How Do You Spell It? — Teacher Edition

1

Listening

10 minutes

Say to student:

"How does Ana spell her name? Now let's practice the alphabet!"

Dialogue: First day at a language school. A student gives her name at the reception.

Ana and Daniel

Here is the text from the listening. Read along and check your answers.

Hi! I'm Ana Santos.

Santos? How do you spell it?

S-A-N-T-O-S.

OK. What's your email?

ana.santos@gmail.com.

What's 'caderno' in English?

It's a notebook.

N-O-T-E-B-O-O-K.

Class is starting. Stand up, please!

or click any bubble to hear one line

Comprehension:

1. What's the student's last name?

2. How does she spell it?

3. What's 'caderno' in English?

2

Language Focus

12 minutes

Grammar: Classroom expressions: How do you spell it? / What's ___ in English?

Form	Structure
Affirmative	Resposta a How do you spell?: cada letra separada (S-A-N-T-O-S). Resposta a What's ___ in English?: It's a/an ___.
Negative	Se não souber: 'I am not sure.' / 'Can you repeat it?'
Interrogative	How do you spell ___? / What's ___ in English? / What's your email?

Examples:

How do you spell 'Santos'? — S-A-N-T-O-S.

What's 'caderno' in English? — It's a notebook.

What's your email? — It's ana.santos@gmail.com.

How do you spell 'notebook'? — N-O-T-E-B-O-O-K.

Try it!

1. You ask: ' do you spell it?' (How / What / Where)

2. You ask: ' "caneta" in English?' (What's / How / Where)

3. Reply to 'How do you spell it?': say each . (letter / number / word)

4. Reply to 'What's caneta in English?': ' a pen.' (It's / Is / Are)

Answers: 1. How | 2. What's | 3. letter | 4. It's

Common Errors

How spell? → How do you spell it?
Sempre incluir 'do you' — pergunta com you precisa do auxiliar do.

How is 'caderno' in English? → What's 'caderno' in English?
Para perguntar 'como se diz' usamos WHAT'S (não How is).

Explicação (PT-BR):
Expressões essenciais de sala: 'How do you spell it?' = Como se soletra? Resposta: cada letra (M-A-R-I-A). 'What's ___ in English?' = Como se diz ___ em inglês? Resposta: 'It's a/an ___'. Usar SEMPRE quando precisar.

3

Practice

15 minutes

Watch for:
- Letters Brazilians confuse most: G /dʒiː/ vs J /dʒeɪ/, E /iː/ vs I /aɪ/, H /eɪtʃ/ (Brazilian says 'agá'), R /ɑːr/ (Brazilian vibrates the R).
- 'W' = double-you: explain 'It looks like two V's: VV = W = double-you.' Pronunciation: /dʌbəljuː/.
- 'How do you spell it?': teach as fixed expression. Student doesn't need to understand 'do' grammar yet (that's L15).
- Simon Says: FUN GAME. Take your time. If the student is laughing, the exercise works. Can run longer than 10 min.
- 'What's ___ in English?': teach the student to use THIS PHRASE in EVERY class. Creates target-language communication habit.
- Email: @ = 'at', . = 'dot'. Brazilian says 'arroba' — correct to 'at'.

Which Letter?

Listen to your teacher. Which letter do you hear? Choose A or B.

1. B or V?

V /viː/

B /biː/

✅ Correct: B /biː/

2. G or J?

G /dʒiː/

J /dʒeɪ/

✅ Correct: G /dʒiː/

3. E or I?

E /iː/

I /aɪ/

✅ Correct: E /iː/

4. D or T?

T /tiː/

D /diː/

✅ Correct: D /diː/

5. M or N?

N /ɛn/

M /ɛm/

✅ Correct: M /ɛm/

Alphabet, Spelling, and Classroom Phrases

Read each prompt out loud — spell, recite the alphabet, and use classroom commands.

