Pronunciation and Phonological Awareness: A Comprehensive Guide for ESL/EFL Students - Pro, Appunti di Lingua Inglese

Scarica Pronunciation and Phonological Awareness: A Comprehensive Guide for ESL/EFL Students - Pro e più Appunti in PDF di Lingua Inglese solo su Docsity! SOUNDS AND WORDS Pronunciation is linked to other oral skills, influencing and influenced by listening, comprehension and fluency. Improving the quality of sounds will benefit comprehension. Learning a more correct pronunciation of sounds will help reducing accent features and will help children to become confident and fluent speakers. Grammatical errors, such as omitting the past tense in a sentence rarely bring to unintelligibility: “Yesterday I go to the cinema” is still comprehensible although incorrect. There are many other factors that influence intelligibility: speaking rate, errors in grammar, word choice, the age at which English is learned. When we study English pronunciation, we need to pay attention to: • Sound quality and sound combination • Stress • Rhythm • Intonation STRESS Stress is a vocal feature. Speakers must stress certain syllables in words; otherwise, the words would be misunderstood or sound strange. Incorrect stress pronunciation can change the meaning of the sentence. "I saw a movie" is different from "I saw a movie". The noun present (a gift) is different from the verb present (to introduce). RHYTHM Rhythm is a vocal feature. It is created by the strong stresses or beats in a sentence. In many languages, the rhythm is syllable-timed. This means that all vowels in all syllables are pronounced almost equally. Syllables are rarely lost or reduced as they are in English. For example, a three-word phrase in Italian doesn’t become two words. In English, “ham and eggs” become “ham’n eggs”. This reduction results because English has a stress-timed rhythm. This means that its rhythm is determined by the number of stresses, not by the number of syllables. English speakers slow down and emphasize stressed words or syllables. They speed up and reduce unstressed ones. INTONATION Intonation is a vocal feature. Intonation patterns involve pitch and are responsible for the melody of the language. Speakers depend more on intonation patterns to give their meaning than on the pronunciation of the individual vowels and consonant. For example, in English, the same word can be used to make a statement or ask a question. If your vocal intonation rises, you are asking a question: “he speaks English?”. Stress on first syllable: àpple, tàble, mòther, tèacher Stress on second syllable: aròund, allòw, complète Primary stress on first syllable: àccident, sèventy Primary stress on second syllable: tomòrrow, decèmber Primary stress on third syllable: afternòon, seventèen Distracting or stereotyped pronunciations can distract the listener’s attention from the message. The mispronunciation of beach or sheet has often caused a lot of embarrassment: English /i/ for / iy/. Some stereotypical mistakes may identify the speaker’s nationality: The case of initial s in Italian and in English Small, Swimming, Sleep Difference in Italian between initial s in “storia” and initial s in “sbattere”. Regional accents e.g. Rosa/rosa (regional accent in Sicily). Adults tend to fossilize their pronunciation and it may be very difficult to intervene and improve their pronunciation. Gradual improvement is possible, but it needs a lot of exercise. University students of the Education department have to be trained because the quality of the sounds they will teach the children can be acceptable. Controlled exercises allow students to develop skills in perception and/or production with a feature of pronunciation; for example, repetition of words (addressing sounds or word stress patterns) or phrases (addressing rhythm and intonation), minimal pairs (pairs of words differing in only one sound, for example, bid-bead), dialogues. Exercises may progress from highly controlled (repetition of words) to less controlled activities (creating dialogues and some types of games). The teacher can spend time on controlled activities, depending on the difficulty students experience with a pronunciation point. Listen and Repeat (Phonology and Behaviour) Hearing and duplicating to learners is a useful way with good results to get the correct pronunciation. Sounds in English are divided into two main groups: consonants and vowels. Learners must know that they are the most important part in pronunciation. Every learner learns native language sounds at the beginning of his learning life. For example, young children try to blow air from their mouths to make sounds, talk and imitate. Learning a second language is similar to learning a first language in recognizing new sounds, repeating them and then acquiring the language. The normal method to assist learners to acquire the sounds is through a context. By words, phrases, contracted words and minimal words. Some sounds in English have different sounds in different places in a sentence. (L2) learners must hear and repeat sounds for many times until they acquire their pronunciation. What is pronunciation? It is how we produce the sounds that we use to make meaning when we speak. It includes: • particular consonants and vowels of a language (segments), • aspects of speech beyond the level of the individual segments, such as stress, timing, rhythm, intonation, phrasing (fraseggio), (suprasegmental aspects), and how the voice is projected (voice quality). There are two basic groups of approaches: 1. Listen and repeat (Intuitive - Imitative Approaches): children 2. Analyse and understand (Analytic-Linguistic Approaches): adults Plan class activities* that will help students improve in these aspects: 1. Exposure to authentic spoken speech 2. Chorused imitation of letters, audio-video recorded native speakers 3. Individualised language lab work 4. Reading aloud 5. Ear-training and phonetic drilling THE SIBILANTS: See, Zoo, Shoe, Pleasure, Cheap, Jazz The case of s/z: race, raise, raze, rice, rise (n), rise (v) SIBILANT SPELLINGS NASAL: SUN, SOME, SUNG What the Teacher Should Know There are three nasal consonants in English: /n/ as in sun, /m/ as in some, and /9/ as in sung. With /n/, the tip of the tongue touches behind the top teeth; with /m/, the lips close; and with /n/, the back of the tongue rises to touch the velum (the back of the roof of the mouth) and the tip of the tongue rests behind the bottom teeth. With all three consonants, the air is released through the nose rather than the mouth. /1/ occurs only in the middle or at the ends of words (e.g., singing). sun some sung fo n° ng is pronounced /1)/ ng is pronounced /ng/ 1. Comparatives and superlatives of -ng 1. final ng: long, young adjectives: longer, youngest, stronger 2. the «ing ending 2. ngle spellings: single, tingle, mingle 3. most other rg spellings 