British Council Cairo 2 Jan 2017 with Adrian Underhill Pronunciation Training Day: Getting pronunciation out of the head and into the body 4. 1s pronunciation the Cinderella of lanquage teaching? Thave suggested that pronunciation is the CINDERELLA of language teaching in that it has been neglected, and become disconnected from other language learning activities. However | claim that if we pay attention to this Cinderella we will find something truly magnificent in terms of engagement for leamers, impact on the rest of language learning, and enjoyment. | suggest that there are two significant ways to reconnect with pronunciation teaching, 1. Students and teachers need a MAP in order to have a clear mental concept and sense of ction. The phonemic chart (see below) provides such a MAP because information about WHERE & HOW sounds are made is embedded in it. This chart is not just a list ike some other charts. The arrangement of sounds on this chart tells you about how to make them. And ... the chart also becomes a worktable, a place to enquire and experiment, and where mistakes can become successes. 2, Pronunciation needs to be PHYSICAL. While grammar and vocabulary may somehow take place “in the head,” pronunciation is the physical aspect of language, it manifests through the body. Pronunciation is ike an extraordinary dance, which has sequence, coordination, grace and beauty. This approach has a methodology to enable you and your students to discover and connect with the muscles that make the difference, to locate what I call the internal buttons. So, you can start by discovering and engaging the muscles that change the sounds. And this changes everything. And also since muscles work by moving, we gain access to the visibility of pronunciation. In summary | am proposing that by using a mental map and by making pronunciation physical we can demystify pronunciation, bring it in from the cold, and relate to it fully and profitably, chart as map ‘The chart contains information about HOW and WHERE sounds are made embedded into its design. Look at the TOP LEFT QUARTER of the chart. You will see the 12 vowels. Imagine that you are looking at a cross section of the mouth, from the side: The FRONT of the mouth (and the lips) are at the LEFT of this quadrant on the chart. The BACK of the mouth is at the RIGHT. The TOP of the mouth is along the top of that quadrant, and the BOTTOM of the mouth is the bottom. Straight away you can see the HIGH vowels (along the top line) and the LOW vowels (along the bottom line). And you can see the BACK vowels (to the right) and FRONT ones (to the left), and finally the two central vowels /4/ and /3:/ in the centre This is helpful because the terms front and back refer to whether the tongue itseif is front or back in the mouth, and high and low refer to whether the tongue is higher or lower in the mouth. This also corresponds with the jaw being more closed or more open. Now experiment a bit and see if you can relate the position of the vowels on the chart to their position in your mouth when you say them. Remember too that neighbours on the chart are neighbours in the mouth Now look at the first two rows of consonants below the vowels. There are 8 consonants in each row. Once again, the consonants made nearer the FRONT of the mouth are at the LEFT, andthose made further BACK in the mouth are to the RIGHT. Note also that in these two rows the sounds are in unvoiced / voiced pairs. ‘Sound Foundations Pronunciation Chart © Adrian Underhill Classroom poster available free from Macmillan ELT ‘When you learn sport or dance you become more attentive to subtle muscular movements that you may not be aware of in ordinary activities. Pronunciation is no different. Here too we must help students connect with the muscles that make the difference. So, one of my first tasks during the first lessons with a new class (beginners, intermediate or advanced, teacher or student, native or non-native English speaker, i's all the same) is to help them (re-)discover the main muscles that make the pronunciation difference, to locate the internal buttons that trigger the muscle movements. | do this starting with the vowels, and you can see and hear this at the link below. At the beginning it is enough to help students identify 4 such buttons (physically as well as cognitively) which enable them to get around the mouth and consciously find new positions of articulation. These muscle buttons are: 1, Tongue (moving forward and back) 2. Lips (spreading and bringing back, or rounding and pushing forward) 3. Jaw + tongue (moving them up and down) 4. Voice (tuning it on or off, to make voiced or unvoiced sounds) This is the basic muscle kit you need to navigate round vowels and diphthongs, and it also transfers neatly to consonants and gets you round most of them. If you would like to see and hear a demonstration of how | introduce the chart and the physicality of pronunciation try Some ways of introducing the pronunciation chart to your class ‘The phonemic chart (‘pron chart’ is to