Intonation. It's no surprise that many teachers don't feel confident about tackling it in the classroom.
When teaching grammar or lexis, we find ways of making the language accessible to our learners. How then to do this with intonation? What is intonation? Why teach intonation? Can I improve my own awareness of intonation? What is intonation? It's divided into phrases, also known as 'tone-units'. Why teach intonation? Awareness of intonation aids communication. Though it's unlikely our learners will need native-speaker-level pronunciation, what they do need is greater awareness of intonation to facilitate their speaking and listening. Can I improve my own awareness of intonation? How I help my students Awareness-raising Some techniques I find useful for raising learners' awareness of intonation: Provide learners with models - don't be afraid to exaggerate your intonation.
Intonation doesn't exist in isolation. Some examples are: Teaching English Pronunciation. I've met teachers who believe "there's no point in teaching English pronunciation as it cannot be taught.
Talented students pick it up - the rest don't. " English coursebooks make the same point with their silence. Apart from a few exercises on word stress or individual sounds - and then only in the better books - they ignore pronunciation. Despite the above comments, I know from my own experience that clear pronunciation can be taught - and that when it is taught the students listening will improve too. I want to be clear that I'm not trying to make my learners sound like the Queen of England or the President of the United States - or even like me.
What needs teaching? In teaching English pronunciation the students generally need work in several areas. Individual Sounds - Background Teaching English pronunciation involves a giving a lot of listening practice at the beginning. Remember that sounds and letters are different. Pronunciation - Christiane Dalton, Barbara Seidlhofer. Clearly_Speaking.pdf (application/pdf Object) Focus On Connected Speech. AMEP Factsheet "What is Pronunciation? Easy Ways To Teach Pronunciation. Ïmportance of Pronunciation. Pronunciation. Teaching English Sounds. How to Pronounce "th" Sounds in English. How to Teach English Pronunciation to the Chinese. Common Mistakes in English Pronunciation. Teaching English sounds. Improving your English pronunciation. Here are some tips to help you improve your English pronunciation.
First of all, don't worry about not having a native-English accent. It's important to be able to speak clearly, so that people can understand you. However, it's almost impossible to sound exactly like a native English speaker if you are learning English as an adult in a non-English speaking country. However, there are many things that you can do to improve your pronunciation and your speaking skills. 1. Listen to how speakers pronounce various words and phrases and "model" your pronunciation on what you hear. 2. Use the phonetic alphabet page (at the beginning of most good dictionaries) as a guide to pronouncing new words. 3. Every English word has its own stress, or intonation. Word stress is important. 4.
Depending on what your first language is, you may have problems with certain sounds. 5. A useful exercise is a "minimal pair" exercise. Pronunciation Poem - Dearest Creature in Creation - Study English Pronunciation. That English Pronunciation Poem!
Listen to this tricky little poem and you can practise your pronunciation and listening skills, and don't worry if you don't know all the words and their different pronunciation. Even Lynne got Arkansas wrong the first time round! In fact, this was the first poem Lynne ever recorded for the site, and she's re-recorded it three times now, just to improve the quality. This will probably be the last time, unless someone buys her a recording studio. You will still need a compatible player and an up to date browser. Dearest creature in creation, Study English pronunciation. Just compare heart, beard, and heard, Dies and diet, lord and word, Sword and sward, retain and Britain.
Billet does not rhyme with ballet, Bouquet, wallet, mallet, chalet. Ivy, privy, famous; clamour And enamour rhymes with hammer. Query does not rhyme with very, Nor does fury sound like bury. Liberty, library, heave and heaven, Rachel, ache, moustache, eleven.