Jay Doubleyou: January 2025

Sunday, 5 January 2025

using pronunciation in and out of the esl/esol/tefl classroom

Teachers tend to ignore pronunciation - so-called 'non-native' teachers who doubt their own pronunciation and so-called 'native' teachers who are just too sure.

Indeed, pronunciation is "the Cinderella of language teaching": Dalton - Some Techniques for Teaching Pronunciation (TESL/TEFL)

But good pronunciation is the most important thing in learning a language - otherwise nobody's going to understand you: Why Pronunciation Teaching Should Be the Number One Priority

Here's a good discussion to start off: Studying pronunciation is a waste of time. - Page 2 - EnglishClub ESL Forums And another: Why do some people have great pronunciation? Why do others struggle?<br/><br/>Are some people just born with it? While the rest are forever doomed to struggle with bad pronunciation? — Lingtuitive

How though are we going to work on our pronunciation?

For all types of teacher, there are some excellent resources online - which provide good solid models to give the students - who can use most of the same links for themselves.

A list of very specific activities: Learn English Pronunciation Elocution Intonation - Learn English

A focus on the sounds of English: HOME | sounds-of-english

A good look at all the phonemes: Introduction to Teaching Pronunciation Workshop - Adrian Underhill (COMPLETE) - YouTube With more from the master: Adrian’s Pron Chart Blog | Practical discovery of English pronunciation

A look at the most important phoneme: Jay Doubleyou: a curvaceous young phoneme called schwa...

An excellent guide from BBC Learning English, both old: BBC Learning English | Pronunciation Tips and new: BBC Learning English - Learn English pronunciation

Several guides to listening - to songs: Jay Doubleyou: listening to song lyrics will help your pronunciation and Jay Doubleyou: singing songs to learn english and Jay Doubleyou: using songs in the esl/esol/tefl classroom

A focus on the importance of getting and using 'connected speech': Jay Doubleyou: connected speech and Jay Doubleyou: 'four ears' or 'four years'?

Perhaps the most effective method: Jay Doubleyou: shadowing

And another couple more directions: Jay Doubleyou: chunking and Jay Doubleyou: sound scripting and Jay Doubleyou: voice recognition apps to help learn english pronunciation

Finally, we need to feel confident in teaching and learning - and using the language: Jay Doubleyou: pronunciation: empowering educators to feel confident and prepared to teach pronunciation

To finish, though, here are some funny crazy things: it doesn't help that none of it makes any sense: Jay Doubleyou: english pronunciation is crazy or that it's all rather a babble: Jay Doubleyou: what english sounds like

Saturday, 4 January 2025

using songs in the esl/esol/tefl classroom

We all love songs - and so they usually make a great resource in the language classroom.

There are lots of things in songs for the English learner:

Jay Doubleyou: conditionals in songs

Jay Doubleyou: singing songs to learn english

Jay Doubleyou: listening to song lyrics will help your pronunciation

Jay Doubleyou: modal verbs in song

And for the English teacher:

Jay Doubleyou: every song has its lesson plan

Jay Doubleyou: every song has its lesson plan - part two

The British Council has got some ideas:

How to use songs in the English language classroom | British Council

Using music and songs | TeachingEnglish | British Council

There are some good videos out there with more ideas:

5 ways to use songs to teach English - YouTube

12 fun activities you can do with pop songs in the ESL classroom - YouTube

Going beyond the conventional 'gap fill' exercise, here are some more activities suggested by Eleanor Spicer-Lundholm of the International Teacher Training Institute, Hastings, UK:

> Song in Strips: cut up the song into strips which the students need to put back together.

> Creative writing to Song: put some of the key words from the song on the board and ask the students to make them into a poem/email/short story in pairs; then share and share the 'original song'.

> Word partnerships to Song: put some of the key phrases on the board, but cut in half and in two columns, which the students have to put together in pairs; then play the song, with the students shouting out 'bingo' when they hear their collocation.

> Word order to Song: put all the words of a sentence, but mixed up, from a song on the board, which the students have to order in teams; then compare each team's sentences before playing the part of the song.

> Whoops! Find the mistakes: put up a 'wrong' version of sentences from the song where the students have to identify the 'mistakes' before listening and correcting.

> Mime to Song: standing in a circle, first the students listen to a line and copy the teacher's mime; then the students suggest mimes to further lines which the class agree to copy.

Here's a lesson plan from Fiona Aish at the Itafel - looking at teaching connected speech through songs:

> Play the first 2/3 lines from the song 2/3 times and get the students to write what they hear; confirm the correct version.

> Elicit from the students the stressed words and then the connected words; the students should try this in pairs with the following lines.

> Play the song's lines again, getting the students to tap the beat/rhythm; the students should then speak out... and sing the song (if they want!)

Finally, here's a list from OnTesol:

put the verse in the right order;
put the verbs in brackets in the correct tense/or, form of the verb (for example, gerund or infinitive);
identify the past tenses in the song (or, any other tense or grammar topic, for example, conditionals, modal verbs, reported speech…);
reorder the verses;
reorder the letters;
correct the words/mistake;
question on the theme, the message or meaning of the song to encourage discussion;
write to the protagonist and (give advice, or tell him what you think);
write the story in the song.
put the underlined words under the right column according to … (pronunciation, vocabulary related to any specific category, or a grammatical pattern);
complete the blanks with the words in the box;
choose the right word;
answer the questions;
match the verses;
check the words that you hear