Understanding and Teaching the Pronunciation of English.pdf

programs, movies, YouTube videos, advertisements, recipes,
menus, poems, and songs. Materials like these will often keep
students’ interest more than the usual textbooks. For learners
living in English-speaking countries, they show students how
they can use the sounds and words they’ve been practicing in
their lives. For those living in areas where English is seldom
spoken, they give learners a taste of everyday life in new and
interesting places, and may give them a stronger motivation
to practice.

To use authentic materials, look for materials that contain
words with the sounds you’re practicing or that can be
described or discussed using those sounds. Then plan what
you’ll have students do with the material. The activity types
listed earlier in the Guided Practice and Communicative
Practice sections will often work. Depending on the type of
material, you might ask students to:

• Practice reading the material aloud.


• Summarize or tell a story about it.


• Ask and answer questions.


• Write and practice a dialog that !ts the material.


• Do impromptu role plays.


• Compare two items and describe the di"erences.


• Make a list of things that they see or words that can
  describe them.
  
  
  • Make predictions about what something is or what will
    happen.
  
  
  • Brainstorm solutions to a real or imagined problem
    related to the material.
  
  
  
  

Some thoughts on tongue twisters

Tongue twisters are phrases or sentences that are designed to

be challenging to say. They usually contain several words

with the same sound or with two sounds that are easily

confused. You may remember practicing tongue twisters like

this very famous one: She sells seashells by the seashore.

Many teachers like to use tongue twisters in pronunciation

practice, and they can be valuable tools if used wisely.

However, if they’re misused, they can lead to frustration and

discouragement. Here are some recommendations.

• Use tongue twisters sparingly. They may be fun once in a
  while, but students will get tired of them quickly if they
  have to do them too often.


• Make sure students understand what they’re saying. If
  they don’t understand the words, it becomes just a
  di#cult tongue exercise, and that’s not much fun.


• Don’t make the tongue twisters too hard or too long, or
  they become pointless. If you can’t say a tongue twister
  easily, your students probably won’t be able to say it at
  80