Developing Speech and Language Skills - Noel's ESL eBook Library

‘s’ cluster reductionNest or netTarget sound: ‘st’ word finalContrast: ‘t’Words: nest, netResources: A4-size pictures of a nest and a net and smaller pictures of things thatmight be found in a nest (e.g. baby bird, egg, moss, feather) or a net (e.g. ball, fish,crab, seaweed). This activity could be carried out using real objects/replicas.ActivityThe activity involves the adult suggesting whether a ‘net’ or a ‘nest’ is a suitable placefor each of the smaller items. The pictures of the net and nest are attached to the walla little way from where the child is sitting. The adult picks one of the smaller itemsfrom a pile, without showing the picture to the child, and says where it goes – ‘net’ or‘nest’. The child goes up to the picture they heard (net or nest) and the adult thenshows the child the item to see if they were right. The child then attaches it to thepicture on the wall and returns to their seat for the next turn.‘s’ retainedAction gameTarget sound: ‘sn’ word initialContrast: ‘s’Words: snail, sail; snore, sawResources: (you need one each of these items per person): playdough to make a snailand, if using extra words below, a ‘telescope’ cardboard tube (see) and some stickers(stick). Other actions do not need props.ActivityThe adult needs to familiarise the children with the pairs of words. Pictures could beused to help this. Do the actions together at first. Once the child has practised theactions a few times, the adult simply says one of the words and the child does theaction. The actions are: snail (start making a snail from a piece of playdough), sail(pretend to sail a boat), snore (make the noise), saw (pretend to saw). Each action canbe carried out a number of times. In this activity it is important to just say the word‘snail!’ or ‘sail!’ so extra clues about the word are not provided. Keep the instructionscoming in rapid succession, so each action only continues for a few seconds.You could include or substitute other words, e.g. stick, sick, ski, see; swing, sing. Theseactions would be: stick (attach a sticker to paper), sick (look ill), ski (pretend to ski),see (look through a telescope), swing (pretend to be on a swing), sling (hold arm as if ina sling), sing (sing).149