3. finger Stops /k/ and /g/: coat, goat; the letter x What the Teacher Should Know Few students have problems pronouncing the stop consonants /k/ and /g/ when they begin a word or syllable, as in coat and goat. With both consonants, the back of the tongue rises to touch the velum. /k/ is voiceless and /g/ is voiced. coar, goar cl GLOTTAL: /H/ What the Teacher Should Know The consonant /h/ is a voiceless fricative created by pushing air through the glottis (vocal cords). It is the sound of panting or breathing after exercise /h/ is a weak sound in English and may be dropped when it is inside a word or sentence and not followed by a stressed vowel. In history; for example, /h/ is always pronounced because the following vowel is stressed. In historical, /M/ is followed by an unstressed vowel. It is always pronounced when it begins an utterance (e.g., Historical figures are .. .). However, when historical is inside a sentence, some speakers say “an historical fact" (omitting /h/) and others “a historical fact" (pronouncing /h/). INITIAL /R/: RIGHT PRONUNCIATION OF THE SIMPLE PAST ENDING -ED Vowel sounds Stress https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wbs5aoqFtVQ When helping children sound out words, consider the following: 1. Say it slowly: stretch out words so that it's easier to hear the sounds. Vowel sounds are usually the easiest to stretch out. 2. Hold the sound: starting with the first sound, hold it and stop. 3. Find the letter: help children identify the letter whose sound matches the sound they have identified. 4. Write it down: write that letter down straight away, without waiting until the entire word has been sounded out. So that children can visualize the spelling of the word. Gilbert, J (2011), Teaching Pronunciation: Seven Essential Concepts, video, Youtube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPmjGHdK5v8 ISSUES TO TAKE INTO CONSIDERATION WITH ADULTS Prosody is the combination of rhythm, melody, intonation and suprasegmentals. A techniques for improving listening comprehension is to dictate sentences containing the specific element the student is working on. The English prosodic system can be illustrated with a pyramid shape: the Prosody Pyramid. • The base of the system is the thought group. This is a group of words that may be a short sentence, a clause, or a phrase. • Then, there is a focus word, that is the most important word in the thought group. • Then, there is one syllable that gives the main stress. • Then, there is the peak: the sounds in this syllable must be clear, because this is the centre of meaning of the thought group. Template sentences: frasi modello. We can use rubber band to illustrate stress and vowel length. Schwa, /ə/, is the sound of the second vowel in sofa or lemon or the first and last vowels in banana. Final consonants are crucial. In some languages there are no final consonants or very few so the brain doesn’t process the final consonants. • It means recognizing and using individual sounds to combine sounds and create words , hearing the sounds in spoken language (listening skill). • It is the ability to recognize that a spoken word consists of a sequence of individual sounds and to manipulate individual sounds in the speech stream. It is: • The ability to hear rhymes and alliteration. • Hearing words in spoken language. • Hearing syllables in spoken words and then being able to clap out syllables. • Hearing sounds at the beginning of words and then being able to produce words that begin with certain sounds. • Recognizing and identifying rhyming words and then being able to produce rhyming words. • Being able to hear individual sounds in words. • Being able to blend individual sounds together to make a word (e.g. c_a_t = cat). • Being able to segment sounds in words (e.g. cat = c_a_t). • Deleting, substituting and manipulating sounds in words. Phonological awareness is important to: • Develop the child’s ability to identify and produce rhyming words. • Improve the child’s syllable awareness. • Develop the child’s ability to blend sounds. • Strengthen the child’s ability to identify sounds at the start, at the end and in the middle of words. • Help the child sound out words. • Improve the child’s reading comprehension. • Help the child read fluently. • Develop the child’s confidence and self-esteem. A child with phonological awareness can: • Identify and make oral rhymes o Dip, sip, lip, glip o Mat, sat, cat, hat • Hear, identify, and play with the sounds in words o Sun, sit, song -say they begin with “sss” sound o Bite, dot, sit -say they end with “ttt” sound o Dust, dog, dig, stop -say which word doesn’t fit and why • Hear the syllables in words o Clap for each sound in name “Ri - ta” o Snap for each sound in um-brell-a Phonological awareness includes the following skills: • Recognizing when words rhyme (e.g., “Do ‘cat’ and ‘frog’ rhyme?”) and coming up with a word that rhymes (e.g., “What rhymes with ‘kyte’?”) • Blending syllables (combinazione di sillabe) (example: “I am going to say parts of a word. Tell me what the word is….”) “Rab” – bit = rabbit • How many syllables? www.howmanysyllables.com ACTIVITIES IN THE MOTHER TONGUE THAT CAN BE USEFUL FOR SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION TOO What activities can help improve phonological (sound) awareness? • Listen to sounds in the environment, songs, stories, words and speech sounds. • Look at books from an early age. • Make sounds: Talk about how sounds are made with your mouth and practise making different sounds in front of the mirror (e.g. a snake makes a “sssss” sound). • Alphabet: Look at alphabet books and sing alphabet songs. • Silly sentences: Make up silly sentences where words begin with the same sound (e.g. “Katy the cute koala likes cuddling Chloe”). • Word pairs: Think of a list of familiar pairs (e.g. fish and chips, knife and fork, Posh and Becks, salt and pepper). Try swapping the first sounds of each word to make spoonerisms (e.g. table and chair = chable and tair). • Sound Swap: Take it in turns to change a sound in a word to create a new word (e.g. hat – hut - hum – hug – bug – bag) • Sing nursery rhymes and songs: Emphasise rhythm and rhyme in rhymes and songs, such as ‘Incy Wincy Spider’ and ‘Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star’ (e.g. “Twinkle twinkle little star, How I wonder what you are“). • Read books together which have an emphasis on sound play (e.g. rhyme, alliteration, or words that start with the same sound). Highlight to the children that the rhyming words sound the same because they have the same endings (e.g. ‘cat’ and ‘hat’ both have an ‘at’ sound in them). • Identify sounds in words. For example, talk about the sound at the start of words – ‘Listen, mummy starts with the /m/ sound. Let’s find more words that start with the /m/ sound’). • ‘I Spy’: Play games like ‘I Spy’ and take