Sound–Symbol Skills Pack

2024 specifications: French, Spanish & German

Recordings included: ~100 tracks per pack!

These unique skills packs help students to understand the new SSCs* in the 2024 GCSE specifications, and confidently apply this knowledge to the new Dictation and Reading Aloud exam questions.

Technical, yet accessible

S Fleet, Teacher & Peer Reviewer

How does the pack work?

Each worksheet introduces the SSC with examples and is then divided into 2 sections:

  1. Vocabulary: focus on recognition and understanding of prescribed vocabulary
  2. Sound–Symbol: listen to and write down words that match the SSC, or speak words aloud
    A variety of activities including match-up, gap fill, translation and transcription keeps students engaged.

Worksheets are designed for use by students of all levels with starred extension activities for Higher tier. Ready to use in class or as homework with answers provided.

What are SSCs*?
Sound–symbol correspondences are the relationship between how a word is written and the sound it makes when you say it aloud.

Designed to match AQA’s requirements for relevant, targeted learning:

  • Keywords from the prescribed vocabulary list
  • SSCs from the specification
  • 12 exam-style questions for Dictation and Reading Aloud to further test understanding and skills

🎧 Click here to listen to a short sample recording 🎧

Pairs well with: ZigZag Education’s AQA topic-by-topic Dictation Skills Packs and Reading Aloud Skills Packs

What do teachers say about this resource? (12678)

Excellent and much needed because of the introduction of sounds and dictations as part of the new GCSE spec. To have this material with differentiated exercises is a great motivator for able ones, I think is great. To have exam-style questions covered in this resource to test recognition and application of sound is a plus. Because the structure is repetitive, this helps students to get used to the style and develop independent learning. The author has invested a good amount of time and energy in this pack and this is much appreciated because we need resources like this. I would purchase this material because I think the materials from the textbook alone is not enough and I like to have plenty of resources and challenge my students with the tongue twister for example.

C Ortega Del Blanco, Teacher & Peer Reviewer

I liked the explanation and the identifying words for their sounds, and how many words you can identify, as well the dictations. I thought the sentences to identify the words with the SCC was great and the tongue twisters I thought were great to be practised in the classroom. I like the idea of different and more challenging tasks for those in higher as opposed to foundation ones. I liked how it was laid with the explanation of the type of exercises, the introduction of the sound, and the set up for students to think of when they have encountered those sounds. I loved the part to identify in which part of the word that sound would appear (S/M/E- start, middle or end).

A Diaz, Teacher & Peer Reviewer

What do teachers say about this resource? (12555)

This is an excellent resource. The vocabulary has been carefully selected. The author has managed to produce a resource that is suitable both at Foundation and Higher level, which is a big feat. Technical, yet accessible.

S Fleet, Teacher & Peer Reviewer

A resource of high demand with a lot of teachers feeling uncertain about the changes in the new specification. I definitely see the pedagogical value of using the activities little and often to increase students’ confidence. I like that the activities are well built and start from basic and build in difficulty. They build a student’s vocabulary skills whilst also improving their phonic skills. I like that no assumption is made regarding the level of knowledge on the part of the teacher in terms of phonics, so phonics specific terms such as SSC are glossed within the resource. There is a lot of explanation for the teacher to understand what has been chosen and why which shows a lot of thought has been taken into consideration when creating this resource.

F Lintern, Head of MFL & Peer Reviewer