Discriminating Phonemes

Discriminating Phonemes
 Objective:
The students will identify the position of the one phoneme that differs in pairs of words.
Materials:
•  List of word pairs with a single discriminating phoneme in each pair
Lesson:
Practice isolating phonemes in words. Tell the students they will hear two words that have only
one sound that is different. Their job is to identify the sound that is different: the beginning,
middle, or ending sound. Then,
1.  Remind students that they must be very good listeners for this lesson.
2.  Call out two words that differ in one phoneme only, such as cat/fat, map/mop,
rap/rat.
3.  Have the students identify the position, “beginning, middle or end,” in which the
discriminating phoneme is found.
4.  Have students say the sound that is different.
5.  Continue calling out word pairs.
Adaptations:
For English language learners, be sure to clarify the meanings of all unknown words. Provide
pictures when appropriate