Filed under: Pronunciation | Tags: consonant sounds, English With Jennifer, Jennifer Lebedev, JenniferESL, pronunciation tips, vowel sounds
I’ve shared tips for teaching vowel and consonant sounds in an earlier posting. One addition to that list is the benefit of using our sense of touch. Some may describe this instruction as tactile or hands-on. Whatever you wish to call it, the idea is to get students to understand sound production by placing their hands in a certain position so that they can feel a change produced by the articulators. Below are some so-called tactile exercises to try your in your classroom.
- To understand aspiration:
Hold your fingers in front of your lips. Say /p, t, k/ and you’ll feel a puff of air. Say /b, d, g/ and you won’t.
- To understand voicing:
(1) Place your hand on your throat. Say voiced consonants such as /v, z, w/ and you’ll feel your vocal chords vibrate. Say voiceless consonants such as /f, s, h/ and you’ll feel no vibration.
(2) Plug your ears with your fingers. Say voiced consonants and you’ll hear your voice inside your head. Say voiceless consonants and your voice will sound much softer.
- To understand open (low) and closed (high) vowels:
(1) Place your hands full on your cheeks face with your fingers pointing upward. Say a sequence of vowels from high to mid to low such as /u, oʊ, ɑ/ and you’ll feel your jaw gradually drop.
(2) Place one thumb lightly under your chin. Say the same sequence of high to low vowels and you’ll feel the pressure of your chin on your thumb as the jaw drops.
- To understand nasal sounds:
Pinch your nose and pronounce the nasal consonants /m, n, ŋ/. The sound will be obstructed. Release your nose and say the sounds again. They should sound natural because the air is properly escaping from your nose and not your mouth.
Perhaps you know of other exercises. If so, please share them!
Filed under: Pronunciation | Tags: English With Jennifer, JenniferESL, Jennifer Lebedev, pronunciation activity, intonation, intonation in a series, making a list
Level: intermediate to advanced
Language focus: intonation in series of items
STEP 1 – Model and practice intonation patterns for a series of items.
Pattern 1: rising intonation is used for each item except the last, which is spoken with falling intonation. Pattern 2: level intonation is used for each item except the last, which is spoken with falling intonation. Pattern 3: rising intonation is used for each item, including the last, which indicates the list could go on.
STEP 2 – Explain that the class must organize a celebration for the entire school (you can decide the occasion), and there are many things to do. Write the first four tasks on the board and invite students to suggest others:
- We need to buy food.
- We need to plan entertainment.
- We need to decide where to have the event.
- We need to buy a gift for the guest(s) of honor.
STEP 3 – Working with a partner, students must take turns making suggestions. The suggestions must be in the form of a list (minimum of 3 items). Prompts can be provided if necessary:
- We need to buy food. / We can buy… (or make)
- We need to plan entertainment. / We can hire… (or ask)
- We need to decide where to have the event. / We can have the celebration…
- We need to buy a gift for the guest(s) of honor. / We can buy… (or make)
Appropriate intonation should be used to make the series of suggestions. Model the exchange with a volunteer:
Speaker A (student volunteer): We need to buy food.
Speaker B (teacher): No problem. We can buy fruit, crackers, cheese, and juice.
VARIATION: Don’t want to plan a party? Use a list of common problems:
- I often lose my keys. / Why don’t you try…? – or – Maybe you can…
- I sometimes miss my bus.
- I don’t have time to eat breakfast.
- I don’t like cleaning my apartment.
Filed under: Classroom Tips, Conversation, Grammar, Pronunciation | Tags: communicative activity, English With Jennifer, Jennifer Lebedev, JenniferESL, new school year, new semester, start of the school year
For many, September will be the start of a new school year. But even if you’re in a year-round program, you might consider the following activity as a warm-up to one of your lessons.
Level: Intermediate to advanced (You can increase or decrease the complexity of the language depending on the students’ level.)
STEP 1: Prepare a list of 8-10 instructions that begin with the phrase: Find someone who… Each statement should relate to summer activities. Suggestions:
- Find someone who went to the beach this summer.
- Find someone who worked a lot this summer.
- Find someone who visited relatives this summer.
- Find someone who ate at an outdoor café this summer.
- Find someone who went swimming at least once this summer.
- Find someone who made a new friend this summer.
- Find someone who saw a good movie this summer.
- Find someone who practiced his/ her English this summer.