turns to find objects that begin with a specific sound (e.g. ‘I spy with my little eye something beginning with /t/’). • Syllables: Model and encourage the children to identify the number of syllables in a word by clapping, drumming or stamping their feet (e.g. ‘butterfly’- but – ter –fly). Clap out the name of the child as well as the names of other classmates. • Feely bag: The adult and the children can take turns to pull out objects to focus on: o Rhyme: Put pairs of items into a feely bag. If the two objects rhyme they can keep the pair. o Syllables: Place a variety of objects (e.g. toys, plastic food) into the bag. Get the child to take out an object, say the word and work out how many syllables it has. o Sound segmentation: Select pairs of objects/pictures that have the same number of sounds in their name. Put them in a bag. Each child takes out two objects/pictures and says whether they have the same number of sounds. If they do, the child gets to keep the pair. Note: we are focusing on the number of sounds not the number of letters (i.e. b-oa-t has the same number of sounds as c-a-t). Initially you may want to use blocks to represent each sound. The role of the teacher To support children’s development of phonological awareness, teachers: • Use songs, rhyming games, nursery rhymes, and rhyming poetry • Play syllable clapping games • Play games with the sounds in words (group objects by their beginning sounds, which word doesn’t fit • Talk with children about words and sounds in everyday situations • Choose books to read aloud that focus on sound POETRY ACTIVITY • Choose a poem that you would like children to learn (memorize and recite). • Write it on a chart. (Pay attention to how you are teaching the sounds of language and words.) • Include a few picture clues to help children “read it”. • Develop a plan for different ways you can have children do repeated recitations, using strategies from the handout and any other ideas you can think of. • Brainstorm different times of the day you can chant the poem with children. • Prepare to present a creative recitation to the whole group Poetry should be introduced first and frequently to children in an oral form. Most poetry is best read aloud. Moreover, children's oral language is the basis for their later acquisition of literacy. Choral poetry consists of interpreting and saying a poem together as a group activity. Children enjoy this way of experiencing poetry because they have a participatory role in the activity. Part A: Imagery • Imagery refers to mental pictures created by words. • Literal Images: the words are used to describe something directly by appealing to one or more of our sensory faculties. 1. Visual images: they consist of things we can see. “The sun was shining on the sea, Shining with all his might: He did his very best to make The billows smooth and bright -And this was odd, because it was The middle of the night. (Lewis Carroll)” 2. Tactile images: they appeal to our sense of touch. “Through the green twilight of a hedge, I peered with cheek on the cool leaves pressed (Walter de la Mare)” 3. Auditory images: they suggest the sounds of things, usually resulting in an effect onomatopoeia (Words that imitate sounds or sounds that are linked with objects). “Bow-wow, says the dog, Mew, mew says the cat, Grunt, grunt, goes the hog, And squeak goes the rat. Tu, whu, says the owl, Quack, quack, says the duck, And what the cuckoo says you know. (Mother Goose)” 4. Olfactory images: they suggest the smells of things. “As Mommy washed up and the children played, smell of warm butter filled the air. (Anonymous)” 5. Kinesthetic images: they refer to actions or motions. “A poem once stopped me on the street. I've got a poem stuck on my feet. A poem attacked me in the shower. I find a poem most every hour! (Mark Stansell)” 6. Gustatory images: they suggest the tastes of things. “A mouse found a beautiful piece of plum cake, The richest and sweetest that mortal could make: 'Twas heavy with citron and fragrant with spice, And covered with sugar all sparkling as ice. (Iona and Peter Opie)” Figurative images: the words are used to describe one thing by comparing it to something else with which we are more familiar.The poet uses figurative language to bring us new experiences, new visions, new ways of looking at the world. • Simile: a stated comparison, employing a connective such as "like" or "as" “My love is like a red, red rose" • Metaphor: an implied comparison, not directly stated with words such as "like" and "as". d. This is the number of syllables 3. The "Clap Method" Rules a. Clapping may help you find syllables. b. Say the word. c. Clap each time you hear A, E, I, O, or U (a vowel) as a separate sound. d. The number of claps is the number of syllables 4. The "Robot Speak Method" Rules a. Make believe you are a robot from the year 2000. b. Say a word as this robot. c. Pay attention to the pauses you make. d. How many parts did you break your word into? Example: robot = "ro" *pause* "bot"... 2 syllables e. This is the number of syllables. ‘Rhymes and Rhythm A poem-based course for English pronunciation Michael Vaughan Rees —Garnet Education Rhymes and Rhythm If we enlarge the phonetic notation it is easy to seè which is the most common vowel sound in the weak, unstressed syllables. Morocco Ima'rpkao/ Amazon /'emazan/ giraffe /d3atra:f/ Peter l'pi:to/ Japan /d39'pen/ anthony /'aentani/ Felicity /fa'lisati/ rhinoceros /rai'nnsaras/ cigarette /sigatret/ elephant /'elifont/ .: /'elofant/ Jemima /d3zt':marma/ or /d3za'marma/ | Janet ‘d3@enit or /'d3z@enat/ Wolverhampton /wulva'hemptan/ "The most common sound by far is the one in blue. This is the vowel represented by the symbol /a/ and it is the only vowel important enough to be given its own name: schwa. Stress and rhythm When we looked at the Jane, Susan and Timothy sequence, we saw that it is possible to keep to a more or less regular beat, based on stressed syllables, provided that: a) the stressed syllable is louder and longer than the others; b) the weak syllables are really weak. that Jack built’. It has four beats, corresponding to the stressed syllables marked in bold in the previous line. But note that the first beat is followed by two weak syllables, the next by one, then by none. So you You can demonstrate this by using the first line of a famous children's rhyme called ‘This is the house have to imagine the rhythm of the line as: ONE Two THREE FOUR u ° n n n DAH du du DAH du DAH DAH This is the house that Jack o built (Note the use of DAH du du DAH du DAH DAH. You can always use these nonsense syliables to get the rhythm of sentences without having to worry about an exact pronunciation. Just remember that DAH is relatively long and loud while du is relatively short and quiet.) ONE Two THREE FOUR n ° n o n oo n DAH du du DAH du du DAH dudu DAH These are the hous es