INTRODUCTION

The purpose of this magazine is to provide teachers with insights into the

teaching of pronunciation. Even though, certain curriculums may not allow

for a class like that, truth is that the threshold level for communicative

purposes may be at risk if pronunciation is not addressed. And to say that

you know a certain language without being able to communicate is useless

nowadays. This globalized world will force you to interact with people who

speak the same language you learned or are still learning. Therefore, a focus

on pronunciation is very important. There have been tons of methodologies

and approaches to teaching pronunciation and somehow they all manage to

have certain levels of success. In today’s knowledge, pronunciation can be

addressed in a very effective and fun way! That is for example by using the

IPA symbols which are universal and that can be applied to any language

sound. Also, resources such as internet can be easily accessed and used. And

to make your work effective and long lasting there is a metacognition aspect

to implement in your teachings which will be developed in this magazine, a

little, as well. Therefore we will give a few examples of how these tools can

be integrated and applied into pronunciation teaching aspects.

We will focus on a few IPA pronunciation symbols that will be important to

teach (ɑ, æ, ɝ, θ, ð, ɪ, ɔ, i, etc). Also, intonation of words and phrases and

aspects of self-motivation and responsibility will be briefly explained so

students monitor their own learning and get involved in the process.

I hope you have fun!

CONTENTS

- IPA SYMBOLS………………………………………………………….. 4

- Minimal pairs………………………………………………………….. 5

- ACTIVITY 1-2…………………………………………………………… 7

- INTONATION…………………………………………………………… 10

- METACOGNITION…………………………………………………… 13

- Activity 3………………………………………………………………… 14

- INTERNET RESOURCES……………………………………………. 16

IPA SYMBOLS

Before IPA Symbols a teacher would probably repeat a word a lot of times so

students get an idea on how the words sounded in a different language.

There could not be graphics or guidance on how to recreate the sounds and

not just for one single language but almost all!

According TO Wikipedia: The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is an

alphabetic system of phonetic notation based primarily on the Latin

alphabet. It was devised by the International Phonetic Association as a

standardized representation of the sounds of oral language. The IPA is used

by lexicographers, foreign language students and teachers, linguists, speech-

language pathologists, singers, actors, constructed language creators, and

translators.

The IPA is designed to represent only those qualities of speech that are

distinctive in oral language: phonemes, intonation, and the separation of

words and syllables. To represent additional qualities of speech, such as

tooth gnashing, lisping, and sounds made with a cleft palate, an extended set

of symbols called the Extensions to the IPA may be used.

IPA symbols are composed of one or more elements of two basic types,

letters and diacritics. For example, the sound of the English letter ⟨t⟩ ay be

transcribed in I A with a single letter, t , or with a letter plus diacritics, t ,

depending on how precise one wishes to be. Often, slashes are used to signal

broad or phonemic

transcription; thus, /t/

is less specific than, and

could refer to, either

t or t depending on

the context and

language.

IPA CHART

The following is a chart with

certain symbols and examples

of words with their

corresponding sounds.

MINIMAL PAIRS

There are certain words which

are different only in one specific sound and normally they can be grouped in

pairs. They almost always have different word meanings and can be

confusing when teaching or learning English. At the same time it can be a

good way to learn the right pronunciation and also vocabulary since the

beginning of the learning process. The ones presented here focuses on the

phonetic sounds this magazine intends to point out. Therefore, the selection

of words and symbols are limited. Although the entire Phonetic Chart seen

above is very complete it is usually advisable to try to focus on the ones that

are relevant, that is the ones that sound very different fro the learner’s

mother tongue or the ones that will create confusion when not clearly

pronounced . As it can be easily seen in terms of vowels, for example, English

sounds are much more complex than Spanish sounds. But consonants tend to

be a lot more similar in both languages. Taking advantage of this similarity, it

will be wise to only teach consonants which do not exist in Spanish and

learners need to use some exercise on. As for the vowels, they should be it

will depend on the emphasis of the course or the curriculum, but in the worst

scenario at least a few of them would be very helpful to know in order to

have a decent speaking level.

