Teacher Discussion Forums

Aileen · Joined: 25 Jun 2003 Posts: 4 Location: China

Hi. I am an english teacher in China,and i am teaching the begainers(adults) mainly the phonetics. As they are not as active as the young people,it is a bit hard for me to activate the atmosphere in the classroom, and the main problem is that they are VERY SHY

Can anybody give any ideas about this or maybe some interesting activities??Thanks a lot in advance! [/b]

Marta · Joined: 23 Aug 2003 Posts: 6 Location: Canada, Toronto

Hi there

First of all, how is everything in China?

You are right teaching phonetics is a gruesome task, however, there are ways in which you can make it exciting. What I did was I downloaded the phonetic signs and enlarged them, cut them out and put a word that corespondce to the sound (at the same time you can teach some vocab)keep the vocab to their level. then hand out a few sounds to each group of people and make sure they get comfortable with their sounds and then make them do a mini presentation. Make sure they are ready to make the sound show the sound and provide the class with a few words. Basically put the onus on them. You will be surprised how well this works.
I won't be suprised if laughter arises.

I hope this helps.

Lorikeet · Posted: Sat Aug 23, 2003 8:05 pm Post subject:

I just started teaching a pronunciation class this semester as part of my load. The students are adults (age 18 to 75+) from many language backgrounds. The class meets one hour a day five days a week, and I have from 30 to 40 students. (Attendance varies as this class is an "open-entry" "open-exit" class and there are no grades given. Students come because they want to, and don't come if they are busy.)

I am using a lot of pair work for practice. (I tell the students not to fight if they disagree on whose sound is "right" or "wrong" but to call me and I'll settle the dispute. It gets a good laugh, and usually they are both wrong anyway Wink

) One of the pair activities I have done is to use pictures for minimal pairs. For example, on a piece of paper, there is a line dividing "Jan" and "John". They each have pictures (Jan has a rock, a sock, a cat, etc. Jan has a rack, a sock, a cot, etc.) Student can ask, "Does Jan have a rock?" "Does John have a sack?" and answer. I go over the words first, as well as the pronunciation of the two vowel sounds that are the focus of the lesson.