Teachers can show pupils how phonics work in segments by stretching out word sounds. The teacher takes out a rubber band and stretches it, and stretches out the sounds in a word as well. For example, stretch out the word "ran" to "rrrrrrrrrrrr-aaaaaaaaa-nnnnnnnnn" to show the three sounds that form the word. Relax the rubber band and say "ran" quickly to put the sounds together.
Pupils can use a song to show segmentation of words in reading by breaking the word into sounds. For example, a pupil might sing a song saying, "Let me tell you about the word tan," and then break it up by saying that "t" is the first sound in tan, "ah" is second and "n" is the last. Play around with tunes to make the activity more fun.
In exaggerated speech, pupils talk to each other but draw out the sounds while they speak. For example, the pupil might say, "How are you?" but he should say the words slowly so every sound is heard. This exaggerates the sounds that are spoken and brings out the sound segments.
Use a ninja puppet and ask the pupils questions such as "I wonder how many sounds are in your name." Pupils then "chop up" the sounds. The ninja says "Hi-yah!" and then the whole class says the name slowly and counts the sounds. For example, Mark becomes "m" and "ar" and "k" when chopped up.