Improving the students’ english pronunciation through interesting phonic exercises ( grade 6 new english text book)

Contents Page Part A : Introduction Part B : Solution I Theoretical basis II The result of the reality III Measures of teaching english pronunciation by getting students phonetic exercises Unit 1: My new school Unit My home Unit My friends Unit My neighborhood Unit 5.Natural wonders of the world Unit Our tet holiday Unit television Unit Sports and past time 10 Unit Cities of the world 11 Unit 10 Our homes in the future 12 Unit 11 Our green world 13 Unit 12.Robots 14 IV Results 16 Part C: conclusion 1.Experiences 17 Personal ideas 17 PART A 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 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 students' English pronunciation through interesting phonic exercises." - (grade -new English textbook) PART B SOLUTION I THEORITICAL BASIS 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 II THE RESULT OF THE REALITY In order to know how exactly my students pronounce the English word, I gave them the following exercises : class A ( 34 students ) Exercise: Choose a word which has the underlined part pronounced different from the others 10 a arrive a meet a food a that a likes a visit a sandwich a days a study a listen b banana b meat b foot b they b watches b season b chair b friends b music b history c village c believe c cook c then c classes c museum c school c photos c student c routine d machine d bread d good d throw d offices d sister d chicken d weeks d museum 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 N The feature of students’ pronunciation Number Account of the for students (%) realize how a letter is pronounced differently in 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 2/ 34 5,9 3/ 34 8,8 33/ 34 97 2/ 34 5,9 22/ 34 64,7 III MEASURES OF TEACHING ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION BY GETTING STUDENTS DO 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 / go know boat /ʌ/ son sun 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  going  brother  month  open  homework  rode  some  close  hope  Monday  post  one  also  notebook  borrow  oh  mother  ok  only   no  love  wonderful overseas E2: Put a () the word which is NOT pronounced as /ʌ/ in each group below  club  sun  usually  run  put  subject  but  study  student  lunch  rubber  ruler  uniform  much  hungry KEY E1 brother one  us  under  discuss month mother some love  uncle  mum  music  country  cousin  about Monday wonderful E2: student put usually 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 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 KEY E1 /S / bikes grapes cups carrots /Z / beans peas tomatoes scissors eggs shoes clothes /IZ/ matches boxes oranges fishes sandwiches glasses compasses E2 b 6.d a 7.c 3.d c 5.a 8.a 9.a 10 c CONSONANTS /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 KEY bear stop book Vowels buicuits crab paper peach pig cap apple lamb cup /I/, /I:/, /∂/ 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 build /I:/ he tea green receive people key /∂/ sister family banaba autumn doctor 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/ /∂ / KEY building family picture /I/ 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 ………………… KEY highest longest largest widest hottest best consonant /∫/ & /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 brochure special ocean nation /s/ sea practice pass city pratise - 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 call _ socialize _ ocean _ /∫/_ special _ official _ ancient _ could _ slice _ coral _ city _ /s/ oceanic _ cricket 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 KEY E1 can _ /k/ centre /s/ call /k/ socialize /∫/ ocean _ /∫/ special /∫/ official /∫/ ancient /s/ city _ /s/ could /k/ slice /s/ coral /k/ oceanic /∫/ cycle /s/ cook /k/ cricket /k/ especially /∫/ centimeter /s/ science /s/ cartoon /k/ facial /∫/ commercial /s/ medicine /∫/ complete /k/ E2 /t/ /∫/ /t∫/ 13 /t∫/ /t/ /t∫/ 4, /t∫/ /∫/ /t/ /∫/ 10 /∫/ 11 /∫/ 12 /t∫/ 14 /t/ 15 /∫/ CONSONANT /  / & /ð/ Watch out! - Introduce the transcription of consonants /  / & /ð/ - Pronounce and ask students to listen and repeat (twice or three