Improving the pronunciation of English words for sixth form students learning new English textbook by eliciting students to do phonetic exercises interestingly NONG CONG DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND RA[.]
NONG CONG DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND RAINING TRUNG CHINH SECONDARY SCHOOL “TEACHING EXPERIENCE” “ Improving the pronunciation of English words for sixth form students learning new English textbook by eliciting students to phonetic exercises interestingly.” Name : Lê Thị An Job : Teacher Place of work : Trung Chinh secondary school Subject : English THANH HOA - 2018 SangKienKinhNghiem.net I INTRODUCTION In curent time, Our beloved country, Viet Nam is carrying out much renovation in many fields One of the most renovations which has been corncerned by people at all age from the city to the country is the renewably educational and training program from grade one to grade twelve People believe that renovating the shooling program will take much advantages in other that we may train young generations to have ability to support the country later to the trend of modern thought basing on national soul and integrating international community To make sure that the second purpose “integrating international community” can be successful, Viet Nam’s Ministry of Education and Training has taken more care of teaching foreign languages for its students and English is the most popular foreign language choosen in Vietnam’s educational program which can be seen in the project of foreign language during the period 2012 – 2020 Facing the new requirements of the nation and date, I should think each of the teachers ought to make more efforts to get practical results in teaching career Being a teacher of English I always wonder and find out how to teach my students to communicate in English successfully In English, listening and speaking skills play an important role in creating speech and if learners want to listen and speak English well, the first and foremost thing they need is the right prounciation of English words Why can I say so? We strongly notice that when one don’t pronounce words well, he or she may make the listeners laugh at him/her, moreover, he/she can not understand what the other is speaking because their sounds are not similar to his/hers Another reason, it will be very difficult for him/ her to correct the pronunciation later The question which makes me corncern about most is how to teach the students to pronounce English words rightly and help them use English fluently and confidently Is teaching pronunciation enough only in teaching new words? I think that it is not enough because in conversation we need more the words in textbook, and native speakers often speak more quickly and link the words in some ways which causes us much difficult in understanding and speaking as well as they However, it is not necessary for us to speak everything as we hear, we still understand them what they speak if we know how they link and we SangKienKinhNghiem.net need to pronounce words exactly Therefore, the first key of this problem is how to pronounce English words exactly because words are the smallest unit of a sentence During a few years teaching and studying, I have collected, studied and taught students how to pronounce English in a variety of phonetic exercises In this school year, I take a special duty on teaching the new English textbook for grade in the project of foreign language during the period 2012 – 2020 This new English textbook has created many interesting things It gives some phonic exercises in each unit I am always fond of teaching this section and have supplied my students some more ones afterwards The result is so good that I encourage me to write the creative experience called “Improving the pronunciation of English words for sixth form students learning new English textbook by eliciting students to phonetic exercises interestingly" SangKienKinhNghiem.net II CONTENT Part Theoretical background Speaking English as well as the native speakers is the strong hope of almost people who are learning English However, it is not easy to it in a few days “ How can we use English fluently and confidently? Do we need a variety of words or Do we need a further understdanding of English structure and grammar ? Many people say that learners need all above: I believe in this idea; however, I think it is not enough because pronuncing the words exactly plays an important role in orders to define a successful conversation For young learners, the way they pronounce a word may last forever and it is very difficult for them to correct it if they it wrongly Moreover, they are not possible to correct their pronunciation by themselves In fact, knowing the English phonetics symbols as vowel sounds, dipthongs