What Makes a Great Teacher? As the kids move into group work, there is a low buzz in the room. I try, but I can’t find a child who isn’t talking about math. One little boy leans across his desk to help another with a problem. “What do you add to 8 to get 16?” he says, and then he waits. The activities come in brisk sequence, following a routine the kids know by heart, so no time is lost in transition. On the front wall, Mr. Next, Mr. Finally, after a dozen problems go by, a small voice from an even smaller boy pronounces, “Bingo!” When I talk to Mr. Like all the teachers I talked to in Washington, Mr.
Integrating pronunciation into classroom activities In my work as a teacher trainer I have been surprised at how often experienced teachers are reluctant to tackle pronunciation issues in class. I can think of at least two reasons why pronunciation tends to be neglected: firstly, the lack of clear guidelines and rules available in course books, and secondly the fact that isolated exercises once a month do not seem to have much of an effect. This is not surprising, however; like all other areas of language teaching, pronunciation needs constant attention for it to have a lasting effect on students, which means integrating it into daily classroom procedures. Using student talk to teach pronunciationWord stressVowel soundsDiphthongsWeak formsSentence stressConclusion Using student talk to teach pronunciationPronunciation work can be kept simple and employ exercises which are both accessible and enjoyable for students, whatever their level. Word stressHere is a simple exercise I repeat regularly for work on word stress and individual sounds.
Teaching Pronunciation Pronunciation involves far more than individual sounds. Word stress, sentence stress, intonation, and word linking all influence the sound of spoken English, not to mention the way we often slur words and phrases together in casual speech. 'What are you going to do?' becomes 'Whaddaya gonna do?' A student's first language often interferes with English pronunciation. Here are some ideas for focusing on specific pronunciation features. Voicing Voiced sounds will make the throat vibrate. Here are some resources for teaching pronunciation. Sounds of English Mouth diagrams and photographs; instructions for producing selected English sounds, word stress, sentence stress, and intonation; many example sound clips to play with audio software such as RealPlayer (free).