Abc games to teach children letter sounds phonics

50 ABC Letters and Sounds Games • Kids Activities Blog

Today we have a whole bunch of alphabet fun with letter and sounds learning games and activities for toddlers and preschoolers to help you young students prepare to read with fun pre-reading playful learning ideas.

ABC Games & Alphabet Sounds

Many parents have kids that are soon to enter kindergarten for the first time and are wondering what their kids should know before they head out to school on their own.

As a mom who once taught Kindergarten, I always wanted to make sure my kids are well-prepared and ready to begin their school career with a bit of an advantage by knowing their letters and sounds.

Related: Grab our free Kindergarten readiness checklist as a guide

I have seen the value in children knowing their letters early.

That said, I also recognize that kids are kids, and I want to make sure they have time to play – both independently and with me.

Learning Through Alphabet Games

Children acquire knowledge through play, so learning letters at our house is rarely a sit down structured time.

It’s a time of play and games!

The kids have fun and don’t even realize they are learning at the same time. I don’t believe we should leave teaching up to the schools. You get the great honor of being an educator of your child, and you can supplement what is happening at school by engaging your child in enjoyable yet educational ways.

Related: Check out our huge abc letters resource that has letter activities, letter crafts, letter printables and more for every letter of the alphabet!

I hope these resources help you feel equipped to take the reins in your own child’s education.  

This article contains affiliate links.

Hands On Letter Games

1. Letter Toss Game

Muffin Tin Learning  – Want to make learning fun? This game involving throwing pennies and will keep your kids engaged. They will  barely know that this is actually a lesson.

2. Growing Letters Game

Alphabet Flower Garden –  This garden is full of letters and learning opportunities. It is definitely a great way to explore and grow in alphabet knowledge.

3. Unlimited ABC Games for Kids

ABC Mouse – This site gives kids tons of alphabet and phonics practice through interactive games and printables.

4. Matching Letter Game

Magnetic Alphabet Board – This letter matching activity is self-contained and is a tool to get  kids to match up letters and help with identification.

5. Touch and Feel the Alphabet Game

Play Dough and Magnet Letters – Letting kids explore using their senses is a great way to learn. Play Dough is a tactile  way to watch this happen.

–>Need a Set of Alphabet Magnets? I like this Magnetic Letters Alphabet Fridge Magnets Set that comes in a handy carrying tub.

6. The Great Alphabet Race

Race the Alphabet – Do you have race tracks and a child that loves playing with cars? This activity is for you! If you don’t have your own track, here’s another version.

Preschool Alphabet Games

7. Fishing for Letters

Magnet Letter Fishing  – Take your magnet letters and make a simple fishing pole. With a pond full of letters, your kids will have a lot of fun  casting their line for another catch.

8. Pirate Vowel Game

Gold Coin Vowel Sound Drop – Your little pirate will have fun learning his or her vowels be playing this game.

9. Letter Stacking Game

ABC Letter Stack Game – Stacking up letters has never been so fun. They get to stack and stack until they fall, which I am sure will become the favorite part.

Related: Use these with our playful preschool homeschool curriculum

10. It Begins With…

Initial Sounds Blackout Game  – Want kids to be able to identify the beginning sounds of words? This fun game will help them do exactly that.

–>Need a Wooden Alphabet Set with Flashcards? I really love the cuteness of this Tangame Wooden Magnetic Letters Alphabet Refrigerator Magnet Flash Cards for Preschool Kids that comes in a magnetic tin.

11. Letter Scavenger Hunt

Architecture Letter Scavenger Hunt – Have you seen those photos that find letters in architecture? Your kids get to go on their own letter scavenger hunt with this fun activity.

Creative Letter Games for Alphabet Sounds

12. Interactive Alphabet Learning Games

A-Z Letter Learning Activities – This post brings you over 90 activities for each and every letter of the alphabet. What a great resource!

13. Climb the Word Ladder

Word Ladder – Kids get to “climb” to the top of the ladder as they successfully identify letters and sounds. They don’t need to worry if they “fall,” they have the opportunity to try again.

14. Flashlight Alphabet Game

Flashlight Alphabet Game – My kids are obsessed with flashlights. I know my preschooler would love this game!

