The Language Teacher
December 2001

Circlework Word Endings

Fiona Webster

Mission Australia Home Tutor Service

<websterf@smartchat.net.au>

This activity can have a spelling or pronunciation focus. The pronunciation version encourages Japanese learners of English not to add the extra vowel sound at the end of words (e.g., ingurisshu). Putting students in a circle means everyone is on an equal footing and can see each other's faces; the teacher is no longer the focus of attention. If students are young, they can sit on the floor.

Spelling

Have your learners sit in a circle. The teacher starts by saying a word, and the next person in the circle has to say a word beginning with the last letter of the teacher's word. The next person then has to say a word starting with the last letter of that word, and so on:

Example:
Teacher: start
Next learner: train
Next learner: nearly
Next learner: year

You can vary this after the learners have got the hang of it by eliminating those who get it wrong, until finally just one person is left.

Pronunciation

This activity is particularly useful for teaching the schwa sound and encourages your learners to listen for and enunciate final consonants and vowels.

First, the teacher starts with a word. The next learner in the circle has to say a word beginning with the final sound of the teacher's word. Then the next person has to say a word starting with the final sound from that word.

Example:
Teacher: apartment
Next learner: try
Next learner: ice cream
Next learner: mother

The game will need to be restarted if someone says a word ending in /ng/ as there are no English words beginning with it (gnocchi perhaps?) Try this game and monitor whether learners are actually taking more notice of the endings of their words.