For those who know German, there is an unusual set of books by Vera F. Birkenbihl and Jan Müller:
- Vera F. Birkenbihl & Jan Müller: Das Falschschreib-Spiel fonetix: Wir schreiben ohne Regeln frei nach Gehör. Alfa-Veda-Verlag, 2005; fourth printing 2014. ISBN 978-3945004104. This book was originally published as a supplement to Trotzdem LEHREN (Gabal, 2004).
- Vera F. Birkenbihl & Jan Müller: fonetix II: Wir lesen und schreiben streng nach Gehör. 10 Übungstexte in der Lautschrift IPA. Alfa-Veda Verlag, 2006, third printing 2014. ISBN 978-3945004111.
The first book does not teach IPA (except on the book's last pages). Its publication was prompted by the observation that many German-speaking children with spelling problems have only an approximately correct pronunciation of the language. And since the German writing system is not really "phonetic" (in spite of what many German think), incorrect pronunciation contributes to incorrect spelling. For this reason, the book contains "games" with several types of texts: texts that are written in correct German spelling and with a "phonetic" version below each line, texts that are only available in this "phonetic" version etc. The point is to learn to write what you really hear.
The second book introduces IPA and contains three types of exercises.
- The first type of exercises uses text with in interlinear IPA transcription. These texts should be read out loud so learners can compare their pronunciation with the IPA transcription. Once you are familiar with IPA, you should cover the IPA transcription with a piece of paper and write your own IPA transcription on it.
- The second type of exercises gives you texts that are transcribed in IPA and you should write down the text in correct German. So this is a kind of spelling exercises that uses IPA.
- Finally, the last exercises gives you a normal German text that you need to convert into IPA.
Obviously, these books focus on German, not English, but the last one will make you thoroughly familiar with phonemic transcription.