Draw Me a PicturePronunciation Aids for Visual Learners

Judy ThompsonTESL Canada 2015

Agenda•Why learners don’t speak English no matter how

long they study? 2 minutes•Spoken English is different from Written English

Venn Language Diagrams 10 minutes•The missing bridge between writing and speaking.

Thompson Vowel Chart 15 minutes•The Model for Speaking English 12 minutes•Grammar Goodies - Rita Baker 15 minutes•Conclusion 2 minutes

Why Don’t Learners Speak English Now?In English, Writing and Speaking are not

connected by a logical alphabet. We teach Reading and Writing almost exclusively (we spoke perfectly before we went to school).

It’s William Caxton’s fault English is basically two different languages. Applying Latin letters and Latin grammar to English without modification turned out to be a very bad idea. He split English in two when he wrote it down badly in 1476 and we have copied his mistakes ever since.

1476 When English was Split in Two

Writing vs. Speaking

In case I forget to mention:•We have no idea how to teach Speaking

http://bit.ly/Xtgyw9•Only say things that are true – all the time – no

exceptions•Use the information students already know –

ABC, colors, numbers•It’s empowering to start every lesson with,

“You know this already” – I’ll show you how to do that

•Vowel sounds are the main problem but there is an easy fix. Each vowel sound is found in the name of a different color

Every Word in English is a Color

This is the Bridge to PronunciationRegardless of spelling:Gray words: day, rain, great, eight, ate..Black words: cat, half, laugh, plaid...Pink words: sister, pretty, women, busy...

JUdy is Blue•What color is your name? •Do this with an elastic band to help your

students find the stressed syllable/name color•Blank Color Vowel Chart class exercise

The Vast Majority of Learners are Beginner/Intermediate The Vowel Chart is their Golden Key to Speaking

Success

Recap•Writing and Speaking are different and

we know most about writing•Colors are a perfect bridge from Writing

to Speaking (and back but we aren’t doing that)

•Every word in English is a color •The color holds the pronunciation and the

all-important WORD STRESS•The pattern is the same for Sentence

Stress

More Fun Venns

Students are Not MuteThey Make Most of the Sounds they Need

•Any two languages are more the same than different

•Start with what learners already know•What is the difference between accent

and intelligibility?

You have to ask me back for that.

Rita Baker – The Global ApproachAll Possible Grammar Structures

on One Page. Here is a Keynote for You!

Summary•It’s possible we make learning English

more difficult than it has to be•English is simple – not easy, but simple•It take 30 hours to teach the PATTERNS

of English that are always true

Do you see the arrow in the FedEx logo? You can’t un-know things you see now that you never saw before.

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