Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Derrek]

I have always taken a special interest in accent work.

Also, it has bugged the living daylights out of me that I can't give each student some form of individual attention for more than a quick chat (I have 35 per class), so I've devised this plan as an experiment during Winter camp.

Background about the camp: My camp will include two classes of 15 students for the first three days (returning 2nd graders). When they finish, 2 new classes of newbees coming from the Middle Schools (now entering my high school) will begin a separate program for about a week.

What I'm doing:

I have completed a list of English words based on information I got from a Speech Therapist -- using some from her list, and adding some of my own. Basically, every tongue position and sound in the English language is utilized when the students read from this list of prepared words. I've also thrown in some sentences with specific letters and sounds Koreans have difficulty with (L, R, W, etc.)

My class has 7 tape recorders built-in to the computer desks in my room. Last year, they went unused. This year, as a part of their first class, I am having incoming 1st year students take 5 minutes to read the words and record them to their own cassette tape (I have the tapes). After they are done, I will then take a few hours to listen through all of the tapes and circle the problematic areas of each student.

I am sure there will be certain areas that most Korean students have difficulty in. I have already incorporated these areas into my daily lesson plans for daily practice, and have some high-tech Korean graphics software that shows the movement of the mouth, lips, tongue, jaw, etc, as well as air movement out of the mouth when each phonetic is spoken.

Once I check over the tapes, I will return their results, and they must practice these words on their own to improve their accent. Sometime this next school year, I plan to finish building a web site where they can move their mouse over each individual word in the list and practice their problem area.

It's a lot of work, but something I want to include as a part of my regular classes for 1st year students.

Does anyone have any suggestions that might be helpful? Any ideas I might incorporate?

Thanks.

[Ryst Helmut]

I wish I were there to sit down with you, I have a lot to say about this.

I've written a few papers (3 of which are being published in refereed journals) on the topic of accent reduction...as well as my thesis (case study) was on pronunciation instruction, and what the literature leads to is that you do not focus on segmentals (what you are attempting to work on)...but rather on global aspects and suprasegmentals.


Suprasegmental errors are really what gets in the way of communication, but I do teach (GTAs/ITAs classes in pronunciation at our univ.) both segmentals and suprasegmentals...as it is so hard for me to break the habit of thought...you know...'one must walk before they run.' Actually, recent lit. promotes the idea of a balanced curriculum....goodie goodie for me.


The use of pre- and post-tests (with cassette tapes) is common...and good, as long as you make a significant difference ('cause who wants proof that they didn't improve). Be forewarned...if you phonetically transcribe (correctly) their pre- and post-tests..it'll take you about 1 hour per student per test. That is, if you acknowledge BOTH segmentals and suprasegmentals. I know. I do it monthly.

Also, you may want to read up on CALL issues in AR, because there are many issues that need to be addressed when using this type of technology for this type of activity.

I really don't have the time to get into it now...but PM me and if you have a web-cam (chat through MSN?) I could explain what I've found works and doesn't.

!shoosh

Ryst

[Grotto]

A great pronunciation exercise which does cut down on accents is tongue twisters

also practice rolling your R's fun to watch and the students also get a kick out of it.

[Derrek]

Thanks for the comments.

I was trained in phonetic inscription once, however I've forgotten a lot of the characters, etc. I was hired to do this for a "language clinic" 2 years ago, but the place didn't get enough students and went under in 3 months (before I even started)! Luckily, I saved my notes from my training there.

Yeah, there's no way I will transcribe for every student -- would take days. I plan to just go through the list as I listen to the tapes and mark down the main problem spots.


Funny you should mention it, Grotto, but the sentences I spoke about earlier are tongue-twisters (oriented for Korean problems, anyway).

