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Phonology is the study of the sounds of a language. When spoken, English can sound like an unbroken string of sounds, but it is actually made up of many smaller sound units, called phonemes.

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(1) Phonological skills of ELLs increase over time and as a function of age of arrival and time (Morrow et al, 2014).

(2) For literacy development, phonemic awareness is the important process where children learn to hear and break down words into the individual sounds, blend sounds, and manipulate sounds to make new words.

(3) Knowing the sounds associated with letters (phonics) helps ELLs decode new words when reading.

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Morphology refers to how words are internally structured. The study of morphologyinvestigates the various linguistic units within words and how they are combined toform words (Reynolds et al, 2022)

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Morrow, A., Goldstein, B. A., Gilhool, A., & Paradis, J. (2014). Phonological skills in English language learners. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 45(1), 26-39.

Reynolds, K. M., Dikilitas, K., & Close, S. (2022). Introduction to TESOL: Becoming a language teaching professional. Wiley. ISBN-13: 9781119632696

Wei, L. (2021). Teaching academic vocabulary to English language learners (ELLs). Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 11(12), 1507-1514.

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(1) Understanding morphology helps ELLs break down complex words into meaningful parts (roots, prefixes, suffixes).

(2) Learning about Morphemes allows ELLs to recognize and understand unfamiliar words. For instance, recognizing that the root word "educate" is part of "education" or "educator" helps learners infer the meanings of these related terms, improving their reading comprehension.

(3) Knowledge of how words are structured aids in spelling. ELLs who understand morphology can apply rules when writing, which leads to better spelling and grammar.

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Onset and Rime Awareness: Lost Beginnings. Explain to children that you found a bunch of words that are missing their beginning sounds. Can children find beginning sounds that will make these words complete again?

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Phonological awareness is an essential skill, without which students cannot become strong, independent readers. The Science of Reading identifies phonological awareness as one of the critical elements of reading, along with phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and reading comprehension.

However, because phonological awareness primarily deals with spoken language, rather than written language, it can be challenging to find classroom-friendly activities that provide students with engaging, targeted practice with this foundational skill.

Luckily, we've collected 50 of our favorite phonological awareness activities in one guide! These ready-to-use activities are the perfect addition to any kindergarten, first grade, or second grade classroom.

Complete the short form on this page to access your free copy of 50 Fun Phonological Activities for the full list of activities, or keep reading to see 15 sample activities from the guide.

What is phonological awareness?

At a high level, phonological awareness is the ability to notice, think about, and work with the sounds in the spoken language.

Broken down into more detail, phonological awareness encompasses five key skills:

Word Awareness: Understanding that sentences and phrases can be broken down into individual words; counting words in a sentence or phrase

Rhyme awareness: Identifying and later producing words that rhyme

Syllable awareness: Dividing a word into its component syllables; counting syllables in a word; manipulating syllables

Onset and rime awareness: Identifying words that start (onset) or end (rime) with the same sound, often practiced via alliteration

Phonemic awareness: The term phonemic awareness comprises six discrete skills

What is phonemic awareness?

Phonemic awareness is the ability to notice, think about, and work with the individual sounds (or phonemes) in words. Phonemic awareness is part of the larger category of phonological awareness.

Phonemic awareness describes six distinct skills:

Isolation: Identifying the specific phonemes within words

Segmenting: Dividing a word into its component phonemes

Blending: Combining sounds to form syllables or words

Deletion: Removing a phoneme from a word

Addition: Adding a phoneme to a word

Manipulation or substitution: Replacing one phoneme in a word with another phoneme

Try these fun phonological awareness activities!

1. Word Awareness: Clap Along

Before children can start identifying the sounds in words, they need to be able to divide sentences and phrases into individual words.

One fun activity is to have students clap once for each word in a sentence. Start by speaking a simple sentence out loud, such as " He walks." Clap as you say each word. Then model the activity again, this time with a longer sentence such as " He walks to school. "

Now have students practice by clapping once for each word as you speak simple sentences out loud.

Tip: Make this more motivating for children by using their names in the sentences. For example, "Jayden waves to his friend." or "Kali rides her bike."

2. Rhyme Awareness: Rhyme Match

For this, you will need picture cards with common animals and objects on them, such as bat, cat, can, fan, man, pan. Show the cards one at a time and identify the word each picture represents.

