ENGLISH LANGUAGE TECHINQUES
Kimberly Pineda.
Pronunciation Changing Meaning through Word Stress: A simple sentence can have many levels of meaning based on the word you stress. To have a better pronunciation you should know what word stress.
Example: I don't think he should get the job. Meaning: Somebody else thinks he should get the job. I don't think he should get the job. Meaning: It's not true that I think he should get the job. I don't think he should get that job. Meaning: That's not really what I mean. OR I'm not sure he'll get that job. I don't think he should get that job. Meaning: Somebody else should get that job.
Accent Neutralization or Accent Reduction. The main purpose of accent neutralization / reduction is to help proficient English speakers speak with a more North American or British accent. The main cause of this trend towards accent neutralization / reduction is the demand created by outsourcing. Accent neutralization can be practiced by listening and repeating the way they do it.
Audio lingua method These patterns are elicited, repeated and tested until the responses given by the student in the foreign language are automatic. Some characteristics of this method are: Drills are used to teach structural patterns, Set phrases are memorized with a focus on intonation, Grammatical explanations are kept to a
minimum, Vocabulary is taught in context, Audio-visual aids are used, Focus is on pronunciation, Correct responses are positively reinforced immediately
Example T: I wake up Ss: I wake up T: I brush my teeth Ss: I brush my teeth.
Writing Alliteration: The use of words that begin with the same sound near one another (as in wild and woolly or a babbling brook)
Example The big bad bear attacked all the little bunnies in the forest.
Assonance The same vowel sound is repeated but the consonants are different;
Example He passed her a sharp, dark glance, shot a cool, foolish look across the room.
Hyperbole It is exaggerating something for literary purposes which are not meant to be taken literally.
Example We gorged on the banquet of beans on toast.
Imagery Imagery means to use figurative language to represent objects, actions and ideas in such a way that it appeals to our physical senses.
Example: The children were screaming and shouting in the fields. - “Screaming” and “shouting” appeal to our sense of hearing or auditory sense.
Irony Is a figure of speech in which words are used in such a way that their intended meaning is different from the actual meaning of the words.
Example: “Water, water, everywhere, And all the boards did shrink; Water, water, everywhere, Nor any drop to drink.”
Tone The writer's tone or voice or atmosphere or feeling that pervades the text, such as sadness, gloom, celebration, joy, anxiety, dissatisfaction, regret or angery.
Example: This was the last fish we were ever to see Paul catch. My father and I talked about this moment several times later, and whatever our other feelings, we always felt it fitting that, when we saw him catch his last fish, we never saw the fish but only the artistry of the fisherman.
Grammar Inductive Inductive is known as a 'bottom up' approach. In other words, students discovering grammar rules while working through exercises.
Example: A reading comprehension which includes a number of sentences describing what a person has done up to that period in time.
Deductive Deductive is known as a 'top down' approach. This is the standard teaching approach that has a teacher explaining rules to the students.
Example The present perfect is made up of the auxiliary verb 'have' plus the past participle. It is used to express an action which has begun in the past and continues into the present moment... etc.
Error correction Error correction is often done by the teacher providing corrections for mistakes made by students. However, it is probably more effective for students to correct their own mistakes. In order to do this, students and the teacher should have common shorthand for correcting mistakes.
Example
T = tense P = punctuation WO = word order Prep = preposition WW = wrong word GR = grammar Y upside down = word missing SP = spelling
Listening for Mistakes Purpose: Improving Students' Listening Abilities / Review Make up a story on the spot (or read something you have at hand). Tell students that they will hear a few grammatical errors during the story. Ask them to raise their hand when they hear an error made and correct the errors. Intentionally introduce errors into the story, but read the story as if the errors were perfectly correct
Finishing the Sentence Purpose: Tense Review Ask students to take a piece of paper out for a dictation. Ask students to finish the sentences that you begin. Students should complete the sentence you begin in a logical manner. It's best if you use connecting words to show cause and effect, conditional sentences are also a good idea.
Examples: I like watching television because... Despite the cold weather,... If I were you,... I wish he...
Jumbled Sentences Purpose: Word Order / Review Choose a number of sentences from the last few chapters (pages) that you have been working on in class. Make sure to choose a nice mixture including adverbs of frequency, time signifiers, adjectives and adverbs, as well as multiple clauses for more advanced classes. Type (or write on the board) jumbled versions of the sentences and ask the students to reassemble them.
Example: If you are working on adverbs of frequency, ask students why 'often' is placed as it is in the following negative sentence: 'He doesn't often go to the cinema.'
Conversation Question Tag Interviews Purpose: Focus on Auxiliary Verbs Ask students to pair up with another student they feel they know reasonably well. Ask each student to prepare a set of ten different questions using question tags about that person based on what they know about him / her. Make the exercise more challenging by asking that each question be in a different tense (or that five tenses are used, etc.). Ask students to respond with short answers only.
Examples: You're married, aren't you? - Yes, I am. You came to school yesterday, didn't you? - Yes, I did. You haven't been to Paris, have you? - No, I haven't.
Who Wants a...? Purpose: Convincing Tell students that you are going to give them a present. However, only one student will receive the present. In order to receive this present, the student must convince you through his / her fluency and imagination that he or she deserves the present. It's best to use a wide range of imaginary presents as some students will obviously be more attracted to certain types of presents than others.
Examples: A computer A gift certificate for $200 at a fashionable store A bottle of expensive wine A new car
Group Work and Weekly Student Leaders Arranging the students in groups of four or five at the beginning of each class is the first step towards developing students' conversation abilities and effectively managing large classes. The tone for this must be set during the first week of classes in a semester. Students need to understand that the first two or three minutes of each class will be used to set up group
Weekly Participation Homework Topics Homework activities to a large group of students are a great deal of work for the teacher. You will want to organize the homework submissions around how many total students you have.
Example
First Week Visit your teacher's office and give him some useful advice about how to live in Korea, or advice on understanding Korean culture. You must speak for at least two minutes. Second Week Send an e-mail to your teacher that describes your favorite entertainer. The e-mail must be between 8-10 lines. Third Week Call your teacher on his cellular phone and ask him how he is feeling. He will ask you for some advice on something. You will have to give him advice that will help to solve his problem. You must speak for at least two minutes
Drama Techniques Using drama to teach English results in real communication involving ideas, emotions, feelings appropriateness and adaptability; in short an opportunity to use language in operation which is absent in a conventional language class. Such activities add to the teachers' repertoire of pedagogic strategies giving them a wider option of learner-centered activities to choose from for classroom teaching, thereby augmenting their efficiency in teaching English.
Self-reflection paragraph English language techniques are useful to teach ESL and also to learn it. My favorite techniques are the ones for conversation because those are active and students can share and practice by little conversation activities. I believe that first students should learn to speak English, and then they should learn all the grammatical rules. Because learn grammar will be easier if students already use it.