teaching pronunciation, esp. English sounds new to non-nativ

Teaching ESL to adults

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sifaka
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Posts: 4
Joined: 31 May 2008, 15:08

teaching pronunciation, esp. English sounds new to non-nativ

Unread post by sifaka »

I'm trying to teach my Spanish-speaking students English sounds that are new to them: sh, th, v, z, etc. I tell them how to position their teeth, I've explained they should make the z's and v's "buzz", and I've shown them how I pronounce the sh phoneme. They don't seem to be able to reproduce the sounds.
I've searched this forum with the keywords "pronunciation teaching methods" and found very little.
I've heard that listening to native speakers is a good way for them to learn the new English phonemes. But if they have no English-speaking friends, is it enough for them to listen to the radio and TV? Should I burn them CDs of myself reciting paragraphs containing the target phonemes?
What are your (wise) suggestions?
~Matt
Susan_Buggi
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Posts: 3
Joined: 16 Nov 2008, 12:04

Re: teaching pronunciation, esp. English sounds new to non-nativ

Unread post by Susan_Buggi »

sifaka wrote:I'm trying to teach my Spanish-speaking students English sounds that are new to them: sh, th, v, z, etc. I tell them how to position their teeth, I've explained they should make the z's and v's "buzz", and I've shown them how I pronounce the sh phoneme. They don't seem to be able to reproduce the sounds.
I've searched this forum with the keywords "pronunciation teaching methods" and found very little.
I've heard that listening to native speakers is a good way for them to learn the new English phonemes. But if they have no English-speaking friends, is it enough for them to listen to the radio and TV? Should I burn them CDs of myself reciting paragraphs containing the target phonemes?
What are your (wise) suggestions?
~Matt
Hi,

I'm afraid I may not be of much help to you as I am a new EFL teacher. I have learned one thing though (regarding the "th" sound). I found my student had trouble with this sound until I explained that the "th" is pronounced like the "z" from Spain (Spaniards pronounce "corazon" as corathon").

I personally have Latin friends that learned their English by watching movies and listening to music (one who speaks with a British accent as he likes British movies); as far as it being sufficient, I cannot say.

I hope I have been able to help in some small way. If not, I apologize for taking up your time.

~Susan
Stephiep
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Posts: 1
Joined: 04 Jun 2014, 10:15
Status: Teacher

Re: teaching pronunciation, esp. English sounds new to non-n

Unread post by Stephiep »

Tricky subject. Teaching English pronunciation is a bit of a specialist area, particularly if the sounds are new to the learner, for example when they cannot distinguish between two sounds such as 'Oh' and 'Aw' (as in 'law'). The problem is compounded with our archaic spelling system. I tell my students to listen to radio 4 in order to nurture their listening skills, and remove the focus from the written word to the spoken word. Spoken English is clearly much simpler than written English as any child can testify.

One student of mine really raved about this guy's pronunciation classes

http://www.meetup.com/The-Sounds-of-Standard-English/

and I was impressed with her progress. I even thought about enrolling myself, as I find teaching pronunciation, frustrating at times.

I do use children's nursery rhymes to good effect. 'Twinkle, twinkle little star' is great for teaching the a: sound which the Spanish and many others have great difficulty with.
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