P 10 P 15 P 20
Volume 2 | Number 8 | April 2014 | MCC MAG / 425 / 08T | Rs. 20 Fun English
OF TEACHING PRONUNCIATION PRONUNCIATION TIPS TECHNOLOGY
WE MAKE FUN
PRONUNCIATION GAMES
P 26
MONITOR YOUR
PRONUNCIATION? YES! IT
IS POSSIBLE
MALONY ALLEN | P 13
HOW CREATIVITY
MAKES STUDENTS
LEARN
PRONUNCIATION?
MADELIN CALVO | P 18
SPECIAL GROWING UP WITH TECHNOLOGY
HOW TO USE TECHNOLOGY AS A LEARNING
TOOL, NOT JUST THE COOL NEW THING
ASK THE EXPERT
P 52
Volume 1 | Number 8 | April 2014 | MCC MAG JKEN/245/8956 | Rs. 20
THE INK OF HISTORY
CONTENTS
ARTICLES
13 MONITOR YOUR PRONUNCIATION
Malony Allen
18 HOW CREATIVITY MAKES STUDENTS
LEARN PRONUNCIATION?
Madelin Calvo
WE MAKE FUN
26 HOPSCOTCH
31 BINGO
37 MINIMAL PAIRS
42 TONGUE TWISTERS
44 ENGLISH INTERVIEW
47 METACOGNITION GAME
FEATURES
10 REPORT OF TEACHING PRONUNCIATION
15 FEATURE: PRONUNCIATION TIPS
20 PHOTO FEATURE: TECHNOLOGY
52 ASK THE EXPERT
50 SPECIAL: GROWING UP WITH
TECHNOLOGY
12 RANDOM FACTS
TIDINGS
TO THE READER
In this edition we wanted to focus on Teaching Pronunciation, why? Because it is important nowadays to be well-prepared in English Language. This magazine will help ESL-EFL students, elementary high school, and English teachers.
This month´s issue contains different articles, games, and tidings that talk about our cover subject, metacognition, technology, and creativity.
I want to invite teachers, students, and parents to take advantage of this magazine, and all its content. Today´s trend is English language, so Fun English thinks that everybody should be up to date.
MADELIN CALVO
Senior Editor
FUN ENGLISH
SENIOR EDITOR Madelin Calvo - [email protected]
ART EDITOR
Malony Allen – [email protected]
BUSSINESS EDITOR Deivid Calvo- [email protected]
CONTRIBUTORS
Sylvia Méndez, Mónica González, Fernando Brenes
PRINTED BY Power Publish
www.FunEnglish.com
www.facebook.com/FunEnglish
MEDIA REPRESENTATIVE Cloud Media
San José, Costa Rica T: +506 2280 4090 Email: [email protected]
EDITORS
Malony Allen
is a writer, Journalist, and English expertise, she has over 15 year experience in the field. She lived in USA during her childhood. She also contributes to BBC, CNN, and La Nación.
Madelin Calvo
is a translator, researcher, and writer. She has over 10 year experience in the pedagogic field. Fluent in three languages including French. Her main topics are: creativity and technology.
SUBSCRIBE [email protected]
NOW www.FunEnglish.com
New and fresh perspectives
REPORT ON
TEACHING
PRONUNCIATION
Why do teachers
avoid this area? HOW TO START
TEACHING IT? Nowadays one can find a lot of textbooks, instruction manuals, books, theories, and vast methodologies of learning pronunciation, so why teachers do not use them in class?
Easy, because teachers do not have enough time. Certainly, the main goal of an ESL-EFL student is communication, but there is a huge gap between a ship and a sheep. How can we achieve communication if we do not understand what we are saying? THAT IS IMPOSSIBLE.
First, teachers need to develop awareness about the importance of knowing and mastering phonetics. Second, they need to develop a plan and research before giving a pronunciation class. Third, the amount of instruction needs be enough and meaningful, and fourth, use metacognition.
Students are curious, and they always ask about the
pronunciation. They will be grateful if you take a moment to teach them how to create correct sounds in English. This has two objectives, first improve their speaking skills, and second create self-awareness by motivating them.
The fist all teachers need to do is starting with phonemes since it represents a sound.
The first lessons in pronunciation should involve your students listening and identifying, rather than speaking. Introduce the phonemes using minimal pairs (sounds alike), repeat those sounds so students can identify them. Use visual aids to show learners the place of mouth and tongue, try to focus on the differences. As a practice you can use a lot of matching games, students can play, learn, and have fun.
Once they are prepared, you make them produce the sounds accurately.
Use diagrams to do so. Students should be able to see where to place their lips and tongues in relation with their teeth. This is a new process, so realize that it is going to take a while.
Then you should move to pronunciation of words, this is more challenging because students will need to expand physical and neurological limitations. Let them make mistakes, but always provide feedback.
