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1 Pronunciation Activities for your Students

Helping Your Pronunciation

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Page 1: Helping Your Pronunciation

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AAHFAHFAJKHF

Pronunciation

Activities for

your Students

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INDEX

TO THE READER……………………………………………. 2

BALLOONS FOR LEARNING………………………………………… 4

METACOGNITION ARTICLE……………………………………………. 7

A HELPER BEE………………………………….………….. 8

FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE PRONUNCIATION……………………………………. 10

TIPS OF PRONUNCIATION……………………………………. 11

A RED DIALOGUE…………………………………………... 12 .

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Balloons for learning

Target Sound: /I/ and /i/ Learning Style: Kinesthetic- auditory

Level: Beginners- intermediate Personality Type: Extroverted

Materials: Balloons, scissors, paper, markers or pen.

Objectives: Differentiate the sound for /I/ and /i/ in different words and

promote collaborative work.

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Procedure:

1. Divide the class into two groups

2. Assign the leader for each team

3. Give each group the same amount of balloons. Each balloon have

a word related to the target sounds.

4. The professor has to divide the board for each team to write the

words.

5. Each group has to pop up the balloon and they have to say the

word to the leader who is going to write it on the board without

seeing it; they have to write just what they heard.

6. Let´s begin the game.

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METACOGNITION

Nowadays, it is common to hear some

teachers talking about metacognition,

but what does it mean? Metacognition

can be defined as “thinking about

thinking”; the importance of

metacognition is that students can be

self-monitoring their process while

learning a second language.

Metacognition is a very important tool

for students to monitor their process;

they can be aware about their lacks

and strengths, but the professor must

be a facilitator, a guide, to hold this

process correctly.

The metacognitive process should

include some stages provided by the

professor in order to go “hiking”

within the knowledge process, and the

activities provided should be

meaningful for students for example,

students can record their selves so

they can hear their pronunciation and

figure out their problems or mistake; it

is also important to give them a real

situation or a real record of a native

person, so they can compare what

they did with something else. On the

other hand, it is important that the

professor provides some activities and

questions where students can identify

their mistakes and also what is

difficult for them.

Metacognition, which can also be

defined as “the ability to control one´s

cognitive process (self-regulation)

(Metacognition: An Overview (n.d)) is

sometimes related to intelligence

however, it also includes some

components to control cognitive

aspects and receive feedback. These

components are known as the

responsible of identify or point out is

the tasks are done correctly or not; it

involves some aspects like planning,

evaluating, and monitoring, and they

are also related to problem- solving

activities. It is very important to set

activities that fulfill students’ needs,

lacks, objectives, and strengths in

order to accomplish each of them, and

give students meaning activities.

It is very important to understand that

metacognition is a process that

influences students to use and

maintain cognitive strategies and

activities. The professor has the

responsibility to provide the learner

with the necessary tools such as

knowledge, strategies, experience, and

practice. Cognitive and metacognitive

strategies are really useful and

important, but the professor has to

evaluate the outcomes of students’

effort. It is important to provide

knowledge and experience; they need

to go together if one of them is lost,

the process is going to fail.

Nuria Camareno Vega

Metacognition: An Overview. (n.d.). Metacognition: An Overview. Retrieved December 4, 2013, from

http://gse.buffalo.edu/fas/shuell/cep564/metacog.htm

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A helper bee

Target Sound: /i/ Learning Style: Kinesthetic- auditory

Level: Beginners (Kids) Personality Type: Introverted-

extroverted

Materials: Worksheets, pencil

Objective: Recognize the /i/ sound through a bee activity.

Procedure:

1. Give the worksheets to the students

2. Each sheet has some words that correspond to the /i/ sound, the bee is

going to help students to identify and pronounce the sounds. Students

have to write the word represented in the final box.

3. Ask students for doubts

4. Let´s begin the game

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Some Factors that Influence the Pronunciation Process

While learning a second language,

there are some situations that can

interfere the process. As teachers, it is

important to be aware about these

factors and use them as tools to

improve and make students awareness.

