/prəˌnʌn·siˈeɪ·ʃən/ The Teaching Pronunciation Magazine
III Quarter -20151
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To the Reader The following magazine is a project from two students of Teaching Pronunciation in which we are going to present some of the knowledge we have gathered this quarter in regards to general information, theory, activities for teaching and tips for students of English as a Foreign Language. We hope that you find the information presented here useful and it helps you on improving either your teaching practices or your learning process.
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About the Authors Sebastián Gómez Sebastián is 26 years old and is majoring on English Teaching
and
Translation
at
the
Universidad
Latinoamericana de Ciencia y Tecnología, ULACIT. He loves to spend the weekends with his family and his free time reading on Stephen King novels. He plans to continue his career on the field of teaching, especially on highschool and would like to have training on the field of psychopedagogy.
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About the Authors Sara Mejia
Sara is 22 years old and is majoring on English teaching with an emphasis on Pre-school education at the Universidad Latinoamerica de Ciencia y la TecnologĂa, ULACIT. She loves to spend the weekends at the beach with her boyfriend and doing yoga on her free time. She plans to continue her career on teaching getting a specialty on children with special needs.
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Contents
In-class Contributions...................................................................... 1 1. IPA Vowel chart and symbols .................................................... 1 2. Transcriptions ............................................................................. 2 3. Minimal Pairs ............................................................................. 3 4. Activity #1 – Minimal Pair ......................................................... 4 5. Activity #2 – Vowels Memory Game .......................................... 5 Out of Class Contributions ............................................................. 6 1. IPA Consonant Symbols ............................................................ 6 2. History of the International Phonetics Association ................. 7 3. Diacritic Marks ........................................................................... 8 4. Teaching with Tongue-twisters.................................................. 9 5. Websites ..................................................................................... 10 Vocabulary ...................................................................................... 14 Reflections ....................................................................................... 15
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In-class Contributions There are plenty of inclass contributions, we learned something new every day. However, there were some specific parts that we consider the most important; here
Most Common Charts and Symbols
they are: 1. IPA Vowel chart and symbols: we were taught that there was one chart with one way to represent the symbols. However, we learned that this is not entirely truth; dictionaries, as an example, use a pattern of symbols different from each other and even if there is a variation, we should be able to identify the symbols and the meanings. The differences between them is not much once you get used to work with them, but the first time we saw them, it was confusing and some of us believed the symbols were wrong. Now we know better! 1
2. Transcriptions: Even though we had some
practice
doing
transcription
on
Phonetics & Phonology, there was not enough time for practice since we had to cover a lot of information. On this class, however, since the focus was stronger on how to teach the subject we were able to practice while learning, great way to learn, and we improved our transcription rate and accuracy a lot. This change was noticeable not only in both of us, but on the rest of our classmates. The difference between the ones that take this course and have extra practice is evident and now our mind set has changed; we are not experts or even get close to one, but we are good at it and we love it.
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3. Minimal Pairs: these are pairs of words that differ only on one phonological element. We believe that minimal pairs are amazingly effective to teach the difference of sounds in words that are really similar. After studying minimal pairs we were able to improve our pronunciation and came up with several ideas for activities in which to use them. At a basic level, when pronunciation is confusing and students cannot get a lot of information
from
the
context,
correct
pronunciation is necessary and drills with minimal pairs should help a lot.
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4. Activity #1 – Minimal Pair: Since we believe that minimal pairs is a good way to teach, it is necessary to show some examples. In our first session of activities we some and all looked great. However, for very beginners we believe there is one that works the best and is really simple. Here is a small example: Instructions. The students will get a list with two columns showing a words and images. The students have to choose the one the teacher will pronounce to them.
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5. Activity #2 – Vowels Memory Game: This is simple, yet effective and students can work in groups. Few materials are needed and if you laminate them, they will last for a longer amount of time. Here is a small example: Instructions. All cards will be facing down, students will have to look for the word and the symbol that matches the underlined sound. Only two cards can be facing up at a time.
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Out of Class Contributions We also learned a lot outside of it; be it in the hallways of the University
while
chatting
with
other
classmates about the subject or while researching for homework. Here are some of the most important contributions we have: 1. IPA Consonant Symbols: If I said before that we didn’t get enough practice with the vowels on Phonetics & Phonology, the case was not the same with vowels. We spent so much time on them that most of us handle consonants better. But, the most important part is that we get to pronounce a lot of words even better. 6
2. History of the International Phonetics Association: Since this is a teaching class we do not have much time to cover information like this. We didn’t even know it existed until one day looking for the IPA alphabet we forgot to type –alphabet-
Fun Fact: as you can see from the picture,
so we were sent to the information of the
IPA refers to the initials
Association.
of the Association. However, most people
We know now that it was founded in 1889 by a group of French teachers worried
and online resources use them to refer to the alphabet (which would
about the current state in regards to pronunciation
of
foreign
share the same initials).
languages.