pronunciation what the whiteboard is to vocabulary and grammar: itis the essential workbench on which you work things out, experiment, analyse, clarify, ccheok, test, gain insight, understand and create. However, the pron chart needs some introduction. Itneeds ‘putting into circulation’. You can do this two ways: Through the front door by directly teaching the sounds on the chart, ‘and making up words and phases, or through the back door, by making use of sounds and ‘words ocourring naturally in the lesson and showing them on the chart ("..by the way this is what you just said....”). Once the student (and you) know their way round the chart you can get on with Using ito integrate pronunciation anytime in any lesson, Here is a mix of front door and back door ways of introducing the chart: use all of them in any order and make more of your own. 1..Teach some of the sounds separately by saying them yourself, or by listening to them on a recording, or even my miming them. Have the students say the sound in isolation reasonably well, then indicate the sound on the chart 2.. Use a more opportunistic approach When a student makes a sound, perhaps while trying to pronounce a new word, and you realise it is a sound on the chart, - simply indicate that sound on the chart tell them ‘What you just said is this...”, revise that new sound a bit later 3.. When teaching new vocabula either write the word on the board in normal spelling, - then help the students to say it then ask them *How many sounds are there in that word?” - they probably give slightly different estimates (eg 4, or 6 or 5. The point is they don't have to be ‘right’ because the aim is for them to separate and identify the sounds in their ‘inner voice.” ~ then get the class to call out the sounds separately and in order (At this pint don't say the sounds yyourseif, but count them on your fingers forall the class to see) “finally ask a student to come to the chart and point out the sounds on the chart Or say the word (or listen to a recording or in a dialogue) - then have the students say and practise it, - then you point out the word on the chart - then get one or two students to come to the chart and do the same. When pointing out the sounds on the chart note these two rules: ~The person who is pointing on the chart is silent = The rest of the ass should call out whatever sound is pointed at, right or wrong, allowing the student to correct him/herself 4.. Working with vocabulary and dictionaries, Give students some new words you want them to learn = get them to find them in a dictionary ~ and notice the pronunciation ~ and say the words - then one student leaves the dictionary behind and goes to the chart to point out the word in phonemes, - if s/he makes a mistake - call another student -if she makes a mistake, give the pointer back to the first student, - and so on tl the word is correctly spelt. 5.. Finding example words for the vowels4 - ask the students to draw an empty grid in their books, 4 squares wide and 3 squares deep. This represents the vowel grid containing the 12 vowels in the top left quadrant of the chart. - they write the phoneme symbol in the top corner of each box. - ask them to find one English word as an example for each vowel sound and write it in the correct box. They can do this for homework, or in pairs in class. - draw a big grid on the board and get everyone to come up and put their example words in the correct box in normal alphabetic spelling. Then you and the class can spend a few minutes checking them, seeing which words are in the right box, and which need to be moved to another. ‘Simple sound game - invite students in tur to say any sound in English (!) - ifin your opinion itis close enough, point to that sound on the phonemic chart - if not close enough, point outside the chart and say (as a tease) “Sorry that's not English..." And let them try ita little differently You could start by saying to sts, “make any sound that you think is English..." And as they do that you either point to the symbol representing the sound they have just said, if you deem it ‘acceptable’ or to the space outside the chart if you ‘decide’ that is is not close enough. Immediately a game is created. At their level. And once a few are up you can keep pointing to them again, this time the sts are responding to the symbol. f they can't recall it you go back to the st who originally offered that sound... and before you know it curiosity is miles high and the chart is in circulation and its purpose and pay-off understood (though it is not yet fully known). 