STEP 2: Make and distribute copies of the instructions to the students. Model the construction of a yes-no question based on the first instruction. Example: “You need to find someone who went to the beach this summer. What question can you ask? …Did you go to the beach this summer?” Have students work in pairs to form the remaining questions. Correct their work as a class. They will each have their own copy of the class survey for the next step.
VARIATION: You can create the 8-10 questions yourself, but prepare the survey as a word scramble. Students must rewrite the questions with correct word order.
Example: go / you/ this/ beach/ to/ the/ summer/ beach/ did?
> Did you go to the beach this summer?
STEP 3: Have students walk around the room asking one another the questions they just formed. They must find one person who can answer affirmatively to each question. They should try to find a different person for each question.
SUGGESTIONS: You can create questions that foreshadow the lesson topic. Questions can use:
- Regular verbs in the simple past tense
- Irregular verbs in the simple past tense
- Passive verbs
- Causative verbs
- Phrasal verbs
- Idioms
ADDITIONAL SUGGESTIONS:
- You can use yes-no questions to model rising intonation if you’re teaching a pronunciation class.
- You can use the questions formed and the information collected to model reported questions and statements: I asked three people if they had gone to the beach, and they all said they hadn’t.
- You can let small discussions result from the findings. For example, who saw a good movie? Can they retell the plot? This could facilitate a lesson on Wh- questions.
Tired of using the same ice breakers? Check back soon for first-week activities with a new group of students!
Filed under: Grammar, Pronunciation, Vocabulary | Tags: English With Jennifer, JenniferESL, Jennifer Lebedev, phrasal verbs, conditionals, conditional statements, horoscopes, idioms, word stress, sentence stress
Horoscopes, with their predictions and advice, lend themselves to a number of classroom activities. Even the names of the twelve zodiac signs can be the basis for meaningful language practice. You can find many sites that publish daily horoscopes, or you can find printed them in printed sources like entertainment magazines. Here are three suggestions for using horoscopes in the classroom:
- Word stress/ sentence stress. As a class, identify zodiac signs that share the same stress patterns. Example: GEMini, CAPricorn, SCORpio. Clap to or tap out the beat. Then compose statements on the board about what represents each sign. Example: TAURus is a BULL. Use capital letters and/or stress dots to show stressed syllables and stressed words. Students can practice reading the twelve statements with a partner. You can also have students ask their partners WHAT’S your SIGN? and WHEN’S your BIRTHday? The exchange should encourage attention to stress and rhythm. Finally, you can look at horoscopes as a class and identify stressed content words. Have students mark their copies accordingly. In pairs, students can practice sentence stress by reading the horoscopes aloud.
- Conditional statements. Use horoscopes to study use of if-clauses. Example: (Virgo) “Don’t be too surprised if things get a little crazy today — you need to make sure that you’re on the right side of it all! If you have to turn your schedule upside-down, that’s okay by you.” (from Yahoo!) Note verb tenses used for real or likely statements (horoscopes often use the first conditional). You can then have students compose fictitious horoscopes containing at least one conditional statement. All compositions can be written on index cards, collected, and then distributed randomly so each student receives one to read.
- Idioms and/ or phrasal verbs. Looking for a meaningful context in which to practice idioms or phrasal verbs? Use a collection of daily horoscopes. Here are a number of common expressions from just two entries on Yahoo!
(Leo) “Take pride in your work — but try not to get carried away! Your ego may be seeking gratification just a little too much today, but you ought to be able to get what you need without putting anyone else off.”
(Capricorn) “See if you can get some traction with your big plans today — you need to add some details to your schemes if you want to make sure that you’re really on the right track. Think it all through!”
Find 5-6 idioms or phrasal verbs like the ones above. Write their meanings on the board. Students can read through the horoscopes and match the meanings to the targeted vocabulary. Then challenge them to write questions using the new vocabulary. The questions can be used for conversation practice in pairs or small groups.
Filed under: Methodology, Pronunciation | Tags: English With Jennifer, JenniferESL, Jennifer Lebedev, independent learning, students' toolbox, IPA, teaching terminology
In my previous posting, I expressed the need to give our students tools in order to become independent learners. I suspect that many other teachers will agree that knowledge of grammar and grammar terminology has a place in the English language learner’s toolbox. What about other terms? When it comes to developing clear speech, is it helpful to know what intonation, stress, and voicing refer to? How about the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)? Is there any point in teaching it? Let’s consider these questions.