–>Need Foam Alphabet Letters for Practice? This Gamenote Classroom Magnetic Alphabet Letters Kit comes in a plastic organization case and magnet board and would be great for home too.

15. Make a Letter Game

Letter Formation Activity – Using materials you probably have at home, your kids will have a lot of fun forming their letters.

16. Hungry Hungry Letters Game

Alphabet Monster  – This hungry monster will only eat letters if you can say the name or sound of a letter. What a fun craft to make that also turns a great letter learning opportunity.

ABC Games that Help Kids Learn Letters and Sounds

17. Let’s Host a Reading Hop

Reading Hop  – This letter learning game will keep your kids active and hopping all around. If you are looking for a way to take learning outdoors, you have found it.

18. Alphabet I Spy

Alphabet “I Spy” – Take the classic and beloved game of “I Spy” and turn it into an alphabet search activity. Brilliant!

19. Can You Catch the Letters Game?

Runaway Letters Game  – Your child gets a chance to grab letters and runaway while you creativity beacon the letter’s return. This is a great way for moms, dads or teachers to interact with their kids during the educational process.

–>Need a Fun ABC Game? I love this ABC Cookies Game from Goodie Games that is a fun alphabet learning game for toddlers and preschoolers.

20. LEGO Spelling

Lego Spelling  – If you add letters to duplex legos, you have a great way to work on sounds and words.

21. Letters Inside of Letters Activity

Making Letters with Letters – Learning letters will be reinforced over and over again as your kids use letters from magazines to create their own larger letters.

ABC Games for Pre-K

22. Letter Swat Game

Spider Letter Swat – Kids will enjoy learning their letters as they swat away at the flies in this entertaining game.

23. Letter Squirt Game

Squirt the Letter  – This is a game I know my son, especially, would love. He loves anything squirt gun and anything water. Squirting the correct letter is right up his alley.

24. Letter Lacing Activity

Letter Lacing – This letter lacing, quiet bag activity works on fine motor skills while also developing the skills needed to develop in reading.

–>Need Letter Lacing Cards? I like this wooden set from Melissa & Doug that has both animals and letters on the sturdy lacing cards.

25. Alphabet Sounds Race

Letter Sounds Race – Get your kids moving with this letter sounds race. This is a great learning opportunity for your active kids! More alphabet sound learning activities are fun too!

26. Disappearing Letters Game

Disappearing Letters  – Kids will learn to love to trace their letters as they see  the trick to making them disappear.

Alphabet Games for Learning

27. The Game of Bang

Bang – Bang is a letter identification game that will be a lot of fun for the little gamers in your life.

28. Letter Chomp Game

Mr. Shark Alphabet Chomper Game  – I love the idea to make a shark out of an envelope in general. Add the learning aspect of having the shark chomp letters, and you have a great game.

29. Letter Tiles Activity

DIY Bananagrams Letter Tiles – Here’s a really smart way to make letter tiles. You can turn them into magnets or play the classic Bananagram game with your creation.

–>Need a Bananagram Game? Here is the original Bananagram game for kids.

30. Make Pretzel Letters

Soft Pretzel Letters – Kids can learn their letters as they have fun making pretzel dough. Through using both the sense of touch and taste, this becomes a fun activity for all.

31. Travel Alphabet Game

Alphabet Words Game – This is a learning game that can be taken anywhere. Keep your kids occupied working on their letters at restaurants, home, car rides and more.

ABC Games for Letters and Sounds

32.

Sensory Bins with Letters – Sometimes the best way to help kids learn is to let them explore. This sensory bin will help kids do just that.

33. Alphabet Seek & Find

Seek-N-Find Alphabet – This letter game is like an eye spy for letters. It involves a plastic tube (easily substituted by a water bottle), and will keep your kids searching for their letters for quite some time.

34. Letter Formation Fun

Tactile Writing – Kids learn to write letters as they use rice and paint  to feel their way through the process or writing.

–>Need a Wooden Letter Matching Set? I like this durable Alphabet flash cards and wooden letter puzzle set from LiKee Alphabet.

35. Homemade Domino Letter Fun

Craft Stick Dominos  – These craft stick dominos are an easy, homemade version of a domino game with a  focus on learning letters and matching symbols. What a fun idea.

36. Flashcard Games

ABC Flashcards  – Flashcards can be used by a variety of games and activities like flashcard basketball. These ones are free. And so are these kids alphabet cards you can download & print instantly.