times) - Give examples // think thin thank fifth /ð/ this that there then - 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 /  / or /ð/ to show “ th”in the following words is pronounced author ………… thunder ………… thirteen ………… fifth………… thrilling ………… bathe ……… thump ………… teeth ………… them ………… 10 thing ………… 11 another ………… 12 there ………… 13 nothern ………… 14 father ………… 15 depth E2 Choose the word th in both pronounced diferently from the others in each group a theme a death a month a both a toothache a that a thrill a smooth a theft 10 a feather 11 a sixth KEY E1 // /ð/ 11 /ð/ 15 // E2 b 2.c 7.b 8.a b then b bath b northern b month b another b they b clothe b think b theory b asthma b three c three c thus c south c cloth c feather c then c breath c thick c thing c brother c the // // // // 12 /ð/ // /ð/ 13 /ð/ 3.b 9.a 4.d 5.a 6.d 10 b 11.c d tenth d truth d north d weather d clothing d throw d thatch d Thursday d themselves d mother d wealth // 10 // 14 /ð/ 10 DIPTHONGS/i∂/ & /e∂/ Watch out! - Introduce the transcription of dipthongs /i∂/ & /e∂/ - Pronounce and ask students to listen and repeat (twice or three times) - Give examples /I∂/ tear idea career here /e∂/ air share bear where - 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 Find a word which doesn’t have /Iə/ a tear b year c idea d learn a near b earn c clear d ear a real b appear c earth d disappear a dearth b career c engineer d volunteer a hear b here c heard d dear a fear b search c experience d beer a atmosphere b cheerful c blear d pearl KEY 1.d 2.b c 4.a 5.c 6.b 7.d E2 How many /e∂ / are there in each sentence? Underline it _ Where there is a will, where there is a way _ Her parents often eat pears after dinner _ Where did you get your hair cut? _ There is a magazine under the chair _ The man repairing the chair is Lan’s father _ We don’t care if she dares to say the truth _ She like wearing her long hair _ I haven’t seen my pair of shoes _ Have you looked upstairs? 10. _ It’s over there KEY E2 How many /e∂ / are there in each sentence? Underline it (4) Where there is a will, where there is a way (2) Her parents often eat pears after dinner (2) Where did you get your hair cut? (2) There is a magazine under the chair (2) The man repairing the chair is Lan’s father (2) We don’t care if she dares to say the truth (2) She like wearing her long hair 11 (1) I haven’t seen my pair of shoes (1) Have you looked upstairs? 10. (1) It’s over there DipthongS /ai/ & /∂u/ Watch out! - Introduce the transcription of dipthongs /ai/ (/∂u/ was presented in Unit 1) - Pronounce and ask students to listen and repeat (twice or three times) - Give examples /ai/ bike sky quiet - 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 the folowing words into the correct categories /ai/ & / I: / niece pie believe die society studies field movie scientist science hieght series E2.Put the folowing words into the correct categories /ai/ & / I / ability find illness increase right kite skin might midnight child children library distance him mine shire ride similar sick little combine KEY E1 niece /I:/ pie/ai/ believe/I:/ die/ai/ society/ai/ studies/I:/ field/I:/ movie/I:/ scientist/ai/ science/ai/ hieght/ai/ series/I:/ E2 ability find/ai/ illness/I/ increase/I/ right/ai/ kite/ai/ skin/I/ might/ai/ midnight/I/ child/ai/ children/I/ library/ai/ distance/I/ him/I/ mine/ai/ shire/ai/ ride/ai/ similar/I/ sick/I/ little/I/ combine/ai/ MULTI-SOUNDS /dr/ & /tr/ Watch out! - Introduce the transcption of multi-sounds /dr/ & /tr/ - Pronounce and ask students to listen and repeat (twice or three times) - Give examples /dr/ drink draw drip /tr/ train tractor tree - 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 12 E Write the words begin as /dr/ or /tr/ for the pictures below KEY drink train drop tractor drip tree drive trip vowels / a: / & /æ/ Watch out! - Introduce the transcription of vowels / a: / & /æ/ - Pronounce and ask students to listen and repeat (twice or three times) - Give examples / a: / father farmer aunt heart are aren’t /æ/ bag man fat apple /ei/ break play they weigh - 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 the following words in to the right columns / a: / or /æ/ rapid farm bathroom lamp Japan Japanese began car