Teaching from the Heart Pronunciation Tips
Activities
Much more
The Communicative Framework for Teaching Pronunciation
Awareness on Pronunciation
Take it easy and Pronounce it correctly
To our readers, Our major goal is to be the best support for you who are in the classrooms struggling for teaching new activities and making students feel more interested in pronouncing English sounds correctly. By selecting our magazine, as your help for teaching pronunciation in ESL lessons, you will get activities, tips, up-dated articles on pronunciation topics, and much more. Let´s start!
Index To our readers Index /f/ and /v/ /æ/and /eɪ/ /h/ /i/ and /ɪ/ /ʃ/ and /ʒ/ /ʌ/ /θ/ and /ð/ /r/ and /l/ /ɜ:/ and /ɔ:/
2 3 6 10 14 18 22 26 30 34 38
The Communicative Framework for Teaching Pronunciation 44 Take it easy and Pronounce it correctly 48 Awareness on Pronunciation 52
Teaching /f/ and /v/ • • • •
English consonants: [f] [v] Students Level: Beginners Stage: Listening and Discrimination Materials: Worksheets with minimal-pairs sentences • Objectives: Students will be able to listen and discriminate the sounds in practice • Procedures: 1. This activity will be done in pairs 2. The teacher gives out the worksheets to the students and explains the instructions. 3. The students start the activity 4. After it is done, the teacher checks the answers with the whole class and gives feedback
Student A I. Read sentences 1-5 to your partner.
1. 2. 3. 4.
The ferry is big. He turned on the fan. The vat is black. It was a fine piece of filmmaking. 5. We will invest on the business. II. Circle the word that you partner reads. 6. He is my _________ . A. rival B. rifle 7. Its _________ is delicious. A. safer B. savor 8. Don’t _________ me alone! A. leaf B. leave 9. She _________ in God. A. beliefs B. believes 10. You need to go _________! A. fast B. vast
Student B I. Circle the word that your partner reads. 1. A. B. 1. A. B. 1. A. B. 1. A. B. 1. A. B.
The _________ is big. ferry very He turned on the _________. van fan The _________ is black. fat vat It was a _________ piece of filmmaking. fine vine We will _________ on the business. infest invest
II. Read sentences 6-10 to your partner. 6. He is my rival. 7. Its savor is delicious. 8. Don’t leave me alone! 9. She believes on God. 10. You need to go fast!
Tips for /f/ and /v/ teaching /f/
/v/
The /f/ sound is The /v/ sound is “unvoiced”, you “voiced”, you will feel a shouldn’t feel vibration vibration on your throat! on your throat! Your top teeth goes on your bottom lip
Your top teeth goes on your bottom lip
You will feel a rush of air When the v comes in the coming through the back middle of a word, the v of your front teeth. often sounds like a w or as though it's absent.
Teaching / æ / and / eɪ / • English vowels: /æ/ /eɪ/ • Students Level: Beginners • Stage: Listening and Discrimination • Materials: Worksheets with minimal-pairs images • Objectives: Students are able to listen and discriminate the sounds in practice
Teaching / æ / and / eɪ / • Procedures: 1. This activity will be done individually 2. The teacher give out the worksheets to the students 3. The teacher starts the activity by calling out the words one by one 4. After it is done, the teacher checks the answers with the whole class and gives feedback
Tips for / æ / and /eɪ/ teaching /æ/ Remember the schwa sound is only used if the syllable which it is in is not stressed. The tip of the tongue will touch the inside of the bottom front teeth. The body of the tongue is rounded slightly upward.
/eɪ/ It is a long sound.
The front sides of the tongue touch the inside of the top teeth at the end of the sound. It is pronounced the same as the name of the letter.
Teaching /h/ • • • •
English vowels: /h/ Students Level: Beginners Stage: Description and Analysis Materials: Worksheets with images • Objectives: Students are able to identify the sound in practice
Teaching /h/ • Procedures: • This activity will be done individually • The teacher give out the worksheets to the students • The teacher starts the activity by giving the explanations to the students • During the development of the activity the teacher goes around the class supervising • When the activity is done the teacher checks the answers and gives feedback
Instructions: Students have to color the sound in practice of an specific color in order to see if they can identify it.
Tips for /h/ teaching /h/ This is a voiceless sound. Depending on what vowel follows, your lips will move differently, but they should start out open in an oval shape. Take some glasses and clean them. Blow on them to use your breath to steam them up ready to be polished. Blow on them again and again. And again. And once more. Now your glasses are spotless and shiny and you have learned to pronounce the /h/ sound.
Teaching /i/ and /ɪ/ • English Vowels: /i/ /I/ • English level: beginners • Teaching Framework Stage: Listening and Discrimination • Materials: list of words with /i/ and /I/ sounds (40 words), 2 boxes labeled with /i/ and /I/, flash cards of the words, list of the class. • Objectives: 1. Students will be able to classify the words in words with /i/ sound and words with /I/ sound correctly. 2. Students will be aware of the /i/ and /I/ sounds. 3. Students will be able to discriminate between words with /i/ and /I/ sounds.
Teaching /i/ and /ɪ/ • Procedure: 1. Put the labeled boxes in a desk in front of the class. 2. With the list of the class, start calling each student and assign him/her two words from the list of words. The words can be one of the /i/ sound and the other for the /I/ sound, or the two words can be of the same sound. 3. Repeat aloud those two words. 4. Give the student the flash cards of the words assigned. 5. Then ask each student to classify them into the categories by putting the FC in the correct box. 6. As a review, you can repeat each word from the list and ask the whole group to tell if it has the /i/ or /I/ sound.
Teaching /i/ and /ɪ/ • List of words
Words with /i/ Sound
Beach
Machine
Please
Cheese
Meat
Police
Coffee
Monkey
Seat
Easy
Need
Sheep
Eat
Niece
Sleep
Feet
Piece
Tea
Happy
Teacher Words with /ɪ/ Sound
Big
Click
Picture
Bingo
English
Ship
Bit
Fill
Sick
Build
Kid
Sit
Busy
Listen
Trip
Chick
Little
Win
City
With
Teaching /i/ and /ɪ/
/i/ /ɪ/ You should be smiling Your mouth should be slightly open Keep your tongue The tongue is slightly forward and up in the forward and midway mouth up in the mouth Your lips should be The lips must be spread (not relaxed) relaxed
Teaching /ʃ/ and /ʒ/ • English Consonants: /ʃ/ and /ʒ/ • English level: beginners • Teaching Framework Stage: Listening and Discrimination • Materials: list of words with / ʃ / and / ʒ / sounds (40 words), notebook, pencil. • Objectives: 1. Students will be able to classify the words in words with / ʃ / sound and words with / ʒ / sound correctly and be aware of those sounds. 2. Students will be able to discriminate between words with / ʃ / and / ʒ / sounds when listening to different words. 3. Students will get spelling awareness on the words used.
Teaching /ʃ/ and /ʒ/ • Procedure of the dictation: 1. Have the students sit in their desks, with their notebooks open and tell them to draw a “T” in a blank sheet. In the top of the “T” they will have to write / ʃ / on the left side and / ʒ / on the right side. You can draw a labeled “T” in the board, to the students have it as an example. 2. Be sure all the students have drawn the “T” and that both columns are labeled. 3. Check that your students have a pencil available to write down the words. 4. Explain that you are going to say some words in English with the / ʃ / and / ʒ / sounds and they will have to write down that word in the correct column in the big “T”. They will have to be quiet to listen carefully and don´t miss any word. 5. Start saying the words, one by one. You can say the words two or even three times. Always keep on mind your students´ English level.
Teaching /ʃ/ and /ʒ/ Words with / ʃ / Sound Anxious Ocean Shut Delicious Official Special Fashion Patient Sugar Finish Rush Sure Initial She Tension Machine Ship Tissue mission Vacation Words with / ʒ / Sound Asia Beige Casual Collage Decision Equation Garage
Invasion Leisure Massage Measure Mirage Occasion
Page Passion Persia Seizure Usually Version Visual
Tips for /ʃ/ and /ʒ/ teaching /ʃ/
/ʒ/
It is voiceless, which It is voiced, so your means that your throat vibrates when throat does not you do this sound vibrate the tongue is slightly The tongue elevates raised high in the mouth and touches the upper Teeth The lips stick out This sound is like /ʃ/, slightly like for giving just you voice it. a kiss
Teaching Short u sound /ʌ/ • English Vowel: /ʌ/ • English level: beginners • Teaching Framework Stage: Listening and Discrimination • Materials: worksheet for /ʌ/ sound. Pencil. • Words with /ʌ/ sound: bug, duck, bus, truck, cut, run. Words without /ʌ/ sound: book, family, house, apple, carrot, house. • Objectives: 1. To distinguish whether a word has the short “u” /ʌ/ sound or not. 2. To be aware of the short “u” /ʌ/ sound and recognize it. 3. To create phonological awareness. 4. To introduce students to the writing skill. 5. To learn new vocabulary. 6. To introduce students to self-assessment technique.
Teaching Short u sound /ĘŒ/ Procedure: 1. Provide each student with a worksheet. 2. Ask them to write down their names. 3. Give the instructions. Teacher: You have to write down the names of the pictures that are on the worksheet. Then, I will say aloud the words and you have to decide if the word I said has or not the short /u/ sound. 4. Clarify doubts; and answer the possible questions from the students. 5. Start saying the words from the worksheet. Say them randomly, with no pattern. 6. You, as a teacher, also have to complete the activity. 7. At the end, you ask the students to compare their worksheet with yours. In that way they will get to know the self-assessment technique.
Tips for /ĘŒ/ teaching
/ĘŒ/ The lips must be on neutral position The sound must be long The sound is produced by forward change of the tongue from its rest position.
Teaching /θ/ and /ð/ • English vowels: /θ/ and /ð/ • English level: intermediate • Teaching Framework Stage: Controlled Practice • Materials: list of words with : /θ/ and /ð/ sounds (40 words) and tape. • Objectives: To practice and train the ability of hearing and recognizing the difference between the /θ/ and the /ð/ in words. To have the students involved and make them enjoy the practice of phonemes while they learn to identify voiced and voiceless consonants.
Teaching /θ/ and /ð/ Instructions: • Participants make two groups. • Each group receives 20 words with those sounds and have to organize them in columns under the corresponding symbol. • The papers will have a piece of tape in the back to paste them in the board. • Once the words are in the board, the teacher ask them to pronounce each word to prove if they are correctly organized.
Teaching /θ/ and /ð/ Words with the /θ/ sound
Words with the /ð/ sound
Thought Thursday Thank Both Fourth Thin Fifth Bath With Think
They Those Though This Then Gather Either Bathe Smooth Soothe
Tips to teach the /θ/ and /ð/
Voiced and Voiceless fricatives: Consonants, including fricatives, pronounced while vibrating the throat are "voiced" while "voiceless" consonants are pronounced without vibrating the throat .
If you are not familiar with this distinction, try holding your hand lightly over your “voicebox” while pronouncing. If you are pronouncing voiced sounds you will feel a vibration, voiceless sounds have no vibration and are almost like a whisper.
Teaching /r/ and /l/ Bingo! • English sounds: /r/ and /l/ • Level: basic. • Phase of the communicative framework: Listening discrimination. • Objective: Training the listening skills so the students are able to identify the different sounds in Minimal pairs.
Teaching /r/ and /l/ Instructions: • Each student will receive a bingo card with images to represent the word. The teacher reads the words; the students mark the correct one in its respective box. • When the student reach to complete a line and say out loud “Bingo!” it means that she or he has won the game. • All the students are going to have the same card, so if all of them reach to complete the lines it indicates that the teacher has said the words clearly and the students perceive the difference. If not, something is going wrong.
Teaching /r/ and /l/
Tips to teach the /r/ and /l/ sounds
Practice! Try pronounce any vowel sound for an extended period while curling the tip of the tongue up toward the post-alveolar or alveolar point of articulation.
Try this: Let the sound flow around the sides of the tongue
Teaching /ɜ:/ and /ɔ:/ • English sounds: /ɜ:/ and /ɔ:/ • English level: intermediate • Teaching Framework Stage: Controlled Practice • Materials: list of words with : /ɜ:/ and /ɔ:/ sounds • Objective: To make students practice and raise their awareness in the pronunciation of those sounds by repeat and classify them.
Teaching /ɜ:/ and /ɔ:/ • Instructions: • Start by pronouncing “fur” and “four”, and writing them on the board. • Students must categorize the words they already have into the two columns. • It could be done as a race to see which group can finish first, with all answers correct.
Teaching /ɜ:/ and /ɔ:/ ɜ: fur dirty burn turn learn earth work girl
ɔ: four fork sore law thought caught warm Walk
Tips to teach the /ɜ:/ and /ɔ:/ sounds
Practice! To pronounce the /ɔ:/ sound the back of the tongue is raised half way up in the mouth. The lips are rounded!
The Communicative Framework for Teaching Pronunciation Teaching pronunciation has an essential role in the acquisition of a Second Language because pronunciation is the key to reach an effective communication. That is why through the history of teaching language, teachers and specialists have been improving their methods or strategies according to the advance in the field of knowledge related to the learning process and its characteristics or particularities.
We already know that there is a communicative framework to guide the lesson planning. This framework has been following some specific principles, of these we can mention:
• The main goal of a language classroom is for learners become capable to use the target language with communicative purposes. • Learners acquire the language better when they participate in the process. • Errors are part of the communicative process. So the learners are encouraged to participate and take risks.
This communicative framework presents a division for the pronunciation lesson; it divides the learning into five different phases, moving from analysis to finally production:
• Description and analysis: in this first phase, learner is provided of oral and written illustration to explain how the specific feature is produced. • Listening discrimination: it focuses on listening practice to train the learners’ ability to discriminate sounds. • Controlled practice: in this phase teacher can include some activities such as practices with minimal pairs, short dialogs or oral readings. The aim in this stage is to raise learners’ awareness of their own pronunciation. • Guided practice: it could include more communicative activities to help learners to monitor their own improvement. • Communicative practice: in this stage learners are more fluently and teachers could take advantage of it using activities such as role plays and interviews.
Each phase in this communicative framework is relevant because it lets us know that the acquisition of a language is gradual. Also it could be monitored and as teachers it is important to know how to guide our students through those stages.
By Melissa Montes References: Celce-Murcia; M.; Brinton, D. & Goodwing, J. (2010). Teaching Pronunciation: A course book and reference guide (2nd Ed.). New York, U.S. : Cambridge University Press.
Learning another language is a challenge, it takes time, effort, patience and hard work to achieve the goal. One of the most important aspects when learning English is Pronunciation; it is important to pay attention to this factor through the acquisition of the language because it is the key to effective communication. If pronunciation fails, the message would not reach correctly to the other person and the meaning of the message would be misunderstood!
Even though, acquiring the correct English pronunciation is not an easy task, it takes time, understanding and consciousness from the learners in order to monitor their pronunciation and correct themselves. Thus, teachers and experts have created a communicative framework that suggests dividing the pronunciation lesson into 5 categories. These 5 categories play such an important role to learn all the different features when acquiring the English pronunciation. It is important that students have the time needed to absorb all this information and a sequence where they can actually understand and see the steps to acquire a correct pronunciation.
It is important that teachers understand that the application of this needs more than one lesson because it takes time to the students to acquire a new feature. Also, it can be necessary to go back to one of the stages through the course if the teacher notices that learners need it. Teacher’s patient is essential on the pronunciation teaching!
• Stages 1. Description and Analysis- In this first stage the learner will see how the feature should be produce according to oral and written illustrations that the teacher will explain. 2. Listening Discrimination- In this part learners are going to discriminate the feature in practice by focused listening practice. 3. Controlled Practice- In this stage the idea is to raise learners’ consciousness by exercises that help them identify the feature. An example could be short dialog with the feature highlighted so they can pay attention when pronouncing it.
1.
2.
Guided Practice- The idea here is that students monitor their learning on the feature and that could be through an information-gap activity for example. Communicative Practice- In this stage less control is used and learner fluently is worked through activities like role plays or problem solving.
Marcela Rivas P.
Celce-Murcia, M., Brinton, D., & Goodwin, J. (2010). Teaching Pronunciation: A Course Book and Reference Guide (2nd Ed.). New York,
U.S.: Cambridge University Press.
Awareness on Pronunciation As an ESL Teacher, for Spanish speakers, I have noticed that teachers´ awareness is very important for students´ benefits. The teacher has to be in total control of the class in order to notice mistakes or mispronunciations. In the other hand, in order to get the total control of the language, a student must be aware of his/her mistakes, or even notice his/her difficult words or letters. Any learner must be focused on the lesson 100% so he/she gets completely involved with what is happening in the process of learning English. Awareness is of vital importance for acquisition to take place in second language (Celce-Murcia, Brinton, & Goodwin, 2010).
Do you know what phonological or phonemic awareness is? Or even, what is awareness, just by itself? Awareness of “something” means that you know that “something” is real, that is important, and that it is interesting. When we talk about pronunciation awareness means that you are aware of your English pronunciation.
Let´s clear something before going on:
• Phonological awareness: Phonological awareness is the understanding of different ways that oral language can be divided into smaller components and manipulated. (Chard & Dickson) • Phonemic awareness: Phonemic awareness refers to the specific ability to focus on and manipulate individual sounds (phonemes) in spoken words. (Reading Rockets) • Phonemes: sounds. For example: car, which has three phonemes: c-a-r.
It helps raising pronunciation awareness. Awareness is important for listening and spelling, because depending on what you hear you might actually give wrong answers. Metacognition is very helpful tool when you are teaching pronunciation because students must be aware at all time of what possible mistakes they are doing, so they could correct themselves. For example: when you are reading a book and you stop and re-read a paragraph or a complete chapter because you were not able to catch the idea, you are actually applying metacognition because you has an awareness of what you were or not were getting;
“that awareness –that you don’t understand –is a form of metacognition.” (Martínez, 2010)
For raising awareness in pronunciation, or either in phonology or phonics, we need to give students all the knowledge, to provide them with useful tools to control and monitor their progress, and, of course, with the metacognition strategy, which I highly recommend because it would be useful for students in any place and at any situation, not only when learning pronunciation or English. There are lots of activities which help a lot when students are start having this awareness. But how do you know which one to use?
• You have to think in your students’ age, English level, learning styles, multiple intelligences, and the general previous knowledge. • You have to take into consideration the content or topic of the lesson, and the previous lessons too.
When teaching English pronunciation, there is Communicative Framework for Teaching Pronunciation, which “suggests a division of the
pronunciation lesson into five phases moving from analysis and consciousness raising to listening discrimination and finally production� (Celce-Murcia, Brinton, & Goodwing, 2010). These five stages are: Description and Analysis, Listening Discrimination, Controlled Practice, Guided Practice, and Communicative Practice. Each phase has a different role, and all of them are important and must be included when designing activities to teach pronunciation.
The most accurate stage, in my opinion, is Listening Discrimination because students are slowly introduced with the sounds and they are just asked to differentiate the sound. Some of the activities that fit well in this phase are: minimal pairs, dictations, spellings, or bingos. By Catalina Fonseca
References Celce-Murcia, M., Brinton, D., & Goodwin, J. (2010). Teaching Pronunciation: A Course Book and Reference Guide (2nd Ed.). New York, U.S.: Cambridge University Press. Chard, D., & Dickson, S. (s.f.). Phonological Awareness: Instructional and Assessment Guidelines. Retrieved on August 15th, 2014, from LD Online: http://www.ldonline.org/article/6254/ MartĂnez, M. E. (2010). Learning and Cognition: The Design of the Mind. New Jersey, U.S.A.: Pearson Education. Reading Rockets. (s.f.). Phonological and Phonemic Awareness. Retrieved on August 15th, 2014, from Reading Rockets: http://www.readingrockets.org/helping/target/phonologicalphonemic
Catalina Fonseca Melissa Montes Marcela Rivas Editors