Now, hold up two picture cards at the same time. Say the words out loud or have the students say the words out loud. Ask students to stand up if the words rhyme, or sit down if they do not rhyme. Repeat until you have gone through all card combinations.

3. Rhyme Awareness: Stand and Rhyme

You will need one set of picture cards for this activity. One at a time, hold up a picture card. Have students stand if they can think of a word that rhymes with the word represented by the picture card.

Ask a student who stood up to share the rhyming word they thought of. Tell students to sit down if the word shared was the rhyming word they thought of, but remain standing if they thought of a different rhyming word. Have students share rhyming words one at a time until the entire class is sitting, then repeat the activity with a new picture card.

Tip: If a student provides a rhyming nonsense word, explain: "That word rhymes, but it is a silly word! It doesn't have a meaning that we know."

4. Syllable Awareness: Syllable Sort

Kids can do this activity independently or in pairs. Provide a set of picture cards representing one-, two-, and three-syllable words such as ball, baseball, basketball, sun, sunset, bag, banana, pan, potato. Have children sort the picture cards into piles based on how many syllables each word has.

5. Onset and Rime Awareness: Lost Beginnings

Explain to children that you found a bunch of words that are missing their beginning sounds. Can children find beginning sounds that will make these words complete again? Practice with the following onsets (example answers provided in parentheses):

6. Phonemic Awareness - Isolation: Initial Sound Sort

Separate students into pairs or small groups, and give each group a set of picture cards for simple three-phoneme words. Explain to students that they will first say the name of each picture card, and then identify the beginning sound in each word.

Next, working as a group, students will sort the picture cards according to their initial sounds. For example, map, man, and mug should together be in one pile, and pan, pig, and pen should be in another pile.

Tip: Use this activity to practice medial and final sounds, too!

7. Phonemic Awareness - Isolation: Medial Sound Match

Identifying medial sounds can be more challenging for children than identifying initial sounds, so it can be beneficial to give children extra practice with this skill. In your classroom, display picture cards: pan, men, wig, hot, and mug. Work with children to identify the medial sound of each word: /a/, /e/, /i/, /o/, and /u/.

Now, one by one, give each student a new picture card, such as fan. Help the student sound out the word, and then ask the student to identify the middle sound in the word. Have the student stand next to the displayed picture card with the same middle sound (so the child holding the fan picture card should stand next to the displayed pan picture card).

8. Phonemic Awareness - Isolation: Final Sound, Activate!

Explain to children that they are on the hunt for the final sound /k/, like in duck. You are going to say a list of words out, and if the word ends with the final sound /k/, the children should act out that sound. (Remind children to stay in their own spaces as they act out words.) If the word does not end with the final sound /k/, children should remain still.

One by one, say the following action words: walk, hop, sit, look, write, shake, bake, stand, run.

9. Phonemic Awareness - Segmenting: Team Sound

Divide the class into three teams: Beginning, Middle, and Ending. Say a three-phoneme word such as pen or duck. Ask Team Beginning to pronounce the beginning sound, then have Team Middle pronounce the middle sound and Team Ending pronounce the ending sound. After several rounds, mix up the teams so students have to listen for sounds in different word positions.

10. Phonemic Awareness - Blending: Simon Says Blend

Tell students that you're going to play a special version of Simon Says. Instead of telling them what to do, Simon is going to sound out the commands! For example, you'll say: "Simon Says /s/ /i/ /t/" and students will need to blend the sounds. Once they have blended the sounds into a new word, they should act out the word (sit). (Remind children to stay in their own spaces as they act out words.) Use commands like hop, spin, swim, run, look, eat.

11. Phonemic Awareness - Addition: Sound Thief

Tell children that a thief came in and stole the /t/ sound from a group of words, and you need their help restoring the /t/ sound to these words! Ask children to help you decide if the /t/ sound should be added to the beginning or end of each word. One by one, go through the following words: pan (pant), ten (tent), rain (train), rap (trap), in (tin), win (twin), car (cart), and rim (trim).

Tip: Add extra challenge by including words where the /t/ sound could be added to the beginning or end of a word. For example, an (tan / ant) and are (art, tar).

