Hatsuon Challenge
Just thought I’d share a goofy little activity I cooked up on a day when I was feeling slightly sadistic. It’s an oldie but a goodie. By the way, 発音（はつおん or hatsuon）means “pronunciation.” It turns out that the kids think it’s kind of funny, and they were surprised by the results. Basically, I trolled around the net for a while and looked up common problems that Japanese speakers have when they are learning English. The classic L-R, B-V, Th-S, and Sh-S consonant problems popped up, but I managed to squeeze a few more out, in the vowel area. I found a few more good examples in an AJET book. Anyway, I just randomly circle one of each pair, and then read them aloud. The kids are supposed to circle the one I say. It’s good clean sadistic fun. You can download the .doc Microsoft Word file here, or click on the thumbnail to see a preview. Nothing fancy.
I’m a big fan of sharing quick and painless lesson ideas. Games. Whatnot. Painless for me, that is. Not the students. Ha ha. Anyhoo, feel free to share.