Some factors such as cultural identify, exposure, intensity, attitude, amount, motivation, innate skills, and goals could interfere in the learning process, but always take into account that those barriers are necessary to be overcome. Study your students, find out what motivates them, what are their strengths and weaknesses, and what their purpose is when learning English. You will only guide and monitor, they will do the remaining.
READ AND&
PUT INTO PRACTICE Spend the time!
Listen and read every day
Focus on words and phrases
Take responsibility of your own learning
Relax and enjoy yourself!
1 BILLION PEOPLE SPEAK ENGLISH.
THAT IS 1 EVERY 7 ON EARTH.
80% OF ALL INFORMATION
STORED ON ALL COMPUTERS
IN THE WORLD IS IN ENGLISH.
ENGLISH WORDS “I” “WE” “TWO” AND “THREE” ARE
AMONG THE MOS ANCIENT, FROM THOUSAND YEARS.
Before starting, do you know the definition of
Metacognition?
In easy words, metacognition is “thinking
about thinking”, which can be defined as the
awareness and regulation of the thinking process. It
is the knowledge and control that a person has over
his or her own thinking and learning activities.
Teaching metacognitive skills to language
students gives them the key to understand their
own learning. It shows them ways to take
responsibility for the manner in which they learn,
rather than expecting to be a passive recipient
waiting for the next transmission of information.
Metacognitive skills are important for the learners to
encourage them self- reflection, and help students
to be more motivated when learning English.
Teachers can use metacognition to help students
mastering English. For instance, in order to learn
pronunciation, provide enough instruction, then
make them notice the importance of being well-
prepared, knowing the correct pronunciation, and
improving their accent. With this, students will
develop a self-awareness that will let them monitor
and assess their performance when speaking.
As close, you can use metacognition in grammar,
writing, reading, and listening; this issue is a vital
part of any learning process. Remember that it lets
students develop new skills to improve their
language development. Later you will find some
exercises and questions regarding metacognition.
Malony Allen
FEATURE PRONUNCIATION TIPS
The /æ/ sound it’s called “Short vowel”. To make the sound your tongue must be raised a little in the back; the front of the tongue stretches forward and presses behind the bottom of the front teeth. For instance: bat, fat, man.
The /ᶸ/ sound it is called “Back vowel”, and the reason of its name is because to make the sound your lips must be rounded but in a relax way. Example of it can be: book, could, wood.
The /ᴈ:/ sound it is called “Long vowel”, and to make the sound your tongue must be raised towards the roof of the mouth in the middle, even touches lightly the top teeth. The tip of your tongue hands down, but it’s not close to the bottom front teeth. Example of it can be: bird, purse
VOWELS
HOW CREATIVITY MAKES STUDENTS
LEARN
PRONUNCIATION?
TIREDENESS
RELAX
INFORMATION
STRESS
TIME
TASTE
NEW
TASKS MULTI-TASK
MISTAKES
NAPS
SMELL
TOUCH
THINKING
VISION
MEDITATION
HAPPINESS
PERCEPTION
AREAS
EXERICE
HEARING
BRAIN
EXPERIENCE
INTROVERSION
EXTROVERSION
SMELL
PROCESS
ATTENTION
FAMILIAR
SCIENCE
HOW creativity Works? WHAT makes people creative? Creativity is the ability to create works that captivates minds, life, time, perspectives, and a bunch of other stuff. Creativity deals with neuroscience, which addresses the study of the nervous system. Everything in our body is made of nervous, vision, taste, touch, smell, and hear, and they are controlled by our brain.
Everybody is creative in their own way. In class teachers can take advantage of this “natural skill”. There are a couple of facts I am sure you ignore and will leave you speechless. Humans are more creative when tired. Yes, you read it right, TIRED, You’ll actually have more luck when you’re more tired and your brain isn’t functioning as efficiently. If you’re tired, your brain is not as good at filtering out distractions and focusing on a particular task. It’s also a lot less efficient at remembering connections between ideas or concepts. These are both good things when it comes to creative work, since
Second, make students take the active role in the class, instead of you giving instructions and doing activities, confer the teacher´s position for a moment, and let them use their imagination, provide peer feedback, create new activities, and explain the topics.
Third, when there is a difficult subject, use icebreakers at the beginning of the class to have a relax environment. That helps the brain, attitude, and motivation.
Fourth, make your lessons playful and enjoyable, let students express their own perspective in class. This will increase production and students will have a great time with the learning process.
Fifth and final, make mistakes is ok, let students know that there is a learning curve and everything needs to be developed step by step. Do not rush the learning process. Let things flow.
Madelin Calvo
this kind of work requires us to make new connections, be open to new ideas and think in fresh ways.
Another fact is that naps help you improving your memory, and having better learning. It helps to clear information out of our brain´s temporary storage areas. That makes us more creative.