12. Phonemic Awareness - Deletion: Beanbag Toss: Remove /s/

Explain to children that they're going to practice removing /s/ from the beginning of words. When a child catches the beanbag, you're going to give them a word, and they will remove the /s/ from the front of that word. The child can then (gently) toss the beanbag to another child. For this activity, use: slow (low), slip (lip), sand (and), seat (eat), snap (nap), sold (old), stop (top), spin (pin), span (pan), slap (lap), scan (can), sink (ink), self (elf), scar (car), spot (pot), and spit (pit).

Tip: Reinforce vocabulary by having children discuss the meaning of each word. Explain any words students are not familiar with.

13. Phonemic Awareness - Addition & Deletion: Concentration

For this game, you will need pairs of picture cards where a phoneme has been removed or added, such as leg and egg, deer and ear, mice and ice, pot and spot, lip and clip. Put children in pairs, then have partners play "Concentration" by turning over two cards and making matches when they find two words where one word in the pair is made by adding a sound to the beginning of the other word in the pair. When children make a match, they keep the cards. When they don't, children return the cards where they were, facedown. Play continues until children have matched all the cards.

Tip: You can also plan this game with final phonemes, using words like car and cart, bell and belt, bee and bead, ten and tent, pass and past.

14. Phonemic Awareness - Manipulation & Substitution: Backwards Words

Oh no! You had a list of words, but somehow the sounds in your words have been put together backwards. One by one, ask children to help you sound out each word, then put the word back together in the reverse order. Practice with these words: tab / bat, sick / kiss, pit / tip, lime / mile, pack / cap, pot / top, sale / lace, tell / let, back / cab, net / ten, feel / leaf.

15. Phonemic Awareness - Manipulation & Substitution: Word Creation

Give students a starting word, such as pan. Put students in small groups and ask them to work together to come up with as many new words as possible by changing one sound in the starting word. For example, pan can become ban, can, fan, man, ran, tan, van (initial phoneme substitution), pen, pin, pun (medial phoneme substitution), and pad, pack, pal, pat (final phoneme substitution).

Tip: Reinforce phonics by having students write down the new words. Depending on students' skill level, accept approximate spellings.

Ready for more phonological awareness activities, games, and fun?

Be sure to complete the form at the top of this page to get your free copy of 50 Fun Phonological Awareness Activities!

You can find even more activities - plus interactive digital practice, educational games, articulation videos, and so much more - in Savvas Essentials™: Foundational Reading, a new supplemental program designed just for Grades K-2.

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Help students master phonological awareness and phonemic awareness with these 50 fun, free activities!

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2. Rhyme Awareness: Rhyme Match. hold up two picture cards at the same time. Say the words out loud or have the students say the words out loud. Ask students to stand up if the words rhyme, or sit down if they do not rhyme.

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Phonological awareness is an essential skill, without which students cannot become strong, independent readers. The Science of Reading identifies phonological awareness as one of the critical elements of reading, along with phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and reading comprehension.

However, because phonological awareness primarily deals with spoken language, rather than written language, it can be challenging to find classroom-friendly activities that provide students with engaging, targeted practice with this foundational skill.

Luckily, we've collected 50 of our favorite phonological awareness activities in one guide! These ready-to-use activities are the perfect addition to any kindergarten, first grade, or second grade classroom.

Complete the short form on this page to access your free copy of 50 Fun Phonological Activities for the full list of activities, or keep reading to see 15 sample activities from the guide.

What is phonological awareness?

At a high level, phonological awareness is the ability to notice, think about, and work with the sounds in the spoken language.

Broken down into more detail, phonological awareness encompasses five key skills:

Word Awareness: Understanding that sentences and phrases can be broken down into individual words; counting words in a sentence or phrase

Rhyme awareness: Identifying and later producing words that rhyme

Syllable awareness: Dividing a word into its component syllables; counting syllables in a word; manipulating syllables

Onset and rime awareness: Identifying words that start (onset) or end (rime) with the same sound, often practiced via alliteration

Phonemic awareness: The term phonemic awareness comprises six discrete skills

What is phonemic awareness?

Phonemic awareness is the ability to notice, think about, and work with the individual sounds (or phonemes) in words. Phonemic awareness is part of the larger category of phonological awareness.

