Is there an ‘a’ in ‘weak’? (spelling games)

Ewa | Apr 01, 2022Mar 28, 2025

LESSON OVERVIEW

In this lesson, students learn how to ask for spelling clarification and get a lot of practice through several spelling games. 

LETTERS & CORRECTING SPELLING MISTAKES

At the beginning of the lesson students look at fifteen country names and say which letters are missing in them. At this point, if the teacher sees that students struggle with some words, they might do some drilling. Students then have to choose five country names and ask their partner to spell them. Before the next exercise, the teacher needs to make sure that students know what a capital letter, a double letter and a silent letter are. The three terms will help students to play spelling games in the second part of the lesson. Students move on to explaining mistakes in a short message conversation (e.g. There is a ‘u’ between ‘b’ and ‘y’ in ‘buy’.). Finally, the teacher reads statements describing six words. Students’ task it to guess and write the words (e.g. The word starts with a ‘w’, it ends with a ‘k’ and it has a double ‘e’.). 

SPELLING GAMES

In pairs, students receive cards with tips on word spelling. Their partner needs to guess what the words are and if they can’t, they need to ask questions to clarify the spelling. Students are encouraged to use questions from the useful language box provided. After that, the teacher can choose to use one or both of the two spelling games. In the first one, the teacher dictates sentences and students are encouraged to ask questions about the spelling. In the second game, each student in a pair gets a list of names which they have to spell for their partner. Finally, students discuss questions regarding spelling: why it is important (or not), if they prefer to speak or write in English, what a student can do to spell better in English, etc. 

WORKSHEETS

11

1