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Post by phets72 on Dec 5, 2006 8:04:01 GMT 7
Hi everyone,
I have been asked to do a special pronounciation class with some high schoolers of 'average' english speaking ability.
I personally have found the students to have problems sounding 'th' and 'r'.
I have used tongue twisters to great sucess.
Can anyone tell me the experiences they have had with this age group, the sounds they found the students had troubles with and some favorite things to do in class (speaking) that they have enjoyed teaching their students to help them with the sounds.
Thanks,
Phets72.
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Post by Lotus Eater on Dec 5, 2006 8:32:34 GMT 7
I have no idea about high-schoolers here, but my 1st years have trouble with th, v and also constantly add 'a' to the endings of d, t, etc. Not certain how much fun it is for them, but every class, 5-10 minutes before the end we practise those sounds. I get them to put their index finger in front of their lips for 'th' and they have to get it wet! We also practise words like 'moss" and 'moths', 'mouse' 'mouth' and I make up silly sentences using those words that they have to repeat. I find that when we just practise the words alone they are fine - but it is when they are put into sentences that they lose it and slip back, so we practice day to day sentences as well "That's a thick sweater" "A gift - oh, thank you" etc. I point out to them that their mothers are not here, and therefore they WON'T get into trouble for sticking their tongues out to say 'th' properly. V we make racing car noises  vvvvvroom and again I make up silly sentences with 'v' words. And if I am feeling particularly strong we have 'usually' practice! Begining with you, use, usual, usually. Then again used in sentences. But as I said - it's only the last 5-10 minutes so they don't get too bored. |
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Clover
Up And Coming
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Post by Clover on Dec 5, 2006 16:06:46 GMT 7
phets72 ask your students to pinch their noses and produce the s sound. They will be able to expell air. Then ask them to pinch their noses again and produce the th. This will help with the voiceless th.
The lisp pattern of your students with the voiced th and the v will take some work on their part. Not just tongue twisters. The thinking that exercises to improve tongue function during speech production will carry over into speech is not valid in the voiced and voiceless th. Particularly with Chinese learners of English as their native language has no equivalent sound. So what's required is some negative and positive reinforcement.
How this can be done in a Chinese classroom I have yet to discover but in my one-on-one sessions with my husband's Chinese colleague every time he slipped up I'd make a startling noise. Sometimes I rang a bell, sometimes I screamed, sometimes I banged a saucepan lid. Then when the correct auto facial and tongue position emerged I'd reward him. Rewards varied but were anything from a glass of lemonade to a cigarette to just plain praise and a winning smile.
The extra vowel added to 'stop sounds' can be eliminated by teaching the students the difference between English stops and continuants. Work your way through the alphabet and they'll soon learn the difference. Begin with sssssss and then go to p...p...p; eeeee and f...f...f...
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Post by Dragonsaver on Dec 5, 2006 16:43:51 GMT 7
The extra vowel added to 'stop sounds' can be eliminated by teaching the students the difference between English stops and continuants. Work your way through the alphabet and they'll soon learn the difference. Begin with sssssss and then go to p...p...p; eeeee and f...f...f... What are 'stop sounds'??  I'm tutoring 2 -10 yr olds so all the help (advice) I can get will be gratefully appreciated.  |
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Post by Raoul Duke on Dec 6, 2006 20:19:50 GMT 7
Stop sounds are the hard consonants that end a lot of our words. Chinese words can only end in a very finite set of sounds, so they try to mutate our word endings into theirs. You get things like "bookuh", "stopuh", and "flatuh" out of this deal. It's very, very hard to stop this one.
I've been pressing pronunciation very hard in my classes for some years now and have developed my own repertoire for teaching it. A big part of the battle lies in getting them to hear the difference between what they're saying and the correct pronunciation. It takes a lot of work and a lot of time.
The worst cases are some people along the south Yangzi River region- parts of Jiangsu, Anhui, Hunan, and Sichuan provinces. Many people here genuinely can't hear the difference between 'N' and 'L' (and sometimes 'R'), and very difficult indeed to help. I often have to bring in help from Chinese teachers for these guys.
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Post by George61 on Dec 6, 2006 20:32:28 GMT 7
It's a fine line between those with "no ear" and those who just don't listen. Just as some people are tone deaf when it comes to singing, some are tone deaf when it comes to speaking. They simply can't hear the difference. Time for me to go to bed......I think I am pissed.
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Clover
Up And Coming
Posts: 24
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Post by Clover on Dec 7, 2006 20:19:55 GMT 7
Dragonsaver: what Raoul said. And also working with mirrors is useful for stops and continuants. With continuants the lip positions will remain constant. With stops, there will be one definate abrupt movement.