Phonemic awareness describes six distinct skills:

Isolation: Identifying the specific phonemes within words

Segmenting: Dividing a word into its component phonemes

Blending: Combining sounds to form syllables or words

Deletion: Removing a phoneme from a word

Addition: Adding a phoneme to a word

Manipulation or substitution: Replacing one phoneme in a word with another phoneme

Try these fun phonological awareness activities!

1. Word Awareness: Clap Along

Before children can start identifying the sounds in words, they need to be able to divide sentences and phrases into individual words.

One fun activity is to have students clap once for each word in a sentence. Start by speaking a simple sentence out loud, such as " He walks." Clap as you say each word. Then model the activity again, this time with a longer sentence such as " He walks to school. "

Now have students practice by clapping once for each word as you speak simple sentences out loud.

Tip: Make this more motivating for children by using their names in the sentences. For example, "Jayden waves to his friend." or "Kali rides her bike."

2. Rhyme Awareness: Rhyme Match

For this, you will need picture cards with common animals and objects on them, such as bat, cat, can, fan, man, pan. Show the cards one at a time and identify the word each picture represents.

Now, hold up two picture cards at the same time. Say the words out loud or have the students say the words out loud. Ask students to stand up if the words rhyme, or sit down if they do not rhyme. Repeat until you have gone through all card combinations.

3. Rhyme Awareness: Stand and Rhyme

You will need one set of picture cards for this activity. One at a time, hold up a picture card. Have students stand if they can think of a word that rhymes with the word represented by the picture card.

Ask a student who stood up to share the rhyming word they thought of. Tell students to sit down if the word shared was the rhyming word they thought of, but remain standing if they thought of a different rhyming word. Have students share rhyming words one at a time until the entire class is sitting, then repeat the activity with a new picture card.

Tip: If a student provides a rhyming nonsense word, explain: "That word rhymes, but it is a silly word! It doesn't have a meaning that we know."

4. Syllable Awareness: Syllable Sort

Kids can do this activity independently or in pairs. Provide a set of picture cards representing one-, two-, and three-syllable words such as ball, baseball, basketball, sun, sunset, bag, banana, pan, potato. Have children sort the picture cards into piles based on how many syllables each word has.

5. Onset and Rime Awareness: Lost Beginnings

Explain to children that you found a bunch of words that are missing their beginning sounds. Can children find beginning sounds that will make these words complete again? Practice with the following onsets (example answers provided in parentheses):

6. Phonemic Awareness - Isolation: Initial Sound Sort

Separate students into pairs or small groups, and give each group a set of picture cards for simple three-phoneme words. Explain to students that they will first say the name of each picture card, and then identify the beginning sound in each word.

Next, working as a group, students will sort the picture cards according to their initial sounds. For example, map, man, and mug should together be in one pile, and pan, pig, and pen should be in another pile.

Tip: Use this activity to practice medial and final sounds, too!

7. Phonemic Awareness - Isolation: Medial Sound Match

Identifying medial sounds can be more challenging for children than identifying initial sounds, so it can be beneficial to give children extra practice with this skill. In your classroom, display picture cards: pan, men, wig, hot, and mug. Work with children to identify the medial sound of each word: /a/, /e/, /i/, /o/, and /u/.

Now, one by one, give each student a new picture card, such as fan. Help the student sound out the word, and then ask the student to identify the middle sound in the word. Have the student stand next to the displayed picture card with the same middle sound (so the child holding the fan picture card should stand next to the displayed pan picture card).

8. Phonemic Awareness - Isolation: Final Sound, Activate!

Explain to children that they are on the hunt for the final sound /k/, like in duck. You are going to say a list of words out, and if the word ends with the final sound /k/, the children should act out that sound. (Remind children to stay in their own spaces as they act out words.) If the word does not end with the final sound /k/, children should remain still.

One by one, say the following action words: walk, hop, sit, look, write, shake, bake, stand, run.

9. Phonemic Awareness - Segmenting: Team Sound

Divide the class into three teams: Beginning, Middle, and Ending. Say a three-phoneme word such as pen or duck. Ask Team Beginning to pronounce the beginning sound, then have Team Middle pronounce the middle sound and Team Ending pronounce the ending sound. After several rounds, mix up the teams so students have to listen for sounds in different word positions.

