Principles to adopt teaching

pronunciation

M.Ed. Maria Luisa Mu

Plan pronunciation teaching

• Prepare activities that focus on specific problems for Spanish speakers.

• Diagnose your students´ pronunciation weaknesses and plan activities to focus on these.

• Identify parts of the syllabus in the coursebook that lend themselves to work on particular areas of pronunciation.

React

• React to opportunities for teaching pronunciation.• Use new vocabulary for students to

copy and mark stressed and stressed syllables.

Using the chart

• Learning the pronunciation of new words, e.g. ‘It sounds like bird’

• Contrasting two sounds, e.g. ‘Is it short like fish or long like tree?’

• Correction of mispronounced words, e.g. ‘You’re saying it like clock- make it longer like horse’

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Teach the vowel symbols

1. Review the sound pictures- elicit the words for the symbols you want to teach by pointing at the pictures in turn.

2. Focus on the symbol- point out that these are phonetic symbols, which are integrated into the picture.

3. Point to the picture and elicit the sound only.4. Cover the chart and get SS to visualize the picture

and symbol when you say the word.5. Check the symbols.6. Continue to teach and revise over the next few

classes.

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Teach the consonant symbols

• Focus SS’ attention on the symbols inside each picture and ask: How many of the symbols are not letters of the alphabet?

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Develop techniques

• Techniques for presenting pronunciation:

• Model (say or play the recording).

• Choral repetition.• Individual repetition.

Correcting

• Correcting an individual student´s pronunciation:

• Student says the sound, word or phrase.• Teacher listens to a particular pronunciation

focus.• If there are problems, teacher models the

sound, word or phrase.• Student repeats after teacher.

Develop

• Develop a set of activities for recurring problems:

• Word routes• Same or Different• Minimal pairs• Word chains• Definition quiz

Use and Recycle

• Use a variety of activities:• Information transfer• Games • Prediction• The odd one out