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Hancock & Veigga Pronunciation Course for Teachers Mark Hancock Hi Natalia Hi Natalia We're planning to start in February 2024, instead of January. Can you send an email on our 'Contact' page (http://hancockmcdonald.com/contact) if you're still interested? All the best Mark
Hancock & Veigga Pronunciation Course for Teachers Natalia Rudyk Join the event Hello I am Natalia and I would like to join your event in January. How it is possible to do? Thanks a lot. Best regards, Natalia
Wrong Lyrics 2 Mark Hancock Thanks for that, Julieta! Thanks for that, Julieta!
Wrong Lyrics 2 Julieta Ayub Amazing content as always, Amazing content as always, Mark! Thanks for sharing!!
Singing Grammar - overview Mark Hancock Hi Maya, Can you send me an Hi Maya, Can you send me an email through the "contact" page about this? Mark
Just published: 50 Tips for Teaching Pronunciation Mark Hancock Hi Judith! Hi Judith! Try using the game on this page http://hancockmcdonald.com/materials/pronunciation-journey along with minimal pairs like the one you mentioned - go - goal; go - gold; goal - gold etc
Singing Grammar - overview Maya Conty Singing grammar Hello, Thank you for this wonderfully written book. I've finally managed to find it on the Internet. Unfortunately, the book has no CD. Is there any chance to download the songs somewhere? Best wishes, Maya
Spoken Word Recogniton for Listeners Mark Hancock Possible reason Perhaps it's because coursebook writers script the listening material and create the exercises based on the script. The audio is recorded after the writing phase is already finished.
Spoken Word Recogniton for Listeners Anthony Green Why is this... Why is this approach still not at the heart of the way we teachers approach listening? It's a genuine question, I'd really like to know the answers
Spoken Word Recogniton for Listeners Anthony Green Why is this... Why is this approach still not at the heart of the way we teachers approach listening? It's a genuine question, is really like to know the answers
Mark's spelling maze 'o' Michelle Duvall... Love these mazes! Perfect as Love these mazes! Perfect as a warmup for my pronunciation class. I did want to let you know, however, that there is a small typo in the "O" spelling maze. The directions tell users to go from TOP to SHOP, but in fact STOP seems to bee the finish line. Thanks again o much for these!
Mark's spelling maze 'e' Mark Hancock Glad you like it Victoria! Glad you like it Victoria!
Mark's spelling maze 'e' Victoria This method is just amazing, This method is just amazing, very dynamic, and useful. Thank you so much for sharing, I am sure my students will love it! I am not a native speaker, so I am having the opportunity of challenging myself with it as well!
Pronpack Sound Chart explained Raj it is good it is good
ELT Pronunciation for Spanish speakers (Collection) Christina Excellent materials that can Excellent materials that can even be easily modified to use in online classes. Thank you!
Just published: 50 Tips for Teaching Pronunciation Judith McDonald Final Consonant Deletion I am trying to find some activities to help my (adult) students with final consonant deletion. They are all from Asian countries and their various first languages do not have many final consonants so they tend to delete all final consonants, whether they are single or clusters - hence gold and goal become go. Do you have any suggestions other than drilling?
A Map of Pronunciation Teaching Mark Hancock Thanks Lucy. Glad you like it Thanks Lucy. Glad you like it!
A Map of Pronunciation Teaching Lucy Tilney Article and Map of Pronunciation Mark, I love your Map of Pronunciation and your accompanying article. It's really nicely written, with accessible language for the non-specialist teacher of English. The map is a delightful and helpful way of illustrating your theory and your article is full of some really insightful observerations. I also like your suggestions for how to use the map for self-reflection. Bravo!
The First Day Fatma Saleh perfect perfect
PronPack 1: Pronunciation Workouts Anael Guimaraes I would like to buy this book I would like to buy this book
The Brothers Nelly It is really awesome! More, It is really awesome! More, interesting, engaging and funny.
The Melon Maze Mark Hancock You're welcome, Solange! You're welcome, Solange!
The Melon Maze SOLANGE OLIVEIR... Good evening Oh, since 2019 I have been using your games and audios. In the begining I didn´t know about the audio, but I have found them. Thank you so much.
Sometimes HANANE amrani wonderful ... thanks you wonderful ... thanks you
Mazes, Maps, Rhymes & Raps Faiz Algobaei Thank you Thank you
Mazes, Maps, Rhymes & Raps Amna Ahmed Hassan About the session above Thanks a lot for the Great help and for the information that given l appreciate that
Mazes, Maps, Rhymes & Raps Thando Fede Pronunciation Thank you I qbal! This subject has been thought provoking and certainly valuable for my teaching practice.
Pen Pictures - overview Mark Hancock Hi Annie, Hi Annie, Thank you very much for your interest in our beloved Pen Pictures books. It does appear that the publisher, Oxford University Press, has discontinued this series. I don't think that there's anything we can do to help. I'm really sorry about that! I hope you find a suitable alternative! Best wishes Mark & Annie
Pen Pictures - overview Annie pen pictures 123 Hello, My name is Annie Varis and I am an EFL teacher in Greece. I would like to order the above books in Greece but they keep telling me that they are out of stock.I find these books so useful in teaching children writing skills. Are you still publishing these great books and if so where can I order them in Greece. Thank you for your time and help. Annie Varis
Mazes, Maps, Rhymes & Raps Mark Hancock Thanks Iqbal! Thanks Iqbal!