This is not officially
Nowadays it covers a lot of languages and
accepted by the IPA.
has been revised several times, making minor changes, the current version is the one from 2005.
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3. Diacritic Marks: They are small markings which are placed around the IPA letter in order to show a certain alteration or more specific description in the letter's pronunciation.
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4. Teaching with Tongue-twisters: This part was really fun and interesting. At the
#3 Betty Botter bought some butter,
beginning the tongue-twisters can be hard but "But," she said, "this butter's bitter. practice will make it easier and will help you achieve a good pronunciation. Here are some
If I bake this bitter butter, It will make my batter bitter.
examples: #1
But a bit of better butter -
She sells
That would make my batter better."
seashells
So she bought a bit of butter,
by the seashore.
Better than her bitter butter,
#2
And she baked it in her batter,
How much wood
And the batter was not bitter.
would a woodchuck chuck
So 'twas better Betty Botter
if a woodchuck
Bought a bit of better butter.
could chuck wood?
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5. Websites: It is not new information that you can find everything online. Materials to help you teach and practice pronunciation are found everywhere and most of them provide lots of help, here are four of the ones we like the most. http://ipa.typeit.org/ - use it to avoid having to look everywhere on Word for the symbols, find them here on an easy and convenient location.
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http://dictionary.cambridge.org – Use this websites to check for quick transcriptions, be sure to check you have the American English option selected and to verify if the word has several accepted pronunciations.
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https://www.englishclub.com – Under the pronunciation tab you will find lots of information; among it a huge list of minimal pairs divided specifically for students’ levels.
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http://rachelsenglish.com/ - We saw some of her videos in our class but the information doesn’t stop there. On her website you will find guided lessons, her book and sound charts.
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Vocabulary There was plenty of vocabulary to be learned during the quarter, in and out of class, here are some of the words we learned: phoneme
alveolar
diphthong
allophone
palatal
aspiration
phonemic
velar
glottal stop
voiced
glottal
consonant cluster
articulator
plosive
tense vowel
velum
fricative
lax vowel
alveolar ridge
affricate
Lingua Franca Core
dental
nasal
Metacognitive
deletion
stress
devoiced
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Reflections Sebastiån: Before starting this subject I felt a hole in my stomach just to think about pronunciation. I believe my pronunciation meets the expectations but knowing that all the procedures and back processes would be studied felt like a pain. I once took part of a phonology class and hated, that helped the feeling of disgust towards the subject even more. However, now that I went through the information and learned the, right, methods to teach and learn most of it, I feel completely different than at the beginning. I feel more equipped as a teacher to pass this knowledge along to my students and I feel better as a student myself. I overcame one of my fear and feel I learned so much in the process. I can do transcriptions at moderate speed and the mistakes grow fewer in time. My pronunciation is improving and when I’m not sure I know where to look for the information needed. In conclusion, this subject helped me more than I ever thought possible, and I know this will help my future students in return.
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Sara: Learning a second language is always a challenge. Is forgetting what you already know about letters and sounds and switching your mindset to a completely different one. I just to think that one of the most important things about learning a new language was to be able to learn a lot of words to be able to communicate your thoughts but it you can learn as many words as you want however if you don’t learn how to say them (pronounce them) is the same as not knowing any words at all. Pronunciation is one of the main aspects of communication and for someone who is learning a second language is very important to practice it constantly to improve. Some of the advantages of learning English, as a second language is that you can find practice pretty much anywhere. Good native speaker pronunciation you can get it from a lot of media like; Internet, TV shows, music, movies and tourists. One of the things that teaching pronunciation taught me was the importance of never stop improving and being very aware of the different sounds, short vowels, long vowels, how to pronounce specific consonants that will make a difference when you talk. It also gave me the tools to improve it. My ear got better at noticing the difference of my pronunciation and also got the tools to improve it. I think that to be a good English teacher one need to get to that point where you have mastered an almost like native speaker pronunciation if not a native speaker pronunciation. Also very important is to be aware of the difficulties that one as a Spanish speaker has when you are learning English, that way it is a million times easier to teach students how to pronounce difficult phonemes because you already went through it.
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/prəˌnʌn·siˈeɪ·ʃən/ The Teaching Pronunciation Magazine
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