Word mazes are a form of puzzle where students must follow the correct sequence of words to make their way from the start of the maze to the finish.
Word stress mazes
Being aware of syllable stress is crucial for helping non-native English speakers to improve their pronunciation and comprehensibility. These word-stress mazes get student grappling with stressed syllables.
- two syllable word stress
- three syllable character traits word stress
- four syllable word stress
- five syllable word stress
Silent letter word maze
Use this maze to help make students more aware of combinations of letters which usually contain an unpronounced letter.
Hello! My students really enjoyed the word stress mazes, until they found an error! In the three-syllable word maze, the word frustrating does not have the oOo stress pattern. Perhaps you could update the maze with another word. Thanks!
Hi Lisa, thanks for the comment, I’m very happy when people point out errors that I can correct. But in this case, I’m puzzled. Where would you put the stress then? On the first syllable? In British English, the stress is on the second syllable. This site agrees with me https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/frustrating. What do other readers think?
Hi Andrew, I teach in the United States and we say ‘frustrating’ with the emphasis on the first syllable. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/frustrating I was unaware of this particular American/British pronunciation difference. I try to tell my students of some of the differences (the way Americans say ‘schedule’ is different from the British pronunciation). It’s interesting that the word in question is frustrating — this is frustrating!! Anyway, I’ll use the mazes again, and just choose another word. I love your website; lots of great ideas! Thank you!
Hello! My students really enjoyed the word stress mazes, until they found an error! In the three-syllable word maze, the word frustrating does not have the oOo stress pattern. Perhaps you could update the maze with another word. Thanks!
Hi Lisa, thanks for the comment, I’m very happy when people point out errors that I can correct. But in this case, I’m puzzled. Where would you put the stress then? On the first syllable? In British English, the stress is on the second syllable. This site agrees with me https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/frustrating. What do other readers think?
Hi Andrew, I teach in the United States and we say ‘frustrating’ with the emphasis on the first syllable. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/frustrating I was unaware of this particular American/British pronunciation difference. I try to tell my students of some of the differences (the way Americans say ‘schedule’ is different from the British pronunciation). It’s interesting that the word in question is frustrating — this is frustrating!! Anyway, I’ll use the mazes again, and just choose another word. I love your website; lots of great ideas! Thank you!
Thanks for writing back Lisa and thanks for the nice words. I’ll swap Frustrating for another word as soon as I get the chance.
What a great idea! Thank you for the resources.