10. Phonemic Awareness - Blending: Simon Says Blend

Tell students that you're going to play a special version of Simon Says. Instead of telling them what to do, Simon is going to sound out the commands! For example, you'll say: "Simon Says /s/ /i/ /t/" and students will need to blend the sounds. Once they have blended the sounds into a new word, they should act out the word (sit). (Remind children to stay in their own spaces as they act out words.) Use commands like hop, spin, swim, run, look, eat.

11. Phonemic Awareness - Addition: Sound Thief

Tell children that a thief came in and stole the /t/ sound from a group of words, and you need their help restoring the /t/ sound to these words! Ask children to help you decide if the /t/ sound should be added to the beginning or end of each word. One by one, go through the following words: pan (pant), ten (tent), rain (train), rap (trap), in (tin), win (twin), car (cart), and rim (trim).

Tip: Add extra challenge by including words where the /t/ sound could be added to the beginning or end of a word. For example, an (tan / ant) and are (art, tar).

12. Phonemic Awareness - Deletion: Beanbag Toss: Remove /s/

Explain to children that they're going to practice removing /s/ from the beginning of words. When a child catches the beanbag, you're going to give them a word, and they will remove the /s/ from the front of that word. The child can then (gently) toss the beanbag to another child. For this activity, use: slow (low), slip (lip), sand (and), seat (eat), snap (nap), sold (old), stop (top), spin (pin), span (pan), slap (lap), scan (can), sink (ink), self (elf), scar (car), spot (pot), and spit (pit).

Tip: Reinforce vocabulary by having children discuss the meaning of each word. Explain any words students are not familiar with.

13. Phonemic Awareness - Addition & Deletion: Concentration

For this game, you will need pairs of picture cards where a phoneme has been removed or added, such as leg and egg, deer and ear, mice and ice, pot and spot, lip and clip. Put children in pairs, then have partners play "Concentration" by turning over two cards and making matches when they find two words where one word in the pair is made by adding a sound to the beginning of the other word in the pair. When children make a match, they keep the cards. When they don't, children return the cards where they were, facedown. Play continues until children have matched all the cards.

Tip: You can also plan this game with final phonemes, using words like car and cart, bell and belt, bee and bead, ten and tent, pass and past.

14. Phonemic Awareness - Manipulation & Substitution: Backwards Words

Oh no! You had a list of words, but somehow the sounds in your words have been put together backwards. One by one, ask children to help you sound out each word, then put the word back together in the reverse order. Practice with these words: tab / bat, sick / kiss, pit / tip, lime / mile, pack / cap, pot / top, sale / lace, tell / let, back / cab, net / ten, feel / leaf.

15. Phonemic Awareness - Manipulation & Substitution: Word Creation

Give students a starting word, such as pan. Put students in small groups and ask them to work together to come up with as many new words as possible by changing one sound in the starting word. For example, pan can become ban, can, fan, man, ran, tan, van (initial phoneme substitution), pen, pin, pun (medial phoneme substitution), and pad, pack, pal, pat (final phoneme substitution).

Tip: Reinforce phonics by having students write down the new words. Depending on students' skill level, accept approximate spellings.

Ready for more phonological awareness activities, games, and fun?

Be sure to complete the form at the top of this page to get your free copy of 50 Fun Phonological Awareness Activities!

You can find even more activities - plus interactive digital practice, educational games, articulation videos, and so much more - in Savvas Essentials™: Foundational Reading, a new supplemental program designed just for Grades K-2.

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Help students master phonological awareness and phonemic awareness with these 50 fun, free activities!

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These Phonics games help students learn about onset, root words, diagraphs, and more in a fun interactive game-like interface.

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Need practice with Phonics? Education.com resources help students in Pre-K through 5th master critical skills. Get started now.

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3. Classroom Activity Phonemic Awareness

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3. Classroom Activity Phonemic Awareness

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Phonemic Awareness – Addition: Sound Thief. Tell children that a thief came in and stole the /t/ sound from a group of words, and you need their help restoring the /t/ sound to these words! Ask children to help you decide if the /t/ sound should be added to the beginning or end of each word. One by one, go through the following words: pan (pant), ten (tent), rain (train), rap (trap), in (tin), win (twin), car (cart), and rim (trim).