7.. Students’ nam: - instead of using vocabulary items, ask students to say their own names, with an English pronunciation (as an English speaker might say it). You can help them. = ask each to count the sounds in their name and then come to the chart and point out their name on the chart - this time of course everyone knows what sound the student is looking for, but still the same rules apply: the class say whatever is pointed at, wrong or right, while the person pointing does so silently, enabling them to hear what the class are saying and to correct if necessary 8.. Your familiar pronunciation exercises - do your usual pronunciation activities (for example minimal pairs) - identify the sounds you are practising on the chart - require students to come to the chart and point out the sounds or words you are practising, 9.. Give class instructions on the chart ‘Sometimes give class your usual class instructions silently by pointing on the chart: Good morning! Please tum to page 45. ‘OK here's the homework ete. How do you spell this word...? etc 10.. Have a pron crib when you are starting out! - if you are not sure of the sounds, copy the pronunciation key from the front of your leamer dictionary - keep it by you in class and consult it whenever you are uncertain ~ after a while youl find you don't need it 11. Hangman - Think of a 2 or 3 syllable word. Draw a dash for each sound on the board. Sts guess and point to ‘a sound on the chart. Practise a little to get it clear..{f correct write the phoneme symbol on the correct dash. If not construct the gallows.Pronunciation and listening: using the Inner Ear and Inner Voice Its easy to think of pronunciation as just an aspect of the external speaking skill ....... But pronunciation activity also takes place internally, in your mind, when you do other language activities. For example: When you read, your inner voice may be saying, and therefore pronouncing, the phrases. When you prepare to speak, an inner voice may be rehearsing the words, and therefore of course the pronunciation. When you write, you may be saying the phrases internally with your inner voice, and without thinking about it you are practising your pronunciation. Pronunciation is everywhere! ‘And what about when you listen? Well, in this case your pronunciation is being tested all the time {as you use sounds (and context) to recognise and discriminate sounds and words from each other, identifying them ang fitting them into what you think is being said (and sometimes being confused by them). There is a relationship between what you can say with your mouth and what you can hear with your ears. Once you can say it, you can probably hear it, so developing pronunciation improves listening. Pronunciation affects everything! Here is a wonderful practice tip: It needs no teacher and takes no time! 1... Whenever you hear a word in English that interests you (on TV, in a shop, on the bus, at a movie, in school, in a song) just let your inner voice repeat that word a few times, so that you are hearing it internally in your mind's ear! You make no extemal sound! Don't change the word, don't try to say it, Just let the word repeat in your mind’s ear, as if you are tasting it! Do this for 5 or 10 seconds, no longer. Alter you have done this a few times you may notice that you get better at hearing the word internally, and better at not changing the word, and better at letting it repeat itself in the original speaker's accent. When you can do this, then add this second step: 2... Slow the word down in your inner ear, and simply count how many sounds it contains (for example the word ‘how’ has 2 sounds, ‘many’ has 4 sounds, ‘contains’ has 7 sounds). It doesn't ‘matter if you are wrong or right since the aim is to make yourself hear the sounds in a word, and by doing this you will get better at it. Again, don't take longer than 10 seconds. 3.... Finally, put the sounds together to make up the word, listen to it internally again, and now, but only now, say the word (or phrase) aloud quietly to yourself (unless you want to surprise the people around you) The alm of this is to use your inner ear and your inner voice to develop your talent for sounding good when you speak, and for gaining confidence. If you have read this far, and you re interested in what this approach might offer, and would like further insight into how to do it in practice, you can see demonstrations, talks and classes online at the following links:To drill or not to drill There are many views, but probably most could agree on two things: 1) Practice is necessary. 2) But repetition may not be good practice if: 1. Itbecomes mechanical, as in ‘mechanical repetition’ because then the learner's attention is not on the activity, the muscular coordination, or the variation in the sounds / speech! quality being produced. This is at its worst when the leamer is simply repeating in order for the teacher to approve or not, with no internal criteria in the leamer being applied or developed. 