MINIMAL PAIRS CHART /ð

/ -

/z/

wit

h -

wh

izz

clo

the-

clo

se

lith

e -l

ies

scyt

he

-siz

e se

eth

e -s

ees

then

-Ze

n

clo

thin

g -c

losi

ng

see

the

-sea

s te

eth

e -

teas

te

eth

ing-

tea

sin

g

tith

e -t

ies

bat

he

-bay

s b

reat

he-

bre

eze

loat

he

-lo

ws

soo

the

-su

es

/s/

- /θ/

face

-fa

ith

forc

e -f

ou

rth

ki

ss -

kith

m

ou

se-

mo

uth

si

ng-

th

ing

son

g- t

ho

ng

ten

se-

ten

th

mas

s -m

ath

sa

w -

thaw

si

ck -

thic

k

sin

k -t

hin

k so

rt -

tho

ugh

t w

ors

e-

wo

rth

mis

s -m

yth

p

ass

-pat

h

/f/-

/θ/

free

-th

ree

dea

f -d

eath

fo

ugh

t -t

ho

ugh

t fo

ur

-th

aw

fin

-th

in

firs

t- t

hir

st

for

-th

aw

fres

h -

thre

sh

free

ze -

thre

es

fro

-th

row

fro

ze-

thro

ws

fief

-th

ief

firm

-Th

erm

fort

-th

ou

ght

frill

-th

rill

furr

ed -

thir

d

/ɑ/-/ɝ/

fast

-fi

rst

guar

d-

gird

b

ard

-b

ird

fa

r -f

ir

har

d-

hea

rd

har

d -

her

d

hea

rt -

hu

rt

par

se -

pu

rse

pas

s -p

urs

e p

ast

-pu

rsed

bar

n -

bu

rn

bat

h -

bir

th

/əʊ

/ -

/ɔ/

bo

wl -

bal

l

do

e -

do

or

foe

-fo

r -f

ou

r go

go

re

kno

w-

no

-n

or

mo

anin

g -m

orn

ing

mo

w -

mo

re

O -

or

so -

saw

b

oat

-b

ou

ght

bo

de

-b

oar

d-

bo

red

b

on

e -

bo

rn-

bo

rne

/æ/

and

/e/

ham

-h

em

jam

-ge

m

man

-m

en

pat

-p

et

and

-en

d

flas

h -

fles

h

gnat

-n

et

had

-h

ead

p

ack

-pec

k p

an -

pen

sad

-sa

id

sat

-set

sp

ann

ed -

spen

d

/ɪ/

and

/i/

Bin

- b

ean

bit

ch-

bea

ch

chip

-ch

eap

d

id -

dee

d

fit

-fee

t

grin

- g

reen

his

- he’s

is -

ease

it

-ea

t m

itt

- m

eet

sit

-sea

t sl

ip-

slee

p

TEACHING ACTIVITY 1 (15 minutes)

For high beginners or intermediate students

TEACHING VOWEL SOUNDS /æ/, /e/AND /I/

1-Students are handed a sheet of paper containing the following list of words: man, sand,

blowing, in, many, forever, cannonballs, banned, wind, him, friend, depths, answer, can, is, will,

head, it, ‘til, have, his, pretending.

2-One by one, students will dictate those words to the teacher. As they read teacher tries to

repeat and exaggerate pronunciation pointing at the new phonetic sounds while copying them on

the board (this is done to get an idea how good their pronunciation already is and if they are

aware of the correct sounds).

3- Have them repeat along with you and help them identify the sounds.

4- Next, one by one students walk to the board and group the words in the corresponding boxes

(previously made) :/æ/ , /e/ and /I/. At least 3 words per student should be allowed.

5-Be ready to provide feed-back on the pronunciation and even translation of each word. Erase

the board.

TEACHING ACTIVITY 2

(15 minutes)

As an extension of Activity One hand out the lyrics of the song Blowing in the

Wind for the students to fill in the blanks. Play the song for them and guide

them to fill the missing words out by listening to the song. Play it at least four

times and have them sing along with you.

As homework or a follow up exercise tell them to circle the words in the song

that have the sounds /e/ and with a different color, words with the sound /I/.

Feel free to use your imagination for variations of this activity.

Music: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ld6fAO4idaI

BLOWING IN THE WIND (Peter, Paul and Mary) How many roads must a _____ walk down? Before they call him a _____? How many seas must a white dove sail Before she sleeps in the _______? How many times must the _______________ fly Before they’re forever ____________? *The ___________ my friend is blowing in the wind *The ___________ is blowing in the wind How many years must a mountain exist Before it is washed to the sea?

How many years _____ some people exist Before they’re allowed to be free? How many times ______ a man turn his head And pretend that he just doesn’t see? *The __________ my friend is blowing in the wind *The __________ is blowing in the wind How many times must a ______ look up Before he ______ see the sky? How many ears must one man ________ Before he ______ hear people cry? How any deaths will it take ‘til he knows That too many people _______ died? *The _________ my friend is blowing in the wind *The _________ is blowing in the wind *The _________ is blowing in the wind

INTONATION

Should you want to

speak English fluently,

there is nothing better

than to be able to have

good intonation and

stress. They are the

music of the English

language. The meaning

of phrases, ideas or

words is closely linked to

stress and correct intonation.

A good way to start learning about stress and intonation is with the minimal

pairs. Once students start pronouncing the words and mastering the

difference between exact sounds of vowels and consonants they can

continue with minimal pairs and then go on with intonation and stress. The

sentence mark up is very important for a good command of English. Some

textbooks present intonations with bolded words or intonation graphics lines

to direct learners towards the right and standard way to pronouncing the

pitch contours generated during speaking. In general terms, this aspect of the

language can be much deeper, but as for now we will focus on the fact that

students should have intonation samples since the beginning of their course

to adopt the proper rhythm and flow of the English language.

