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...

An Intensive Course in Teaching Pronunciation

Friday - August 26th, 2016
Posted by: 
Mark Hancock
Event date: 
Friday, August 26, 2016 (All day)
Blog - hancockmcdonald.com/blog/67

Manchester in summer is not always something to write home about, but this summer was different. Norwich Institute of Language Education (NILE) offered their first ever pronunciation teaching course, and I was the tutor and course designer. It took place as part of NILE’s summer programme at their Manchester site.

  • Pronunciation

Materials Writing: Turning constraints into assets

Sunday - July 31st, 2016
Posted by: 
Mark Hancock
Materials Writing: Turning constraints into assets - hancockmcdonald.com/blog/materials-writing-turning-constraints-assets

ELT materials writing is a creative process, and the prospect of creating something from nothing on an empty white page can be quite daunting. But the materials writer has to do just that, and moreover, do it within very tight constraints. For instance, if you are writing a narrative for ELT purposes, it must not only be engaging as a narrative, but it must also be useful as a learning tool.

  • Materials design
  • Pronunciation

TESOL Spain interviews

Thursday - March 24th, 2016
Posted by: 
Mark Hancock
Event date: 
Thursday, March 24, 2016 (All day)
Conference Reports - hancockmcdonald.com/blog/topic/conference-reports-0

On the TESOL Spain website (click here), you can now see videos of various speakers from the 2016 conference in Vitoria, conducted by Gerard McLaughlin.

  • Pronunciation

TESOL Spain 2016

Tuesday - March 8th, 2016
Posted by: 
Mark Hancock
Annie McDonald
Event date: 
Friday, March 11, 2016 - 09:15 to Sunday, March 13, 2016 - 14:15
TESOL Spain 2016 - hancockmcdonald.com/blog/tesol-spain-2016

We're off to the north of Spain this weekend for the 39th annual TESOL Spain convention, which is taking place in Vitoria-Gasteiz. Mark will be presenting a complete pronunciation workout.

  • General

A 2-week course on teaching pronunciation

Tuesday - December 1st, 2015
Posted by: 
Mark Hancock
Event date: 
Monday, July 4, 2016 (All day) to Friday, July 15, 2016 (All day)
A 2-week course on teaching pronunciation - hancockmcdonald.com/blog/2-week-course-teaching-pronunciation

This course is aimed at teachers of English who wish to broaden their knowledge of the various issues involved in teaching pronunciation.

More information in the Talks section .

Pronpack Sound Chart explained

Wednesday - September 2nd, 2015
Posted by: 
Mark Hancock
Pronpack Sound Chart Infographic by Mark Hancock

This infographic gives a brief explanation of how the new Pronpack Sound Chart is organized. You can download colour or black and white versions below. Download versions of the actual chart/poster itself here:

1. The version with phonemes and guide words in colour or black and white.

  • Pronunciation

Hot Topics in Prague

Monday - May 25th, 2015
Posted by: 
Mark Hancock
Hot Topics in Prague - hancockmcdonald.com/blog/hot-topics-prague

The 4th International Conference on English Pronunciation: Issues & Practices (EPIP) was a three day event in Prague.

  • Pronunciation

Pronunciation in Prague!

Tuesday - May 19th, 2015
Posted by: 
Mark Hancock
Blog - hancockmcdonald.com/blog/67

The 4th International Conference on English Pronunciation: Issues and Practices is being hosted by the Institute of Phonetics, Charles University, Prague, this weekend. This conference happens every two years, with previous venues including France, South Africa and Spain. See a programme for the event here.

  • Pronunciation

Pronunciation at IATEFL 2015 - some reflections

Wednesday - April 15th, 2015
Posted by: 
Mark Hancock
Pronunciation at IATEFL 2015 - some reflections - hancockmcdonald.com/blog/pronunciation-iatefl-2015-some-reflections

I can’t remember ever having seen so many pronunciation-focused talks on an IATEFL programme as there were in Manchester this year. Too many to fit into a single PRONSIG strand day. What’s more, many of them were so over-subscribed that there wasn’t even space to sit on the floor, as I found out to my own disappointment. I did get to see a fair number, nevertheless.

  • Pronunciation

Mark's chart explained on video

Saturday - January 31st, 2015
Posted by: 
Mark Hancock
Mark Hancock explaining his vowel sound chart on hancockmcdonald.com

See video below. Get printable copies of the chart here. See some discussion of the vowel chart here.