Well, it is interesting to talk about how our brain works, but let´s focus in our topic. How teachers can take advantage of creativity and makes students learn more and better pronunciation?
First, you must provide breaks when giving input to your students. They need to be in touch with the subject, and then relax their brains in order to have a better understanding and avoid boredom.
PHOTO
FEATURE
In Fun English we like to show different technological tools that can be used in the
learning process. This month´s instrument is called learning catalytics,
believe it or not this program provides feedback to students during class to
support instruction. It also gives teachers and students the option to review
material outside of class. You can sign up and follow the instructions in this link
www.learningcatalytics.com
According to the company’s website, the program enables educators to “assess students in real time, using open-ended tasks to probe student understanding. Students use any modern Web-enabled device they already have — laptop, smartphone, or tablet. Engage students by creating open-ended questions that ask for numerical, algebraic, textual, or graphical responses — or just plain multiple-choice.
ANYBODY CAN PLAY.
even- and especially- kids.
Age: + 5 year-old
Type: speaking
Pronunciation Features: diphthongs
Instructions:
There is no maximum or minimum of
players’ number.
Each player will have a stone (a normal
size). The first player rolls the stone in
one of the squares. When the stone
falls, the participant must jump on the
squares (one foot on a single square,
and two feet on two squares, and so
on).
The participant must get to the end,
but without picking up the stone, this
is because the player must pronounce
the sound correctly and provide an
example. After completing the task, the
player can pick up the stone and pass it
to the next player.
In Fun English we strongly believe in
taking care of nature and sustainability,
that is why we encourage recycling
programs. In the following pages you
will find the diphthongs that you can
cut and paste on a recycle paper sheet
and create your own game. Be creative!
/ei/
/ai/ /au/
/ei/
/oi/
/ou/ /ei/
/ai/
/au/ /oi/
/ei/
/ei/ /au/ /ai/
/ei/ /oi/ /ou/
/ei/ /au/ /ai/
/oi/
IT IS TIME TO PLAY
BINGO Age: + 12 year-old
Type: listening and speaking
Pronunciation Features: minimal pairs, vowels /æ/ and /e/
Instructions: cut the bingo sheets (there are four versions), make the photocopies you need, also cut the words you that later will put in a bag. Once you have the material, hand it out. Somebody will need to say the words inside the bag, the rest of the people will mark the word they hear. At the end the winner will have to pronounce all the words correctly.
Have fun!
B I N G O AND THEN SAND PAT SET
GUESS LEFT X THAN ED
MESS NEXT ADD GAS LAUGH
SAT SEND END MASS COUGH
B I N G O AND MESS SAND PAT SET
GUESS LAUGH X THAN ED
THEN NEXT SEND COUGH LEFT
SAT ADD END MASS GAS
B I N G O SAT THEN SAND PAT GUESS
SET MASS X MESS LEFT
THAN COUGH ADD SEND LAUGH
AND GAS END ED NEXT
B I N G O LAUGH THEN ADD AND SEND
SET ED X THAN LEFT
MESS COUGH SAND GUESS SAT
PAT GAS END MASS NEXT
WORDS SAT THEN SAND PAT GUESS
SET MASS SAD MESS LEFT
THAN COUGH ADD SEND LAUGH
AND GAS END ED NEXT
ASK WHAT TEND TEXT MASH
CATCH TAN EYES CASTLE ICE
MINIMAL PAIRS /p/ & /b/
Age: + 6 year-old
Type: reading and speaking
Pronunciation Features: minimal pairs, consonants /æp/ and /b/
Instructions: cut the worksheet and make the photocopies you need, hand them out, and make people read the words and pronounce them correctly. They should be able to compare both sounds.
Have fun!
TONGUE TWISTER
Age: + 12 year-old
Type: reading and speaking
Pronunciation Features: consonant sounds /m/ /w/
Instructions: cut the worksheet and make the photocopies you need, hand them out, and make people read the tongue twisters as faster as they can. They are required to pronounce everything correctly and fluently. This is for advanced English students.
Have fun!
Mary Mac
Mary Mac's mother's making Mary Mac marry me. My mother's making me marry Mary Mac. Will I always be so Merry when Mary's taking care of me? Will I always be so merry when I marry Mary Mac?
Whether the weather
Whether the weather be fine, or whether the weather be not.
Whether the weather be cold, or whether the weather be hot. We'll weather the weather whether we like it or not
Age: + twelve year-old
Type: reading, speaking, and listening
Pronunciation Features: -ing endings
Instructions: cut the interview worksheet and make the
photocopies you need, hand them out, and make people
interview different partners, later they will need to gather
information and explain the results. This is for intermediate
English students.
Have fun!
English Interview
1. Choose 3 classmates, interview them, and find out what they do on weekends.
2. Use this pattern to make questions:
Do you ever go…?