These factors are:

1) The interference of the native

language (Mother Tongue): This

is a common interference in the

pronunciation area that is why

teachers have to be aware about

it. Teachers need to know some

aspects about students’ native

language, so they can try to

identify the more common

mistakes produce in that

transference and how to avoid

them. It is also important to

make comparisons between

languages, so students can

understand some pronunciation

aspects better.

2) Learner´s age: it is common to

hear that the younger a learner

is, the easiest to understand and

acquire a second language. This

is also apply in the

pronunciation field because, the

plasticity of the brain in early

stages allow students to sound

more as a native speaker.

3) Exposure: one of the most

important aspects while

learning a second language is

the exposition that the student

has to that target language. This

is exposure is referred to length

of time and intensity. The more

exposure a student has, the

better pronunciation he can

acquire.

4) The innate phonetic ability: it is

true that some people have some

skills to certain activities while

other not, and, this is why this

ability produces better results.

Talking about pronunciation,

the ability to imitate or produce

some sounds make a difference

between learners.

5) Attitude and sense of identity: it

is known that the attitude is

going to influences everything

and it also applies in the

learning process. The way a

student can see a country and its

culture is going to interfere in

the learning process as well as

the sense of identity he or she

has, and how much they can

modify or not some attitudes

and belief related to the new

culture.

6) Motivation and concern of good

pronunciation: this is a really

important aspect because

students’ motivation is going to

set the atmosphere of a learning

process for a student, and the

more motivated a student is, the

better opportunity to improve.

Nuria Camareno Vega

Taken from: Murcia, M., Brinton, D., & Goodwin, J. M. (1996). teaching pronunciation. Teaching pronunciation: a reference

for teachers of English to speakers of other languages (pp. 136-149). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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Red Dialogue

Target Sound: /ʃ/ and /tʃ/ Learning Style: Auditory,

communicative.

Level: Intermediate Personality Type: Extroverted

Materials: Dialogue sheet and a red card (both for each couple)

Objectives: Differentiate the sound for /ʃ/ and /tʃ/ in different words and

promote peer correction and help.

Procedure:

7. Divide the class into pairs

8. Explain the rules:

- Each pair is going to have a dialogue sheet and a red card, they are

going to decide who is going to be A or B.

- They are going to read it first in order to identify the words that

correspond to each specific sound and write it (the target sound)

- Then, each student is going to read his/her lines and the other is

going to listen, if he/she listens a word mispronounced is going to

show the red card (without saying the mistake) and the other

student has to say the word correctly and then switch.

- After some time practicing, the professor is going to ask for a

volunteer or call a couple and they can read the dialogue aloud.

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Dialogue

A: Hello_____________! How are you? I heard that you won the swimming

championship!

B: Hi! Yes, I did it. It was hard because Maria, the last year champion was there,

just next to me. My parents were watching the competence and they said that she

was just behind me.

A: Yes, I heard that, but thank God you win. Oh, by the way, did you go to the

church activity last Friday?

B: No, I could not because I was really busy. My brother crash his car and I have to

go there and check that everything was find. It was a mess.

A: But is he ok? I heard that he is going to travel to a very important National Park

in Panama on March. Is he going to see the canal and all those ships?

B: Well, I am not pretty sure now since he has to pay the fine and all those things.

And how about you, are you still teaching in that school in Alajuela.

A: Yes, I am and I love that place. My students are great. Can you imagined that

they bought a chair for me, a special one, because mine was causing my

backaches?

B: Oh! That is pretty nice! I remember that you always picture yourself as a

teacher.

A: Yes. It is a lot of pressure but I love it. Look at these picture there are my

children. I love them. Make them happy and good people is my mission here.

B: Congratulations! I am sure you are going to be such a great person always.

Well, I have to go. Please call me next week! Maybe we can go out.

A: Sure, I will do it. Take care.

9. The professor is going to give a sheet so students can answers some

questions where they identify their mistakes, strengths and lacks.

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