The example in the picture above shows how intonation may mold the way

one must enunciate a sentence, whether it may be a question, command or a

confirmation.

These examples from: esl.about.com, show a method of bolding key content

words and CAPITALIZING the most important words chosen for the best

emotional impact. This starts off with a simple sentence paragraph that an

intermediate student might use to practice and ends with a more advanced

selection that is typical of a presentation.

Paragraph to be Read

“Our school is the best in town. The teachers are friendly, and very

knowledgeable about English. I've studied at the school for two years and my

English is becoming very good. I hope you will visit our school and try an

English class. Maybe we can become friends, too!”

Paragraph with Sound Scripting Markup

Our school is the BEST in town. The

teachers are friendly, and VERY

KNOWLEDGEABLE about English. I've

studied at the school for two years and

my English is becoming VERY GOOD. I

hope you will visit our school and try

an English class. MAYBE we can

become FRIENDS!

A WORD ON RISPONSABILITY FOR LEARNING

The desire to learn is created by a variety of factors. When this desire is

strong enough it provokes an act. Whether the motivation is intrinsic or

extrinsic it should be sustained. This is one of the teachers’ ost i portant

aim. Therefore, teachers have the great responsibility to foster and create

agency. That is students should take some responsibility for learning. It has to

do a lot with encouraging students to be active in their own learning and in

doing so monitor their own learning process. Teachers’ role is not just

teaching. It is also creating a chance for students taking control of their own

learning, sometimes encouraging them to achieve

more, sometimes as feedback providers and even

helping them evaluate their own performance.

In a nut shell, teachers should facilitate students

to start planning their objectives, monitor their

comprehension and evaluate their progress, the

so called metacognition. In other words they

have to learn to think about how they think and

learn how to learn. One way of doing this is to

have them think on their strengths and weaknesses and start from there,

they have to work a bit harder on what they lack of and try to take advantage

of what they already know. Diaries and journals are good tools in this

respect. Nevertheless, a good starting point is to provide them with a series

of questions to start analyzing their own progress. The following activity

includes a part in which students have to think about what happened during

the activity, what they could achieve themselves and what they can do to

solve certain problems in the future in order to do better and better. Not one

single teacher will be next to a student forever. They have to learn to be self-

sufficient and go on by themselves.

ACTIVITY 3

DIRECTIONS

a- Each student will receive a hand out of the conversation below.

Teacher reads out loud.

b- Students will brainstorm on why certain letters are underlined.

c- Teacher will clearly explain the two possible sounds of this

co bination, /ð/ and /θ/ (1 and 2 respectively), how they are articulated and

its contrast in Spanish words.

d- On the board, the teacher will put the words in the respective (1 or 2)

groups to which the class will add words from previous dialogues or

vocabulary lists.

e- In pairs, students will number the underlined words according to their

sounds (1 or 2) respectively. Teacher will check the right sequence of

numbers per line.

f- Students will also create a short dialogue using as many words as

possible from vocabulary presented in class.

g- Finally, students will answer a small number of questions.

DIALOGUE

(Two foreigners from Alaska)

HEATHER: Hi! I think your brother and father are having a good time here in

Costa Rica.

ANTHONY: Yeah, they’re both very happy here. They iss the snow, though.

HEATHER: I thought so. Anyways, they’ll go back ho e for their birthday

soon, right?

ANTHONY: That’s right. Dece ber the 10th for the two of the !

/ð/ /θ

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SÍ O NO:

Todas las palabras que contengan “t” y “h”se pronuncian /ð/ o /θ/ _______

Hay ciertas reglas para saber la pronunciación de/ð/ and /θ/ _______

¿Puede usted pronunciar fácilmente los dos sonidos ahora? _______

La secuencia de palabras que tengan “ht” se pronuncia con /ð/ _______

No hay reglas para saber cuándo pronunciar /ð/ o cuando /θ/ ________

El sonido /θ/ lo tenemos en la pronunciación del idioma español ________

¿Agregará más palabras a su lista con sonidos/ð/ and /θ/ por su cuenta? _______

Antes de esta actividad, ¿sabía usted que estos dos sonidos existían? _______

¿Qué hará la próxi a vez que encuentre una palabra en inglés que contenga “th”’?........

INTERNET RESOURCES

The following pages are a great tool for teachers of English. They are all

interesting, and can give you ideas on how to better create and enrich your

classroom activities.

http://www.learnersdictionary.com/

http://funeasyenglish.com/

http://busyteacher.org/

http://www.eslgold.com/

http://www.learnerstv.com/Free-Language-Video-lectures-ltv200-Page1.htm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/pron/

http://www.englishclub.com/pronunciation/minimal-pairs.htm

http://www.eslgamesplus.com/

http://www.englishmedialab.com

http://www.eslgamesworld.com/