Shop and Chop: Practice with fricatives and affricates

Need to offer upper level students some practice with troubling fricatives and affricates? Consider using this activity, which contextualizes the sounds in a fun and meaningful way.

Step 1 – Read the list of phrases in the box in Task A (see Shop and Chop_activity) and have students listen and repeat after you. Next, ask them to underline fricatives: “Which words have the sounds /ʃ/ and /ʒ/? These sounds create friction. The sounds are made because you are forcing air out a tight place in your mouth. Let’s underline these sounds.” Then ask them to circle affricates: “Which words have the sounds /dʒ/ and /tʃ/? These sounds stop air before letting it out. When it does come out, there’s friction. Let’s circle these sounds.” You may have them try identifying the sounds independently and then correct their work as a class.

                 

Step 2 – Ask students to complete Task A in pairs. They must sort the phrases under the headings “What we shop for” and “What we measure”.

Answers.

What we shop for: beige shoes, a box of tissues, bed sheets, a bag of sugar, desk chair, a set of dishes, a jar of jam

What we measure: our shoe size, 2 cups of sugar, the weight of a precious gem, a tablespoon of margarine, 20/20 vision                                 

Step 3 – After correcting students’ work in Task A, have them continue working in pairs. In Task B, they must list as many answers as possible in five minutes.

Optional: Turn Task B into a game. Award 1 point for each item and 2 points if the item listed contains one fricatives /ʃ/ or /ʒ/ or one affricate /dʒ/ and /tʃ/.

About these ads

Explore posts in the same categories: Pronunciation

Tags: affricates, EFL, English With Jennifer, ESL, ESOL, fricatives, Jennifer Lebedev, JenniferESL, Pearson Longman, pronunciation activities, TEFL, TESL

You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.