Related: Here are a bunch of ideas for flash card games for kids

How to Help a Child Learn Letters and Sounds Through Play

37. Make a Sun-Powered Letter Puzzle

Make a DIY shape puzzle using the sun with alphabet letters for a really fun matching game you can play inside or out. Or use this method without the sun to make this fun abc matching game for kids.

38. Collect Alphabet Treasures

Use these free alphabet labels to create small containers for each letter of the alphabet for a special letter collection activity!

39. Make Easy Alphabet Crackers

Making alphabet crackers has never been easier or more fun!

–>Need an Alphabet Snack? I like these Happy Tot Organics ABC Multi-Grain Cookies…yum!

40. Play Alphabet Zipline!

Use these alphabet printable letters to create your own alphabet zipline in your living room. It is really fun.

41. Play a Silly Letters Game

Try these alphabet games for preschool that are full of fun and a little silly…

42. Make Pipecleaner Letters!

Try to do some fun abc formation with pasta and pipe cleaners which is a fun way to explore letter shapes.

43. Make Bathtub Alphabet Soup

Use bath letters for a big big big batch of bubblebath alphabet soup {giggle}.

44. Color a Letter Coloring Page

• Letter A Coloring Page
• Letter B Coloring Page
• Letter C Coloring Page
• Letter D Coloring Page
• Letter E Coloring Page
• Letter F Coloring Page
• Letter G Coloring Page
• Letter H Coloring Page
• Letter I Coloring Page
• Letter J Coloring Page
• Letter K Coloring Page
• Letter L Coloring Page
• Letter M Coloring Page
• Letter N Coloring Page
• Letter O Coloring Page
• Letter P Coloring Page
• Letter Q Coloring Page
• Letter R Coloring Page
• Letter S Coloring Page
• Letter T Coloring Page
• Letter U Coloring Page
• Letter V Coloring Page
• Letter W Coloring Page
• Letter X Coloring Page
• Letter Y Coloring Page
• Letter Z Coloring Page

45.

These playdough pre writing activities are both fun and super hands-on learning.

46. Make Gummy Letters

This sour gummy recipe makes the cutest alphabet letters to learn and eat!

47. Try a Fun Alphabet Activity Book

There are so many quality workbooks for kids on the market right now so we narrowed it down to some of our favorites that just might fit your kid.

48. Color by Letter Activities for Letter Recognition Fun

We have a whole bunch of color by letter printable pages for kids that help them recognize letters while playing a game:

1. Color by letter – A-E
2. Color by letter worksheets – F-J
3. Coloring by letters – K-O
4. Color with letters – P-T
5. Preschool color by letter – U-Z

49. Play the Missing Letter Game

Use one of our favorite preschool games, What is Missing? and use either letter flashcards or abc fridge magnet sets to create sequencing of the alphabet and then remove a letter or two.

50. Play Alphabet Beach Ball Toss

Modify our fun sight word game with letters instead of sight words. Your beach ball can be covered with the letters of the alphabet for throwing and catching learning fun.

Games for ABC Sounds

51. Learn and sing the ABC sounds song

I love this fun song from Rock ‘N Learn that goes through the entire alphabet with sounds for each of the letters.

52. Play an online ABC sounds game

Monster Mansion is a free online alphabet match game that kids can learn the abc sounds and match them with the proper letter on the proper monster!

53. Print & Play a letter sounds game

Preschool Play and Learn has a really colorful and fun letter sounds board game you can print and play at home or in the preschool classroom. Each player will pick up a card and identify the letter and /or say the sound that the letter makes.

More Learning Games from Kids Activities Blog

• Now that we learned out letters, don’t miss out on our number activities for preschoolers!
• When your child is ready, we have a big giant list of sight word activities that are fun too!
• We have some really fun games teaching kids how to read a clock.
• My favorite massive resource of fun is our kids science games here at Kids Activities Blog.
• It doesn’t have to be October to play some frightful Halloween games.
• Let’s play math games for kids!
• If you need to work out the wiggles, we have the best indoor games for kids.

What was your favorite abc game? Did we miss some alphabet activities that you do with your kids?

Try These 10 Fun Phonics Activities to Teach Letter Sounds to Children

What is phonics?

