Teaching Pronunciation

Teacher: Stephen Cloak

Native Speakers

• As native speakers we often don’t stop and think about how we create sounds.

• Every classroom contains a phonetic chart. But this chart doesn’t show what is involved physically in the creation of a single sound.

• The following image will briefly review this.

Parts of body used to make sounds• Nose• Tooth ridge• Top teeth• Bottom teeth• Tongue• Front of tongue• End of tongue• Back of the tongue• Top lip• Bottom lip • Jaw• Throat • Vocal cords• Top of the mouth• Back of the mouth

How we teach PhoneticsThe next question we must ask is; When do we teach phonetics?1. I teach phonetics when we come across it in the text book.2. When I hear my students make the same pronunciation error again and

again.3. After the test to show students why they got the wrong answer4. I don’t teach it, we skip the section in the book, it’s boring and students

don’t like phonetics anyway. • The English File book contains a phonetic section in each unit. It is

designed to slowly build up the students awareness and understanding of pronunciation.

• This is an effective way of teaching pronunciation but many students dislike phonetics and would prefer to study grammar or vocabulary. However pronunciation is essential for students in both their speaking and listening.

Teaching Phonetics• When we present phonetic

charts to our students the symbols look strange and mysterious.

• If we look at this chart of Egyptian Hieroglyphics we can get a sense of how our students feel.

• For this reason, it is important that the teacher breaks the chart down each time the phonetic chart is used in class.

Drilling pronunciation• When drilling pronunciation it

is best to stand in place that you are visible to all students.

• Be prepared to look a little stupid, gestures are important when teaching phonetic sounds.

• The best place to start is with the difference between vowel sounds and consonant sounds.

Vowel sound

• A Vowel Sound is a sound we make when we don’t obstruct the air flow from the mouth when we are speaking.

• When drilling these sounds it can be helpful for students if you exaggerate the opening of your mouth

Types of Vowel Sounds

• Remind students that there are three types of vowel sounds.

• Long vowel sounds • Short vowel sounds • Diphthongs • To make the drill more interesting you

should ask the students to identify these different sounds on the chart.

Weak vowels

• For higher level students you can also point out the weak vowel sounds. The English File book has a tendency to focus only on the strong sounds.

• Unstressed syllables often contain weak vowel sounds.

• The most common weak vowel is / ə/. This is the first vowel sound in about for example.

• The vowel /I/ is also sometimes weak, in the second syllable of orange, for example

Consonant sound

• A consonant sound is a sound we make by obstructing the flow of air from the mouth.

• When drilling these sounds it can be fun for students to put their hands in front of their mouths to identify the voiced and unvoiced consonant sounds.

Voice and Unvoiced

• Many pairs of consonant sounds are similar, but one of them is voiced and the other is not.

• For example /d/ is similar to /t/ but /d/ is voiced and /t/ is not.

• A consonant is voiced when there is a vibration in the throat. Students can put their hands on their throat to feel these vibrations.

• If the sounds is unvoiced they will feel the air being expelled from their mouths.

Make it fun• When I’m teaching

phonetics I try to make it fun and interesting.

• Relating sounds to images can help students remember sounds better for example the weak vowel sound / ə/ is like Frankenstein talking

• The U sounds /ʌ/ , /uː/ , /ʊ/ can be taught as the Monkeys alphabet

Tools available: Online Dictionary

• Cambridge dictionary online is very useful tool when teaching phonetics.

• When you search for a word it will give you the phonetic symbols in both UK English and American English.

• Beside the word you can click on the icon to hear the word in both accents.

• http://dictionary.cambridge.org/

Tools available: Interactive phonetic Chart

• Another great resource is the interactive phonetic chart on the British Council website.

• Teachers can listen to each sound and also three example words containing the sound.

• It can be fun tool in class and can also be useful when comparing the Irish accent with the British accent.

• http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/activities/phonemic-chart

Phonetic vocabulary• When we are teaching students phonetics we have

to remember that some of this vocabulary may be unfamiliar to them. Such as the following

• Accent Phonemic symbol • Auxiliary verb Rhyme • Emphasising Sentence stress• Minimal pair Sound• Native speaker Stress pattern• Syllable Tone

Accent • An accent is the way the

people in a certain area pronounce words in a distinct manner.

• For example, people in Dublin and London both speak English, but they have different accents.

• Remind students that no accent is better or worse, they are just different.

Auxiliary verb

• An auxiliary verb is a verb which does not have a meaning by itself; it helps the grammar of the sentence.

• For example, in Do you like the music? Do is an auxiliary verb.

• Auxiliary verbs are important when we are teaching pronunciation because they are only stressed when they carry meaning.

Emphasising

• Emphasising is speech is like underlining in writing; we use it to make one word stand out as more important than the others.

• We can emphasise words by pronouncing them louder, longer and/or higher.

Minimal pair• If two words are pronounced

nearly the same, but they have just one sound different, they are a minimal pair.

• For example ship and sheep only the second sound is different.

• This can cause confusion in class. It is best summarised in the video Italian man in Malta. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1TnzCiUSI0

Ship - Sheep

Native speaker

• If you are a native speaker of a language, that language is your first language, the language you learnt as a young child.

Jim is British

He is a native English speaker

Phonemic symbol

• A phonemic symbol is a letter which represents a sound.

• For example, the first sound in shoe is represented by the phonemic symbol

/ʃu:/

/ʃ /

Rhyme

• Two words rhyme if they have the same final vowel or vowel and consonant sounds.

• For example – go rhymes with show – hat rhymes with cat

The cat on the hat

Sentence stress• Sentence stress is the

pattern of strong and weak syllables in a sentence.

• For example, the sentence

• How do you do? Is normally said…

• How do you do?