start party are past have hard magazine fast arm art after ask father bank back guitar apartment far half farmer exam target 13 E2 Write words for the things in the picture in the correct part of the table /æ/ /ei/ E3 circle the letter a, b, c, or d for the word which is NOT pronounced as /ei/ in each group a rate a man a save a age a educate a able a pan a break a they 10.a weigh b late b same b and b lake b land b strange b paper b bakery b play b sang c date c name c take c add c face c change c plane c hang c say c eight d stand d place d cake d make d celebrate d ran d rain d stadium d bank d neighbor KEY E1 start party art ask far E2 / a: / arm father farm bathroom half hard are after car past fast apartment farmer target guitar /ei/ plane cake radio baby eight rapid bank back exam /æ/ map apple /æ/ Japan Japanese bathroom magazine lamp past fast half have began tap cap rat hands cat E3 d 6.d 2.a 7.a 3.b 8.c 4.c 9.d 5.b 10 b Diphthong /Ɔi/ & /aƱ/ 14 Watch out! - Introduce the transcription of dipthongs /Ɔi/ & /aƱ/ - Pronounce and ask students to listen and repeat (twice or three times) - Give examples /a Ʊ / now house flower /Ɔi/ boy toy enjoy oil - 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 Find 10 words pronounced /Ɔi/ in the puzzle(every letter is used once) and write them in the correct part of the table The words are writen horizontally () or vertically ( ) n s o y a t o a d u c e t o i n ……………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………… Vertically ( ) i b e b o y f h s l v k s y e n j o y t o o x l o n i i f r p o i a j i j n t o i r Horizontally () ……………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………… n c n e a e E2 Write words for the things in the picture in the correct part of the table /aƱ/ /∂Ʊ/ 15 KEYE1 Horizontally () soya, coin, boy, enjoy, Vertically () noise, join, boil, toystore, annoy, voice /∂Ʊ/ E2 /aƱ/ cow house shower couch nose snow toe coat rose plough tower flowers loud boat post office october mountain IV RESULTS 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∫/ /di'pend/ /'prɔmis/ 10 /ri'dju:s/ 13 /'ru:lə/ 16 /'bju:tiful/ 19 /si:t/ 22 /'ti:pɔt/ 25 /əd'vaiz/ 28 /'mʌđə/ / haus / /taip/ / lɑ:dʒ/ 11 /dʒɑ:/ 14 /klaim/ 17 /'kemist/ 20 / sit / 23 /'mesidʒ/ 26 /'krisməs/ 29 /'nju:zpeipə/ /mʌnθ/ / 'pi:pl/ /'edju:keit/ 12 /jes/ 15 /θɔ:t/ 18 /'si:zn/ 21 /'ti:t∫ə/ 24 /'enədʒi/ 27 /'fɑ:đə/ 30 /,mægə'zi:n/ E2 Write the word in normal spelling that is pronounced as: / mi:t / / hɔ:s/ / θru:/ /aʊ(r) /sait/ / flu:/ / si:n/ / reiz/ / seil / 10./ əlaʊd/ 11 / bəʊt/ 12 / faind/ 13 / θi ŋk / 14 / ni:d / 15 / pein / 16 / pr æktis/ 17 / dʒiɒgrəfi/ 18 / saiəns/ 19 / fju: / 20 / riæləti/ 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 (%) 88,2 Realize how a letter is pronounced differently in 30/ 34 16 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 PART C 30/ 34 88,2 5/ 34 14,7 25/ 34 73,5 6/ 34 17,6 CONCLUSION 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 ii 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! The Head Master of The school Tho Xuan, may 25th, 2018 17 Confirm I guarantee this work is written by myself not copy other people's contents Written by: Nguyễn Minh Đức Đỗ Văn Ngọc Reference books Grade -new English textbook How to teach pronunciation - Written by Gerald Kelly Ship or sheep - Written by Ann Baker Be Understood! - Written by Christina Maurer Smolder English pronunciation in Use- Written by Johnathan Mark Danh MỤC Các đề tài sáng kiến kinh nghiệm hội đồng đánh giá xếp loại cấp phòng GD &ĐT, cấp sở GD&ĐT cấp cao xếp loại C trở lên Họ tên tác giả : Đỗ Văn Ngọc Chức vụ đơn vị công tác : Giáo viên trường THCS Lê Thánh Tơng, huyện Thọ Xn, tỉnh Thanh Hóa STT Tên đề tài SKKN - Câu lạc nói Tiếng Anh trường Cấp đánh giá Kết đánh Năm học đánh xếp loại giá xếp loại ) giá xếp loại ( Phòng , Sở, Loại A,B,C Tỉnh Sở B 2005-2006 Sở C 2012-2013 THCS - Sử dụng phù hợp thủ thuật tiết dạy Tiếng Anh 18 ... The result is so good that I encourage me to write the creative experience called "Improving the students' English pronunciation through interesting phonic exercises. " - (grade -new English textbook)... 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... 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