Phonics is the relationship between letters and sounds as well as the understanding of how those sounds connect to form words.

For instance, the /c/ sound, the short /a/ sound, and the /t/ sound blend together to form the word cat.

What does the research say about teaching phonics?

Research indicates the importance of teaching children phonics as a preliminary step for learning to read.

Research also suggests that systematic instruction which incorporates wordplay (manipulating letters/sounds in words to change the word), writing words, and using manipulatives such as magnetic letters to create words are all effective strategies for teaching phonics.

Additionally, research demonstrates the benefits of applying a multi-sensory approach to phonics instruction.

A multi-sensory approach incorporates sight, sound, touch, and movement into instruction. This helps address a variety of learning modalities, enabling students to better absorb the information.

Ten Fun Research-Based Phonics Activities to Teacher Letter-Sounds

1. Play the game “I Spy.”

In the game “I spy” you pick something that you see and don’t tell the child what it is. The child has to guess what you see.

Here is how you can use “I Spy” to teach letter sounds (phonics):

Let’s say you see a book in the room: You can say: I spy something that starts with the letter B or I spy something that ends with the letter K.

After your child guesses what “you spy” have them tell you the sound the letter makes. If your child cannot guess what “you spy” or does not know the letter sound, provide them with assistance.

You can also do the same thing using letter sounds. For example, if you see a book, you can say “I spy something that starts with (make the sound for b)” or “I spy something that ends with (make the sound for k).

After your child finds the object, have them tell you what the first letter (or last letter) of the object is. Take turns with your child. First you spy, then they spy, or vice versa.

2. Put letters on flashcards for a fun activity.

Put one letter on each card as shown below (create upper case and lower case cards):

Here is a sample activity:

Pick three to four-letter words and scramble them up. For example, if the word is pig, put the letters out-of-order (e.g., ipg) on the table in front of your child.

Put the letters one to two feet in front of your child so she has room to work. Next, give them a sheet of paper with three (or four) spaces for letters on it, like so _ _ _.

Then tell them the word or show a picture of the word and give the instruction (e.g., “I want you to make the word pig on the lines below, using the letters above).

If you have Magnetic Letters, you can use these as well. You can also encourage your child to write the letters in with a pen or pencil.

You can do word families to help your child understand that many words are spelled the same way, with only the first letter different. So after pig, try big, wig, and rig.

Rhyming practice is another helpful strategy when teaching kids about letter sounds.

3. Play letter-sound Go Fish.

Make doubles of flash cards. Each player gets five cards and the rest of the cards go in a pile in the center of the table.

Player 1 calls out a letter-sound and asks if player 2 has a match.

If they don’t have a match, tell them to “go fish” which means to choose from the pile. See more detailed rules for how to play Go Fish here.

4. Make your own phonics Bingo game.

Draw a grid or make one on the computer like the one below. (You can also print out a large version of the one below here). You can find more blank grids here).

While the grid above has 25 boxes, you can play phonics Bingo with 9 or 16 boxes also.

Here are four options for getting pictures into the boxes:

Option 1 – Draw something simple in each box. 

Examples of simple drawings for each letter of the alphabet include an apple, a banana, a comb, a door, an egg, a feather, a girl, a hat, an ice-cube, a jar, a kite, a light bulb, a mitten, a nose, an orange, a pan, a queen, a ring, a spoon, a table, an umbrella, a vase, a worm, a xylophone (that one might not be so easy to draw), and a zipper.

Use colors to make it look fun.

Option 2 – Get images from Google Images, print them, cut them out and glue them in the boxes.

Option 3 – Go to Google Images, copy each image by hitting “control c’ or by right-clicking on the image and selecting copy, then paste each picture into each grid box by right-clicking in the grid and clicking paste or by hitting “control v.”

Option 4 – Find and print out ready-made Bingo grids by doing a search for Kids Bingo Grids

You can play the Bingo game four ways:

1 – Call out a letter sound. If your child has a picture on her Bingo card that starts with that letter sound, have her put a coin, checker piece, or small piece of paper over the picture (you can cut index cards into small pieces.

This will work better than regular paper because the pieces will be heavier and stay on the Bingo card better).

2 – Call out a letter. If your child has a picture on her Bingo card that starts with that letter, have her cover the picture.