I'm creating a Power Point of all these words, and I'll be happy to post it online with a link if anyone wants it. I have created 3 additional words for each group of 3, but don't have those here. For now, here are some the words (about three words per phonetic instead of 6 in the Power Point). Actually, I should have numbered a new line every 3 words, but I'm not going to bother fixing it for this post:


1. peak pack push keep cap soup

2. beat back bush rib cab robe

3. tea tag took heat sat boot

4. deep dad do need pad wood

5. keep cap cook tick wake look

6. give gas go dig egg dog

7. feet fat foot if off enough

8. very vat voice leave of move

9. think thumb thought fifth bath mouth

10. this that those breathe bathe smooth

11. see sat Sue kiss gas juice

12. zip zone zoo is jazz froze

13. ship shall shoe wish cash push

14. beige rouge vision

15. chin champ chew rich match watch

16. jelly jam juice bridge badge wage

17. meet mat move team ham come

18. neat knack new seen can soon

19. wing sang tongue

20. lead lack look feel shall pull

21. read ran ruby

22. pretty praise proof bring brass brew

23. tree trap true drip drag droop

24. creep crack crude greed grand groom

25. free frank fruit three thrift threw

26. please plant plow bliss black blue

27. clean class clue glide glass gloom

28. flee flap flew

29. spell Spanish spoon stick stamp stoop

30. skid scan school smell smash smooth

31. sniff snag snoop sleep slap slow

32. sweet swam swoop

33. spring spread spray strip strap strong

34. script scrap screw split splash splatter

35. yes young youth we why wood

36. he hat who

37. eat see me it sit kick

38. play date take wed step neck

39. as fat back

40. but luck fun about upon alike

41. bird nurse learn mother paper later

42. Sue boot moon took foot puss

43. boat no sew hot ball off

44. I my like cow out down

45. boy voice toy ear fear beer

46. air fair wear or cord sore

47. are far hard



Korean-oriented "Tongue Twisters":


1. The red rabbit ran right across the road.
2. Randy writes really fast with his right hand.
3. Roosters rest with red necks wriggling and wrestling in the white moonlight.


1. Lovely Lisa loves lucky Larry.
2. Listen to the laughter of little leopards as they leap left and right.
3. Lakes shaped like a liver often look really long and lanky.


1. This thing that Theodore thought was thin is actually very thick.
2. The thistle is very sharp, don��t you think?
3. A thorough investigation requires a lot of thought.


1. The water will be really wet in the wild woods.
2. Wake up! We��re watching the wrestling match, but you��re missing it!
3. Would you please tell me where William went?


1. Peanuts pack a lot of power.
2. Party until you pass out? Please don��t pretend that��s proper!
3. It��s a bad idea to push piles of paperwork to the side.


1. Big balloons and big bags of blue confetti are at the bank.
2. Bring your bright blue shoes and black bonnet.
3. Blast the bad guys with a bold bark.


1. Don��t fight with the fireman. He��s fat, but he��s really fast!
2. Feel the falling temperature fighting to stay warm in the Fall.
3. Fact and fiction stories are both fun to read fully.

[crazylemongirl]

Just as a suggestion derrek, the girls might get bored of tounge twisters or reading random words. Perhaps look at doing some singing or a simple short play. I found even my boys who have the attention span of a fruit fly will spend hours on stuff like this even though a lot of it just rote learning it.

[Ryst Helmut]

Derrek,

That seems like a good start, however, you are missing the most important aspect of pronunciation.

Intelligibility.

This is where SUPRASEGMENTALS come into the picture.

You know how there are some people that have heavy accents (say, Arnold Schwarzensomethingorother...or Ginsberg) but you totally understand what they say...ok, most of the time. Well, even though their segmentals are flawed, their suprasegmentals (in general) are not.

Same with your students, since Korean does not have suprasegmental features...save a few minor similarities.

What are suprasegmentals? Stress, Intonation, Rhythm...for example.

Why is this important? Well, my Hong Kong student yesterday said that he went to the "REcreation centre."

It took me a few seconds....but then I realised he meant "recreAtion."

You know...words that are spelled the same but pronounced differently. (what's that called...I've blanked...not homophone...anywho...)

For example:
Verb - conFLICT
Noun - CONflict

Teaching that these type words follow certain pronunciation rules (like reduction) is the bestest way to go.

Improvement in suprasegmentals is easier to learn than segmentals, and RETENTION (our goal) has shown to be more successful.