How often do you…?
3. Symbolism:
Every weekend: E
Often: O
Sometimes: S
Never: N
Activity Name: Name: Name:
Go running
Go dancing
Go running
Go to the bank
Go swimming
Go walking
Go dancing
Visit de monkeys
Buy something interesting
Stake in the rink
4. Explain in front of the class the results gathered, for instance:
She/he goes running every day
She/he sometimes goes swimming
English Interview
1. Choose 3 classmates, interview them, and find out what they do on weekends.
2. Use this pattern to make questions:
Do you ever go…?
How often do you…?
3. Symbolism:
Every weekend: E
Often: O
Sometimes: S
Never: N
Activity Name: Name: Name:
Go running
Go dancing
Go running
Go to the bank
Go swimming
Go walking
Go dancing
Visit de monkeys
Buy something interesting
Stake in the rink
4. Explain in front of the class the results gathered, for instance:
She/he goes running every day
She/he sometimes goes swimming
METACOGNITION Age: + 5 year-old
Type: reading, and speaking
Metacognitive process
Instructions: cut the worksheet and make the
photocopies you need, hand them out, and make
people answer these questions.
Ask students to be honest and reflect about the
proposed question. Then they should be able to
provide a personal opinion, at the end make sure you
ask them their personal insight. The aim of this game
is to create awareness of the importance of having a
good pronunciation.
Have fun!
Metacognition game 1- Answer these questions
Are you interested in English? Why?
Are you motivated to learn English?
Is English pronunciation important for you? Why?
What are the strengths and weaknesses of your classmates in English pronunciation?
Do you often practice your pronunciation? How?
Do you feel confident when speaking English?
2- Reflect and provide your personal opinion
Metacognition game 1- Answer these questions
Are you interested in English? Why?
Are you motivated to learn English?
Is English pronunciation important for you? Why?
What are the strengths and weaknesses of your classmates in English pronunciation?
Do you often practice your pronunciation? How?
Do you feel confident when speaking English?
2- Reflect and provide your personal opinion
Metacognition game
Answer these questions
Are you interested in English? Why?
Are you motivated to learn English?
Is English pronunciation important for you? Why?
What are the strengths and weaknesses of your classmates in English pronunciation?
Do you often practice your pronunciation? How?
Do you feel confident when speaking English?
Reflect and provide your personal opinion
HOW TO USE
TECHNOLOGY
AS A LEARNING
TOOL, NOT
JUST THE COOL
NEW THING.
This month´s issue is focused more in technology and applications that can make the learning process easier. Right now one can find a lot of things in the virtual market, from helpful apps to games and useless stuff. Kids are taking advantage of this new technological tools that internet offers us, meanwhile adults are starting to notice them. The important question we can make ourselves is how to use technology as a learning tool, and not just the cool new thing? If you notice, everything in the world now is connected by internet, you have social networks, e-mail, assessment tools, virtual textbooks, and they are quite interesting, but the truth is that these tools are not pushing people to their full potential. People nowadays are lazy, they want everything by just using the click button. By using IT properly in the classroom, teaching and learning are enhanced and given a new dimension. I invite students and teachers to take more advantage of it.
Advice that will help to develop a technological awareness:
HUMAN INTERACTION.
LEARN BY DOING.
CREATE.
INTERACT AND FIND NEW CHALLENGES IN YOUR WAY.
LET YOUR CREATIVITY TAKE PLACE.
There are some steps that could help you improving your technology usage, first, do not forget about human interaction, and remember that you need to be in touch with your specie, working in groups is a good practice to develop this step. Second, learn by doing, do not wait for a program that will fix and do everything you want. Sometimes you will need to think deeper in order to solve problems, do not wait until that moment to put into practice this piece of advice, and do it meanwhile. Third, create instead of cut-and-paste, it is easy to commit plagiarism, so be honest and exercise your brain by creating something new. Fourth, interact and find new challenges in your way, use your social skills to fulfill your learning expectations. Fifth, let your creativity take place, uniqueness and innovation are always welcomed. All the learners should be exposed to technology, they just need to measure that exposure and expand your knowledge limits.
Uniqueness and innovation are always welcomed in any place. Education is the key that open doors of success. Technology was made to help us, and not to harm us. If you use it correctly and aware you will obtain good results. Technology is the future of all generations.
Susana from Chile asked us:
Which one is correct to say?
A teacher should try to make the lesson more interestingly.
A teacher should try to make the lesson more interesting.
Amy thank you for your question.
Of your two sentences the second one is correct:
A teacher should try to make the lesson more interesting. (You need an adjective here: "interesting" as it describes the noun "lesson". "Interestingly" is an adverb). I hope this helps
The expert,
P.S.: remember to write to our e-mail [email protected] and we will ask your questions in this section
ASK THE
EXPERT
FUN ENGLISH
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