and consonants is very useful because it helps learners not only specialize the pronunciation of a word easier, but also create a total knowledge of pronouncing a word by looking the letters, Apart from this, many dictionaries use the tanscription (the English phonetics symbols) to show the pronunciation of a word and it’s easier to remember a word if learners know both its meaning and its pronunciation Although new English textbook established by Viet Nam’s Ministry of Education and Training is more interested in teaching pronunciation for students, pronunciation is the biggest problem of English learners that’s why I always wonder how to help my students improve their English pronunciation, ease their nervous thing and use English fluently, accuracy and confidently Therefore, I have collected, chosen and created some more exercises for students in grade ( learning new English text books ) according to the pronunciation section in textbook, I elicit students to some more exercises introducing the English phonetics symbols; practiceing exericises to specialize a pair of vowels, a vowel and a diphthong, two or three consonants, etc Part 2: Practical background In order to know how exactly my students pronounce the English word, I gave them the following exercises : class A ( 34 students ) SangKienKinhNghiem.net Exercise: Choose a word which has the underlined part pronounced different from the others a arrive b banana c village d machine a meet b meat c believe d bread a food b foot c cook d good a that b they c then d throw a likes b watches c classes d offices a visit b season c museum d sister a sandwich b chair c school d chicken a days b friends c photos d weeks a study b music c student d museum 10 a listen b history c routine d quarter Steps of checking students’ pronunciation Step 1: Get student minutes to choose and circle the answer Step 2: Check and correct the student’s work Step 3: Let Ss listen and repeat Step 4: Call each read aloud a group (4 groups) and 34 students read aloud one by one By checking in this way and directly teaching students, I realized the problem is that Number Account N The feature of students’ pronunciation Rrealize how a letter is pronounced differently in of the for students (%) 2/ 34 5,9 3/ 34 8,8 33/ 34 97 2/ 34 5,9 22/ 34 64,7 the other syllable or word Realize that different letters can be pronounced as the same sound Can listen and repeat the pronunciation of a word but can’t remember or immagine it looks like Know how to integrate a vowel with consonants to pronounce a syllable Pronounce a word without the stress and in slow speed of pronouncing SangKienKinhNghiem.net Part 3: The solutions Measures of teaching english pronunciation by getting students phonetic exercises Diphthong /∂Ʊ/ & vowel /ʌ/ Watch out! - Introduce the transcription of dipthong /∂Ʊ/ & vowel /ʌ/ - Pronounce and ask students to listen and repeat (twice or three times) - Give examples /∂Ʊ / /ʌ/ go son know sun boat country - Elicits the students the phonic exercises in the textbook - Use the exercises below for further practice - After finishing an exercise, should let students practice reading the words aloud E1: Put a () the word which is NOT pronounced as /∂Ʊ/in each group below judo month rode hope going open some Monday brother homework close post notebook borrow one also oh mother ok only overseas no love wonderful E2: Put a () the word which is NOT pronounced as /ʌ/ in each group below club sun usually run study put subject but student lunch rubber ruler SangKienKinhNghiem.net uniform us uncle country much under mum cousin hungry discuss music about KEY E1 brother month some Monday one mother love wonderful student put usually E2: uniform us music Consonants ruler about /S /, /Z / or /IZ/ in “s/ es ” ending Watch out! - Introduce the transcription of consonants /s/, /z/ and semi-syllables /iz/ - Explain that they normally come from the “S/ES” ending after plurals, verbs in the third singular person - Pronounce and ask students to listen and repeat (twice or three times) - Give examples The ending “s/es ” is pronounced as /s/ when the verbs ends with the soumd as /f/, /k/, /p/, /t/, //, /k/ Ex: maps cats laughs books baths The ending “s/es ” is pronounced as /iz/ when the verbs ends with the soumd as /s/, /ks/, /ʃ/,/dʒ/, /ʒ/, /z/ Ex: misses mixes washes matches messages stages bruises The ending “s/es ” is pronounced as /z/ when the verbs ends with the soumd as the odd (except the sounds above) Ex: pens lives - Elicits the students the phonic exercises in the textbook - Use the exercises below for further practice - After finishing an exercise, should let students practice reading the words aloud SangKienKinhNghiem.net E1 Devide the following things into three groups of plural form which has s/ es pronounced as /S/, /Z/ or /IZ/ /S / /Z / /IZ/ E2 Choose a word which has different pronunciation of the underlined part a opens b gets c.lives d.does a trips b as c does d.listens a drinks b walks c.wants d.finds a.watches b pubblishes c.helps d.passes a sings b meets c.laughs d.stops a eats b talks c.meets d.plays a watches b arranges c.goes d.washes a books b buses c.oranges d.washes a lakes b flowers c trees d stores 10 a yards b fields c books d rivers SangKienKinhNghiem.net KEY E1 /S / /Z / /IZ/ bikes beans peas matches boxes grapes tomatoes oranges fishes cups scissors carrots shoes clothes CONSONANTS E2 1.b a 3.d 4.c 5.a 6.d 7.c 8.a 9.a 10 c eggs sandwiches glasses compasses /b/ /p/ Watch out! - Introduce the transcription of consonant /b/ & /p/ - Pronounce and ask students to listen and repeat (twice or three times) - Give examples /b/ bike book buy /p/ pen put pick - Elicits the students the phonic exercises in the textbook - Use the exercises below for further practice - After finishing an exercise, should let students practice reading the words aloud E Write words for the things in the pictures Then read aloud SangKienKinhNghiem.net KEY bear buicuits peach apple stop crab pig lamb book paper cap cup /I/, /I:/, /∂/ Vowels Watch out! - Introduce the transcription of vowel /I/, /I:/ &/∂/ - Pronounce and ask students to listen and repeat (twice or three times) - Give examples /I/ sit hungry busy orange eraser /I:/ he tea green receive people /∂/ sister family banaba autumn doctor build key dangerous - Elicits the students the phonic exercises in the textbook - Use the exercises below for further practice - After finishing an exercise, should let students practice reading the words aloud E1 Write words for the things in the picture in the correct part of the table /I/ SangKienKinhNghiem.net /∂/ KEY /∂/ /I/ building family picture businessman village pig river cabbage fish delicious doctor family banana delicious picture river E2 Read aloud the following sentences The sentences contain /I/ and /I:/ Is he coming to the cinema? We’ll miss the beginning of the film Is it an interesting film, Jim? The beans and the meat were quite cheap He’s going to leave here for the Green Mountains Would you like to have meat, peas and cheese? CONSONANTS /t/ /st/ Watch out! - Introduce the transcription of consonant /t/ & /st/ - Pronounce and ask students to listen and repeat - Give examples /t/ ten out top /st/ street best tallest - Elicits the students the phonic exercises in the textbook - Use the exercises below for further practice - After finishing an exercise, should let students practice reading the words aloud E Complete each sentence with a superlative adjective Then read the sentences aloud Mount Everest is the ………………… mountain in the world Nile river is the …………………river in the world Ba Be lake is not the ………………… lake in Viet Nam The Amazon is the ………………… river in the world The Sahara is the ………………… desert in the world Swimming in the sea in Summer is ………………… SangKienKinhNghiem.net KEY highest longest Consonant largest widest hottest best /∫/ & /s/ Watch out! - Introduce the transcription of consonants /∫/ & /s/ - Pronounce and ask students to listen and repeat (twice or three times) - Give examples /∫/ she sugar /s/ sea brochure practice special pass ocean nation pratise city - Elicits the students the phonic exercises in the textbook - Use the exercises below for further practice - After finishing an exercise, should let students practice reading the words aloud E1: Write /s/ , /∫/ or /k/ for the bold letter in the words below can _ /k/ centre _ ocean _ /∫/_ special city _ /s/ could oceanic _ cricket call socialize official ancient slice coral science _ commercial cycle _ especially _ cartoon _ medicine cook _ centimeter _ facial complete _ E2 Write the sound /t/ , /∫/ or /t∫/ for the underline lettter in each word below Ex: tell /t/ picture /t∫/ nation /∫/ tomorrow motion 11 essential sentence computer 12 century suggestion yesterday 13 future culture natural 14 today national 10 optional 15 statue SangKienKinhNghiem.net KEY E1 can _ /k/ ocean _ /∫/ city _ /s/ oceanic /∫/ cycle /s/ cook /k/ E2 /t/ /t/ /∫/ /∫/ /t/ /t∫/ 10 /∫/ 14 /t/ 13 /t∫/ centre /s/ call /k/ special /∫/ official /∫/ could /k/ slice /s/ cricket /k/ science /s/ especially /∫/ cartoon /k/ centimeter /s/ facial /∫/ socialize /∫/ ancient /s/ coral /k/ commercial /s/ medicine /∫/ complete /k/ /t∫/ 4, /t∫/ /∫/ 11 /∫/ 12 /t∫/ 15 /∫/ Result After the lessons above, I had my students taking the following exercises to check how effectiently the research got E1 Read the word in normal spelling that is pronounced as: / fi∫/ / haus / /mʌnθ/ /di'pend/ /taip/ / 'pi:pl/ /'prɔmis/ / lɑ:dʒ/ /'edju:keit/ 10 /ri'dju:s/ 11 /dʒɑ:/ 12 /jes/ 13 /'ru:lə/ 14 /klaim/ 15 /θɔ:t/ 16 /'bju:tiful/ 17 /'kemist/ 18 /'si:zn/ 19 /si:t/ 20 / sit / 21 /'ti:t∫ə/ 22 /'ti:pɔt/ 23 /'mesidʒ/ 24 /'enədʒi/ 25 /əd'vaiz/ 26 /'krisməs/ 27 /'fɑ:đə/ 28 /'mʌđə/ 29 /'nju:zpeipə/ 30 /,mægə'zi:n/ E2 Write the word in normal spelling that is pronounced as: / mi:t / 11 / bəʊt/ / hɔ:s/ 12 / faind/ / θru:/ 13 / θi ŋk / /aʊ(r) 14 / ni:d / /sait/ 15 / pein / / flu:/ 16 / pr æktis/ / si:n/ 17 / dʒiɒgrəfi/ SangKienKinhNghiem.net / reiz/ 18 / saiəns/ / seil / 19 / fju: / 10./ əlaʊd/ 20 / riæləti/ Part 4: The discussion Most of the students could read the transcription of the words above well They can also write the word up using the phonic symbols Above all, Each student is interested in doing these and feel self – confident in learning English because they believe that there are so many things for them to learn in English class and they may learn English successfully This helps the students build a main instruction in commucativing in English later Here are detail results: N The feature of students’ pronunciation Number Account of the for students (%) Realize how a letter is pronounced differently in 30/ 34 88,2 the other syllable or word Realize that different letters can be pronounced as 30/ 34 88,2 the same sound Can listen and repeat the pronunciation of a word 5/ 34 14,7 but can’t remember or immagine it looks like Know how to integrate a vowel with consonants to 25/ 34 73,5 pronounce a syllable Pronounce a word without the stress and in slow 6/ 34 speed of pronouncing SangKienKinhNghiem.net 17,6 III CONCLUSION Part Experiences During the progress of teaching form students how to pronounce English words using exercises in textbook and carrying out the solutions displayed above, I realised that getting students practice these exercises was very helpful and interesting This help students not only improve a wide range of vocabularies but also build up significant rules and knowledge of the way to pronounce English words I’m sure that it is not very difficult to it We should use textbook as standard condition, we also choose popular words to cheer the children up We should use a various kinds of exericises, use picture as cues to attract student’s attention and encourage their curiousness Teaching a pair or a group of English phonic symbols helps students earsily compare the length of sounds which they easily make mistake in pronouncing them Finally, it will be better if the have a variety of words which they believe they pronounce exactly Besides, students can learn how to pronounce a new word which they come across This can help student use English fluently and confidently so they prefer learning English We also help student build a strong instruction to communicate in English Part Personal ideas For the teachers: We should study ourselves to improve and widen our knowledge and methodology, try to develop our foreign language ability Take the advantages of new sub-teaching equipments such as head projector, cassette, internet, etc in teaching English Whatever we should be used for helping students communicate in English successfully For the schools: Schools should care much more about supplying devices for teaching foreign languages such as casseter, special room, … Finally, I look forward to reply any ideas from readers which define me what I should in order to improve my methodology in teaching English pronunciation Thank you very much! SangKienKinhNghiem.net IV References New English Textbook - Educational Publishers New English Teacher Book - Educational Publishers Methodology for teaching English language teacher in upper secondary shools 4.Pictures V.Appendices -surveys - pre-tests / post-tests - observations The Head Master of Trung Chinh Thanh Hoa, April 10th, 2018 secondary school Written by: Confirm Lê Thị An SangKienKinhNghiem.net TABLE OF CONTENTS Section I page INTRODUCTION ……………………………….…… II CONTENT…………………………………… …… Part 1: Theoretical background………………… … Part 2: Practical background ………………… …… Part 3: The solutions ………………… ….…… …… Part 4: The discussion ………………………… … 13 III CONCLUSION…………………………………… … 14 Part Experiences………………… …………………… 14 Part Personal ideas ……………………………… 14 IV REFERENCES: ………………………………………… 15 V APPENDICES ………………………………………… 15 SangKienKinhNghiem.net ... afterwards The result is so good that I encourage me to write the creative experience called ? ?Improving the pronunciation of English words for sixth form students learning new English textbook. .. teaching pronunciation for students, pronunciation is the biggest problem of English learners that’s why I always wonder how to help my students improve their English pronunciation, ease their nervous... /z/ when the verbs ends with the soumd as the odd (except the sounds above) Ex: pens lives - Elicits the students the phonic exercises in the textbook - Use the exercises below for further practice