Could it be that teachers are talking more about pronunciation? Are we seeing the beginning of a shift?
A shift from “This pron stuff is mysterious and difficult and elusive and endless…”
And towards “Hey! If you approach it differently this pron thing is pretty straightforward, doable and FUN. And although it is EVERYHERE, there isn’t a whole lot to it…!”
I seem to have noticed a lot more online interest in pron recently, and I have certainly found myself involved in many more pronunciation talks, workshops, demonstrations and courses this year.
Yesterday I did a pronunciation webinar for Macmillan ELT which you can see again here next week when it’s been processed. I’ll put the link here. (It will also take you to other webinars from the likes of Carol Read, Pete Sharma, Scott Thornbury, Vaughan Jones and others….)
And there has been a lot of response to the pron webinar for example at elt-resourceful and at Carol Goodey’s blog, and at eltchat
Tomorrow (10 Nov) I am doing two sessions on pron at the English UK Teachers Conference, and on the 14 Nov a full intensive Teacher Training Day on pron at English UK in London.
Next year I will be running two one week pron teacher training courses in the summer, at Oxford University and Cambridge University (link coming shortly)
Does anyone else have the impression that pron things are on the move…? Or is it just a funny dream I’m having?
Adrian’s Pron Chart Blog 
No, there does seem to be something in the air..and it’s really good to see. I’m at English UK tomorrow as well- and there is some reference to connected speech in my presentation too. 🙂
I wish that some day you would visit and lecture here in Melbourne . Australia is a great place to visit
Hi Adrian,
You are absolutely correct, have you seen the last ESL blog carnival, they have a whole new website dedicated to teaching pronunciation. In Asia, there is a huge shift from being able to just speak the language to speaking it well without an accent. This is mainly due to the fact that if you know how to “speak like a native” it can carry you forth and bring you great successes financially and careerwise.
It’s no funny dream, Adrian. It IS happening. Can we keep it going? I think so, so if anyone is in Liverpool next April for the IATEFL conference, do please come along to the Pronunciation Special Interest Group events – both the Pre-conference event and the talks on the PronSIG track.
Reblogged this on Random Thoughts and commented:
🙂
maybe it’s down to your great teaching! keep spreading the good work and taking the fear out of teaching pronunciation!