that Ja queline built Now try this longer sequence, still keeping to the same rhythm. ONE Two THREE FOUR This is the house that Jack built These are the houses that Jack built These are the houses that Jaqueline built This is the house that my mother designed This is the bicyele Peter repaired Those are the people we met in the park That is the personI SAW on the stairs Those are the people we drove to the party That is the Qardener who works for my mother Andrew is taller than Peter and Thomas Fancya glass of Italian brandy? Tom's not as tall as the rest of the family Consonant to vowel one apple When a word ending in a consonant is followed by a word beginning with a vowel, there is a smooth link. If the word beginning with the vowel is stressed, then the moment of stress seems to begin with the preceding consonant. Compare the following sequences, which sound exactly the same. a) What we need isa name. /o'nerm/ b) What we need isan aim. /o'nerm/ This is the most common form of linking, and there were several examples in the ‘This is the house that Jack built” sequence, including: a glass_of_Italian brandy Tom's not_as tall_as the rest_of the family. That_is the person_I saw on the stairs. What are limericks? Limericks are very simple poems. Listen to the following, very typical one. A: There once was a person from Lyme A: who married three wives at a time. B: When asked ‘Why a third?” B: He replied, ‘One's absurd! A: And bigamy, sir, is a crime!” Limericks have the following characteristics: * They consist of five lines. * The rhyme scheme is A ABBA. This means that lines 1, 2 and 5 have one rhyme (in the case above Lyme / time / crime), while lines 3 and 4 have a different rhyme (third / absurd). * The metre (or beat) is as regular as the rhyme scheme: three beats in the A lines, and two în the B lines. Note also that the first line refers to a person from a particular place. This is not obligatory, but many limericks have a similar reference in the first line. Listen again while beating it out. a ONE anda TWO anda THREE A: There ONCE was a person from Lyme a ONE anda TWO anda THREE A: who Matried three WiVes at a time. a ONE anda TWO B: When asked ‘why a third» a ONE anda TWO B: He replied, ‘Ones absurd! a ONE and a TWO and a THREE A: And bigamy, sir isa crime!” When doing the tasks in this section, it is a good idea to have a good dictionary handy, so that you can check the rhymes (as well as the meanings). SYLLABLE DIVISION RULES • Separate prefixes and suffixes from root words. o examples: pre-view, work-ing, re-do, end-less • Are two (or more) consonants next to each other? o Divide between the 1st and 2nd consonants. examples: buf-fet, des-sert, ob-ject o Never split 2 consonants that make only 1 sound when pronounced together and aren't the same letter (i.e., 'ff'). examples: th, sh, ph, th, ch, wh • Is the consonant surrounded by vowels? o Does the vowel have a long sound? (Like the 'i' in line) ▪ Divide before the consonant. examples: ba-by, re-sult, fro-zen o Does the vowel have a short sound? (Like the 'i' in mill) ▪ Divide after the consonant. examples: met-al, riv-er, mod-el • Does the word end with 'ckle'? o Divide right before the 'le.' examples: freck-le, tick-le • Does the word end with 'le' (not 'ckle')? o Is the letter before the 'le' a consonant? ▪ Divide 1 letter before the 'le.' examples: ap-ple, ta-ble o Is the letter before the 'le' a vowel? ▪ Do nothing. examples: sale, file VOWEL What is a vowel? • A vowel is a letter that represents the sound of an A, E, I, O, or U. examples: cat, met, hit, dog, hug • The letter "Y" can be a vowel only if it creates an A, E, I, O, or U sound. examples: fry, try, cry, dry • The opposite of a vowel is a consonant. • A vowel that makes a unique vowel sound is a syllable. • A vowel that is silent or doesn't make a unique vowel sound is not a syllable. examples: fire, ate CONSONANT What is a consonant? • A consonant is a letter that is not A, E, I, O, or U. examples: at, man • The letter "Y" can be a consonant only if it does not create an A, E, I, O, or U sound. examples: yes, yellow, you • The opposite of a consonant is a vowel. • Consonants are not syllables. • Consonants can be combined with a vowel to make a syllable. examples: he, she, here CONSONANT CHARTS • /θ/ – voiceless dental fricative: “th” sound from “theater” • /ð/ – voiced dental fricative: “th” sound from “then” • /ʃ/ – voiceless post-alveolar fricative: “sh” sound from “ship” • /ʒ/ – voiced post-alveolar fricative: “s” sound from “vision” • /tʃ/ – voiceless post-alveolar affricate: “ch” sound from “child” • /dʒ/ – voiced post-alveolar affricate: “j” sound from “john” and “g” sound from “vintage” • /ŋ/ – velar nasal (voiced is redundant because all nasal sounds are voiced, otherwise you’re just blowing snot-rockets out your nose): “n” sound from “going” • /?/ – glottal stop: dropped consonant sound from phrases like “wha(t) time is it” • The /j/ (voiced palatal approximant) is usually represented in English with the letter “y” in words such as “young” and “yard”. It is NOT sound that ‘j’ usually represents in English writing (the ‘j’ in “job” is actually a /dʒ/) • The English letter ‘g’ is sometimes used to represent the /dʒ/ sound too, as is the case with words like “gin” and “genuine”. Just remember that that IPA symbol /g/ ALWAYS represents the voiced velar stop from words like “guy” and “guilt”. • The letter ‘c’ in English can be either /k/ sound as it is in “cat” and “car” or an /s/ sound as it is in “cycle and “cinder”. • The letter ‘s’ in English is often used to represent the /z/ sound and NOT the /s/, as is the case in words like “prison” and “chasm” CONSONANT CLASSIFICATION Place of articulation • Bilabial: uses both lips to create the sound such as the beginning sounds in pin, bust, well and the ending sound in seem. • Labiodental: uses the lower lip and upper teeth; examples include fin and van. • Dental/interdental: creates sound between the teeth such as the and thin. • Alveolar: is a sound created with the tongue and the ridge behind the upper teeth; examples include the beginning sounds of tin, dust, sin, zoo, and late and the /n/ in scene. • Palatal: uses the tongue and the hard palate to create the following sounds: shin, treasure, cheep, jeep, rate and yell. • Velar: makes the sound using the soft palate in the back of the mouth; sounds include kin, gust, and the -ng in sing. • Glottal: is a sound made in the throat between the vocal cords such as in the word hit. Manner of Articulation The manner of articulation means how the sound is made using the different places of articulation, tongue placement, whether the sound is voiced or unvoiced and the amount of air needed. • Stops: air coming from the lungs is stopped at some point during the formation of the sound. Some of these sounds are unvoiced, such as pin, tin, and kin; some of