2. The learner has not yet found the ‘right' form to practice, thus is repeating something that is not ‘correct’ From the point of view of the Sound Foundations approach repetition needs to be mindful and attentive if it is to be useful. And in this case I would not use the term ‘repetition’, but perhaps a term like ‘attentive practice’ or ‘ertical practice’ This can be taught, though mass repetition ‘exercises may not be the way. The problem of modelling There can be another problem with repetition, which is that it usually implies repeating something after a model (given by teacher or course material). In the case of pronunciation, a student repetition of an L2 word or sound is inevitably done within the ‘grip’ or ‘phonetic set’ of the L1. We do not hear the new sound, nor can we say it, so both ear and mouth approximate it down to the closest thing exisiting in the L1. | prefer therefore to use mime and gesture in the first moment with ‘a new sound in order to focus the learner's attention on their inner physicality, to get the student searching internally for the muscular sensation of lips, tongue and jaw. If | say the sound aloud the student omits the muscular awareness and simply repeats the sound that their ear has misheard (because both ear and mouth are bound by L1). What | think is missing from pron learning is what in neurology is called proprioception, the internal sense of knowing which muscles we are using and with how much energy. Repetition exercises do not foster proprioception. The other point to make is that there is a big difference between repeating what you have discovered for yourself, thereby applying the insight you have had, and repeating what the teacher has said without having any insight. What I've said above sounds rather uncompromising, but I'm just being brief on order to make the point. To drill or not to drill: A useful modelling technique This is something | use a lot and | find it works well. Teacher says the model (sound, word phrase) once only, aloud, and the class listen to it internally, they do NOT repeat it aloud, but listen to it still ringing in their inner ear, several times, and only then do | say “Now aloud please” (in fact | gesture that instruction rather than say it). This allows inner processing, interrupts the automatic habitual response of muscles conditioned to L1 habits, and crucially, gives the student the benefit of being creatively shocked by hearing the difference between what they hear intemally and what they say externally.Teaching stress, unstress and simplifications in connected speech 4. What is stress made up of? Write on the board some English words of three syllables: banana, cigarette, foreigner, engineer Ask where is the stress? How do you put the stress there? Identity the three acoustic variables of stress, Volume, Pitch, Length. Try each of these three, holding the other two constant. Reduce energy on unstressed. syllables. Keep the stress on correct syllable. 2. Try shifting stress along the word, putting it on incorrect syllables. Get it wrong in order to help to get it right! Use students sitting/standing to represent unstressedIstressed syllables, ie three students to represent a three syllable word. 3. Notice also how the quality of vowel sounds changes with the stress shift. (cf “A Packet of potato crisps”) 4, Notice how this makes up the “energy profile” of a word. 5. Length is perhaps the most accessible of the three stress variables., 2. What is unstress made of? Take the same words. Stress all the syllables in the word. Then unstress all of them by removing all three of the variables Volume, Pitch, Length. You get a sort of ‘robot talk’. Then put the stress back on the correct syllables. Feel in your muscles and hear with your ears the location of the stress syllable. 3. Take out the consonants and write up the vowels only. 1. Try saying the word without any consonants, the vowels on their own, at the correct speed and with the correct stress and unstress. 2. Of course itis unintelligible, but it gives a vivid impression of the energy profile of the word, 3. Re-insert consonants to hear the word properly, and notice the energy profile of the word. 4, Stress V Syllable timing Illustrate the idea of Syllable V Stress timed languages using these two sentences. How might they sound if given a syllable timing or a stress timing delivery? 1. Putit down’ 2. ‘Putit over here’ This is not a rule, and although disputed, it seems that practice of syllable timing does help learners of English to unstress syllables, to de-energise them, to ‘swallow’ them. This is a useful fluency practice. To insert more syllables you have to reduce energy, even mumble. Stress timing and unstressing the other syllables helps to speak and listen more fluently. The next exercise illustrates this. ial de 5. Initial practice can be made rhythmical, an a unstressed syllables 1. Setup rhythm of 1. 2. 3. 4. The whole class counts 1 — 4 repeatedly 2. Keep this going at the same speed, while inserting in the space between each number the following words: and anda and then a and then put a and then you put a All of these additional words are unstressed. Practice each several times before going on to the next insertion for ‘compressing’ the6. Frequency of schwa 1. Collect sentences from students, or from authentic texts. Write 2 or 3 on the board. 2. Agree where the stresses may be placed, and practice just to get the feel. 3. Now identify and count the occurrences of schwa in the sentence. eg “I saw an advertisement for the Certificate on an educational website” 4. Now say the stressed words alone, with the right timing, and gradually fit the unstressed words back in, 7.. Working with different degrees of reduction and assimilation. 