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4. Classroom Activity Phonemic Awareness

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4. Classroom Activity Phonemic Awareness

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Phonemic Awareness – Blending: Simon Says Blend. Tell students that you’re going to play a special version of Simon Says. Instead of telling them what to do, Simon is going to sound out the commands! For example, you’ll say: “Simon Says /s/ /i/ /t/” and students will need to blend the sounds. Once they have blended the sounds into a new word, they should act out the word (sit). (Remind children to stay in their own spaces as they act out words.) Use commands like hop, spin, swim, run, look, eat.

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Syntax is the word order in sentences. The arrangement of words in a sentence helps convey meaning (Reynolds, 2022). Syntax is the structure of sentences meaning words, phrases, and clauses that make up sentences.

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Semantics is the study of linguistic meaning of morphemes, words, phrases, and sen-tences (Reynolds, 2022).

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Pragmatics is the study of how context contributes to meaning. The field of study evaluates how human language is utilized in social interactions, as well as the relationship between the interpreter and the interpreted (Reynolds, 2022).

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(1) The sentence order of words varies from language to language. Rather than identifying these Syntax differences as errors, teachers can understand them as differences between L1 and L2 (Reynolds, 2022)

(2) Before English learners are reading, the development of age-appropriate academic English-morphology, syntax, vocabulary-can be accelerated orally through planned and deliberate daily instruction

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(1) Pragmatics helps students learn how English words can have multiple meanings depending on the contexts in which they are used.

(2) Pragmatics helps learners understand how to communicate effectively across languages and cultures.

(3) Pragmatic language skills help learners understand the intentions and emotions of others, which helps them respond appropriately.

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(1) Speakers of a language agree upon particular meanings of words and this makes itpossible for them to communicate with each other (Reynolds, 2022)

(2) It can be said that all content words (e.g., nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs) havesemantic features that make them possess a special meaning that another word doesnot have.

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Activity: "Common Thread"

Students will categorize terms or images into relevant content categories and explain their thinking and compare with peers.

Differentiation -

High Support: Provide beginner students with a fewer number of words.

Provide sentence frames for students to explain their reasoning.

Incorporate connected visuals with terms whenever possible.

Light Support

Challenge students to write a short paragraph comparing and contrasting the categories.

Provide the words and have students sort the words and then determine the categories.

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Activity "Cloze Sentences"

Students will read a text with select words and phrases removed and use context clues and content learning to add missing words.

Differentiation

High Support:

Read the text aloud if it's above the independent reading level of your students.

Create groups or pairs to support language use and understanding.

Choose a passage with visual aids that will support comprehension.

Provide a word bank or the first letter of the missing word for students.

Limit the size and number of omissions in the cloze sentence or passage.

Light Support:

Create passages where the omissions may require students to infer or predict correct answers rather than think literally.

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Activity "Sticky Thinking"

Students will Read text with specific purpose or prompt, track thinking and comprehension on sticky notes and post directly on pages, and discuss notes and prompts with peers

Differentiation

High Support:

Provide prompts with comprehensible language.

Work closely with a small group of students sharing the same text.

Allow students to use symbols or illustrations in addition to words on notes.

Identify examples in the text and have students create the sticky notes.

Light Support

Provide additional prompts to students.

Challenge students to provide reasons or explanations.

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Activity: "It's in the details"

Students will identify explanatory or informational writing topic, complete graphic organizer with details, confer with peer and add more supporting facts and details to graphic organizer, write paragraph including topic sentence, supporting facts, and conclusion, and discuss with peer and revise paragraph

Differentiation

High Support:

Provide students with picture cues for specific details as well as the signal words.

Provide a partially completed graphic organizer.

Consider pulling a small group for guided instruction.

Light Support

Challenge students to write more than one paragraph about the topic, using more difficult vocabulary words.

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Linguistics for Teachers of ELLs Website

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Linguistics for Teachers of ELLs Website

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(1) Semantics - The Semantics tab has activities that can be completed at home or in the classroom. Use the concept of lexical fields to help ELLs build vocabulary, by grouping words and teaching relationships between words- helps to build cognitive structures that can result in significant vocabulary development and building students’ word banks.