To some degree, the same case can be made for pronunciation terms: knowing what certain patterns and aspects are called allows students to ask about them by name or conduct an independent search for answers to their questions. It certainly can’t hurt to know that there are voiced and unvoiced consonants. And for a non-native speaker, it seems wise to call attention to the different intonation patterns: rising, falling, rise-fall, etc. Again, the knowledge of such terms doesn’t have to be quizzed, just promoted.
As for the IPA, my practice has been to use the symbols sparingly. I place them on the board, for example, when teaching or correcting a sound so that a given symbol serves as a reference, but I don’t require students to memorize the symbols. Familiarity is what I strive for. The one exception happened recently when a private student clearly stated the goal: I want to know the symbols. He felt it necessary to master the IPA to be clear on the individual sounds and to be able to understand how to pronounce new words on his own. Of course, one can argue that between the audio samples of pocket translators and online dictionaries, students can always hear the correct pronunciation of a new word. However, my counterargument would be to ask about the necessity of teaching children math when most math problems can be solved by a calculator. At the very least, what if you don’t have immediate access to a calculator? Likewise, what if a student is studying with only a traditional dictionary available? As with the terms, it doesn’t hurt to know the symbols. In learning the IPA, my student became more aware of the problems he had with some vowel sounds as well as one or two consonant sounds. One downside is that the so-called International Phonetic Alphabet, has variations, so it’s not as universal as one would hope. Even so, I sense his confidence has increased because he has a new tool at his disposal.
Filed under: Pronunciation | Tags: English interjections, English With Jennifer, Jennifer Lebedev, JenniferESL, pronunciation activities, teaching intonation
I’ve often taught separate lessons for each intonation pattern in American English, and I think this is effective when language learners are first studying the different patterns. However, once students have been exposed to those patterns, they need to deal with them in close proximity to one another. For instance, when rising and falling intonation are used back-to-back, can students hear the difference? Students’ comprehension of various intonation patterns should be tested not only through simple discriminatory exercises, but also through listening passages that illustrate intonation in a meaningful context. Once they gain comfort identifying a speaker’s mood or underlying thoughts through intonation, they can more accurately use the intonation patterns in their own speech.
Interjections fit very well into a lesson on pronunciation. Though short by nature, they play important roles in communication. Here’s a suggested series of activities:
- STEP 1 – Elicit interjections from the class and list them on the board. Example: What do Americans say when hurt themselves? (Ouch!) Possible list: ouch, ah, well, mm, oh, oops, yikes.
- STEP 2 – Listening task: Test the students’ ability to identify an intonation pattern and its meaning. Have students sit in pairs and listen to a list of isolated interjections spoken by the teacher. The teacher can use versatile interjections such as ah, oh, well, and mm. State each interjection in two different ways (for a total of 8-10 items). Be sure to use facial expressions and possibly even body language to help illustrate the meaning you want to convey. After each item is spoken, the students will work in pairs to identify the pattern and interpret its meaning. Example: Students hear “Oh!” with a sharp rise-fall. They identify the pattern and understand that the teacher is surprised by something. The teacher asks one pair to share their ideas, the class agrees or disagrees, and then the teacher confirms the correct answer.
- STEP 3 – Pronunciation task: Test the students’ ability to produce correct intonation with interjections. Prepare 5-6 photos of people in advance. You can use magazine photos, Microsoft clip art, or online images (from Yahoo and Flickr). You want to collect photos illustrating a variety of emotions: bored, excited, surprised, in pain, etc. Tape the photos on the board and number them. In pairs, students should choose an interjection to represent each photo. Their work can then be shared and compared. Be sure students say the interjections with a clear and appropriate intonation pattern.
- STEP 4 – Using the same photos, assign one to each pair. With their partners, students create a short dialogue (teacher must set minimum and maximum length) between two people. One character is the person in the photo. The interjection selected from Step 3 must be included. Dialogues are then shared with the class.
Filed under: Pronunciation | Tags: English With Jennifer, how to teach consonants, how to teach phonemes, how to teach vowels, Jennifer Lebedev, JenniferESL
Can consistently miraculous results ever be guaranteed? Probably not, but I will say that with adult learners I’ve found it most effective to present vowel and consonant sounds by performing these steps in various sequences:
1. Explain the mechanics in a slow, simple manner;
2. Model the mechanics using your hands to represent the articulators;
3. Draw a mouth on the board and show how the articulators must work;
4. Use imagery, an analogy, or otherwise vivid explanation to make the production of the given sound memorable;
5. Repeatedly model the sound yourself as you perform the steps above so that the students can watch the movements of your mouth.
