Easy Ways to Teach
Pronunciation
Erin Lowry
TEFL Certificate Course
May 23, 2009
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Companion Website
 http://colombotech.pbwiki.com/E
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Parts of Pronunciation
 Sounds (i.e. phones or phonemes)
 Stress and rhythm
 Intonation
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Phonemes
 Smallest unit of sound that has
meaning
 Represent various sounds that
consonants and vowels, or
combinations, can create
 Written with phonetic symbols
◦ Here we’ll use IP A , the International
Phonetic Alphabet
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Why Know IPA?
 English wouldn’t be a good system to
use!
Just compare heart, beard, and
heard,
Dies and diet, lord and word,
Sword and sward, retain and Britain.
(Mind the latter, how it's written.)
Now I surely will not plague you
With such words as plaque and ague.
But be careful how you speak:
Say break and steak, but bleak and 7

The IPA
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The IPA
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Ways of Teaching
 S e g m e n t a ls are isolated
sounds (consonants, vowels,
diphthongs)
◦ However, sounds are rarely produced in
isolation
 Students need to become aware of
s u p r a s e g m e n t a ls , i.e.,
features of speech like stress,
intonation, rhythm and linking
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Phonemic Symbols vs.
Alphabet
 1 phonemic  1 letter may = more
symbol = than 1 phoneme
only1phoneme  Letter “a” =
◦ /æ/ (hat)
 / i :/ ◦ /eɪ/ (made)
 / ɑɪ / ◦ /ə/ (usually)
 /ɜ/
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Why phonemic symbols?
 Alphabet used to write English has 2 6
letters
 British English has 4 4 sounds
 English spelling is not a reliable guide to
pronunciation because:
◦ Some letters have more than one sound
◦ Sometimes letters are not pronounced at all
◦ The same sound may be represented by
different letters
◦ Sometimes syllables indicated by the spelling are
not pronounced at all 12

Phonemic Script
 Example: Phoneme = p
◦ pen /pen/
◦ pig /pɪg/
◦ pencil /'pənsel/
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Common Vowel Problems
(Spanish)
 /i:/ vs. /ɪ/
 /æ/ vs. /ɑ:/ vs. /Λ/
 /ɔ:/ vs. /Þ/
 /ʊ/ vs. /u:/
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Common Consonant Problems
(Spanish)
 Word-Initial Position
◦ /p/ vs. /b/
◦ /t/ vs. /d/
◦ /k/ vs. /g/
 Word-Final Position
◦ /b/ vs. /p/
◦ /d/ vs. /t/
◦ /j/ vs. /d
◦ /m/ vs. /n/ vs. /ŋ/
◦ /
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Vowel Sounds
 Which phonemes represent:
◦ Short vowels?
◦ Long vowels?
◦ Diphthongs?
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Vowels
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Vowel Activity
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Activity
 How would you teach a student who
had difficulty with the following words?
bead beat
 How about these?
lee’s lease
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Activities
 Minimal pair drills: (listening and speaking)
◦ Individually
◦ In sentences
◦ In sequences
 Repetition of specific sounds:
◦ sheep, she, usher, flashed, bush, rush
◦ Tongue Twisters (i.e. Peter Piper, How much
wood)
 Tape recorder
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Activity
 Write down your phone number. (It may
1 bat help if you translate it using this code.
2 bait
3 bet  Find a partner and dictate your coded
phone number to him or her. Please go
4 beat slowly!
5 bit
6 bite  Check to see if the numbers are correct.
7 bot  Switch and try again.
8 boat (Dalton, 1997)
9 but
0 boot
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Diphthongs
 A combination of two vowel sounds
◦ /ay/ /aɪ/ (IPA)
 Boy
◦ /aw/ /aʊ/ (IPA)
 How
◦ /ɔy/ /ɔɪ/ (IPA)
 Time
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Word-level Stress
 Circle the number of the syllable that
receives the most stress in each group.
1 - 2 - 3 1 - 2 -
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embarrassed president
dictation envelope
eraser holiday
pajamas beautiful
banana bicycle
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Rhythm
 English is stress-timed (Spanish is
syllable-timed)
Example:
The p r e sident is in terested in
eliminating the emb a r go.
D e a d m e a n w e a r p la id .
(Brown, 2001) 24

