Piff Paff!!! Helping Learners ‘Snap” English Homophones

This activity is a card game I have called PIFF PAFF and it focuses on homophones. The game is based on the tested and true SNAP, but with a few small differences.

As a warmer, pre-teach or revise the vocabulary on the PIFF PAFF CARDS (Figure 1) by getting the learners to separate them into VERBS, NOUNS, PRONOUNS and so on.

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Figure 1

Then, organise the learners into groups of 3 to 4 and give them a set of cards. Tell the learners to shuffle them and distribute them evenly among themselves.

The Game:

Demonstrate to the learners what to do. Show the class that they should hold the cards in one hand facing downwards. One learner takes a card from the bottom of his or her hand of cards and places it on the desk, pronouncing the word on the card.

A second learner then takes a card from his or her hand of cards and places it on the desk on top of the card on the desk, pronouncing the word on it as well.

Tell the class that, if a learner places a card on the desk which has the same pronunciation as the one already on the desk, any one in the group can hit the cards and say PIFF PAFF. In this case, the first learner to hit the cards and say PIFF PAFFgets to collect all the cards on the desk to add to his or her hand of cards. Learners then play another round.Point out to the learners that among the cards there are some joker cards, which allow the learners to snap the cards at any time and say PIFF PAFF. But there is a catch!!! The learner can only collect the cards from the desk if he or she can produce a homophone to the previous card.

The game continues until all the learners get rid of their cards and the winner is then the learner  who has the most cards  in his or her hand.

As a follow-up activity, get the learners to write sentences to illustrate the meaning of the homophones e.g. you slam on this to stop the car when a cat suddenly runs in front of your car.

Learners then test each other by reading their sentences to others who should try and spell the word which goes with the description. For example:

L1 says: You slam on this to stop the car when a cat suddenly runs in front of your car.
L2: Brake.
L1: Spell ‘brake’, please.
L2: B-R-A-K-E.

Alternatively, learners could write sentences with gaps and swap them with a partner, who then tries to complete them with the appropriate words. For example:

I went on a __________ in the Mediterranean Sea.     crews / cruise
I slammed on the __________ to avoid hitting a deer on the road.       brake / break
It’s not polite to _______ at people like that.    stair / stare

Have fun.

Arizio sweeting

Stress Shifting Does Make a Difference

This next pronunciation activity is based on the ELT classic SPOT THE DIFFERENCES and aims at focusing learners on STRESS SHIFT.

Start by explaining to the learners that in certain circumstances stress patterns can change for contrastive purposes. On the board, write the following sentences adapted from Rhymes and Rhythm by Michael Vaughn-Rees (2010) Garnet Education:

So, a poLIceman came to see you, did he?

No, not a policeMAN; it was a policeWOMAN.

 Focus the learners on the rules of stress for compound nouns using the word policeman in first sentence as an example. Highlight to the learners that the main syllable in the first element of a compound noun is the one which has the stress.

Then, draw the learners’ attention to the words policeman and policewoman in the second sentence.  Get them to discuss what they think has happened to the stress patterns in these compounds.  In feedback, emphasise to the learners that compound nous lose their front stress to the main syllable in the second element. Point out that the reverse is also possible i.e. the back stress can take front position in certain circumstances.

Once the learners are clear about what STRESS SHIFT is and how it works, move on to pre-teaching some vocabulary.

Using an avatar maker app., create two pictures with different physical features, clothes and accessories and background (Figure 1).  I have used WeeMee® Avatar Creator, which can be downloaded from free for both apple and android platforms from GooglePlay.

            

Figure 1

TIP: I like to save those pictures on my smart phone and transter them to My Pictures and print them for my students. However, As learners usually have a smart phone or some form of technology to work with an alternative would be to let them create their own avatars of the boy and use it in this activity. It think they own it more this way.

Divide the class into two halves and give each half one of the pictures above. On the board, write the following table (Figure 2):

Figure 2

Get the learners to look at the pictures and find items for each of the categories in the table. Point out to the learners that physical features refer to hair style, hair colour, eye colour, facial hair etc. Allow the learners to use dictionaries and monitor and assist with language where necessary. Do some examples with the class to start.

Then, give the learners the following context:

An old lady was walking down the street when she had her bag snatched by a young boy. The police interviewed her about the incident and she described the boy like this (Figure 3):

Figure 3

Two days later, the cops made an arrest. However, the boy the police arrested looked very different from the old lady’s discription (Figure 4).

Figure 4

Tell the students that they are going to do a ROLE-PLAY in which some of them will be police officers and some of them will be the old lady.

Their task  is to use STRESS SHIFT to spot as many differences between the pictures as possible. Demonstrate what to do like this (Figure 5):

Figure 5

Highlight the stress shift in the example sentences on the words long and short.

Then, tell the learners to organise themselves into A and B. A’s are the cops and B’s are the old lady.

The learners spot the differences for about 5 minutes using STRESS SHIFT patterns then swap roles. Monitor and make notes of language problems for delayed feedback.

Enjoy.

Arizio Sweeting

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