How to Teach English Pronunciation Using Phonemes and Games

Proper pronunciation is often overlooked in the language teaching field. English textbooks and instruction manuals barely touch on the subject.

Yet allowable pronunciation is a major part of learning the English language! The whole of words with similar sounds but utterly different meanings can cause much obscuring if exact pronunciation is not taught.

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Can pronunciation be taught at all? Yes! Just comprehend that textbooks may not always cover all approaches to teaching this leading language skill.

How to Teach English Pronunciation Using Phonemes and Games

The Witch of Blackbird Pond (Yearling Newbery) Best

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The Witch of Blackbird Pond (Yearling Newbery) Feature

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The Witch of Blackbird Pond (Yearling Newbery) Overview

Kit Tyler must leave behind shimmering Caribbean islands to join the stern Puritan community of her relatives. She soon feels caged, until she meets the old woman known as the Witch of Blackbird Pond. But when their friendship is discovered, Kit herself is accused of witchcraft!

The Witch of Blackbird Pond (Yearling Newbery) Specifications

Forced to leave her sunny Caribbean home for the bleak Connecticut Colony, Kit Tyler is filled with trepidation. As they sail up the river to Kit's new home, the teasing and moodiness of a young sailor named Nat doesn't help. Still, her unsinkable spirit soon bobs back up. What this spirited teenager doesn't count on, however, is how her aunt and uncle's stern Puritan community will view her. In the colonies of 1687, a girl who swims, wears silk and satin gowns, and talks back to her elders is not only headstrong, she is in grave danger of being regarded as a witch. When Kit befriends an old Quaker woman known as the Witch of Blackbird Pond, it is more than the ascetics can take: soon Kit is defending her life. Who can she count on as she confronts these angry and suspicious townspeople?

A thoroughly exciting and rewarding Newbery Medal winner and ALA Notable Children's Book, Elizabeth George Speare's The Witch of Blackbird Pond brings this frightening period of witch hysteria to life. Readers will wonder at the power of the mob mentality, and the need for communities in desperate times--even current times--to find a scapegoat. (Ages 9 and older) --Emilie Coulter

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Wrong ways to teach pronunciation

Teaching pronunciation alongside the introduction of vocabulary is a tasteless mistake. Auditory learners and Efl students who speak a associated language may be able to pick up pronunciation easily with this method, but those with a markedly different mum tongue will struggle.

Learning pronunciation by drill is other favorite method, and can be effective for some - particularly when combined with the study of the inconsistent patterns of English spelling. Handicaps, however, still apply to some learners.

Can we effectively teach these students for whom customary textbook suggestions fall short? Again, yes! There is a beginning point that can benefit all students, and that is the study of phonemes.

Step one - Introducing phonemes

The phoneme is the one sound which makes the inescapable contrast in the middle of similar words. For example, in the 'at' house of words (cat, fat, mat, sat) the phoneme is the beginning letter (/c/, /f/, /m/, /s/). Using phonemes to teach pronunciation focuses on these inescapable units of sound. The best way to begin is by having students listen for and identify these differential sounds.

Introduce phonemes in pairs for the best results, like /t/ and /d/. Have the students repeat the sound, then uncomplicated words: 'tip', 'dip', 'tuck', 'duck'. Drawn diagrams of how to hold the lips and tongue can also be helpful. Optical learners may also benefit from the symbols of the phonetic language to help differentiate in the middle of phonemes that are written the same but sound different; the 'th' in the two words 'thanks' and 'there', for example.

Step two - Practicing phonemes

Once students have grasped the plan of and can identify phonemes, they will need to custom development the sounds accurately. This is where pronunciation diagrams can be helpful. Many sounds like 'r' and soft 'g' are articulated inside the mouth and they can be frustrating for students to try and duplicate. Diagrams of the exact positioning of the mouth and tongue for these sounds can be found in many books, and blown up for larger classrooms.

By now you have probably realized that teaching pronunciation to Esl learners is going to take time. learning a second language requires, to an extent, a reprogramming of the brain; new neural paths must be created to process the new information. It is like a baby learning to talk at an accelerated pace - new facial expressions and sounds have to be learned and applied.

Step three - Word pronunciation

When teaching on the phoneme level, we take noises and make them significant. When we work on pronunciation at the level of conversational dialogue, a new set of barriers appears.

Anxiety is a tasteless sufficient symptom among Esl students. Fear of failure makes them stiff and nervous, and this is often easily apparent in their demeanor. Repetitive verbal games such as Jazz Chants, handclap rhymes and other structured activities can relieve much of this pressure and allow the students to integrate on the pronunciation and intonation Classroom rituals, like learning a short greeting to use at the beginning of each class will help boost self confidence.

Learned helplessness is a less positively spotted hindrance. This refers to our psychological tendency to 'give up' after a few failed attempts, especially if there is negative feedback from the educator or classmates. The explication is uncomplicated - keep it positive! Praise each advancement, no matter how small, tape the students advance so he/she can hear their correction on a regular basis, and don't forget to award the slow learners as much recognition as the rapid ones!

Finally - a word on accents

Cultural identity is the last and perhaps the most leading question to be dealt with. Esl and Efl students who are learning English merely for enterprise often do not intend to assimilate, and will not wish to wholly give up their accent as it sends a clear message about their roots and history.

The main objective here is not to attain some hypothetical thorough of English pronunciation, but to merely ensure that all students can be easily understood. Any 'foreign' accent, in the end, will probably not be any more distracting than ones of native English speakers from varying parts of the world.

Games can be beneficial here as well, to break the ice and lessen tension about accents. Impersonations are a fabulous way to help students enhance their pronunciation, and have a fun as well. Many paramount personalities can be used as models and the students will have a terrific time guessing who they are. Often the students will find that their pronunciation will markedly enhance as they mimic the speech patterns of their favorite actors and celebrities. They can even imitate the educator for an added note of hilarity!

All of these ideas can be vast on and modified to fit the needs of your single class. Teaching pronunciation to Esl students is very necessary, but it doesn't have to be nerve-wracking. Just work on it a minuscule during each class, and see your students' abilities grow!

How to Teach English Pronunciation Using Phonemes and Games