Sound effects. Sounds simple enough, right? 🔉👂

You’d be surprised to hear how often we get the question:

“Teacher how do you spell the sound effect?”

Which leads us to our first tip:

(e.g. Thud / Thump / Bam)

But sometimes, it gets a little hard to spell the sound as is. For instance, how do you spell the whimpering of an injured animal?

Owwwrrrrrr??

In this case, it might just be easier to:

(e.g. Whimper / Cough)

But spelling isn’t the only problem. Sometimes, it’s choosing the correct sound effect. Here are some principles to abide by while making your selection:

For instance, students may use “Boom!” when the character is falling down. Unless the character is falling into a field of explosives, it is unlikely that their fall could emit such a loud and dramatic sound. In this case, a “Thud!” may suffice.

How about this?

Clink VS Clang VS Clatter

In the case of objects falling, you might have even seen students write “Piang!”. In the case of a person falling, this might be replaced with “Piak!”

While there is nothing inherently wrong with these sounds, we need to remember the second principle:

Another favourite: Students like to announce the arrival of the ambulance with “Wee woo” or even “Pee po”. If you’re emphasising on a serious injury, then such sounds will change the tone from sombre to comical.

Bottom line: Sound effects is an amazing “show not tell” tool that anyone can use. But if you want to use it effectively, think twice before penning it down.