Pronunciation made practical
Say ‘sssssss’ with your fingers in your ears. Now do the same with ‘zzzzz’ – and hear the difference! This is me at TESOL Spain demonstrating this simple way of showing students the difference between unvoiced /s/ and voiced /z/. I love little practical experiments like this in the pronunciation class. Thanks to Daniel Barber for the photo!
In the past, it was often assumed without further thought that learners should be taught to approximate to General British (GB) or General American (GA). Students assumed that they ought to sound like a native speaker. Teachers and published materials worked on the assumption that the model should be the native speaker accent with the widest acceptance and prestige. Indeed, this point of view is still widely held today. However, many people now question this assumption. Continue reading “Models in Pronunciation Teaching”
Each book in PronPack 1-4 is different from the others by activity-type, rather than the pronunciation points covered. Each book is a resource pack taking one particular approach to a wide range of pronunciation points. All of the books move generally from individual sounds near the beginning to suprasegmental features towards the end. Continue reading “A Pronunciation Syllabus across ‘PronPack’”
What is the Sound Chart for?
The PronPack Sound Chart is primarily a reference tool and several versions are now available in the Resources to accompany the Pronpack books.
Teachers may print a copy as large as possible to put on the classroom wall. Whenever a pronunciation point comes up in class relating to one or more of the individual sounds, you can point it out on the chart. Continue reading “The PronPack Sound Chart”