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Below you will find some resources to help students practice their phone skills.

Practicing phone skills is very important.  Sounds carry differently over the phone, and the student cannot see their interlocutor's face, which makes it even harder to hold phone conversations.  Their getting used to speaking on the phone will allow for better comprehension should they need to place a real life one.

Cell phones only transmit sounds between ~300 Hz and ~3,400 Hz, cutting off parts of sounds that allow to differentiate between sounds – for example making S and F sound very similar – leaving it up to the listener's brain to "fill in" as needed.  With enough repetition and practice, it will become easier for students to fill in what the phone does not transmit.

• NATO Phonetic Alphabet: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NATO_phonetic_alphabet#Tables
• Telephone role-play cards from BBC's British Council: https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/sites/teacheng/files/telephone.pdf
• Telephone role-play cards from https://www.englishcurrent.com/roleplays/roleplay-cards2-telephone/  – PDF saved on WiKI: https://wikis.mit.edu/confluence/download/attachments/228494322/ESL-Phone_Roleplay-Cards.pdf?api=v2
• Telephone role-plays: https://busyteacher.org/21530-3-fun-telephone-role-plays.html
• Tips for English learners: https://www.talktocanada.com/blog/phone-tips-you-cant-ignore-when-learning-to-speak-english
• Standard phone phrases to practice with the student: https://www.speakconfidentenglish.com/telephone-calls-in-english/

You may also ask the student about times where they needed to place a phone call and it was difficult for them, as well as connect with their on-site tutor, if any, for insights on what the student's current needs are.

Should the student have difficulty with phone calls, having a few video calls first will allow them to become used to the sound differences prior to returning to voice-only calls.