these are voiced, such as bust, dust and gust. • Fricatives: restricted air flow causes friction but the air flow isn't completely stopped. Unvoiced examples include fin, thin, sin, shin, and hit; voiced examples include van, zoo, the, and treasure. • Affricates: are combinations of stops and fricatives. Cheap is an example of an unvoiced affricate and jeep is an example of an voiced. • Nasals: as expected, the air is stopped from going through the mouth and is redirected into the nose. Voiced examples include seem, seen, scene, and sing. • Liquids: almost no air is stopped; voiced exampled included late and rate. • Glides: sometimes referred to as "semi-vowels," the air passes through the articulators to create vowel like sounds but the letters are known as consonants. Examples include well and yell. PREFIX What is a prefix? • Is one or more letters that are placed in front of a word to form a new word with a similar meaning. o examples: preview, unhappy • A prefix is usually not a word by itself. ROOT WORD What is a root word? • Is the base word which is combined with a suffix and/or prefix to form a new word. • The word which is left when all prefixes and suffixes are removed. o examples: rechecked, preboarding, unchanged, untouched SUFFIX What is a suffix? • Is one or more letters that are placed at the end of a word to form a new word with a similar meaning. o examples: ended, dancer, talking • A suffix is usually not a word by itself. • Words can have more than one suffix. o examples: carefully DIPHTONG What is a diphthong? • Two vowels that make only one vowel sound, the sound of an A, E, I, O, or U. o examples: email, fail • A diphthong is only one syllable because it makes only one vowel sound. TRIPHTHONG What is a triphthong? • Three vowels that make only one vowel sound, the sound of an A, E, I, O, or U. o examples: beautiful • A triphthong is only one syllable because it makes only one vowel sound. • Core to Learning Building rigorous projects that are core to learning o This is actually the way students learn o Students are part of the assessment process. The students are growing along formative assessment • Structured collaboration Structuring collaboration for student success o Tasks are very carefully scaffolded o Giving students a structure o Soft skill: Team working • Student driven Facilitating learning in a student-driven environment o Task of the teacher→ facilitator of the learning process: giving hints but not answers o Students take more control ▪ Pose problems ▪ Research the options ▪ Make decisions ▪ Present findings • Multifaceted assessment Embedding Assessment throughout the project o Assessment integrated throughout the whole learning path o Self Assessment ▪ Where am I going in my learning? ▪ Where am I now in my learning? ▪ And what’s next in my learning? Outside the classroom • We work together in one organization, BUT o Everyone has their own individual responsibilities. o Everyone is accountable for their own work. o The success of the group depends on the success of the individuals. So, there is a group collaboration to reach a goal but individual evaluation. Features of project-based learning: 1. A “driving question” that is anchored in a real-world problem. 2. Opportunities for students to make active investigations, apply information, and represent their knowledge in a variety of ways. 3. Collaboration among students, teachers, and others in the community so that knowledge can be shared and distributed between the members of the “community”. 4. The use of technology. What does project-based learning look like in a classroom? Pre-production • Team brainstorms together • Assign roles • Individuals research, bring results Production • Individuals each have a writing task • Individuals each have a production task Post-production (Individual evaluation) • Final text: results of synthesized individual work How do I set up an effective project with my students? • Start with a topic or theme o Ex.: endangered animals • Determine final product o Ex.: poster • Determine teams o Ex.: groups of three • Determine timeline and objectives o How many classes? o What will students do during class? o What will students do outside class? • Create framework guidelines instructions for students to follow o Ex.: handout to fill in each class • Determine evaluation objectives o which competencies? o Which evaluation criteria? o Evaluation tool? You will need to guide students until they get the hang of things→this means: • Giving them pre-defines roles and responsibilities • Handouts with charts • Helping them form groups based on ability What you MUST include when writing project guidelines for students 1. Clear, simple instructions 2. Clear parameters: • What do you want them to do? o Content (ideas) length (word count) o Grammar or vocabulary to use o Suggested format(s) • When do you want them to do it? o Dates, times for submission 3. Evaluation criteria (tool) TBL • Task-based • Applied language • Critical thinking • Explicitly guided • Fixed outcomes • Prescribed skills Which problem analysis tool? No prior knowledge: • Brainstorming • Mind Map • Wh-questions Some prior knowledge • Brainstoming Problem-solution or cause-effect • Fishbone Analysis • 5-W Method PBL • Problem/task-based • Critical thinking • Implicitly guided • Multiple outcomes • Prescribed and ancillary skills • Chat and video conference • Internal email • Internet safety o Decide how to arrange materials, what is public, what is private o All partners need to have authorization. Connection with National Agencies and National Support Service for advice. • Project life • Time in class • Number of partners • Age of the students • Subjects involved • Key competences • Number of teachers All the elements included in the key skills covered by the English Course Curriculum can be implemented through Projects in the eTwinning Platform. CLIL - CONTENT AND LANGUAGE INTEGRATED LEARNING Language learning is through communicative interaction in the classroom (L'apprendimento delle lingue avviene attraverso l'interazione comunicativa in classe). Autumn experiments How could we protect our soft toy from rain and getting wet? We want to see if we can protect our dog ‘volunteer’ from the rain. Let’s try with a paper towel! No the paper towel doesn’t work and the poor dog get soaked. What about toilet paper? It is no good. We can try with a piece of cloth, but the water falls through the cloth. Then, we try with an umbrella and it is good. Blended learning – the new normal? • How to combine the safety and sense belonging of schools as learning communities with opportunities of distance learning? Face-to-face and distance learning • How does the role of school leaders change? Vision, coordination, teacher competence development • How does the role of teachers change? Competences, autonomy, planning, collaboration, assessment