About this activity
Ten words that start with /ch/: chin, chip, chat, chop, chest, check, chain, chair, charm, chew. Initial position is where most /ch/ work begins, because the sound gets the full weight of the syllable and the child has a running start at it — nothing else in the mouth has to be finished first.
How to use it in a session
Start with the short ones. Chin, chip and chat are single syllables ending in a simple consonant, and they give the cleanest shot at the sound; chair and charm add an /r/ that can pull the tongue out of position. Ask for the word alone, then in my chin, then in a sentence. Eight minutes covers ten cards at two levels, which is a better use of the time than one level and more repetitions.
What to listen for
Listen for the two halves of the affricate. A child saying shin for chin has the fricative and not the stop that should precede it; a child saying tin has the stop and no fricative release. Cue accordingly rather than just repeating the model — stopping the air first is a different instruction from letting it out slowly. Watch chew and chair, which are hardest here because of the lip rounding and the /r/.
Carrying it home
Chin, chair and chew are all available at the dinner table. Ask the family to notice the sound in one setting rather than everywhere, and to comment on the ones that come out right rather than the ones that do not.
Questions
- What grades is this for?
- Kindergarten through third, which is when /ch/ is typically an active target.
- Do I need to sign up?
- No, all ten cards play free in the browser.
- My student says 'shin' for 'chin'. What do I cue?
- The stop. That substitution means the air is flowing when it should be briefly blocked, so cueing the tongue to touch and then release usually helps more than asking for the sound again.