Let’s Play 2: Pointing Game
Let’s Play 1: Let’s find the capital letters of the alphabet in
the picture.
Try to tell students to look for letters than are not part of a
word but are instead `hidden` inside a picture otherwise they
will point out all of the shop signs.
ALT tips:
While it is tempting to stray into
phonics and pronunciation when
teaching this unit, it is not a goal for
the students to recognize the link
between the letters and the pictures
they are hidden inside (T in the tree, S
in the sun, etc.) While students can
realize this for themselves it doesn’t
matter if they do not.
Let’s Listen: Listen and join the dots between
the capital letters or numbers.
You can use the digital materials for this. It is
likely that the students will find it very difficult.
Rather than playing the audio a second time I
would recommend that you read the audio
slowly yourself. You can also give the students
hints using gestures etc.
Let’s Chant 2: What do you want?
Version 1: ~ please. Version 2: I want ~ please.
Activity: Write down the capital letters that you found
Emphasize to the students to search for capital letters. This
will help increase their awareness of the difference between
the different types of letters as many students will just write
down any letters they see.
Let’s Play 3: Card collecting game
Write down the capital letters of the cards you
collected here.
Let’s Chant 1: Alphabet Chant
Version 1: No repeats
Version 2: Certain groups of letters
repeated 3 times
Version 3: Certain letters repeated twice
Unit 6: 5 hours
Goals:
[C] Actively try to ask and answer "What do you want?" and try to read uppercase letters.
[F] Become familiar with asking and answering, "What do you want?" Become familiar with the shape and the reading of
printed uppercase letters.
[A] Become aware that there are many things in everyday life that use the letters of the alphabet.
Expressions: What do you want? ~, please. The ‘A’ card, please. I want the ‘A’ card, please.
Vocabulary: [uppercase letters of the alphabet] (A~Z)
Let’s Play 1
Goal: Find the capital letters hidden in the picture.
One of the main aims of this unit is for the students to
realize that the English alphabet is used in many different
ways (signs, clothing, etc.) in their daily life. A nice intro to
this activity would be to show them pictures of signs from
the area around the school (local post office, supermarket
etc.)
The difference in pronunciation between `Z` in English and
Japanese will probably be difficult for the students. You
can teach them that the way they usually say it (`zed`), is
British English. This is one way to introduce them to the
idea that there are different types of English.
Checking the answers as a class can take a very long time
so it is recommended to have the students check in pairs
or groups. Another idea would be to ask students which
letters they couldn’t find and then have the students who
had found those letters to point them out to the class.
Let’s Play 2
Goal: Point to the letters as they are said.
The main aim for the pointing game is for students to be able
to link the sound for each capital letter with its shape. It’s a
great input activity for when students are just beginning to
learn the alphabet and may not be able to produce the
sounds themselves.
The pointing game does have a tendency to become boring
quite quickly so it’s good to mix up what version of the game
you play: solo pointing, pointing in pairs, battle in pairs, finger
twister, rhythmical chanting, etc.
It is often during this game that students have difficulties with
similar sounding letters such as G/Z, B/V and M/N. It is
recommended to stop the activity, practice a little and point
out the difference in mouth shape for each letter which
should encourage the students to look at the person speaking
and help them to differentiate between the different letters.
Let’s Listen
Goal: Listen to the audio and join the dots between the letters or
numbers.
This is another activity to help students to link the sound and
shape of letters of the alphabet as well as practicing numbers, too.
This activity can take a long time so one idea could be to split the
activity over a number of classes, doing one or two questions each
time.
In this activity there are actually patterns in the order that the
letters are called in questions 1, 2-1 and 2-2. One interesting thing
is to ask the students if they can notice the pattern. This helps
deepen their understanding of the alphabet. The answers are:
question 1 (groups of letters in alphabet order. XYZ, MN etc.),
question 2-1 the number 2 (groups of letters in reverse order (TSR
etc.), question 2-2 the number 6 (groups of letters with similarities
such as symmetrical letters AVM, letters with curves QJD etc.)
Let’s Chant 1 and Let’s Chant 2
Both chants have various versions so you can pick
the version that best suits your needs and the
students’ abilities.
Creating actions or a dance to go with the
alphabet chant is recommended as a great way to
get students involved and make the chant
memorable. Students can also make their own
actions or even their own alphabet chant in
groups.
Let’s Play 3
Goal: Students use the phrases “What do you
want?” “The ~ card, please.” to collect alphabet
cards from their classmates. Then, they write
down the letters they collected.
The textbook doesn’t mention any particular goal
in collecting the letters. In order to increase the
students interest and desire to participate I would
recommend giving them a goal such as finding the
letters of their name or collecting similar letters
etc.
When writing the letters they have collected the
students can copy from their cards. You don’t need
to worry about size/spacing when they write.
Activity
Goal: Find capital letters used in everyday things
and write the letters in the box.
The main aim of this activity is not for the students
to write the alphabet perfectly but instead that
they realize that they are surrounded by the
alphabet already in their daily life and to create a
feeling that they want to search for more capital
letters in their daily life.