teacher’s mouth, and probably more pleasant, too! (A list of
sources is at the end of this chapter.)
If you don’t have a dental model, you can use Marsha Chan’s
technique of using your own hands to show the
pronunciation of sounds. Hold one hand with the palm down
to represent the roof of the mouth. Bend your !ngertips down
a bit to represent the teeth. Use your other hand as the
tongue, showing how it moves and touches parts of the roof
of the mouth. (Source: “Using Your Hands to Teach
Pronunciation,” a teacher training video from Sunburst
Media. See a short demo video at http://
http://www.sunburstmedia.com/UsgHands-demo.html))
The disadvantage of using either a dental model or your
hands is that they have no lips. Both tools are great for
demonstrating sounds and contrasts like /θ/ and /s/, /z/
and /ʤ/, or /n/ and /ŋ/, but not so helpful for /f/, /v/, /m/,
/w/, or other sounds that involve the lips. Maybe someday
someone will invent a dental model with lips!
Listening tubes like those sold under the names Whispy
Reader, Toobaloo, Hear Myself Sound Phone, WhisperPhone,
and others are basically a curved tube. When learners hold
them like a telephone receiver, speaking into one end and
listening to the other, they can hear their own voices more
clearly while background noise in the classroom is blocked
out. Listening tubes are useful for both children and adults,
although some companies’ models are really too small to be
comfortable for adults. Listening tubes can also be easily
made out of PVC pipe and elbow-shaped !ttings. A cheap-
and-quick version can also be made out of folded paper. (See83A dental model lets you show tongue positions for sounds.7.1 Tools for teaching pronunciation