This is another application of my Wizard English Grid (the link there will take you to the main introduction to this resource along with a free PDF download of the Wizard English Grid template), this time focusing on the idea of syllables in English words.
I've found that work with syllables can be very beneficial for learners of English, given the generally unphonetic and irregular spelling system of the written version of the language. It is very useful for learners whose mother languages have a phonetic and/or regular spelling system, and is particularly useful for Korean and Japanese learners (as these languages build on clear syllable units as an essential building block of words and as part of the writing system, and they often find written English versions of words somewhat misleading when it comes to determining how to pronounce them with the correct application of syllables).
The general idea here is to take a list of English words in written form, and practice breaking them down into syllables. Each square on the Wizard English Grid becomes a syllable "unit", and students (either alone or in teams - teams will be better as you'll see the learners discuss and sound out the words together) have to decide how many squares to use for each word.
Where the words come from is entirely up to you, but I generally prefer to use words from a reading passage or dialogue script the learners have already been working with. For the purposes of this example, I am going to use a movie review about The Chronicles of Narnia - featured in Unit 2 of Boost! Reading Level 2 (click here if you want to download the complete reading unit from the main Boost! Integrated Skills website).
Using this reading passage to generate words with different numbers of syllables, I then distribute the blank Wizard English Grid, ask the students to write "Syllables Practice" in the heading section, and then show them how to shade out portions of the grid to leave blank squares in rows of 1, 2, 3 or 4 (these will correspond to the number of syllables a word may be broken down into):
As you can see from the example above, the grid has been shaded to create one square for words of one total syllable, two rows of squares for words with two syllables, and one row each of squares for words with three or four total syllables. At this point, if I haven't already done so, I would do some work with students to show them what syllables are, and practice some examples on the whiteboard which students could transfer to their Wizard English Grid (I might give them one word for each of the total syllable breakdown slots).
When it is clear how to use the worksheet, I would either write down a list of words from the reading passage to be split up into syllables (one word list designated by the teacher allows for more specific targeting, but also easier in-class checking and correction), or put the students into teams and allow them to choose whatever words they like from the main reading passage to complete the syllable slots (better for more involved and experimental learning, but of course - harder to check as a class).
Using the example reading text above, here's how the Wizard English Grid might turn out:
As you can see, this application of the Wizard English Grid is pretty easy to set up and use. It certainly showcases syllable breakdowns for students, and highlights the problems the spelling system might represent (in the example above, many students may assume "seems" and "wise" may represent two syllables each, while for the multiple-syllable words there will most likely be some involved thinking about where exactly to break up the words). It also makes an excellent connection between written forms and actual pronunciation.
It also represents a sort of puzzle activity, and I've found students of all ages and levels have tended to enjoy the application a lot!
:-)
[If you are interested in other applications of the super-simple Wizard English Grid, check out this main category for Wizard English Grids that I've created for the blog.]