Activities
 Listen for tense, number of words, etc. in
sentences at natural speed.
 Jazz Chants
Examples:
Hi! How are you? I’m fine; how are you?
What do you wear on your head? A hat.
What do you wear on your hands? Gloves.
What do you wear on your feet? Socks.
Shoes and socks, shoes and socks.
(by Carolyn Graham) 25

Activity
 Choose a partner. One person should be facing
away from the Powerpoint.
 The person facing the Powerpoint should read the
questions.
 The person facing away from the Powerpoint
should answer them in the form of “No, I…”
 Then, the partners should switch positions. New
questions will be given.
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Person 1
 You have two sisters, don’t you?
 You work in a school, right?
 Don’t you have a red pen?
 Is that your new car?
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Person 2
 You have two sisters, don’t you?
 You work in a school, right?
 Don’t you have a red pen?
 Is that your new car?
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Content /
Information Function Words
Words
 Often stressed  Usually unstressed
◦ Nouns ◦ Articles
◦ Auxiliary verbs
◦ Main verbs
◦ Personal pronouns
◦ Adjectives
◦ Possessive adjectives
◦ Possessive pronouns
◦ Demonstrative adjectives
◦ Demonstrative ◦ Prepositions
pronouns ◦ Conjunctions
◦ Adverbs
◦ Interrogatives
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C ATS C H AS E
M IC E
Th e C ATS ha ve
C H AS ED M IC E
Th e C ATS w ill
C H AS E t h e M IC E
Th e C ATS ha ve be e n
C H A S in g t h e M IC E
Th e C ATS c o u ld h a v e b e e n
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Connected Speech
 All words join to make a connected
stream of sounds
 Characteristics of connected speech
that helps keep rhythm regular:
◦ Sentence stress
◦ Contractions
◦ Shortening of vowels in unstressed words
and syllables
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Intonation
 Change of level of voice
◦ 4 levels in English (extra high, high,
medium, low)
 Used to:
◦ Express emotions and attitudes
◦ Emphasize or lessen certain things we
say
◦ Make it clear to others the function of
what we are saying
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Intonation Patterns
 Rising-Falling
◦ Declarative sentences
◦ WH- questions
◦ Commands
 Rising
◦ Yes/no questions
◦ Open-choice alternative questions
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Intonation Patterns
4 EXTRA HIGH
3 HIGH re d
2 MID J o a n is w e a r in g
to -
1 LOW d a y.
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Authentic Materials
 Limericks
◦ There was an old man of Peru
◦ Who dreamed he was eating his shoe
◦ He awoke in the night
◦ In a terrible fright
◦ And found it was perfectly true!
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Authentic Materials
 Jazz chants
 Rhymes
◦ Eeny, meeny, miny, moe
◦ Catch a tiger by the toe
◦ If he hollers let him go
◦ Eenie, meeny, miny, moe
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Ea rs H e a r
Whistles toot,
Flies buzz,
Bells clang.
Motors roar.
Doors slam: Bang! Bang!
Kettles hiss,
Kids shout,
People snore.
Clocks ding.
Dogs bark, Babies cry,
Birds cheep. Phones ring.
Autos honk: Beep! Beep! Balls bounce,
Winds sigh, Spoons drop.
Shoes squeak. People scream: Stop! Stop
Trucks honk,
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Floors creak. -Lucia M. & James L. Hymes Jr.

What Can You Do?
 Find authentic resources
 Include pronunciation in lesson
planning
 Teach pronunciation communicatively
 Practice your own pronunciation
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Questions?
 Erin Lowry
◦ erin.lowry@gmail.com
 Workshop wiki
◦ http://colombotech.pbwiki.com
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