3 – Call out a letter sound. If your child has a picture that ends with that letter sound, have her cover the picture.

4 – Call out a letter. If your child has a picture that ends with that letter, have her cover the picture.
When your child fills up a row, up, down, or diagonally, she gets Bingo (she wins).

5. Make flashcards with a picture on one side and the letter the picture starts with (or ends with) on the other side

You can draw the pictures yourself or make flashcards using pictures from Google Images.

To make a flashcard from Google Images, go to the Image, copy it, “right-click” on it and click copy or hit “control c.” Then go to a word document and paste (right-click and click paste or “hit control v.”).

Then print out the pages, cut out the picture, and write the corresponding letter on the back.

If you know how to insert tables, you can put several pictures on the page in table boxes, print the page, cut out all the pictures, and put the letters on the back. Here is an example:

Show your child a picture and ask them to tell you the letter (or letter sound) it starts with (or ends with). If they are correct, let them know and show them the back of the card. If they are not correct, give them two more tries.

If they do not get the letter or sound, show them the back of the card and tell them the letter and sound (then enunciate the sound as you say the word), have them say the letter/sound back to you twice and shuffle the card back in the pile. Repeat.

6. For children who have a lot of energy, turn a phonics lesson into a movement activity.

Tape four letters onto the wall as shown in the image below:

Call out a letter sound and tell your child to run to the letter that makes that sound, touch it and run back. Spice it up. Here are some examples:
-Hop to the letter that makes the sound
-Skip to the letter that makes the sound
-Tip Toe to the letter that makes the sound

7. For another movement activity, put tape on the floor, with a letter on each piece of tape.

Tell your child to start with their feet on a certain letter (e.g., start on letter A), then tell them to jump to different letters, using the letter sounds.

For example, “Jump to the letter that makes the sound (insert letter sound).”

See an example below:

As your child becomes more independent with his letter sounds, you can make the letters spell actual words. For the word cat, have three pieces of tape, C, A, T.

Tell your child to start at the C, then jump to the next letter in Cat, and then the last letter.

To make it more challenging, have your child spell the word backwards, by starting with the last letter and jumping in order until they get to the first letter.

Mix up the game with upper and lower case letters. The example above has three letters, but you can use as many pieces of tape and letters as you want.
Start out with a few and add more if your child is making good progress.

8. Make a worksheet, using words and pictures with your child’s favorite characters, foods, animals, etc.

You can draw the worksheets by hand or use tables in Microsoft Word.  For a three-letter word, make a table with five columns and one row.

Put the picture of the word in the first box of the table (you can draw in the pictures or copy and paste them from Google Images). Put the letters in the other boxes, but leave one letter out. Have your child fill in the missing letter.

Here is an example of the worksheet:

Click here to print out your own version of this sheet.

For children who may have trouble solving this worksheet, try providing them with a letter bank to see if that helps.

See an example of a worksheet with a letter bank below.

Click here to print out your own version of a phonics worksheet with a letter bank.

9. Have your child paste letters on paper as you call out the sounds.

You can use the letter flashcards you made, like in number 2.

You can use this activity to teach your child how to spell words. Draw lines or boxes on the paper so your child knows where to paste the letters.

You can give your child the exact number of letters in the word, or throw in some extra letters to make it more challenging.

Call out the first sound in the word, have your child pick the correct letter, and paste it on the first line.

Then have them do the next sound, and so on, until the word is complete.

Supervise the activity, providing assistance as needed.

When your child is done, hang up their work to show them that you are proud of their effort.

You can also use this idea to teach a child how to spell their name, such as the sample in the image below.

10. Sing the alphabet sound song.

The tune is similar to the traditional alphabet song.

Here is a great example by Kidstv123. You can make up your own version as well.

What else can you do to help your child learn letter sounds?

If your child is significantly struggling with learning letter sounds or acquiring other academic skills, despite consistent practice and guidance, talk to your child’s school and/or doctor.

They can refer you to the appropriate professionals to determine what might interfere with your child’s progress and if additional strategies could help.

Additional Information About Teaching Phonics to Children

Keep in mind that the activities in this article are recommendations. Please do not try to pressure a child into participating in any of these activities.

This can lead to your child feeling frustrated, and possibly shying away from phonics (letter-sound) practice.