and evaluation.. • How does the role of the learner change? More agency, independence, learning competences… but also support • How to support vulnerable learners? Project Evaluation • Objectives (check if you have achieved the goals you planned) • Would you change anything for the future? • Surveys (to measure the real impact of the project on the teaching community) • Sharing final results and products • On Blogs • On Social media • On the You Tube channel • On the News • Apply for the National Quality Label • When you get it you can apply for the European Quality Label eTwinning National Quality Label:Evaluation rubric • Innovation and creativity • Curricular Integration • Communication and interaction among the partner schools • Collaboration among partners schools • Use of technology • Results, impact, documentation Language learning. A collection of innovative and inspiring resources Explore. Learn. Share. - 2017 The Language Learning publication promotes interesting and innovative ideas emerging from EU-funded projects to help inspire teachers, non-governmental organisations, project applicants and policymakers across Europe to develop their professional practice. It offers a number of useful resources including teaching materials, as well as creative approaches to teaching and promoting language learning. Implementation of Foreign languages in European Projects • Frequency and variety in second language practice • Possibility for developing and increasing language skills • Chance for students to act as resources for each other • Freedom for teachers to develop new skills and activities • Positive social attitude • Social support in learning Which one do you think is an example of a language project and which one is a project-based learning class? Why use Project Based learning? The second lesson follows the project-based learning approach – it gives students a much more personalized, wholesome experience of the topic. Students aren’t limited to the information, the vocabulary or grammar introduced in a text taken from a course book. They have the freedom to view the topic from different prisms and are therefore exposed to a lot of language they may never encounter in a classroom. As they delve deeper into the topic, they not only listen to different people’s opinions about the topic, but they learn to speak about the topic. This means students’ vocabulary and grammar use is not restricted to the classroom, but they actually take it beyond the walls of the classroom and learn to personalize it as well. The assessment criteria in project-based learning is also far more expansive than in a traditional language lesson and encourages students to engage deeply with the topic, gather information, synthesize opinions and present their viewpoints to the rest of the class. Students are expected to use language creatively, critically, collaboratively and in multicultural contexts. Students don’t need any familiarity with specific texts or theoretical frameworks – they’re simply being tested on their ability to think through problems and arguments, critically and logically. TSA: • assesses a general academic aptitude that applies to a wide range of different courses, from Geography to Politics. • Provides a benchmark that all applicants can be measured against, regardless of their background, nationality, gender or qualifications. • Offers a vital additional selection filter for courses that typically attract a large field of high-achieving applicants. • Is useful for assessing the suitability of applicants to courses which attract candidates from a wide variety of subject backgrounds. • Correlates with future academic achievement: research shows a strong positive relationship between TSA scores and oncourse success. In the 1950s Bloom developed the Taxonomy of Educational Objectives to describe the domain of critical thinking. Bloom’s original terms were revised in the 1990s by Anderson. The names of the six major categories were changed to verb form as thinking is an active process. For example, remembering replaced knowledge as the first level of thinking as knowledge is an outcome rather than a type of thinking. The six levels of thinking are divided in two levels: the first three are the low level (remembering, understanding and applying) and the second three are the high level (analyzing, evaluating and creating). SKILLS 1. REMEMBERING The verbs which can stay in the range of remembering are: • Recognizing • Recalling • Listing • Describing • Identifying • Retrieving • Locating • Naming • Finding 2. UNDERSTANDING The verbs which can stay in the range of understanding are: • Interpreting • Exemplifying • Classifying • Summarising • Inferring • Comparing • Explaining • Distinguishing 3. APPLYING The verbs which can stay in the range of applying are: • Executing • Working out • Producing • Completing • Organizing • Implementing • Making preparations 4. ANALYSING The verbs which can stay in the range of analyzing are: • Differentiating • Focusing • Underlining • Outlining • Structuring • Integrating • Finding 5. EVALUATING The verbs which can stay in the range of evaluating are: • Assess • Decide • Argue • Conclude • Judge • Test • Score • Critique Applying thinking skills on language learning (example): Role plays • Decide on the teaching materials • Select situations and create dialogues or guide children create them • Teach the dialogues for Role Plays • Have children practice the Role Plays • Have children modify the situations and dialogues Finally evaluate and check children’s comprehension STORYTELLING What is a Story? Most dictionaries define a story as a narrative account of a real or imagined event or events. Within the storytelling community, a story is more generally agreed to be a specific structure of narrative with a specific style and set of characters and which includes a sense of completeness. Through this sharing of experience we use stories to pass on accumulated wisdom, beliefs, and values. Through stories we explain how things are, why they are, and our role and purpose. Stories are the building blocks of knowledge, the foundation of memory and learning. Stories connect us with our humanness and link past, present, and future by teaching us to anticipate the possible consequences of our actions. What is a telling? It is the live, person-to-person oral and physical presentation of a story to an audience. "Telling" involves direct contact between teller and listener. It mandates the direct presentation of the story by the teller. The teller's role is to prepare and present the necessary language, vocalization, and physicality to effectively and efficiently communicate the images of a story. The listener's role is to actively create the vivid, multi-sensory images, actions, characters, and events---the reality---of the story in their mind based on