1. Recite the alphabet: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z.

2. Spell out loud: VIP → V-I-P, CNN → C-N-N, BMW → B-M-W, FBI → F-B-I.

3. Spell your FULL name letter by letter. Then ask: How do you spell it?

4. Stand up. Sit down. Open your book to page 5. Close your book. Say: Excuse me!

5. Ask three questions: What's 'caderno' in English? What's 'mochila' in English? What's 'porta' in English?

6. Bonus: Spell your favorite movie title or band name.

Classroom Phrases

Complete with words from the box.

CloseSorrypageStandOpenSit

1. your books, please.

2. your books, please.

3. Go to seven.

4. up, please!

5. down, please.

6. I'm late!

Answer Key:
1. Open
2. Close
3. page
4. Stand
5. Sit
6. Sorry

Name Spelling Race

Spell your full name out loud. Your teacher writes what they hear in the chat. Then swap: your teacher spells a name and YOU write it!

Scenario:

Practice the alphabet by spelling names — yours and your teachers — out loud, clearly.

Useful Expressions

My name is ___. That's ___ (spell it letter by letter).Can you repeat that, please?How do you spell it?Is it with one L or two?That's right! / Sorry, let me spell it again.

Round 1 — Student spells

TEACHER: Stand up, please! What's your name?
YOU: My name is Maria. M-A-R-I-A.
TEACHER: How do you spell your last name?
YOU: It's Santos. S-A-N-T-O-S.
TEACHER: What's 'sobrenome' in English?
YOU: It's 'last name'!

Round 2 — Teacher spells

TEACHER: My name is Jennifer. That's J-E-N-N-I-F-E-R.
YOU: (type in chat) J-E-N-N-I-F-E-R.

Round 3 — Challenge names

Spell a tricky name: your mother's, your best friend's, or a favorite celebrity.
Go slow. Ask to repeat when needed.

4

Let's Talk

13 minutes

Let's Talk!

Use what you learned today to answer these questions. Elaborate as much as you can!

Real situations where you need to spell or ask for words.

1. Imagine I'm a delivery person and I need your name and address. Tell me — and spell each word!

Follow-up: And the apartment number? How do you spell the building name?

Target: I'm [name]. My address is ___. (spells street name)

Expected answer: I'm Marina. M-A-R-I-N-A. Rua das Flores. F-L-O-R-E-S.

Tip: Real-world spelling practice. Student must volunteer when to spell (street name typically). Force them to identify hard words and proactively spell. Correct letter pronunciation (H 'eitch', R 'ar', W 'double-yu', Y 'why').

2. Look around the room. What's something you can see but you are not sure of the English word? Ask me!

Follow-up: It's a ___. Can you spell it now? Try!

Target: What's ___ in English? (points to / says in PT)

Expected answer: What's 'parede' in English?

Tip: Forces student to USE 'What's ___ in English?' organically — not respond to it. Pick objects in their actual room (wall, ceiling, door, window, desk). Then have them attempt the spelling.

3. Spell your full name (first AND last name) — letter by letter, no skipping!

Follow-up: Wait — repeat the second letter? / Got it!

Target: My name is ___. M-A-R-I-A. Last name: S-I-L-V-A.

Expected answer: M-A-R-I-A. S-I-L-V-A.

Tip: Real productive — força aluno a soletrar nome completo. Brasileiros têm dificuldade com letras E (i) vs I (ai), G (dji) vs J (djei), Y (uai). Pode pedir repetir letras difíceis. Se errar, modelar antes de corrigir.

4. Quick game: I spell, you say the WORD. Ready? B-O-O-K.

Follow-up: Correct! Now: P-E-N. / Try: D-O-O-R.

Target: It's ___ (book / pen / phone / etc).

Expected answer: Book.

Tip: Reverse practice — teacher soletra, aluno reconhece. Use palavras simples 4-5 letras (book, pen, door, desk, cat, dog, car). Game-style, rapid-fire. Bom check de letter recognition.

Extension activity: Spelling dictation: teacher spells a word letter by letter, student writes it. 'B-O-O-K' → book. Then reverse: student spells, teacher writes.

Self-Assessment

How did you do today?

✓
I can spell my name in English.
✓
I can ask: What's ___ in English? and How do you spell it?
✓
I can understand classroom instructions.

Great work today!

Next class: things in your bag! Keys, phone, wallet...