But as I said....a balanced curriculum is best.

I am presenting as the Southeast Regional TESOL and Florida SS TESOL conferences on this topic. At least one of these will be digitally taped...and will be posted on our univ. web-site. When that happens, I'll send you the link.

It's hard to condense some 400 pages I've written on this into a few Dave's posts.


!Shoosh

Ryst

[Derrek]

[Derrek]

[Ya-ta Boy]

While Ryst is totally correct about suprasegmentals, spending time on specific pronunciation problems with younger learners is not a waste of time.

Identifying problem sounds for students is not too difficult. The hard part is helping them correct it. Practicing alone is difficult because there is no way for the learner to know if he/she has made the correct sound.

I find that working with minimal pairs (sheep vs ship) is helpful. There are lots of activities available where students first respond after hearing the contrasts, then later where they produce the different sounds. That gives them practice in sharpening their listening skills as well as immediate feedback when pronouncing those sounds. (There isn't much carryover with older learners, but with kids first learning to speak it helps.)

One example I've shared before:

Assign a number value to sets of minimal pairs like this:

0 = sheep 5 = ship
1 = peak 6 = pick
2 = beat 7 = bit
3 = leak 8 = lick
4 = feet 9 = fit

Now make up a telephone number: 652-4938

Substitute the words for the numbers and have the students write the phone number.

pick-ship-beat--feet-fit-leak-lick (I give the first three numbers as a group, then the last 4 numbers.)

The kids go nuts trying to figure out which word in each pair I am saying. After doing it a couple of times, I let a student say a phone number. Then I have them do it in pairs.

There are other activities you can use for variety.


I also find it a good idea to have students count syllables in words. I make up a list of words and have students hold up fingers telling me how many syllables each word has. At first, students have a hard time distinguishing syllables. After doing it for 5 minutes a day for a week or so, all of them catch on. Then we start doing syllable stress. Which is the correct pronunciation: HAP py or hap PY?

Shadow reading is my favorite activity for teaching rhythm and stress in sentences. I tape something off TV...news or a few sentences by an actor. I play it a few times while the students mark the stresses and pauses in the sentences. Then I have them individually read aloud with the tape, trying to keep pace while 'shadowing' the speaker.

[Derrek]

yata, thanks... I will use that at camp next week.

[mithridates]

One really good thing you can do is photocopy a Dr. Seuss book and then blank out the last words in every second sentence. Generally we can figure out what the word is going to be but Koreans have a bit of trouble identifying that bat, bet and bit for example are all different words. I have one adult class in the hagwon downstairs in the evening and they're both quite smart and have no difficulty in conversing about anything, but when I say 'what rhymes with mitt?' suddenly they're back down to grade 1. Uh...bet? No, not bet. Bet is a different sound. Fit rhymes with mitt.

Opening lines from the Cat in the Hat:

The sun did not shine, it was too wet to play,
so we sat in the house, all that cold cold wet ---.

What's the word? Obviously it's day. Obvious to us that is.

I sat there with Sally, we sat there we too,
and I said, 'How I wish we had something to --!'
Too wet to go out and too cold to play ball,
so we sat in the house, we did nothing at ---.

So all we could do was to
sit!
sit!
sit!
sit!
And we did not like it, not one little ---.


I hope I'm not off topic...

[ajuma]

One thing you mentioned was having the students practice on their own. This isn't helpful unless you give them something with the CORRECT pronunciation. Maybe making a tape YOURSELF for them to listen to and practice with would be helpful.

And thanks everyone for all of the suggestions. I'll be teaching a class that's partially based on pronunciation and these suggestions will help a lot!

[Derrek]

[Ryst Helmut]

[Derrek]

Have looked through many many links in the past. If you find something you think might be of interest, please post. There's always the chance that I missed something.

Unfortuantely, none were created in the simple format I have in mind for my class. I'm not thinking of anything elaborate, however I want it to be easy enough to use without having to wade though a bunch of scientific menu jargon, etc.

I will plan mine to directly coincide with what I'm teaching in class.