the performance by the teller, and on their past experiences, beliefs, and understandings. The completed story happens in the mind of the listener, unique and personal for each individual. • Storytelling is an interactive performance art form Direct interaction between the teller and audience is an essential element of the storytelling experience. An audience responds to the teller's words and actions. The teller uses this generally non-verbal feedback to immediately, spontaneously, and suddenly adjust the tones, wording, and pace of the story to better meet the needs of the audience • Storytelling is, by design, a co-creative process. Storytelling audiences do not passively receive a story from the teller, as a viewer receives and records the content of a television program or motion picture. The teller provides no visual images, no stage set, and generally, no costumes related to story characters or historic period. Listeners create these images based on the performer's telling and on their own experiences and beliefs. • Storytelling is, by its nature, personal, interpretive, and uniquely human. Storytelling passes on the essence of who we are. Stories are a prime vehicle for assessing and interpreting events, experiences, and concepts from minor moments of daily life to the grand nature of the human condition. It is an intrinsic and basic form of human communication. More than any other form of communication, the telling of stories in an integral and essential part of the human experience. • Storytelling is a process, a medium for sharing, interpreting, offering the content and meaning of a story to an audience. Because storytelling is spontaneous and experiential, and thus a dynamic interaction between teller and listener, it is far more difficult to describe than is the script and camera directions of a movie, or the lines and stage direction notes of a play. Storytelling emerges from the interaction and cooperative, coordinated efforts of teller and audience. Telling their Own Stories Even the youngest child has a story to tell. They are natural storytellers whether from experience, imagination or memory and allowing them to tell their own and retell other stories encourages a sense of self-worth and esteem. Storytelling develops powers of imagination. Through telling their own stories, children learn to structure orally, to share and listen to their peers and to use their own language with pride. Why should we tell stories? • Development Storytelling is crucial in a child’s development. We live our lives through narrative and the earlier we can start, the better • Communication Storytelling opens up channels of communication and stimulates emotional, imaginative and linguistic development. It encourages participation and develops confidence and a sense of self-esteem. • Language Storytelling surrounds the child with imaginative language, introduces unfamiliar words in a narrative context, introduces narrative structure and allows children to give voice to their own ideas in their own language. • Concentration Storytelling develops concentration and listening skills. • Imaginative and Emotional Development Children can experience emotions through the safety of the story and can discover worlds and situations outside their own environment. • Creative Writing When they begin to write, children exposed to storytelling will already, unconsciously, have the rules of structure and a better grasp of language. Working orally first will allow them freedom from spelling and grammar. How do you get started? • Nursery Rhymes The earliest stories a child hears will be in the form of nursery rhymes. Rhymes, rhythm, and repetition are the ways in which a child secures a grasp of language and begins to recognise patterns of sound. • Telling Stories There is a difference between reading a story and telling a story. Most adults working with children will read books and stories to the young people in their charge. Somehow, they seem to think that it’s easier –that the book is a safety blanket in case they forget the story. But it is not – it’s a barrier. It inhibits the direct communication and contact between teller and listener – the most powerful tool the storyteller has. Having permanent eye-contact with an audience creates a bond and togetherness and a concentration on the story itself. Techniques for learning a story to tell If you are used to reading, but not telling stories, try the following: • Read a story through but visualize it really strongly. You need to have a mental picture of the story as though it is a film, not words on a page. You are simply going to narrate that ‘film’, not learn a script. • Find seven words (it might be 6 or 8) that will guide you through the main points of the story. It will help you to structure your telling. • Tell yourself the story in one minute – just the outline of the story. • Tell it again but filling it out in your own words. • Go back to the printed version to see if there is anything important which you have left out. • Learn any repeated phrases or rhymes. • Storytelling method is an important teaching technique. Stories guide a human for his or her whole life and use them when the human learn his or her mother tongue. Consequently, it is natural to learn a language with the help of stories. HOW TO TEACH VOCABULARY Learning Pyramid What does it mean to “know a word”? You know a word when you know: the spelling, the pronunciation, the meaning, the use. Grammatical use: • Register • Connotation • Collocation • Derivation How is vocabulary learned? Children start labelling words in their mother tongue. A child learns the word “dog” or “apple”. Than he learns words such as “animal” and “fruit” and starts organizing words in families. How many words does a learner need to know? It depends on the level of the learners, on the difficult of the words. The scholars of Cambridge Esol examinations have created vocabulary lists for each level with a grade level of accuracy and the number of words you have to know for a: • Flyers • Ket A2 level • Pet B1 level • FIRST B2 Level • CAE C1 Level How are words remembered? Short-term store: keeps words in mind for a few seconds. Focusing on words long enough to perform operations on them is the function of working memory (material remain in the working memory for about 20 secs) Long-term memory is like the filing system of a PC. Factors for long term storage: o Repetition o Retrieval o Spacing o Pacing o Use o Cognitive Depth o Personal Organizing o Imaging o Mnemonics o Motivation o Attention/arousal o Affective depth Why do we forget words? It has been estimated that up to 80 per cent of material is lost within 24 hours of initial learning. Forgetting may be caused both by interference from subsequent learning and by insufficient recycling. R repeat R reuse R recycle What makes a word difficult? • Pronunciation • Spelling • Length and complexity • Grammar • Meaning • Range: connotation and idiomaticity What criteria influence the choice of words for inclusion in the lexical strand of a coursebook syllabus? • Frequency • Learnability (not to be confused with teachability) • Lexical sets: I took the car/train/bus/coach/plane to Switzerland • It is easier to learn words that are thematically linked but have a looser relation than a lexical set Ex.to talk about bungee jumping Which words would you introduce? It is difficult to remember a list of de-contextualized words, but it is easier to remember words that are in a narrative. The teacher is the best source of vocabulary. The teacher’s own stories are a vehicle of vocabulary input. A whole set of expressions in his class management: • Did you have a nice weekend? • I don’t mind… do you? • Oh really • That’s amazing • Will you close the window please? • Pictures • Masking • Drawing • Scales Using gestures and actions: • Mime • Gesture • Facial expression • Action Showing lexical relations: • Synonyms • Antonyms • Collocation • Prefixes and suffixes Words in context: • Dialogues • Role play • Drama • Stories • Songs • Rhymes poems • Videos Using memorizing games: • Giving directions • Picture dictation • Matching words • Labelling words • Searching words • Sequencing words • Guessing words • Eliminating words • Classifying words Review games • Wordsearch games • Picture labelling • Crosswords • Bingo • Dominoes • Puzzles • Charts or survey for their peers • Socio-affectively: students can practice words with a classmate or in a group: o Teach a word to a member of the family or peer o Make and play word fame with friend o Peer test o Male sure children have made words their own Vocabulary record system-1: • Vocabulary books • in an alphabetical order • by topic or situation • by grammatical groups • by color sets • by story features Vocabulary record system-2: • personal dictionary (word notebooks) • marking word stress • adding pictures • putting an L1 translation • putting the word into context • adding a synonym • mapping a word family Personalize the new words: • Keeping a learning log (blogs) • Keeping a diary (blogs) • Creative writing by using newly learned words or phrases • Looking for recently learned words in storybooks, the Internet, the newspapers, etc., and noticing how they are used. Meta-cognitively, learners learn how: • to self-test • look for patterns in words • plan and organize a vocabulary record keeping system • learn words in their preferred ways • reflect on learning and reviewing regularly • monitor vocabulary learning Testing issues validity Does the test assess what I want it to assess? Practicality Is it easy to administer? Backwash Will the test have a positive effect on learning? Reliability Will it give consistent results, regardless of who marks it? Will it give same results for students of the same ability? TYPES OF TEST Multiple choice Positive aspects: easy to design and score Negative aspects: • learners may choose the answer by a process of elimination which doesn’t mean “knowing” the right answer • they test recognition only • learners may just try to guess • they are not as easy to design as might appear (distractors) Gap-fill Cloze test where gaps are regularly spaced. Writing tasks Ex.Write a paragraph of about 100 words to include at least six of the following ten words. You can change the form of the word, if necessary. GAMES AND ACTIVITIES Visual Aids: • Video material • Charts • Flash cards • Flow diagrams and diagrams in general Auditory Aids: • Songs • Music • Chants • Rhythms • Rhymes • Pronunciation Once the CLIL topic has been stated, teachers in team will develop: • Clear content objectives Content aspects teachers want children to learn about • Clear language objectives Key language structures and key vocabulary • Clear learning expected results What teachers want children to be able to do within the end of the scheduled CLIL programme. To show their acquisition of contents and language What is CLIL? Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) is a relatively innovative educational approach in European primary schools which combines learning content with learning a foreign (or additional) language, focusing on learning both at the same time. It creates a rich learning environment for children. It may be activated through several teaching and learning models. CLIL is a dual-focused educational approach in which an additional language is used for the learning and teaching of both content and language with the objective of promoting both content and language mastery to pre-defined levels. CLIL, the integrated learning of a foreign language (English) and curricular subject contents can help children achieve this without claiming an excessive share of the school timetable and by involving children in cross curricular learning sequences. CLIL exposes students to purposeful, innovative, and meaningful learning experiences. There are also cognitive and linguistic advantages involved in CLIL for students: learning to think and to learn in an additional foreign language; and learning to use English for communication about new learning topics. CLIL LESSON • Content objective(s): Any relevant national or school criteria that we need to take into account when planning our lessons. • Language objective(s): the key words and phrases that we want the children to be able to understand and/or produce by the end of a lesson/unit of work. • Learning outcome(s):What the children should be able to do at the end of a lesson/unit of work to show understanding of what they have learnt. • Timing / Duration: The order of tasks and activities that we plan to use in the lesson. • Key vocabulary / Key structures: What we want the children to be able to do with the language we expose them to in the lesson. • Procedure: How long we expect the lesson (or series of lessons to take). • Curriculum considerations: The criteria and materials that we will use to evaluate the children’s progress at the end of a unit of work. • Materials: Any visual aids and other resources that we will need to deliver the lesson. • Assessment: The aspects of the subject that we want the children to learn about. • Decide on a CLIL topic and age group to work with • Focus on developing: o Clear content objectives: identify the aspects of content that you want the children to learn about o Clear language objectives: identify key vocabulary and structures o Clear learning outcomes: know exactly what you want the pupils to do by the end of the lesson or unit of work to demonstrate their understanding of the concepts and language learnt Autumn experiments (RIVEDI PAGINE PRECEDENTI) Example of CLIL Role playing: Drama Activity based on “Little Blue and Little yellow” by Leo Lionni for Infant school pupils Create and write MrBadger’s story