(2) Syntax - The Syntax tab has resources that support understanding of Syntax. Explicit teaching of grammar rules and structures may be necessary for students, especially for ELLs gaining academic language.  Here is a great resource, from North Carolina Public Schools, of grammar tips for teaching and numerous lessons to tackle those common grammar challenges, including concept of a sentence, run-on sentences, verb tenses:

(3) Pragmatics - The Pragmatics tab has resources to support the understanding of pragmatics. Sentences Frames: Sentence frames are simple sentences that have words missing where students will fill in the words to complete the sentence, in order to communicate their idea (i.e. I like ____.  I need ____.).  Sentence frames are helpful for explain thinking in mathematics, such as telling ‘how they know’ (The ___ is ___.-> The pencil is 5 cubes.  The crayon is 3 cubes.) and can be used to help teach the pragmatics of English language, like how to greet others, request basic needs, or communicate feelings.

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"Where is my shoes?"
"I look out the vindow."
"What does 'You're on fire' mean? I'm not on fire!"
Teacher: "You said 'She go to the store.' Does that sound right?"
Student: "Yes? No?"
Here are some recent quotes and writing from students that I work with in the classroom. They are learning the complexities of English, as first graders and as English Language Learners (ELLs). At first glance, a teacher may quickly see incorrect grammar, pronunciation, spelling, or lack of vocabulary. However, there is much more at play for young students learning to read and write, especially for those who have a language other than English at home.

In learning more about the basics of English linguistics, we can better understand the structures and history of English, develop activities to help ELLs learn social and academic English in the four domains (speaking, listening, reading, and writing), and respect and incorporate students' language use, experiences, and proficiency in the classroom.

English Linguistics is the scientific study of the English Language. It explores the areas of phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics, and other related areas. From the basics of the sounds of English to the larger role of context in the meaning of English words, English is both a structured and fluid language.

On this site, you can learn some of the basics of each of these areas of linguistics, how they play a role in the English language development of students, and activities to help students learn social and academic English in the classroom.

As an elementary teacher of ELLs, I understand the complexities of teaching students with diverse backgrounds and language experiences. With 9 years teaching experience in a variety of school settings, I am always excited to share and learn from other teachers, specialists, and education professionals. I have had the amazing opportunities to work in a preschool, charter school in Washington DC, magnet school in Arlington, VA, and, currently, with Fairfax County Public Schools in Herndon, VA. Currently, I am an ESOL teacher (English for Speakers of Other Languages) at an elementary school, working with primarily kindergarten and first grade students.

Throughout my academic and teaching career, I have focused on the issues of closing the achievement gap and cultural and critical awareness. In the past few years, I have become particularly interested in learning more about ELLs and best practices for supporting ELLs for success in school and beyond. As part of my graduate coursework as an ESOL teacher, I have gained a better understanding of English Linguistics and the importance of this field of study in effective instruction of ELLs, and I hope to share what I have learned and create a website that can help us to collaborate as teachers and to showcase great resources for supporting ELLs in the classroom.

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English Linguistics is the scientific study of the English Language. It explores the areas of phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics, and other related areas. From the basics of the...

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Cambridge University Press (2021). Grammar for Language Teachers.

Ellis, R., & Shintani, N. (2014). Grammar Teaching in Second Language Classrooms. Cambridge University Press.

Hinkel, E. (2016). Teaching English Grammar to Speakers of Other Languages. Routledge.

Nassaji, H., & Fotos, S. (2011). The Role of Syntax in English Language Learning. TESOL Quarterly, 45(4), 758-781.

The TEFLology Podcast (2016). Grammar and its place in English Language Teaching.

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Journal - https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/tesq.165

Journal -

http://babylonia.ch/fileadmin/user_upload/documents/2014-2/Ellis.pdf

Book -

https://www.routledge.com/Teaching-English-Grammar-to-Speakers-of-Other-Languages/Hinkel/p/book/9781138906938?srsltid=AfmBOorDIr7bPyf75ik7XdrW5psClZX4D2H9aXQFkF_g3ryz-OnbwGAh

Video Series -

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbVib986kweg8Ltp4HObWGpXn9FKJOgeD&si=HKS5kx6WzifuoGgB

Podcast -

Science of Reading Podcast. https://amplify.com/science-of-reading-the-podcast/