Count the Words

Purpose:  to practice hearing individual words in a stream of speech

Preparation Time:  5 minutes

Materials Needed:  A short list of level appropriate sentences

Procedure:

1. Tell the learners that they are going to practice listening to speech so that they can hear distinct words.
2. Read a sentence from the text aloud at a natural speed.
3. Have students listen and count the number of words they hear.
4. Repeat the text again more slowly and count the number of words with the learners.
5. Repeat steps 2-3 until all of the sentences have been read and counted.

Expansion: After the prepared sentences are completed, have learners work independently or in partners to come up with 2-3 sentences of their own. Pair learners up, and have each partner read their sentences out loud to their partner, while their partner counts the words that they hear.