I have run into a few students with great pronunciation who are in the US for the first time, and know the IPA alphabet. (Mostly Asians) Coincidence?
Despite this fact, I just can't see how to teach it in any way that wouldn't make my students more confused than they already are.
Your thoughts?
Do you teach them IPA?
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Metamorfose
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I'm always afraid to introduce the IPA, as you said, it may turn out as another source of confusion than help them.
You could get some words that contain the 'a' letter, say about 40 words, and ask them to sort them out according to the way they would pronounce those words, they might get about 6 or 7 different sounds for the letter 'a', in doing so, you can go on to explain that that's the reason IPA could be helpful for them, if they know how to learn those symbols they will be able to pronounce any English word (at least they would know what not to say), later on, you can work on minimal pairs like /ae/ and /e/ as in bad and bed; /I/ and /i:/ (or /iy/) as in fit and feet, if it's a light-hearted activity (about 5 to 10 minutes) they could benefit from it.
Some coursebooks bring those small activities at the end of units, you can get one to see how they deal with it.
José
You could get some words that contain the 'a' letter, say about 40 words, and ask them to sort them out according to the way they would pronounce those words, they might get about 6 or 7 different sounds for the letter 'a', in doing so, you can go on to explain that that's the reason IPA could be helpful for them, if they know how to learn those symbols they will be able to pronounce any English word (at least they would know what not to say), later on, you can work on minimal pairs like /ae/ and /e/ as in bad and bed; /I/ and /i:/ (or /iy/) as in fit and feet, if it's a light-hearted activity (about 5 to 10 minutes) they could benefit from it.
Some coursebooks bring those small activities at the end of units, you can get one to see how they deal with it.
José
I use it in my pronunciation class if we concentrate on a particular sound. I've tried many different things. The one I generally use the most of now is writing CaC for the sound in "cat" (consonant-a-consonant); CaCe/CaiC/Cay for the sound in "name/wait/day" etc. I put them on a chart with the corresponding IPA as well for those who know it. I use it when I teach sound/spelling correspondence, as a fill-in at the end of class. That way they can pick up a little and I don't worry about running short on material. (Not that I seem to have that problem anyway...) (I dictate one-syllable words and have them spell them.)
Re: Do you teach them IPA?
I have a pronunciation-based class that focuses particularly on pronunciation.Tara B wrote:I have run into a few students with great pronunciation who are in the US for the first time, and know the IPA alphabet. (Mostly Asians) Coincidence?
Despite this fact, I just can't see how to teach it in any way that wouldn't make my students more confused than they already are.
Your thoughts?
Because of this, I copied a sheet of North American IPA, gave it to every student, and told them to bring it to every class (because they are going to the U.S. for work related training).
I only use the IPA in class (on the board) with words that students are having difficulty with.
I use IPA for sentence stress and linking also.
"How much is it" might be "how much [IZIT].
I tell them to bring the IPA sheet to every class and give them a brief quiz on it occaisonally (dictation quiz).
I don't focus on the IPA that much in class. Only when it's necesarry.
I think it helps.