Oral Segmenting Accuracy, Aliens of Paz Picture Activity

Group Size: Small Group, Whole Class

Length: 10 minutes

Materials: 10 pictures of easily recognized items

Goal: Given a picture, the student can name it and segment the word into separate sounds ( "abc" -> /a/ + /b/ + /c/ ).

What to do

In this activity students will practice oral segmenting words that contain both continuous sounds and stop sounds. Before you begin, find 10 pictures of items like nut, fan, egg, pen, jam, rat, gum, fan, cab, bag, etc.
I’m going to pretend to be an alien from planet Paz that is looking at pictures of things on earth. On Paz, people speak in a strange way—like we speak, but much more slowly. For example, if aliens see this picture (show a picture of a can), instead of saying the word can, they say caaannn and they touch their arm like this when they talk. Touch your shoulder as you make the first sound, your elbow as you make the second, and your hand as you make the third. Repeat, caaannn. Hold each letter sound for about a second and don't pause between sounds. Now say the word quickly, like we say on earth. What's the word? (Students) Can.
Now it’s your turn. You must all pretend to be aliens from planet Paz. When I show you a picture, think of what the picture is silently. Then, when I say, “What is this?” You must say the word slowly and touch your arm as the aliens do in Paz. Afterwards, I will ask you to say the word quickly, like we do on earth. Ready?
Go through each picture once and then repeat the pictures if the students need more practice doing oral segmenting. Watch for students who are not segmenting or touching their arm correctly and give them an individual turn.