Spelling Beef PRO
A spelling duel with audio. Students hear each word pronounced clearly, then race to spell it correctly before the other team does.
Open App →Teams Facing
- 1Connect to classroom speakers so both teams hear the audio pronunciation at equal volume and simultaneously.
- 2Use the 'hear first, write second' sequence: audio plays, then teams write the spelling before the definition is shown.
- 3Reveal both whiteboards at the same time to prevent the faster team from influencing the slower team's response.
- 4For lower levels, replay the audio once if teams request — more than twice defeats the listening-to-spelling training purpose.
The Teaching Logic Behind Spelling Beef PRO
Spelling Beef PRO is the audio-enhanced version of Spelling Beef. The generation logic is identical — AI selects CEFR-appropriate words with definitions and example sentences — but every word is also pronounced aloud, adding a critical listening-to-spelling dimension.
The PRO variant maintains a separate deduplication history. Teachers who use both versions will encounter different words in each, making PRO a genuine vocabulary extension rather than a repetition of the standard set.
The audio layer targets the phoneme-to-grapheme mapping that underlies confident spelling. Many learners can recognise a word in print but cannot spell it when they hear it — precisely because they have never actively mapped between the sounds and the letters. The PRO format closes that gap.
Why It Works
Phoneme-grapheme correspondence is learnable
Ehri (2005) demonstrates that explicit connections between phonemes (sounds) and graphemes (letters) produce more reliable spelling than exposure to written words alone. Hearing a word pronounced while spelling it forces students to make those connections actively.
Listening exposure to word form strengthens word knowledge
Nation (2001) identifies spoken form as a distinct aspect of word knowledge from written form. Many learners develop strong reading vocabularies with weak aural recognition of the same words — PRO's audio-first approach explicitly targets this gap.
Audio + visual encoding creates stronger memory traces
Mayer (2009) shows that dual-channel encoding (auditory and visual) produces more durable memory than single-channel input. Hearing the pronunciation while writing the spelling creates two linked memory traces that reinforce each other during later retrieval.
Step-by-Step in Class
Set up audio, pick mode and level
Connect to a speaker before starting — audio is the core of the PRO experience. Choose Solo Play or Team Play, then set the CEFR level and category (Animals, Science, Technology, Homophones, Commonly Misspelled, History, and more). The PRO variant draws from its own word history, so it generates fresh vocabulary even for classes who have already used the standard version.
Play the audio — hide the definition
In the recommended sequence, play the audio first with the definition hidden. Teams write the spelling based on the pronunciation alone. This targets phoneme-to-grapheme mapping directly.
Reveal the definition and check
After teams have committed to their spellings, reveal the definition. Teams check whether their spelling matches the word the definition describes. Discrepancies between phonological guesses and semantic guesses create productive discussion.
Replay for segmentation
For multi-syllable words that caused errors, replay the audio and ask students to clap the syllable breaks as they listen. Syllabic segmentation helps students approach spelling in manageable chunks rather than attempting whole-word retrieval.
How to Set It Up for Different Levels
Audio plays 1–2 syllable high-frequency words. Teams spell what they hear before the definition appears. Focuses on common irregularities: silent letters, vowel digraphs.
A1 learners already know these words by sound from classroom input. PRO tests whether they can bridge from phonological recognition to orthographic production — a critical step for literacy development.
Audio plays 3–4 syllable academic words with silent or irregular segments (government, environment, Wednesday). Teams must spell from the audio, not from guessing based on sound-letter correspondence.
B1 learners often misspell academic words because they spell them phonetically. PRO exposes the gap between how these words sound and how they are written — and the audio-first format makes that gap impossible to avoid.
Audio plays sophisticated vocabulary. Students must recognise root patterns (phon-, graph-, -tion, -ence) in the spoken form and apply them to produce correct spellings.
Latin and Greek morpheme patterns are the key to B2+ spelling accuracy. PRO's audio-first format trains students to hear these patterns in natural speech, building the morphological awareness that transfers to independent writing.
Ways to Extend the Game
Phonetic Breakdown
After the audio plays, students write the word in phonemic script before the standard spelling. Comparing phonemic and standard spellings makes irregular patterns visible and memorable.
Syllable Race
Instead of writing the full word, teams race to write the number of syllables they hear, then write the word. The syllable count task forces active listening before spelling production.
Homophone Trap
Teacher sets the app to a CEFR level where homophones occur (their/there, here/hear, meet/meat). Audio plays — students must infer the correct spelling from context provided by the definition only.
Team Spelling Bee
Eliminate standard whiteboard reveals and require one student from each team to stand and spell the word letter-by-letter aloud after hearing the audio. Adds public production pressure and tests individual knowledge under the team's eyes.
Pair It With
Spelling Beef
Spelling Beef is the visual-first version — use it to build familiarity with word forms before adding the audio challenge of PRO, or alternate between them to train both orthographic and phonological channels.
Number Ninja PRO
Number Ninja PRO uses the same audio-first mechanic for numbers — classes that benefit from listening-to-production training in spelling will benefit from it equally for number expression.
Word Jackpot
Word Jackpot tests the same vocabulary receptively through definition-matching — running it after Spelling Beef PRO reinforces the same word set from a different cognitive angle.