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Post by Raoul Duke on Dec 7, 2006 22:36:25 GMT 7
Yup. I often find myself repeating the same sounds, very very slowly, over and over again and having them watch my mouth closely while they listen. Seems to help sometimes. Chinese doesn't seem to require as much mouth movement as English. Things like our "ao" sound can be hard for them to get right. I work a lot with word sets...words that are close in sound but different in meaning, things like "sleep - slipped - slept - slapped". It forces them to a) hear the difference and b) put the right sounds in the right places Sometimes these are fun. "I came to Shanghai on a (ship or sheep?)" or "We have 2 kinds of soup today: warm soup and worm soup. Which would you like?". Sometimes they are serious. My hotel students often work with sheets and shirts, either of which can easily come out as "sh*ts"...  |
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Clover
Up And Coming
Posts: 24
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Post by Clover on Dec 8, 2006 15:00:21 GMT 7
I wanted to send you a Funny Post Smiley, Raoul but the icons have all disappeared. But I hope you can hear me laughing. Me and my dog, Eureka. I always call him 'ya feckless sheet' when he buries the socks in the garden.
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Post by Stil on Dec 8, 2006 15:41:09 GMT 7
The worst cases are some people along the south Yangzi River region- parts of Jiangsu, Anhui, Hunan, and Sichuan provinces. Many people here genuinely can't hear the difference between 'N' and 'L' (and sometimes 'R'), and very difficult indeed to help. I often have to bring in help from Chinese teachers for these guys. I'm in Hunan and the Chinese teachers aren't much help for this if they are from Hunan as well. I emphasize the shape of the mouth, tongue, and lips to my students. Often I will say words with no sound and have them 'read' my lips, especially with 'th' sounds. mouthing words like thank-sank, mouth-mouse and exagerating the use of the tongue. Then I may have them read a few prepared sentences to each other with the partner counting how many times they see the other partner's tongue. As they see the difference, they try harder to copy it. I tell them not to rely soley on their hearing as they have a lack of experience with some sounds. ('th' doesn't exsist in Chinese) I also stress sylablles being a part of pronunciation. Manage and manage-uh are two completely different words. If my students make these mistakes in class, i feign that I don't understand them. It forces them to repeat the words properly. I run competitions in teams for proper pronunciation with prizes given to the winners. This always gets their attention which is more than half the battle. They have improved quite a bit and I'm sure that the members of The Australian House would come last in any of these competitions now.  |
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Post by phets72 on Dec 8, 2006 16:08:28 GMT 7
Hi,
Just some feedback to let you know that my prounounciation class was a huge hit.
It was a once only- end of term thing but the kids loved it. I had decided not to spend too much time on it as they wanted to do other things, but we practiced the 's' and 'th' suggestions put through by EL and Cusack.
I wish I had of known about this before, but I'm glad I got the chance to do it. Many thanks, Phets72
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Post by George61 on Dec 8, 2006 16:09:52 GMT 7
Right! That cuts you off the Australia Day barbecue-and-pissup invitation list!!
Providing the barbie hasn't been land-mined!
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Post by Dragonsaver on Dec 8, 2006 16:34:14 GMT 7
I find this extremely interesting and would like to learn more. Is there a book or something I could buy get that would explain all this in detail. They didn't teach this at my TEFL school and I wasn't an Enlish major at school. Is any of this stuff online (free)  |
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Post by Raoul Duke on Dec 9, 2006 11:47:12 GMT 7
Pronunciation seems to have long been a badly-neglected aspect of teaching English here...maybe possibly because it would point up the fact that a lot of schools here still don't have any teachers who can actually speak English. The stuff I use is all home-grown and comes from years of listening to the mistakes large groups of students are making. I hit my factory classes with "Roger wants round, red ripe ones" yesterday and you could smell the insulation burning. |
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Post by Vegemite on Dec 13, 2006 8:38:21 GMT 7
The thinking that exercises to improve tongue function during speech production will carry over into speech is not valid in the voiced and voiceless th. Particularly with Chinese learners of English as their native language has no equivalent sound. I got taught otherwise...I had a family member who lost the ability to speak (she could talk but nobody could understand her - she reverted to baby speech) anyway, one of the activities the speech therapist made her do was lie down on the ground and say the 'th' sound...recite 'th' tongue twisters and have conversations with her that included the 'th' sound. Apparently, laying down meant that all her facial muscles were relaxed and the 'th' sound then emerged unforced. In NZ I used to tell my students to go home and practise it in bed at night. |
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