Fan Game
Melissa Paulse (originally by Tara Zuhlke)

Frequently in the textbook, there are two or three contrasting sounds presented in a phonics box. In the new New Horizon textbook for next year there is a pair of difficult-to-distinguish sounds presented on each page.

A good warm-up to teach these sounds is the Phonics Fan Game.

1. Students are divided into three teams (two rows = 1 team).

		xx xx xx
		xx xx xx
		xx xx xx
		xx xx xx
		xx xx xx
		xx xx xx

2. The two (or three or four) sounds we are interested in are written on the board.

		b		v

		p		f

3. The first student on each team stands up and takes a fan.

4. The teacher (AET) says a sound or a word with the sound (ban, pan, van, fan) and the students have to hit the sound they hear with the fan. The new books have sample words for each sound you are to teach.

5. The fan on the bottom is the winner. (unless they cheated.)

Variations on the fan game:
1) Write two kanji on the board. Say the words in English and have the students hit the one they hear. For example, students have a lot of trouble with "y" and "e". On the blackboard I write the kanji for year and for ear. I say "year" and "ear" and the students have to hit the correct kanji.
2) Write two words on the board in English and have students hit the word you say, for example, light and right, dog and duck.

NB. You can also play these variations in karuta format, like normal karuta (see Minefields, page 9) but with only two cards.

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