Phonetics & Phonology

Phonetics & Phonology John Corbett: USP-CAPES International Fellow Session 9: Teaching Pronunciation 1

This session: • Teaching techniques for pronunciation • Issues for teaching and learning Today´s session

Pronunciation teaching tends to assume the following: • Learners need to practise perceiving unfamiliar sounds • Learners need to practise producing unfamiliar sounds Typical activities: Awareness exercises Drills (physical repetition) Games (awareness and production) Drama (including mirroring/shadowing) Assumptions & Activities

Often based on minimal pairs • Identify the words pronounced in the following sentences: • You press this button and the mechanism hits/heats the water. • Everyone agreed that it was a beautiful terrain/train. • After the accident, she realised she had lost her earing/hearing. • He ordered fourteen/forty nice big roses. • I bet she never expected to see her rival/arrival. • It still amazes me that I can chair/share the meeting online. • The whole building site was a mass/mess of concrete. • Her little girl is insisting on going to ballet/belly dancing classes. • He told me that he sold tree/three houses. • I’d like to introduce my colleague, Dean/Jean Smith. • It’s a new advertising campaign, to promote peas/peace. • She put the ladder/letter away in the cupboard. Awareness activities

In pairs or threes, you choose which word to say and practise with your partner(s). • You press this button and the mechanism hits/heats the water. • Everyone agreed that it was a beautiful terrain/train. • After the accident, she realised she had lost her earing/hearing. • He ordered fourteen/forty nice big roses. • I bet she never expected to see her rival/arrival. • It still amazes me that I can chair/share the meeting online. • The whole building site was a mass/mess of concrete. • Her little girl is insisting on going to ballet/belly dancing classes. • He told me that he sold tree/three houses. • I’d like to introduce my colleague, Dean/Jean Smith. • It’s a new advertising campaign, to promote peas/peace. • She put the ladder/letter away in the cupboard. From awareness to production

Drills are often criticised for being: • Boring • Repetitive • Unthinking • Uncommunicative • Pointless • Did I mention boring? But drills are also physical activities that can help develop the muscular flexibility that promotes good pronunciation. Maybe. (For advice see http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/drilling-1) Pronunciation drills

Choral drills – whole class or a subsection (males/females, front/back, right/left, tattoos/no tattoos, etc) • Individuals – at random. • Students nominate. • Record it. • Drills should be fast and keep learners awake. • Use body language, gesture and hand-signs to show things like rhythm and elision. • Don’t forget intonation. Bringing drills alive (maybe)

Choral and individual drilling. • Choral listen and repeat: • I washed my neighbour’s cat. • I watched my neighbour’s cat. • I sold all my shares. • I sold all my chairs. • I started a ballet dancing class. • I started a belly dancing class. • Individual Q&A • T: Last week, I watched my neighbour’s cat. [S1], what did you do? • S1: Last week I sold all my chairs. [S2] what did you do? • S2: Last week… [continues] Types of drill: Repetition,Q&A

Substitution drills Teacher: ‘I washed the cat last night. Student/s: ‘I washed the cat last night. Teacher: ‘watched’Student/s: ‘I watched the cat last night. Teacher: ‘TV’ Student/s: ‘I watched TV last night. Teacher: ‘They’Student/s:They watched TV last night. Types of drill:Substitution

With particularly long sentence, to maintain intonation and rhythm, build it up from the end of the utterance towards the beginning: • I’m going to have a barbecue with my friends at the weekend. • …at the weekend (repeat) • …with my friends at the weekend (repeat) • …to have a barbecue with my friends at the weekend (repeat) • I’m going to have a barbecue with my friends at the weekend (repeat) • For more see http://elt-connect.com/fun-pronunciation-drills/ Types of drill:Back chaining

Pronunciation bingo • Write FIVE of the words on the board on a piece of paper. • Students take turns pulling the words from a hat and pronouncing them. As a word is said, the other students mark the square occupying that word. The game moves on like this until someone gets five and shouts ‘bingo’. Check the words!. Games:Pronunciation bingo

Students work in pairs/small groups • One student faces the board/screen and reads a list of words; • The other(s) identify the odd one out. Games:Odd one out

Identify the odd one out in the following sequences of words: • Wagged, wedged, waved, wanted, wondered • Seat, meat, greet, it, feet, heat, eat • Bed, red, mad, fed, said, tread, led • Drowsy, throne, draft, dreading, drastic • Gesture, genetic, dynamic, justice, gymnastics Games:Odd one out

In this ESL pronunciation game, you should draw 10×6 a table and fill the random cells with words having the pronunciation sound that you want to practice. Then fill the rest of the cells with words that do not have this sound and encourage the students to connect the words with each other. The winner is the student who reaches the end of the maze first. • Find your way through the maze by identifying only those words ending in /t/. • Reminder: • Voiced consonant and vowels: +/d/ • Voiceless consonants: +/t/ • Except /t/ and /d/: +/ɪd/ GamesPronunciation Maze:Final /t/ or /d/ or /ɪd/?

http://blog.vipkid.com.cn/esl-pronunciation-activities/ More pronunciation games

Everything you ever need to know about jazz chants… • http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2011/07/28/the-best-sites-videos-for-learning-about-jazz-chants/ Jazz Chants

The King asked The Queen, and The Queen asked The Dairymaid: "Could we have some butter for The Royal slice of bread?" The Queen asked the Dairymaid, The Dairymaid Said, "Certainly, I'll go and tell the cow Now Before she goes to bed." The Dairymaid She curtsied, And went and told the Alderney: "Don't forget the butter for The Royal slice of bread." The Alderney said sleepily: "You'd better tell His Majesty That many people nowadays Like marmalade Instead." “The King`s Breakfast” by AA Milnehttp://wonderingminstrels.blogspot.com.br/2000/09/king-breakfast-a-milne.htmlhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ye2uBSqGDjo

Inglan is a bitch Inglan is a bitch w'en mi jus' come to Landan toun mi use to work pan di andahgroun but workin' pan di andahgroun y'u don't get fi know your way aroun' Inglan is a bitch dere's no escapin it Inglan is a bitch dere's no runnin' whey fram it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zq9OpJYck7Y The pronunciation of World English:Linton Kwezi Johnson’s ‘Inglan is a bitch’

Inglan is a bitch Inglan is a bitch w'en mi jus' come to Landan toun mi use to work pan di andahgroun but workin' pan di andahgroun y'u don't get fi know your wayaroun' Inglan is a bitch dere'snoescapin it Inglan is a bitch dere'snorunnin' wheyframit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zq9OpJYck7Y The pronunciation of World English:Linton Kwezi Johnson’s ‘Inglan is a bitch’

The teacher’s challenge is to turn phonetic and phonological knowledge into classroom activities. These, as we have seen, fall into the categories of: • Awareness activities • Drills • Games • Drama/performance activities • We will focus more on drama/performance next week… • How useful have you found pronunciation activities yourself as a learner? • What is the ideal place of pronunciation in the curriculum? Summing up

Phonetics & Phonology