1. Say ‘What is the time” as. /wosataim/ and ask students to come and write it on the board in normal spelling. 2. Then write up the reduced phonetic spelling 3. Then say the sentence in other reduced ways eg /wosataim/ /staim/ wosthetaim/ jwotsataim/ /wostaim/ and work with each until students can hear it an say it and write it con the board in phonetic spelling. 4, Get sts to discriminate and identify which they are hearing and saying 8.. The art of Simplification: essential to fluent listening and speaking There are three core types of simplification: - Reduction: weak forms, you and me. V I wish you would tell me. - Assimilation: - change due to influence of neighbouring sounds: in bed, good boy, good git, this, shop, have to go: = Elision: leading to dropping of sound: next please, old man ‘Simplifications are relatively ordered and predictable, and easy to practise. Stress timing is easy to practise, though challenging to do Practice opportunities are everywhere in any spoken part of a lesson 9.. To develop a feel for intonation speech needs to be well connected, and to make good use of simplifications. A suggested order of activities: Individual sounds Joining sounds to make words Distributing stress eneray across syllables of words Joining words to other words Unstress (schwa) and stress. Foregrounding and backgrounding syllables Simplifications: reductions/weak forms; assimilation/changing a sound: elision/dropping a sound Rhythm, Choice of prominence Tones and intonationTeaching intonation in connected speech Unstress is the key to connected speech and intonation. To develop a feel for intonation it requires speech that is well connected up and makes good use of simplifications. Here are some suggestions for a syllabus form Level 1 > Level 2 > Level 3 Syllabus for connected speech, fluency and intonation Level 1 Individual sounds, the chart and its ‘geography’. Pron as a physical activity. sounds from other sounds Level 2 Joining sounds to make words. Introducing new vocab through chart Distributing stress energy across syllables of words: Wordstress Unstress (schwa) and stress. Reducing energy omn unstressed syllables, Level 3 Joining words to other words (linking sounds, etc) ‘Simplifications (reductions/weak forms of vowels; assimilation - changing a consonant; elision - ‘dropping a consonant; see definitions below Rhythmical material (rhymes etc) Non rhythmical texts Preparing texts ie: 1: Spotting sense groups 2: Marking word stresses AND prominence 3: Marking schwa 4: Running all words together and rapid colloquial rehearsal. Locating personal prominence for each speaker Practice Lots of exposure; Listening to stories; Recreating short bits of a story Telling own stories. Dramas (dialogue, give out different simple roles) Note on teaching intonation: 1. None of the theories of intonation are complete, nor are they written for leamers. 2.. Intonation is subjective, and harder to “practise” than sounds. It comes from a different part of the brain 3.. Start with sense groups and prominence, lots of noticing, discriminating and doing Three core types of simplification: essential to fluent listening and speaking - Reduetion: weak forms, you and me V | wish you would tell me. ~ Assimilation: ~ change due to influence of neighbouring sounds: in bed, good boy, good gir, this shop, have to go: ~ Elision: leading to dropping of sound: next please, old man Simplifications are relatively ordered and predictable, and easy to practise. Rhythm is quite easy to describe, and stress timing is also easy to practise, Opportunities to practise these are everywhere in every lesson. Page references to topics in the teacher's handbook Sound Foundations Introducing sounds using the chart 2-47, 99, 107-109 Presenting each of the sounds without verbal models 118-131 3 types of model giving p110 Technical names of sounds 36, 41, 47 Working with mistakes: 132-144 Words <-> Sounds 49-50, 145-153 Simplifications in connected speech 58-69 Connected speech including intonation 58-93, 176-20110 Sound Foundations: Teacher Training Videos with Adrian Underhill Check out my blog www.adrianunderhill.com Each of the following resources is available direct from this blog to save you typing in the URLs/So go here www.adrianunderhill.com and then choose the blog and click Pronunciation Teacher Training Videos and Resources. Videos 1.. Series of 39 3-Minute teacher training videos This deals with each of the sounds in tum, a guide to the pron chart and how to use it, how to exploit the physicality of pronunciation, lots of teaching tips is available here: https.//www. youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbEWGLATRxw_2hL5hY164nvHdTpwhEOXC 2.. My talk on Proprioception in learning new sounds, words and connected speech is available here: https:/vww. youtube.com/watch?v=DNXRwJI-yiw Filmed at the British Council, London, in February 2015 3.. One Hour Sound Foundations teacher training video, plus various shorter extracts, is available here: httos:/www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kAPHyHd7Lo Filmed at Oxford University Other resources On this Page: http://www.onestopenglish.com/skills/pronunciation/pronunciation- skills-with-adrian-underhill/ you can find the following: = Videos, various shorter and longer Sound Foundations Videos — Articles Recent articles on pronunciation teaching = The Charts British and American English Interactive phonemic charts, with sounds and optional sample words. Classroom charts are also obtainable free from Macmillan ELT. Ask your local representative. -The App Sounds: The Pronunciation App - The Book Sound Foundations: Learning and Teaching Pronunciation Blog And of course check out this blog :www.adrianunderhill.com To date there are 80 posts containing usable insights into pronunication, how it works, how to turn pronunciation problems into good teaching, the physicality of pronunciation, and lots of practical lesson ideas,1 Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf: Roald Dahl, in Revolting Rhymes Here is a great rhyme for developing the features of Stress and Unstress ‘As soon as Wolf began to fee! That he would like a decent meal, He went and knocked on Grandma's door. When Grandma opened it, she saw ‘The sharp white teeth, the horrid grin, ‘And Wolfie said, “May | come in?" Poor Grandmamma was terrified, He's going to eat me up!" she cried, [And she was absolutely right. He ate her up in one big bite. But Grandmamma was small and tough, ‘And Wolfie wailed, “That's not enough! haven't yet begun to feel ‘That | have had a decent meal!” He ran around the kitchen yelping, “I've got to have a second helping!” Then added with a frightful leer, “I'm therefore going to wait right here Til Litle Miss Red Riding Hood ‘Comes home from walking in the wood." He quickly put on Grandma's clothes, (Of course he hadnt eaten those). He dressed himself in coat and hat. He put on shoes, and after that He even brushed and curled his hair, ‘Then sat himself in Grandma's chair. In came the litle gir in red. ‘She stopped. She stared. And then she said, “What great big ears you have, Grandma.” “All the better to hear you with,” the Wolf reph “What great big eyes you have, Grandma.” said Little Red Riding Hood, “All the better to see you with," the Wolf replied. He sat there watching her and smiled. He thought, I'm going to eat this child Compared with her old Grandmamma ‘She's going to taste like caviar. Then Little Red Riding Hood said, “But Grandma, what a lovely great big furry coat you have on.” “That's wrong!" cried Wolf. “Have you forgot To tell me what BIG TEETH I've got? ‘Ah well, no matter what you say, ‘'m going to eat you anyway.” The small girl smiles. One eyelid flickers. She whips a pistol from her knickers. She aims it at the creature's head ‘And bang bang bang, she shoots him dead. ‘A few weeks later, in the wood, | came across Miss Riding Hood. But what a change! No cloak of red, ‘No silly hood upon her head. ‘She said, "Hello, and do please note My lovely furry wolfskin coat.” How many sy!lables wo SYresseo i ow uns nesses ow Bs tell He sYory SAN ste Wisp Me nttieed Link long SertentegThe mad tea party oD a i, There was a table set out under a tree in front of the house, sand the March hare and the Hatter were having tea at it|\ The dormouse was sitting between them, fast asleep, and the other two were using it as a cushion, resting their elbows on it, and talking over its head. “Very uncomfortable for the dormouse," thought Alice, "only, as it's asleep, | suppose it doesn't mind." From Alice in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll. Th sense grps Key Shrses D> united - ether Garncck” Then VASEIntegrating pronunciation with grammar, vocabulary and connected speech Tracker form: 50 core techniques and concepts ‘Tick when you have understood each concer pt or practice. Describe each in your own words. 13 Name vl ‘Your description Mime Gesture 3 kinds of model ‘Vowel, Diphthong, Consonant “4 muscle buttons Chart geography/chart as map ‘Guided tour Making sounds from other sounds “idiot’ sound ‘The ‘position’ of a sound Mouthing V whispering V Saying... Pronunciation as dance Inner workbench ‘Two models in one learner Inner rehearsal / Anti-biurt device Visual dictation Counting sounds, syllables Counting stresses The pointer “4 modes of pointer use "Ice cream” 3 ways to present vocabulary ‘Sound pool (from word or phrase) ‘Students at the chart Starting where the student is Finger correction ‘Slowing down pronunciation: *Slow correction” Finding sounds in your own mouth 3 levels of pronunciation ‘Sounds in isolation Dictionary pronunciation ‘Connected speech Reduction ‘Simplification ‘Feeling’ a sound/Taking a snapshot Integrating pron with class work Working 1:1 in a group attributes of stress Unstress ‘Schwa ‘Shifting the stress ‘Vowel reduction ‘Sense groups Linking [Prominence [in English!” I