Remember to always stay calm when working with a child or student, even if you think they should be getting something that they are not getting.

If you get frustrated with them, they may start to feel anxious, angry, inferior, stupid, etc. which will lead to a less productive learning session.

Keep practice sessions short (2 to 10 minutes for younger children or children who get easily frustrated and 10 to 15 minutes for older children or children who can work for longer periods without frustration), unless the child is eager to keep going.

For suggestions on ways to encourage children to complete tasks or assignments they do not want to do, read the following articles:

• 3 Ways to Use Timers to Encourage Homework and Chore Completion 
• How to Use Schedules to Improve Children’s Behavior

Video Presentation

Education and Behavior – Keeping Us on the Same Page for Children.

Rachel Wise

Rachel Wise is the author and founder of Education and Behavior. Rachel created Education and Behavior in 2014 for adults to have an easy way to access research-based information to support children in the areas of learning, behavior, and social-emotional development. As a survivor of abuse, neglect, and bullying, Rachel slipped through the cracks of her school and community. Education and Behavior hopes to play a role in preventing that from happening to other children. Rachel is also the author of Building Confidence and  Improving Behavior in Children: A Guide for Parents and Teachers.

“Children do best when there is consistency within and across settings (i.e., home, school, community). Education and Behavior allows us to maintain that consistency.”

www.educationandbehavior.com

Phonetics of the Russian language for foreigners | Russian alphabet pronunciation Letters Sounds

Russian alphabet for foreigners: often not only foreigners who begin to learn Russian, but also advanced level foreigners cannot correctly pronounce some Russian sounds. We will talk about what letters of the Russian alphabet cause difficulties for foreigners , we will give recommendations for teachers on how to teach phonetics of the Russian language, what phonetic exercises for foreigners need to be performed and what difficulties may arise in their implementation, we will separately talk about how to put the pronunciation of Russian sounds , which cause the greatest difficulties for foreigners.

Russian as a foreign language

all letters of the Russian alphabet can mean several different sounds, for example: the letter E can mean the sounds [E], [YE], [I], and sometimes even the letter E can mean the sound [Y] (after the consonants Zh, Sh, C without accents: price, wife). nine0011

Setting the pronunciation of is another difficulty for teachers of Russian as a foreign language when teaching Russian to both beginners and foreigners continuing to study Russian. Below are recommendations, how to put the pronunciation of Russian sounds in the lessons of Russian as a foreign language.

Rules for staging Russian sounds. Teaching Russian phonetics

Russian phonetics for foreigners: work on staging any sound of the Russian language should begin with the formulation of phonemic hearing , i. e. first you need to ensure that the foreigner distinguishes sounds by ear. This is important because many Russian sounds sound the same to foreigners. For example, if your student says “grandfather” instead of “girl”, and when you correct him, he answers that he said so, then this means that your student does not distinguish sounds [D] and [V] by ear, they are for it sound the same.

In order for foreigners to learn to distinguish sounds by ear, we recommend doing the following exercises :

Exercise "Playing with cards" :

1. Take two sheets of paper, write on them the sounds you will practice. For example, on one sheet we write D, and on the other - V. Let's give these cards to a foreigner. The teacher pronounces the sounds [D] and [V] in random order, and the foreigner must raise the corresponding card. Of course, the teacher must tell the foreigner if he makes a mistake.

2. Then the teacher pronounces syllables, for example: wa - yes, du - wu, ava - hell, etc. , and the foreigner must raise the “D” card or the “B” card. nine0011

Phonetic dictation exercise :

The teacher dictates sounds, syllables, words to the student, and the foreigner writes down what he hears.

! Please note that in the exercise “Playing with Cards” and “Phonetic Dictation”, when practicing consonants, you do not need to dictate words that end in voiced paired consonants (B, C, D, D, F, Z), because. when pronouncing at the end of a word, voiced paired consonants are stunned. For example, if you dictate to a foreigner “bow”, “meadow”, then the foreigner will write down “bow”, “bow”, because “meadow” is pronounced like “lu[K]”, while your foreign student will not make a mistake, because this is a phonetic, not a spelling dictation. nine0011

When a foreigner began to distinguish Russian sounds by ear, the teacher can already change places with the foreigner, i.e. the teacher shows the card, and the foreigner says what is written. At this stage, another problem arises: a foreigner hears and understands how a Russian sound should sound, but cannot pronounce it correctly. The greatest difficulties for foreigners arise when pronouncing the following sounds: [S], [Y], [R], [F], [C], [W], [Sh] . Below we will consider the rules for setting these sounds and give recommendations on how to explain Russian phonetics to foreigners, how to conduct phonetic exercises for foreigners. nine0011

Russian alphabet - Letters I, Y

The pronunciation of the Russian vowel sound [Ы] causes difficulties for almost all foreigners. For example, foreigners pronounce "mi" instead of "we" and "beat" instead of "be".

