Category Archives: General

Visual impairment and using the pron chart

To followers of this blog: A true story to start the year… Here is a very special post which tells a story. It starts last September when Laila, who lives and works in Spain, meets her new class. This follows … Continue reading

Posted in General, The chart and physicality | 4 Comments

Observations on the American English chart … and the vowel /ɑː/

Beatriz Cabrera Portillo asks about the American English chart, and also about the vowel sound /ɑː/. She says: 1) When comparing your magnificent two phonemic charts in both BrE and AmE, I’ve realised that a “long a” is not included … Continue reading

Posted in General | Leave a comment

Introducing the pronunciation chart at beginner level

A question from Kathryn Irwin Hello Adrian, I just wondered if you have any tips or advice about introducing the chart to beginner or elementary level students? What kinds of activities would you recommend in the first few lessons? I … Continue reading

Posted in General | 7 Comments

Is it best to teach pronunciation during early childhood?

Here is another interesting question from the Oxford TEFL Online Diploma course I was involved with last month, this one from Clare Sheppard: Hi Adrian,   Kelly says that after childhood our ability to adopt an unfamiliar set of sounds diminishes … Continue reading

Posted in General | Leave a comment

Do teachers need a detailed knowledge and understanding of articulatory phonetics to teach pronunciation effectively?

Three weeks ago I was a guest tutor on the Oxford TEFL Online Diploma course.  They run this and other teacher training courses throughout the year. Click here for info. The participants were asking a range of interesting pron questions, … Continue reading

Posted in General | 1 Comment

Improvisation and pronunciation teaching Part 2: A technique for improvisation

 In this post I’d like to conclude what I started to say about improvisation and pron teaching a couple of posts ago. To improvise well in my response to a learner’s utterance means to engage with what they are working … Continue reading

Posted in General | 3 Comments

Improvisation and pronunciation teaching Part 1: Cocktail parties, jazz and pron

In the last few years I have been exploring the role of spontaneity and improvisation in teaching, and have written and spoken about it here and there (IATEFL TD Newsletters 2009/2010; ETP issue 82, 2012 (with Alan Maley); IATEFL Conference … Continue reading

Posted in General | 10 Comments

Rolling enrolment and classes that are mixed level and mixed experience.

A question was recently posted by Deborah Hobbs after the article on How to introduce the chart to your class. This made me think about the knotty problems of rolling enrolment and mixed experience. Hi Adrian, I recently watched (on … Continue reading

Posted in General | 2 Comments

Turkish learners and /w/ and /v/

Julian Regan was teaching some Turkish students, and was exploring ways to work in individual sounds. He asked me: JR Could you give me a quick tip to help my Turkish students pronounce /w/ correctly, rather than /v/? Thanks! AU … Continue reading

Posted in General | Leave a comment

Getting into pronunciation, or not

On the same Diploma course last month Anna Malik was wondering about how people get into teaching pron, or what might put them off it. She asked these two questions, and this is what I replied: AM: I was wondering … Continue reading

Posted in General | Leave a comment