has a number from
one to six.
Step2: The teacher spells out a word, e.g. L-E-T-T-U-C-E. Each group
works together to pronounce it well.
Step3: Ask one student in each group to say the word. Pick the student
number at random, e.g. number five goes first. The student says the
word loudly and clearly, but does not shout it. The teacher keeps a score
on a piece of paper for each group and each good pronunciation gets a
point.
Tip: Try and be very encouraging so this is fun and a challenge and does
not make the student feel shy. Pick the students to say the word at
random, not 1,2,3,4,5,6. It is important that it is a team effort. The
teacher can model the sound again if it is hard and let everyone have

another try.
Step4: Ask a few students to pronounce the word and get the whole class
to practise the pronunciation a few times.
Step5: Move on to next word and repeat step 2 and 3. Each time the
teacher asks the students to say the word for you, nominate another team
member by their number.
The teacher can also ask the students to prepare words for each other and
play the game in groups.