The pronunciation of the vowel sound [I] causes much less difficulty for foreigners. The Russian sound [I] is similar to the English sound [i:]. To pronounce the sound [I] you need to point the tongue forward and touch the tip of the tongue to the lower teeth. When pronouncing [I], your students need to smile a little :). nine0011

Let's return to the formulation of the problematic Russian sound [Ы] . When pronouncing it, the whole tongue must be pushed back and strain the back of the tongue . Now the tip of the tongue no longer touches the lower teeth, but is pushed back. When we pronounce [ы], we no longer smile (of course, such a complex sound!) and [G]. The pronunciation of the sounds themselves [K] and [G] usually does not cause difficulty for foreigners, but when they are pronounced, the back of the tongue automatically tenses, and this is what we use in our phonetic exercise for foreigners:
yk - yg - yk - yg - yk - yg - yk - yg
ky - gy - ky - gy - ky - gy - ky - gy - s - s - s - s - s - s - s
ky - km - we - washed
gy - hmy - we - washed
ky - kvy - you - howl
gy - gvy - you - howl
ky - kby - would - was
gy - gby - would - was
soap, was, exit, exhibition, was, son, cheese, letters, smart

Russian alphabet - Letter Y

You should pay attention to foreigners who begin to study the phonetics of the Russian language to the letter of the Russian alphabet Y. The sound [Y] is found in Russian speech much more often than the letter Y , because the vowels E, Yo, Yu, I are at the beginning of the word, after vowels and after the letters b and b denote two sounds: [YE], [YO], [YU], [YA], for example: [YO] lka, with [YE] hat, kal [YA] n.

Difficulty in pronouncing the sound [Y] (often this sound in transcription is denoted as [j]) usually occurs in foreigners if the letter Y is at the end of the word, for example: foreigners pronounce “sanatoriums” instead of “sanatorium” or “my” instead of "my". Very often, foreigners do not distinguish by ear the sounds [Y] and [I], then it is advisable to do the exercise “Playing with cards” with foreigners. nine0011

How to explain to a foreigner the difference between the sounds [Y], [I] and how to teach a foreigner to pronounce the sound [Y]?

It is necessary to explain to a foreigner that the sound [Y] is pronounced VERY briefly. The sound [And] can be sung: and-and-and-and-and-and-and-and-and-and ..., and the sound [Y] must be pronounced very briefly , as if someone pricked with a pin: OH! The sound [Y] is pronounced with much more tension than the sound [I], when the sound [Y] is pronounced, the middle part of the tongue rises more, so a narrower gap is created between the palate and the tongue and the air stream breaks out with more pressure, more powerfully. nine0011

Pay the attention of foreigners to the spelling of the letter of the Russian alphabet Y :

Often foreigners confuse not only the sounds [Y] and [I], but also the letters Y, I. Foreigners can write the letter Y as the letter I (without a check mark above the letter Y), they do this by analogy with writing the letters Yo and E, because. it is not necessary to put a dot over the letter Y in writing.

The teacher should draw the foreigner's attention to the fact that when writing the letter Y, you should always put a tick over the letter, because the absence of a check mark above the letter Y is a spelling and grammatical error. Compare: "my favorite cowboy" and "my favorite cowboys." nine0011

Russian alphabet - Letter Р

When pronouncing the Russian consonant sound [R], the tense tip of the tongue vibrates near the alveoli (these are tubercles above the upper teeth) under the action of an air jet.

