EL Considerations for Phonological/Phonemic Awareness Instruction

Phonological Awareness Activities

English learners should have no more difficulty with most phonological awareness activities than do English-proficient children because these activities simply ask students to listen to, reproduce, and manipulate sounds. Since you will model how the sounds are formed and the different activities, students are able to do these activities. Also, because there are consistent instructional routines, students quickly learn what is expected of them. These phonemic awareness activities actually help young English learners learn the language.

• Since the activities focus on sounds, these young learners become sensitive to the sounds of English.
• Use of pictures in many of the phonemic awareness activities support students' understanding of English words.
• Carefully structured activities insure that students have repeated opportunities to work with sounds throughout the whole year.

Be aware, however, that differences may exist between the sounds of English and the sounds of your English learners' primary languages. Also keep in mind that some sounds in English do not appear in other languages. Before working with such sounds, you might want to preteach the activities with English learners in Workshop. Practicing the English sounds will give these students the confidence they need to participate fully in the whole-class activities. As part of the practice, provide the students with extra opportunities to see you model the sounds and understand how the sounds are formed.

Oral Blending/Segmentation

English learners may have some difficulty with oral blending/segmentation activities because some of the words used may not be in their oral vocabularies, and they might be distracted by trying to figure out the words' meanings. In Workshop, clarify the meanings of any words that you think might distract children by connecting visuals or physical actions to the words. You might also provide a context for the words and allow English learners to use them in sentences. This will have the added benefit of promoting vocabulary growth.