Mazes, Maps, Rhymes & Raps Javed Iqbal Pronunciation Great!
Pronunciation Problems Mark Hancock Yes, of course Thelma! Yes, of course Thelma!
Pronunciation Problems Thelma Marques asking for permission to post link Dear Mark, I'm delivering my pronunciation course and I'd like to use this activity as a follow up to one of my activities. I have already recommended your site to the teachers and I'd like to know if I can post the link to this great activity on my Google Classroom. Cheers, Thelma
Sound Not Spelling Mark Hancock Hope it goes well, Ale! Hope it goes well, Ale!
Sound Not Spelling alessandra sound not spelling Brilliant! I love it and I'm going to try it tomorrow with one of my students. Thank you Ale
Pron Probs Game Mark Hancock Glad you like it Satti! Glad you like it Satti!
Pron Probs Game Satti Collins Pronunciation Problems Game What an excellent activity. Went down really well with my students. Thanks
The Brothers Mark Hancock Glad you liked it Graziella! Glad you liked it Graziella!
The Brothers Graziella Govela I liked your idea. I liked your idea. I will use it with my students. It's quite good to see the phonemes just there. Students brains will connect straight to the sound. Thanks a lot
Just published: 50 Tips for Teaching Pronunciation Ahmed pronuncition I want to get this book.
IPA: Symbols of Power? Mark Hancock I agree with your comment on I agree with your comment on the /r/ Kristýna. I don't think it matters that the phonemic symbols don't always 'agree' with the phonetic. What matters is when we forget that fact, and confuse the two. That leads to what Bryan Jenner called "an unhappy mixture of phonetic detail and phonological truth" (Speak Out 21, December 1997).
IPA: Symbols of Power? Kristýna Červin... Now I see how you meant it Now I see how you meant it and yes you are definitely right. It is similar to the symbol r which according to the IPA is an alveolar trill but in English sound charts the symbol is used for the approximant, right? I guess for the sake of simplicity as the inverted r symbol would be difficult to write. Many thanks for your reply. Kristýna
IPA: Symbols of Power? Mark Hancock Hi Kristyna, Yes, I'm looking Hi Kristyna, Yes, I'm looking forward to seeing your presentation too! About the duck vowel (or 'strut', as Wells would call it), of course it exists in RP. However, it isn't the sound which is represented by the turned V symbol in the IPA (which is Cardinal Vowel 14 - a back vowel) but rather, the sound represented by the symbol known as 'turned A' (a central vowel). In other words, the phonemic symbol (as used in RP) doesn't match the phonetic symbol. At least, that was my understanding, from reading the Handbook of the IPA (CUP). Thanks for your interest in the article! Mark
IPA: Symbols of Power? Kristýna Červin... IPA symbols of power - question Dear Mark, our sessions at the wonderful PronSIG conference coincided so I could not attend your talk (I´m going to watch if for sure). Meanwhile I read the article as I would like to use it as a starting point for the discussion with my students. Evertyhing is clear except for the part A case study: a duck vowel - what do you mean when you say that RP (GB) does not have the duck/come/done/hut vowel? Many thans for clarifying this bit (it has come as as surprise to me). Kristýna
Wrong Lyrics 1 Lizel Great activity! Great activity!
Wrong Lyrics 1 Stael Ruffinelli English as a foreign language I would love to get this materials to share with my trainees.
Top Ten Tips for Teaching Pronunciation Shailaja Yadav Spelling is a difficult friend Hey Mark, I have been teaching English for a few years now. I do stress on the pronunciation of the words. But the patterns you have explained here are amazing. Thank you. Shailaja
PronPack 1: Pronunciation Workouts Mark Hancock Hi Johanna, check out the Hi Johanna, check out the possibilities here: http://pronpack.com/pronpack-stockists-suppliers/ All the best Mark
PronPack 1: Pronunciation Workouts JOHANNA DEL ROC... I would like to buy this I would like to buy this ebook, can you tell me how can I buy it.
Wrong Lyrics 1 Mark Hancock Glad you like it, Silvana! Glad you like it, Silvana!
Wrong Lyrics 1 Silvana One of my teachers showed me One of my teachers showed me your site and I´m so glad she has! The material is exquisite! Thank you so much!!
Pronunciation Problems Mark Hancock Dear Daniel Dear Daniel Yes, of course you can use them for a research project. Actually, we are just about to publish them ourselves as part of a book called 'PronPack: Pronunciation for Spanish Speakers' which is due out this summer. Good luck with the project!
Pronunciation Problems Daniel Beltrán Hi Mark, I am working on my Hi Mark, I am working on my research project and I consider these cartoons and dialogues would be handful for my project, could I use them? