ULACIT
TEACHING PRONUNCIATION MAGAZINE Mariana Obando
2017
SECOND TERM
PURPOSE This magazine was done with the purpose of showing some information about teaching pronunciation. This includes topics such as the evolution of teaching pronunciation, some activities and tips for future teachers. This magazine can help future teachers to learn some information that they can apply in their lessons, as well as topics of their interest.
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INDEX TEACHING PRONUNCIATION (ENTRY 1) .......................................................................... 3 THE EVOLUTION OF TEACHING PRONUNCIATION (ENTRY 2) ........................................... 5 WHAT EXPERTS SAY (ENTRY 9) ....................................................................................... 7 CONSONANTS SOUNDS IN ENGLISH (ENTRY 3) ................................................................ 9 WHAT ABOUT VOWELS (ENTRY 6) ................................................................................ 10 SAMPLE ACTIVITIES FOR TEACHING PRONUNCIATION (ENTRY 4) .................................. 12 CONSONANT ACTIVITY (ENTRY 5) ................................................................................. 13 VOWELS ACTIVITY (ENTRY 8) ........................................................................................ 14 AN ANALYSIS OF ACTIVITIES USED FOR TEACHING PRONUNCIATION (ENTRY 7) ............ 16 TIPS FOR TEACHING PRONUNCIATION (ENTRY 10) ........................................................ 19 ENTERTAINMENT ......................................................................................................... 20
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TEACHING PRONUNCIATION (ENTRY 1) 1) What is pronunciation and why is it important when learning a new language? Pronunciation is the way a word is said in a certain language. It’s important when learning a new language because it “guarantees” a perfect communication, especially when there are words that can mean something else if they are pronounced differently.
2) What aspects are important in teaching pronunciation? It is important for the students to have an introduction to the IPA and all the phonemes so they can identify each one of them and their sound. This way they will be able to identify which sounds are included wen a word is said. Another great tool is a dictionary. Most of the dictionaries have how each word is pronounced using the IPA characters; this will allow them to learn how to pronounce a word even if they haven’t heard it before. Another important aspect is the teacher’s knowledge and patience. He or she needs to have a wide knowledge about all these sounds and how the IPA works in order to be able to teach every single detail. Learning this alphabet is almost like learning to read from the scratch, so the teacher needs to have a
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lot of patience in order to help the students learn all the phonemes and how they work.
3) What aspects should a teacher take into consideration when teaching pronunciation? There are some important aspects to take into consideration when teaching English. The most important aspect is the students. We need to consider all their previous knowledge about the language, as well as their own native language. This is important because there might be some sounds that are easier to pronounce for some students and not for others depending on the similarities between their native language and the one they will be learning. Another important aspect that the teacher needs to consider is the resources that he or she will have available to use with the students. This is important in order to plan activities for the students based on resources. For example, a good pronunciation activity would be to have the students watch an extract from a movie in English to identify the sounds in context; however, if the place where the class is being performed doesn’t have a screen to connect a computer or a video beam, this activity won’t work due to lack of resources.
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THE EVOLUTION OF TEACHING PRONUNCIATION (ENTRY 2) 1. What has been the evolution of the teaching of pronunciation throughout time? Create a timeline with the evolution of pronunciation teaching
(1885) Analystic - Linguistic approach: Use of information and tools such as the phonetic alphabet, articulatory descriptions and other aids.
(1887) Intuitive Imitative Approach: The students listen to the rythms and sounds of the TL and try to reproduce them.
(1900) Naturalistic Methods: Focuses in the listening skill rather than speaking, avoiding the preassure that it involves.
(1950) Audiolingualism: Focuses only in pronunciation. It uses tools such as minimal pairs drills and charts to explain the articulation.
(1951) Comunity Language Learning: The students decide wich degree they want to aim for. It uses correction by repetition
(1969) Cognitive Approach: It takes language as something based on rules. It focuses mostly in grammar teaching.
(1976) Silent Way: Fucuses on accuracy and then fluency. Correction is done by sound -color charts . Use of gestures and facial expressions.
(1983) Direct Method: Pronunciation is taught through intuition and imitation.
(1987) Comunicative Approach: Currently, is the most used method. It focuses on the need of communication through pronunciation
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2. Create a visual summary of the latest trends in teaching pronunciation
Imitation : Students imitate the sound after a recording
Phonetics: Use of the IPA and charts to explain the process of articulation
Minimal Pairs and Tongue Twisters: Use of similar words to identify the difference
Visual aids: Charts to explain articulation and videos.
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WHAT EXPERTS SAY (ENTRY 9) 1. Comment on the following statement “Carefully articulated speech is the mark of an educated speaker and should be what our students are striving to achieve” Pronunciation itself is a very important skill as part of a language. The idea of learning a new language is to be able to communicate in that language. It is possible to communicate only in a written way; however, there won’t be always a chance to do this, so it’s important to communicate in a spoken way. This is where this phrase makes its entry. If a person is able to speak correctly a language and articulate correctly, this shows that this person is educated and took the time to learn the language how it’s supposed to be learned. Our students should strive for this to achieve a good capacity of communicating correctly, not only in a written way but also in speech. In order for a student to get to be a good speaker, it is very important for them to have a good guidance. One of the main factors that we need to take into account to get our students to reach this point is the learning of grammar. They need to know grammar in order for them to be able to articulate their sentences correctly and use the verb tenses correctly depending on what they need to say. It is also important for them to have a wide vocabulary to express their ideas. A helpful tool for this is to read a lot in the target language and take a look at the vocabulary used in context. I
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would say that the main factor is the pronunciation. English is a language in which the way a word is pronounced can make a big difference in the meaning. There are different sounds that can be very similar when they are pronounced, especially in a regular conversation. It is mandatory for the students to learn the difference between all the sounds and identify them in context, so the way they pronounce the words won’t affect what they mean to say. As teachers, it is important for us to give our students all the information and tools they need to become prepared speakers and guide them through all the process.
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CONSONANTS SOUNDS IN ENGLISH (ENTRY 3) 1) Complete the consonant inventory chart.
Bilabial Labiodental Dental Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal STOP Voiceless Voiced
/p/ /b/
FRICATIVE Voiceless Voiced
/t/ /d/ /f/ /v/
/θ/ /ð/
/s/ /z/
AFFRICATE Voiceless Voiced NASAL Voiced
/h/
/ʃ/ /ʒ/ /tʃ/ /dʒ/
/m/
LIQUID Voiced GLIDE Voiced
/k/ /g/
/n/ /l/
/w/
/ŋ/ /r/ /y/
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WHAT ABOUT VOWELS? (ENTRY 6) 1) Make a crossword puzzle based on terms related to vowels
GLOSSARY Diphthong: a vowel sound followed by a nonadjacent glide within the same syllable. (EX: boy) Tense: articulated with more muscle tension Lax: articulated with less muscle tension Spread: position of the lips in the word “Pete” Rounded: position of the lips in the word “Boat” Open syllables: syllables without a final consonant sound (EX: tea, may) Closed syllables: syllables that have a final consonant sound (EX: team, main) Sonorant: a voiced sound that can function as the peak of a syllable Coloring: when the consonant /r/ follows the vowel, and occurs in the same syllable, changing its pronunciation. (EX: fur, bird) Reduced vowels: distinctive tendency of English vowels in unstressed position to be reduced. Citation form: form with the stressed vowel when the word is spoken alone and without context. Reduced form: the version of the word that usually occurs in natural speech
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ANSWERS: SEE PAGE 20
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SAMPLE ACTIVITIES FOR TEACHING PRONUNCIATION (ENTRY 4) 1) Upload the final version of your activity
COMMUNICATIVE ACTIVITY PART 1. Minimal Pairs Bingo -
Create different bingo boards and give them away to the students. This board will contain different words from minimal pairs. The teacher will say a word and the students will have to mark in their boards the minimal pair that will match the word. The students that have “BINGO” first, will win a price.
PART 2. Dialogue -
Based on the vocabulary learned with the previous part, the students will have to create a dialogue or tongue twisters using the minimal pairs. If possible, in the same sentence.
EXAMPLE OF THE BOARD
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CONSONANT ACTIVITY (ENTRY 5) 1) Upload the final version of your activity for Project 1 (Consonants)
CONSONANTS ACTIVITY
GAME RULES
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2 groups (2 MINUTES time for each group to perform as many challenges as possible) Group 1 goes first. Students need to make a line. Each student will take a challenge from “The Challenges Bag” and needs to perform it. This will repeat following the line’s order. 4 challenges:
o “MAKE THE SOUND”: Take a sound from “The Sounds Bag” and pronounce that sound.
o “MAKE A WORD”: Take a sound from “The Sounds Bag” and create a word with it.
o “TRANSLATE”: A sentence will be shown in the board. Translate it into IPA (CONSONANTS ONLY)
o “TONGUE TWISTER”: Take one from the “Tongue Twister Bag” and read it correctly.
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1 WILDCARD: Can be used ONLY 3 TIMES PER GROUP. If a student doesn’t know the challenge, this will allow the student to pass the turn to the next student in the line (The challenge WILL NOT change)
IMPORTANT: The rest of the group CANNOT help or give the answer to the student performing the challenge. If this happens, ONE POINT will be taken away from that group.
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VOWELS ACTIVITY (ENTRY 8) 1) Upload the final version of your activity for Project 2 (Vowels) DON’T BREAK THE ICE GAME RULES
Assemble the ‘pond’ by attaching the two blue game pages together.
Shuffle the picture cards and randomly place 15 cards face up onto the middle square.
As a group, players select one animal piece to place on any location on the ice. The object of the game is to keep the animal safe and not be the player to knock the last piece of ice out of the pond!
To play, roll the die to land on a long vowel sound. Find a picture card with that sound and “knock” the ice out by taking it out of the pond. Players take turns rolling the die and knocking out ice blocks. The player to knock out the last ice block loses!
MATERIAL
TOKENS
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CARDS
DICE
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AN ANALYSIS OF ACTIVITIES USED FOR TEACHING PRONUNCIATION (ENTRY 7) 1) Write 1-2 pages analysis of the utility and effectiveness of the activities use in class. CLASSIFY THE WORDS This activity was actually really useful to review the vowels. It was really interesting because we needed to classify a list of words under the correct vowel sound. I would say that this activity can also work as an introduction to vowels. The teacher can ask the students to classify the words according to the sound they think is the correct one; however, it would be vital the picture as an example of a word that can belong to that sound. This would guide the students to make their choices. The way we performed the exercise was most likely a review exercise for advanced students. In our case, we had advanced English and some of us had taken pronunciation courses before. This means that we had already previous knowledge of the vowels and the IPA itself. However, this activity can be modified and adapt it for different levels. For example, a basic vocabulary can make it a good exercise for beginners. A more complicated vocabulary, perhaps words that are not very common, will make it an intermediate or advanced exercise.
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DOMINOES This was a very interesting activity. It was entertaining and out of the routine. This activity was like the regular domino game but instead of pairing numbers, we used words and sounds. This was a review activity for advanced students, students that already had a previous knowledge of vowels and IPA. The same as the previous activity, this can be modified and adapt it to students for different levels. However, the main change that can be done is change the vocabulary. The less common the vocabulary chosen, the more advanced the level of the students. Another option can be that, if your students are competitive, you can try to do a small tournament, with try outs, semifinals and finals. The student in first place would win a big price and, if wanted, the runner up students can win a smaller price. In case of a tie, it can be a “sudden death” round as a tie breaker. In this round, the dominoes cards’ deck would be upside down and one card will be played to begin the round. Each student will take turns to take a random card and play with the options available. If there’s no option to play, that student will lose the round.
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FIND THE DIFFERENCES This activity as well was a review for advanced students; however, it was a little confusing. The instructions were unclear and it was hard to us to understand what we were supposed to do. A good recommendation would be to explain them better so the students can understand completely what they need to do to complete the exercise. Though the instructions weren’t really clear, it was really funny to look after the differences between the two pictures. A way to improve this activity would be to change a little bit the task that should be done. Perhaps, instead of looking for the differences, look at the similarities. A good option can be to make two different pictures and the students need to look for one object in the first picture and find in the second picture and object that has the same vowel sound as the object found in the first picture.
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TIPS FOR TEACHING PRONUNCIATION (ENTRY 10) 1. Make a list of 10 tips for a beginner teacher on how to teach pronunciation
TEACHER TIPS 1. Be aware of factors that influence pronunciation such as: age, nationality, learning disabilities, ‌ 2. Use the IPA as a tool for the students to have a written reference for all the sounds. 3. Use minimal pairs exercises to teach the differences between some sounds 4. Use individual sounds and words in context so the student can hear how a sound is pronounced individually and next to other sounds. 5. Use Repetition so the student can get used to the different sounds 6. Use activities such as reading out loud or dialogues so they can practice their pronunciation 7. Use songs or videos so they can listen to the sounds in context and improve their listening skills 8. Make sure to look for appropriate content for the students. 9. Use tongue twisters for the students to improve their fluency. 10. Take advantage of the students’ interests and the material provided by the school or institution to come up with dynamical activities.
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ENTERTAINMENT CROSSWORD ANSWER KEY
ACROSS 1. Reduced form 6. Rounded 7. Diphthong 8. Closed syllables 11. Open syllables
DOWN 2. Citation form 3. Spread 4. Coloring 5. Reduced vowels 9. Tense 10. Sonorant 12. Lax
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