The phonemic chart (not phonetic—you will not catch me out that easily!) is used by all serious, reflective teachers as an invaluable aid to teaching pronunciation.

Unfortunately, a lot of teachers, not to mention students, find the symbols a little hard to remember. With them in mind, I have included a chart here for you to print out and photocopy or display on the classroom wall.

Get the chart here: PNG or PDF

Newcomers to the profession might find it especially useful, perhaps before an observed “pron” lesson.

Fun with phonemes

The legendary teacher trainer, Jim Screensaver, has a goody-bag of fun-packed phoneme-related activities over at Macmillan’s OneHorseEnglish.com. Here is a sample.

• Phonemic Tattoos. Popular with teenage classes, these unusual tattoos will distinguish your students from their friends. All you need are some coloured inks, a lot of cottonwool and a needle.
• Phonemic Reading. Enliven a dull reading passage by getting students to read it aloud phonemically. (Thanks to Mario for this suggestion.)
• Phonemic Ludo. Use the chart as a game board. By throwing a dice, students move around the chart, a symbol at a time. When a student lands on a symbol, they have to make a word containing that symbol or go back to their previous square. [Editor: On second thoughts, this is quite good. Let’s leave it off the web page and try flogging it to Macmillan.]
• Phonemic Murder. When a teacher constantly drones on about phonemic symbols, students take the chart and shove it down his or her throat. Optional variation: the rest of the class transcribe the choking noises.