Sound

• A sound is a minimum segment of the pronunciation of a word.

• For example, the word this /ðɪs/ has three sounds

Stress pattern

• The pattern of strong and weak syllables in a word or sentence is its stress pattern. You can represent a stress pattern visually using big and small circles. For example, the stress pattern of the word pronunciation is oooOo.

• In the dictionary the stressed syllable is normally represented using this dash before the stressed syllable.

Syllable

• A syllable is a word or part of a word that has one vowel sound.

• It may also have one or more consonant sounds.

• For example, ago has two syllables. • The first syllable is just one vowel sound.

The second syllable is a consonant sound followed by a vowel sound.

Tone

• A tone is a way your voice goes up or down when you say a sentence.

• This can change the meaning of the sentence.

Different types of tone– Introducing tones– Asking and checking tones– Tones for asking for

information– Tones in new and old

information – Continuing and finishing tones– Agreeing and disagreeing tones– High tones

Pair Work• How many sounds are

there in each word? Write the order of consonant sounds (c) and Vowel sounds (v)

• Dog• Rabbit • Frog • Gorilla • Snake • Bee

Answers• How many sounds are

there in each word? Write the order of consonant sounds (c) and Vowel sounds (v)

• Dog CVC• Rabbit CVCVC• Frog CCVC• Gorilla CVCVCV• Snake CCVC• Bee CV

Using Phonetics to correct common error.

When we use the ed ending

• The past simple tense and past participle of all regular verbs end in -ed. For example:

Infinitive Past simple Past Participle

• Work Worked Worked

Pronunciation of ed ending

A question that most students ask is how canI pronounce ed properly?The answer is in 3 different ways

/ Id / / t / / d /

The correct pronunciation depends on theending of the verb

/t/

If the base verb ends in one of these sounds:

example base verb*:

examplewith -ed:

pronouncethe -ed:

extra syllable?

Unvoiced

/t/ want wanted / Id / Yes

Example Sentence

Joe wanted to go out last night.

/d/

If the base verb ends in one of these sounds:

example base verb*:

examplewith -ed:

pronouncethe -ed:

extra syllable?

Voiced

/d/ end ended / Id / Yes

Example Sentence

After the concert ended we went home.

/p/

If the base verb ends in one of these sounds:

example base verb*:

examplewith -ed:

pronouncethe -ed:

extra syllable?

Unvoiced

/p/ hope Hoped / t / no

Example Sentence

• She got a C+ in her test, she had hoped for a better grade.

/f/

If the base verb ends in one of these sounds:

example base verb*:

examplewith -ed:

pronouncethe -ed:

extra syllable?

Unvoiced

/f/ laugh laughed / t / no

Example Sentence

Everybody laughed at the funny joke

/s/

If the base verb ends in one of these sounds:

example base verb*:

examplewith -ed:

pronouncethe -ed:

extra syllable?

Unvoiced

/s/ fax faxed / t / no

Example Sentence

My Office faxed an important document tothe New York office yesterday

/ʃ /

If the base verb ends in one of these sounds:

example base verb*:

examplewith -ed:

pronouncethe -ed:

extra syllable?

Unvoiced

/ʃ / wash washed / t / no

Example Sentence

He washed his car yesterday.

/tʃ/

If the base verb ends in one of these sounds:

example base verb*:

examplewith -ed:

pronouncethe -ed:

extra syllable?

Unvoiced

/tʃ/ watch watched / t / no

Example Sentence

I watched a great movie last night

/k/

If the base verb ends in one of these sounds:

example base verb*:

examplewith -ed:

pronouncethe -ed:

extra syllable?

Unvoiced

/K/ liked liked / t / no

Example Sentence

I liked to play with Barbie when I was younger

/d/ = all other sounds

• All other sounds we use /d/• Admired• Banned• Banged• Carved• Caused• Damaged

Voiced

If the base verb ends in one of these sounds:

example base verb*:

examplewith -ed:

pronouncethe -ed:

extra syllable?

Voiced

/ei/ All other sounds

played / d / no

Just for Advanced

Adjectives

• Some adjectives are formed using the past participle form of the verb with the ed ending.

For example • I like home baked cakes.

AdjectivesThe following -ed words used as adjectives arepronounced with /Id/: • Aged /eɪdʒɪd/ • Blessed /bles.ɪd/ • Crooked /krʊk.ɪd/ • Dogged /dɒɡ.ɪd/ • Learned /lɜ.nɪd/ • Naked /neɪ.kɪd/• Wicked /wɪk.ɪd/• Wretched /retʃ.ɪd/

So we say:• an aged man /Id/• a blessed nuisance /Id/• a dogged persistence /Id/• a learned professor - the professor, who

was truly learned /Id/• a wretched beggar - the beggar was

wretched /Id/

Real Verbs

• But when used as real verbs (past simple and past participle), the normal rules apply and we say:

• · he aged quickly /d/• · he blessed me /t/• · they dogged him /d/• · he has learned well /d/ or /t/

GameEnding T D ID• accept• add• admire• admit• advise• afford• agree• alert• allow• amuse• analyse• announce• annoy• answer• apologise

Ending T D ID• appreciate• approve• argue• arrange• arrest• arrive• ask• attach• attack• attempt• attend• attract• avoid• appear• applaud

GameEnding T D ID• Accept x• Add x• Admire x• Admit x• Advise x• Afford x• Agree x• Alert x• Allow x• Amuse x• Analyse x• Announce x• Annoy x• Answer x• Apologise x

Ending T D ID• Appreciate x• Approve x• Argue x• Arrange x• Arrest x• Arrive x• Ask x• Attach x• Attack x• Attempt x• Attend x• Attract x• Avoid x• Appear x• Applaud x