Pronunciation Class Activities Ana Carolina García Gómez ULACIT Universidad Latinoamericana De Ciencia Y Tecnología Costa Rica
Introduction Pronunciation is key to help student to develop intelligibility in speech. It is very common to observe that there is few teaching effort in pronunciation during English classes because pronunciation has been neglected. “The history of foreign language instruction reveals that there have been many differences of opinion over the years about the value of teaching pronunciation and-about how best to teach it” (Celce-Murcia, 1983, p.3). Nowadays, it is important to instruct students in production of sounds in the foreign language. Effective, communicative activities are essential when teaching pronunciation. This magazine presents a range of activities that can be used to improve students’ production of American English sounds. If a teacher who is interested in helping students achieve communicative competence in a foreign language must teach at least enough pronunciation to get the students above the threshold level, what activities should be used? How does one teach pronunciation communicatively? (Celce-Murcia, 1983, p.4). The activities described in this magazine are proposed in the context of a communicative framework. Pronunciation is important because students need to communicate effectively with others. Therefore, the activities are classified into 5 phases “moving from analysis and consciousness raising to listening discrimination, and finally production” (Celce-Murcia, 2010, p.45) These activities are targeted to students from primary school. Kids enjoy games, pictures, and communicative activities. They love to work in groups.
Activity 1 Aim: To know how vowel sound /ɪ/ is produced and when it occurs within spoken discourse. Stage:
Description and Analysis Listening discrimination
Materials: 20 color cards Procedure 1. Students watch the following video that explains and illustrates /ɪ/. Short__Sound_-_Phonics_by_TurtleDiary(bajaryoutube.com).mp4 2. Teacher gives a color card to the students. They must insert /ɪ/ correctly
after they listen to words from the video.
Rewrite the words and insert /ɪ/ correctly where you listen to the sound being studied.
inn____________________________________
ink____________________________________
insect__________________________________
igloo__________________________________
iguana_________________________________
Activity 2 Aim: To know how vowel sound /i/ is produced and when it occurs within a spoken discourse. Materials: 20 Color cards Stages:
Description and Analysis Listening Discrimination
Procedure 1. Students watch the following video that explains and illustrates /i/ . Long__Sound_-_Phonics_by_TurtleDiary(bajaryoutube.com).mp4 2. Teacher gives the following color card to the students. They must match the picture with the correct phonetic transcription
Match each picture with the correct transcription •
•
/it/
•
•
/bi/
•
•
/ir/
•
•
/il/
Activity 3 Aim: To correctly discriminate between /ɪ/ and /i/ features. Materials:
/ɪ/ /i/
Stage: Listening Discrimination 20 handouts 40 lollipop sticks Permanent markers Small color labels with IPA symbols Procedure 1. Teacher has previously prepared a list of words with /ɪ/ and /i/ 2. Each student takes two sticks and glue IPA labels (/ɪ/ or /i/) on them.
3. Teacher carefully pronounces each word from the list. Students rise the stick that has the correct symbol for sounds /ɪ/ and /i/. 4. Finally, teacher delivers a handout to each student with the words list. Students individually pronounce the words and classify them into the correct sound. words beat big build cheese city clean dictionary easy feet interesting key leave meal minutes money need please police
/ɪ/
/i/
Activity 4 Aim: To raise consciousness about the feature /ÉŞ/. Stage: Controlled Practice Materials: 20 handouts Procedure 1. Students work with a partner. 2. They take turns reading the sentences. 3. They identify /ÉŞ/ in the sentences and write the symbol above the corresponding sound.
1) Come here and sit. 2) Kate is my sister. 3) If you stay I will stay too. 4) Try to hit that ball with your bat. 5) We will have a very nice trip. 7) I am really busy at this minute. 8) They will sit with you. 9) She will give us the bill. 10) Stay here and listen to me. 11) They miss the winter.
Activity 5 Aim: To raise consciousness about the feature /i/. Stage: Controlled Practice Materials: 20 handouts Procedure 1. Students work with a partner. 2. They take turns reading the sentences. 3. They identify /i/ in the sentences and write the symbol above to the corresponding word. 1) I want to see my feet.
2) I need to sneeze.
3) Read my book, please.
4) Give me the key, please.
5) They feel good when they meet.
7) We need some heat.
8) He eats all the meat.
9) We need to be free.
10) Please don't leave.
11) When I freeze, I start to sneeze.
Activity 6 Aim: To monitor the correct pronunciation of /i/ when creating complete sentences. Stage: Guided Practice Materials: 20 flashcards Procedure 1. Teacher has previously prepared flashcards that illustrate words with /i/. 2. Each student takes a flashcard and orally creates a sentence that include the word in such visual. 3. Teacher exchanges flashcards for students create various sentences. The student stands in the front of the class to share his/her sentence.
Activity 7 Aim: To correctly produce the features /i/ and /ɪ/ when having a dialogue in a specific situation. Stage: Communicative Practice Materials: Some labels for names and appropriate garments for the situation. Procedure 1. Teacher has previously analyzed students to create groups of three people. 2. Students prepare a dialogue using the following words in the conversation: •
eat
•
meal
•
meat
•
Kim
•
Jim
•
tip
•
him
•
big
•
pill
•
need
•
coffee
•
cream
•
cheap
•
please
•
hungry
3. The conversation must be performed in a restaurant setting in which a waiter or waitress takes the order of two customers. 4. Conversation will take place in the class using appropriate scenery to give an actual presentation.
Activity 8 Aim: To monitor the production of the features /θ/ and / ð/ by asking and answering questions about family members. Stage:
Guided Practice Communicative Practice
Materials: Handouts (one for each student) Procedure 1. Teacher asks students to choose a classmate to work with. 2. Teacher gives different handouts to each student (Student A and Student B). 3. Students ask and answer questions about the people in the family, such as Who is Agatha’s mother? Students ask each other questions to find out the names of the other family members. 4. In addition, students can tell fiction stories about the family members. For example, "Agatha and Theodore are very happy that their daughter, Bet, is a doctor that works in CIMA hospital."
Activity 9 Aim: To monitor the production of the features /v/ and /b/ when giving directions to a person. Stage: Guided Practice Materials: Handouts (one for each student) Procedure 1. Teacher asks students to choose a classmate to work with. 2. Teacher gives handouts to each student. 3. First, a student chooses a spot in the map to represent where he/she is standing now. “I am at _________________ (the bookstore).” Then, he/she chooses a place in the map to go and asks the classmate how to get there. “Could you tell me how to get to _______________(the barber shop). Go two blocks east on Velton Street. 4. ” The partner gives directions using the street names. Students change roles.
Activity 10 Aim: To monitor the production of the features /s/ and /θ/ by asking and answering questions. Stage:
Guided Practice
Materials: Handouts (one for each student) Procedure 1. Teacher asks students to work in pairs. Each student has Student A or Student B handout. 2. Students asks questions to each other to find out a day in which they both are free to do something together.
Student A
Student B
References Celce-Murcia, M. (1983). Teaching Pronunciation Communicatively. MEXTESOL Journal, 7(1), 10-25. Celce-Murcia, Marianne (2010). Chapter 5: Connected Speech, Stress, and Rhythm. Teaching Pronunciation: A Course Book and Reference Guide. New York: Cambridge University Press