Welcome to PronPack.com, the support hub for teachers using the pronunciation activities in PronPack by Mark Hancock, author of best selling pronunciation books Pronunciation Games and English Pronunciation in Use. PronPack is an award winning collection of ELT resource books to help teachers focus on English pronunciation in class. Mark introduces PronPack in the two minute video below or, read more…
Latest Release! PronPack 5
Breaking News… OUT NOW!!
PronPack 5: Pronunciation of English for Spanish Speakers. This new addition to the PronPack collection takes a different approach by focusing on common difficulties faced by Spanish-speaking learners. The teaching materials for 18 lessons attract learners’ attention with memorable activities including raps, games and puzzles.
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Where can I get Pronpack ?
PronPack 1-5 are available in two formats. Get your hands on the paperback from Amazon and other suppliers listed, or buy the eBook – portable and personal, from iBooks or KOBO – with downloadable materials for each book available in the Resources section of this website, either version is great for use in the classroom.
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“As a set of books to support teachers and learners, PronPack must be considered a hugely valuable resource.”
About PronPack 1-4
PronPack 1: Pronunciation Workouts are extended drills focusing on specific areas of English pronunciation. Think of them like the scales and other exercises which pianists use to improve their fingering technique. But in the case of pronunciation, it’s the vocal articulators which are getting trained – the tongue, lips, jaw and vocal chords.
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PronPack 2: Pronunciation Puzzles are challenging game-like activities which are fun to do in pairs or small groups but are equally effective for individual students. They include such puzzle types as mazes, sudoku, word searches and crosswords.
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Pronpack 3: Pronunciation Pairworks are information-gap communication activities for students to do in pairs or small groups. Success in each activity depends upon the students accuracy in producing and understanding the target pronunciation feature.
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PronPack 4: Pronunciation Poems are rhymes, chants, limericks, raps and song lyrics all written specifically to contain multiple examples of the target pronunciation features. The activities usually begin with an exercise completing or correcting the text and culminate in practising saying or chanting the text out loud.
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Bought the Books?
Downloads to accompany PronPack 1-4 can be found in the Resources section.
You can access PronPack audio files, student worksheets, Sound Chart posters and more…
News and Views
IPA: Symbols of Power?
I argue for a more democratic use of the IPA symbols in this article, which first appeared in Modern English Teacher 29.3 (July 2020). There seems to be a love-hate relationship between the English teaching community and phonemic symbols. Some teachers love them, others won’t use them. A third category uses them under duress, but …
Pronunciation teaching: doing your homework on the L1
Why the myth about ‘native speakers’ being better language teachers? If you want to learn a language, you’d be well advised to look for a qualified teacher who shares the same first language as yourself, or at least knows it well. I can testify from my own experience that teaching pronunciation to someone whose language …
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Whiskey versus Güisque
For a Spanish speaker, it seems perfectly natural for a [w] sound to be closely associated with a [g]. The Spanish dictionary entry for hueso, for example, gives the pronunciation as [(g)wéso], the bracketed (g) indicating that it is optional. Similarly, there’s an optional [g] at the beginning of huevo (egg).The g may be explicit …
Mark Hancock
Mark’s approach in both teaching and writing ELT materials is to engage the learner and inspire their intrinsic interest in the content and in the process of the lesson. This is driven by his belief that teaching and learning a language can and should be an enjoyable experience.