Minimal Pairing

Minimal Pairs Activity Lesson Plan

Objective: to teach ESL students to listen to the pronunciation of minimal pairs and spell them correctly

Time: 5 minutes

Activity:

1. Prior to playing this game, you should review sets of minimal pair words by writing the words on the board and saying them together out loud.

2. You can split your class into two teams and take turns choosing one person from each team to come up to the board.

3. As two students are at the board (one from each team), you will say a sentence using two minimal pair words and the students must write the sentence (i.e. “I said I am sad”, “The sheep is on the ship”, “My vest looks the best”, etc.).

4. The first student to write the sentence with the minimal pairs spelled correctly earns a point for their team. If both students seem to be stuck on how to spell the words, then they may get help from a team player.

5. You repeat steps 3 and 4 with different students. At the end of the game, the team with the most points wins! Play this game many times throughout the year for practice with minimal pairs as your class learns more of them.

Accommodations:

-As students gain more practice with minimal pairs, you may choose a student to create the sentence instead of yourself.

-You can create a “Minimal Pairs Idea Box” for students to think of minimal pairs sentences on their own, write them down on a slip of paper, and submit them in the box to be used in future games.