So, when pronouncing the sound [R], the tip of the tongue is slightly bent upwards, touches the tubercles above the teeth and is tense. But it is quite difficult for a foreigner to make the tip of the tongue vibrate. To help a foreigner, we turn to the helper sounds [T] and [D], during the pronunciation of which the tongue automatically takes the desired position at the alveoli. nine0011

Let's start our phonetic exercises.
Let's start the motorcycle!
dr – dr – dr – dr – dr – dr – dr – dr – dr – dr – dr – dr – dr – dr – dr – dr – dr…
Whose motorcycle started up?

Let's do more exercises (pronunciation of the sound [P]):
dra - dra - dra - dra - dra - dra - dra - fight
dro - dro - dro - dro - dro - dro - dro - fraction dru - dru - dru - dru - dru - friend
tra - tra - tra - tra - tra - tra - tra - trauma
tro - tro - tro - tro - tro - tro - tro - rope
tru – tru – tru – tru – tru – tru – tru – coward

To practice the pronunciation of the soft sound [P'], in phonetic exercises, after the letter P, you need to use vowels that soften the previous consonant (E, Yo, I, Yu, Ya). nine0011

Russian alphabet - Letter Zh

Another letter of the Russian alphabet, the letter Zh, is unusual for foreigners both in its spelling (some foreigners call it a butterfly) and in its pronunciation.

When pronouncing the sound [Ж], the tip of the tongue is raised to the alveoli (to the tubercles behind the upper teeth) and the tongue is pulled back.

To produce the zhu zhzh sound [Ж], we again turn to helper sounds: the consonant [Г] and the vowels [О], [У]. The sound [G] will help to pull the tongue back, and the sounds [O] and [U] will help to stretch forward and round the lips. nine0011

Phonetic exercises for foreigners:
gzhu - gzhu - gzhu - zhu - magazine, bug, buzz, tell
gzho - gzho - gzho - zho - yellow, alien, knife, circle

[Ж], but the difference lies in the fact that the sound [Ш] is pronounced without the participation of the vocal cords (no voice, only noise). Below we will talk separately about the letters of the Russian alphabet Sh and Shch. How to explain the Russian sound [Ts] to foreigners? nine0015

The Russian sound [Ts] is a single and indivisible sound, although it is similar to the combination of sounds [T + S], which is why some foreigners pronounce two sounds [TS] instead of the letter Ts. In this case, the foreigner must be explained that the sound [T] must be pronounced as short as possible !

It is better to practice the pronunciation of the sound [Ts] in words where the letter T is after the letters T or D, for example: fathers, to the father, with the father, thirteen, thirty, twenty, twelve, well done ...

Russian alphabet - Letters Ш and SC

Foreigners often confuse the sounds [Ш] and [Ш] and do not even distinguish these sounds by ear. In this case You already know what to do! Of course, do the exercise "Game with cards. "

Compare how the tongue and lips are positioned when pronouncing the sound [Ш] and the sound [Ш]:

When pronouncing the sound [Щ], the whole tongue moves forward, the middle part of the tongue is raised to the palate, the tongue is tense. When pronouncing the sound [Ш], the lips are less extended forward than when pronouncing the sound [Ш]. When pronouncing the sound [Ш], the corners of the lips are slightly stretched, and when pronouncing [Ш], we do not smile. nine0011

! The sound [Щ] is pronounced LONGER than the sound [Ш].

The sound [Щ] causes much more difficulties for foreigners. It is necessary to ensure that foreigners pronounce the sound [Щ] softly. Therefore, in the phonetic exercise, we use the vowel sound [I]:

Seek - look - shchi - shield
Seek - seek - shche - cheek
Seek - seek - shche - brush
Seek - seek - shch - feel

How to perform phonetic exercises correctly when teaching phonetics of the Russian language to foreigners

When you do any phonetic exercise , you must adhere to the following scheme:

1) When teaching the phonetics of the Russian language, the teacher first reads the letters, syllables, words, and the foreigner listens to the teacher and follows the text.
2) Then the teacher reads and the foreigner repeats.
3) And only now the foreigner reads on his own.

If you need to explain to a foreigner the position of the tongue when pronouncing a sound, you can show it with your hands. For example, the right hand is rounded, fingers pointing to the floor. Now your right hand is the palate, alveoli and teeth. And from the left hand we will make a tongue. Now you can show foreigners the position of the tongue in the mouth. nine0011

Thanks to this, we will be able to do without an intermediary language when explaining almost , which, of course, is a big plus.