6. Put the sound in context, focusing on its placement in different parts of words (i.e., initial, medial, final). Note any changes in articulation of the sound depending on its position within a word.
7. Contrast the sound with another one when possible. For example, voiced and unvoiced pairs such as /g/ and /k/ or commonly confused sounds such as / ɪ / and / i /.
8. Build upwards. For example, if it’s a consonant sound, does it appear in blends or clusters?
9. Move to the phrase and sentence level so that students can practice smooth, connected speech.
10. Incorporate fun, meaningful practice to encourage sound production that is less conscious and more automatic.
For a demonstration of these 10 steps, click here.
Filed under: Conversation, Pronunciation, Reading, Writing | Tags: basic skills for advanced students, English With Jennifer, Jennifer Lebedev, JenniferESL
Advanced language learners often demonstrate relative ease in everyday conversation, so our interaction with them can blind us to more basic skills they have yet to master. Here are five such skills and suggestions for helping advanced students to acquire them:
- The alphabet. Ask your advanced students to recite the alphabet and you may be surprised how many find it difficult to do so, especially those whose native languages have completely different writing systems. In a previous posting, I encouraged practice with letter names. (Filed under “Pronunciation”. Spell-it-Out Survey.) Equally important is knowing the sequence of the letters in the alphabet. Students will encounter items in alphabetical order in numerous resources, so to save time and avoid frustration they should know the alphabet from A to Z. You might consider posting the alphabet on a classroom wall and change its position from time to time so that students take notice of it. Have students do an online search for the English alphabet song. Encourage them to learn it.
- Numbers. Of course your advanced students can count from 0 to one million. But what about reading numbers with decimals and fractions? Try using statistics to spark conversation. Each student can have a turn reading from a collection of interesting statistics and the class may comment freely on each one.
- Proper greetings and closings in letters/ e-mail. It may be surprising to learn how many advanced students of English begin each e-mail message with Hello! and avoid any form of closing, opting simply to type their name at the end. Review the traditional way to start a letter and discuss variations used in e-mail. List and discuss various closings, from formal to informal. Have students write two short messages to practice writing appropriate greetings and closings: one message should be sent to another classmate (have them “Cc” you) and a second should be sent to you.
- Titles and forms of address. Be sure your advanced students can use titles appropriately in writing in speaking. Do they know what the abbreviations are for Doctor, Professor, and the like? Do they know when to say Miss and when to say Ma’am? My podcast on addressing strangers can supplement your instruction.
- Phone etiquette. Sometimes the lack of knowledge of common expressions takes me by surprise when I hear foreign friends and acquaintances speak because these people are otherwise so very fluent in English. Take for example, the phone response: “This is she.” Or “This is he.” Instead, I hear foreigners identify themselves to callers, saying: “That’s me.” Try creating some role play to practice phone etiquette such as how to identify oneself or how to state that another person is not able to take a call. My podcast on this topic can supplement your instruction.
Filed under: Pronunciation, Vocabulary | Tags: English With Jennifer, good speech models, historical speeches, inaugural address, Jennifer Lebedev, JenniferESL, political speeches, Pronunciation
The inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th president of the United States has marked the start of a new period for Americans. The positive energy from January 20 remains strong, and the upcoming Presidents’ Day on February 16 will serve as one more occasion to recall those leaders, past and present, who commanded with wisdom and inspiration.
Presidential speeches are carefully constructed and often delivered with great oratory skill. I’ve used past inaugural addresses in the pronunciation classroom to practice public speaking. Speeches by Kennedy and Reagan were received well and allowed for heartfelt interpretations by advanced students. The use of these authentic sources brings history and culture into the classroom. The high level of vocabulary also tests learners’ passive if not active knowledge. Well chosen excerpts let the students understand the essence of the speech without losing time by trying to understand all the themes contained within the address. Furthermore, with shorter passages and more opportunities to reread, you can focus on specific skills, such as intonation and sentence stress.
The Internet offers full-length copies of many famous presidential speeches, and in some cases videos are also available. Start your search for the perfect presidential model with these sites:
