ELT thoughts, news and updates

Here we've got ideas, observations on ELT, including Mark's Pronunciation Blog and loads of conference and speaker reports...

New Addition to the PronPack Family!

Tuesday - September 19th, 2023
Posted by: 
Mark Hancock
New Addition to the PronPack Family! - hancockmcdonald.com/blog/new-addition-pronpack-family

The newest additions to the PronPack family are the books in the Pronunciation for Listening series, which focus on pronunciation as a receptive skill. These books are user-friendly, with short, well-signposted chapters providing maximum accessibility for the busy teacher.

  • Listening
  • Pronunciation

New review of 50 Tips for Teaching Pronunciation

Saturday - December 10th, 2022
Posted by: 
Mark Hancock
Event date: 
Saturday, December 10, 2022 (All day)
New review of 50 Tips for Teaching Pronunciation - hancockmcdonald.com/blog/new-review-50-tips-teaching-pronunciation

Happy to see a new review of Mark Hancock's 50 Tips for Teaching Pronunciation from Jean Arnold in the TESOLANZ Newsletter.

  • Pronunciation

Announcing a new book!

Sunday - April 24th, 2022
Posted by: 
Mark Hancock
Event date: 
Sunday, April 24, 2022 (All day)
Announcing a new book! - hancockmcdonald.com/blog/announcing-new-book

Delighted to announce the arrival of a new member of the PronPack family! Connected Speech for Listeners provides background tips plus a wealth of teaching ideas and materials for dealing in class with the pronunciation of natural spoken English. The main objective is to help learners improve their listening skills.

  • Listening
  • Pronunciation

Just published - PronPack for Brazilians!

Friday - June 11th, 2021
Posted by: 
Mark Hancock
Just published - PronPack for Brazilians! - hancockmcdonald.com/blog/just-published-pronpack-brazilians

A new book has just joined the PronPack family. We welcome PronPack 6: Pronunciation of English for Brazilian Learners - more information about it here.

  • Pronunciation

Just published: 50 Tips for Teaching Pronunciation

Saturday - November 7th, 2020
Posted by: 
Mark Hancock
Event date: 
Friday, November 6, 2020 (All day)
Just published: 50 Tips for Teaching Pronunciation - hancockmcdonald.com/blog/just-published-50-tips-teaching-pronunciation

This new book outlines a complete approach and philosophy of pronunciation teaching, in the form of 50 very accessible two-page tips. More about it here, and a review of the book by Robin Walker here.

  • Pronunciation

PronPack in the Czech Republic

Monday - February 24th, 2020
Posted by: 
Mark Hancock
Event date: 
Monday, February 24, 2020 - 10:00
Blog - hancockmcdonald.com/blog

We are delighted to announce that PronPack is now available locally in the Czech Republic from englishbooks.cz !

  • General

PronPack in Australia!

Monday - March 11th, 2019
Posted by: 
Mark Hancock
Blog - hancockmcdonald.com/blog

PronPack is now available in Australia from Bookery. To celebrate, we have added Australia to our atlas of Air Traffic Control maps. Download it from here (Activity 3.1 new versions).

  • Pronunciation

PronPack wins ESU Award

Thursday - November 22nd, 2018
Posted by: 
Mark Hancock
Event date: 
Tuesday, November 20, 2018 - 18:30
PronPack wins ESU Award - hancockmcdonald.com/node/586/edit

Our books PronPack 1-4 have been awarded a prize from the English Speaking Union in recognition of their contribution to teaching spoken English. The books won the runners up prize in the category of teaching resources. The prestigious ESU prizes are awarded every two years.

  • Pronunciation

English Speaking Union Awards

Wednesday - September 26th, 2018
Posted by: 
Mark Hancock
Event date: 
Tuesday, November 20, 2018 - 18:30
English Speaking Union Awards - hancockmcdonald.com/node/580/edit

Since 1971, the English-Speaking Union has celebrated awards for the highest quality English language teaching resources.

  • Pronunciation

Teaching Pronunciation: muscle, mind, meaning, memory

Wednesday - July 11th, 2018
Posted by: 
Mark Hancock
Event date: 
Wednesday, July 11, 2018 - 00:15
Teaching Pronunciation: muscle, mind, meaning, memory - hancockmcdonald.com/node/574/edit

Take a look at a video of an English pronunciation lesson, with me using materials and techniques from my books PronPack 1-4 (http://pronpack.com/) I explain that there are four kinds of activities, which may be summed up as muscle, mind, meaning and memory.

  • Pronunciation

PronPack 1-4 wins an ELTons prize for Innovation in Teacher Resources!

Wednesday - July 11th, 2018
Posted by: 
Mark Hancock
Event date: 
Monday, June 18, 2018 - 17:00
PronPack 1-4 wins an ELTons prize for Innovation in Teacher Resources! - hancockmcdonald.com/node/573/edit

PronPack 1-4 by Mark Hancock made it through three rounds of rigorous judging to win the 2018 ELTons Award for Innovation in Teacher Resources, a prestigious award for innovation in the English language teaching sector.

  • Pronunciation

What accent do students think they want?

Saturday - April 14th, 2018
Posted by: 
Mark Hancock
What accent do students think they want? - hancockmcdonald.com/node/563/edit

Here's Gemma Archer at IATEFL Brighton (on the PronSIG day) explaining how she felt when, starting her teaching career, she was expected to teach pronunciation in a posh English accent. She was teaching in a Scottish environment and has a Scottish accent, so teaching RP just didn't make any sense. So she gave up on pronunciation altogether.

  • Pronunciation

PronPack Shortlisted for ELTons Award!

Thursday - March 29th, 2018
Posted by: 
Mark Hancock
PronPack Shortlisted for ELTons Award! - hancockmcdonald.com/node/567/edit

Proud and delighted to announce: PronPack 1-4 is a finalist of the 16th British Council ELTons Awards for Innovation in English Language Teaching 2018 in innovation in teacher resources.

  • Pronunciation

Seminar on Teaching Phonemes

Friday - March 16th, 2018
Posted by: 
Mark Hancock
Seminar on Teaching Phonemes - hancockmcdonald.com/node/565/edit

Here's a link to a seminar Mark Hancock did at the British Council about teaching individual phonemes

  • Pronunciation

Pronunciation Event in Chester!

Wednesday - January 17th, 2018
Posted by: 
Mark Hancock
Annie McDonald
Event date: 
Saturday, February 17, 2018 - 10:00
Pronunciation Event in Chester! - hancockmcdonald.com/blog/pronunciation-event-chester

IATEFL PronSIG is holding an event in the beautiful city of Chester on February 17th. Only 2 hours by train from London, Chester is a place steeped in layers of history, and the event will take place at the city's University. 'Pronunciation: the Missing Link'.

  • Pronunciation

PronPack in Modern English Teacher

Tuesday - January 16th, 2018
Posted by: 
Mark Hancock
Event date: 
Tuesday, January 16, 2018 - 10:30
Blog - hancockmcdonald.com/blog

The PronPack Sound Chart isfeatured on the cover Modern English Teacher Volume 27 Issue 1, January 2018. Inside, there is my article on the hexagon vowel chart entitled 'Putting Vowels on the Map'. Plus, there is a review of PronPack by Brian Brennan in Ih Barcelona, including the following comments:

“Hancock’s approach is strikingly innovative”

  • Pronunciation

Review of PronPack in ETP!

Saturday - December 2nd, 2017
Posted by: 
Mark Hancock
Review of PronPack in ETP! - hancockmcdonald.com/blog/review-pronpack-etp

Great to see a review of PronPack in English Teaching Professional (Issue 113, November 2017, pp. 35, 36)
by Steve Hirschhorn in Hungary. Here are a few quotes:

  • Pronunciation

Which PronPack - ebook or print?

Saturday - June 24th, 2017
Posted by: 
Mark Hancock
Which PronPack - ebook or print? - hancockmcdonald.com/blog/which-pronpack-ebook-or-print

Ebook
+ cheaper
+ integrated audio
+ quick to navigate to the page you want
+ good to have as your own personal copy
+ print the worksheets from pronpack.com

  • Pronunciation

New PronPack series now out on Amazon!

Saturday - June 24th, 2017
Posted by: 
Mark Hancock
New PronPack series now out on Amazon! - hancockmcdonald.com/blog/new-pronpack-series-now-out-amazon

PronPack is a set of four resource books to help teachers focus on English pronunciation in class. The books contain printable worksheets along with teacher’s notes explaining how to guide the students through each activity.

  • Pronunciation

The Sound of Silence

Friday - May 12th, 2017
Posted by: 
Mark Hancock
Blog - hancockmcdonald.com/blog

Last class, a South Korean student told me about his weekend visit to Liverpool. He said it wasn’t easy to understand the local way of speaking, and gave the example of the question word What? He demonstrated how this word had been said, with the final ‘t’ replaced with a silence, or glottal stop, so it sounds like wha’?

  • Pronunciation

Pages

Subscribe to Blog