CHAPTER 14
Different Places, Different
Learners
One size does not fit all
Teaching is not like buying a pair of socks. One size does not
!t all. There isn’t just one best way to teach pronunciation—
or any other subject, for that matter.
We need to ask ourselves: “What’s the
best way I can help my students, in
their particular situation, to reach
their goals and make their
pronunciation more intelligible?”
Planning and teaching a lesson is a
complex undertaking that requires
teachers to make lots of choices,
and you’ll need to consider many factors before deciding
what to do in class. For example:- How old are the learners?
- What is their skill level in English overall?
- What language or languages do they speak?
- What are their goals? What are your goals for them?
- What resources are available in terms of time, textbooks,
and equipment? - What else do you have to !t into your necessarily limited
class time to meet the needs of your students and your
curriculum? How can you !t pronunciation in with
everything else? - What requirements, constraints, or limits are put on your
teaching from outside—from the school administration,
the local school board, or the national Ministry of
Education? - What is the setting of your teaching? Are you in an
English-speaking country where students will need to use
English in their daily lives (ESL) or in a country where
English is not commonly spoken and your students
seldom use English (EFL)?
You’ll also !nd that every group of students you teach is a
little di"erent, even if they’re closely matched in age, skill
185