  • Pronunciation

Marks Chart

Sunday - January 11th, 2015
Posted by: 
Mark Hancock
A new phonemic chart from Mark Hancock on hancockmcdonald.com

Here are the phonemic chart for vowels and consonants. See a video explanation of the vowels here. Click on the jpegs below for either the colour or black and white versions. If you prefer a version with no mention of alcoholic drinks, choose the files with ME at the end of the title.

  • Pronunciation

Mark's Vowel Sound Chart

Wednesday - January 7th, 2015
Posted by: 
Mark Hancock
Mark's Vowel Sound Chart - hancockmcdonald.com/blog/marks-vowel-sound-chart

Check out the full chart here. See a video here. I’ve been developing a new phonemic chart to use with my students.

  • Pronunciation

Stephen Krashen at TESOL France

Tuesday - November 18th, 2014
Posted by: 
Mark Hancock
Event date: 
Saturday, November 15, 2014 - 18:00
Conference Reports - hancockmcdonald.com/blog/topic/conference-reports-0

For myself and many other ELT professionals, Stephen Krashen is a legend. In the words of Wikipedia, for instance ‘He is credited with introducing various influential concepts ... including the acquisition-learning hypothesis, the input hypothesis, the monitor hypothesis, the affective filter, and the natural order hypothesis’. So naturally, he is a big pull at a conference.

  • General

Carol Read at TESOL France

Tuesday - November 18th, 2014
Posted by: 
Mark Hancock
Event date: 
Saturday, November 15, 2014 - 10:00
Conference Reports - hancockmcdonald.com/blog/topic/conference-reports-0

Carol Read’s plenary at TESOL France was titled, ‘Reflections on How to be a Highly Effective Teacher’. I’ve seen her give a number of conference presentations, but for me this was the best – a broad view of the field underpinned by good references, and a vivacious delivery.

  • General

Bringing the corpus back to life? Reflections on McCarthy on spoken grammar

Monday - October 6th, 2014
Posted by: 
Mark Hancock
Event date: 
Saturday, October 4, 2014 - 11:30
Conference Reports - hancockmcdonald.com/blog/topic/conference-reports-0

Mike McCarthy gave the opening plenary at English UK Academic (North) conference last Saturday (Oct 4 2014), revisiting the topic of the grammar of spoken English. Spoken language, he pointed out, is in no way an imperfect, poorly realized version of the written form.

  • Speaking

Adam Brown: Pronunciation and Phonetics

Wednesday - September 3rd, 2014
Posted by: 
Mark Hancock
Adam Brown: Pronunciation and Phonetics

Follow the link to see my review of Adam Brown's Pronunciation and Phonetics in the ELT Journal. (I'm sorry to say that this item is now in the membership section of the ELTJ but you can read more in the Articles section.)

  • Pronunciation

An Atlas of English Language Teaching

Wednesday - July 9th, 2014
Posted by: 
Mark Hancock
An Atlas of English Language Teaching

In a profession of many specialist interests, it's important to keep the big picture in mind in order to maintain a balanced and proportional outlook. Enthusiasms are great, but need to be kept in context. With this purpose in mind, I have been developing conceptual maps of aspects of ELT - so it's beginning to turn into an atlas. Click below for:

  • General

A grey-tie deer

Tuesday - May 27th, 2014
Posted by: 
Mark Hancock
A grey-tie deer

Here's another phrasal homophone image to add to the collection. It's the homophone of 'A great idea!'.

  • Pronunciation

Pronunciation Tasks Video

Saturday - April 12th, 2014
Posted by: 
Mark Hancock
Mark Hancock demonstrating pronunciation activities

This is a video showing clips from a presentation I did at Living Learning English in Bristol.

  • Pronunciation

Sugata Mitra, ed-tech evangelist

Saturday - April 5th, 2014
Posted by: 
Mark Hancock
Blog - hancockmcdonald.com/blog/145

Sugata Mitra argued with evangelical flourish that, given the right resources, children will learn without schooling. He said that the right resource has now come into existence and is potentially available to every child: the internet. To support this argument, Mitra described what have become known as “the hole in the wall” experiments.

  • General
  • Classroom interaction
  • Materials design
  • Motivation

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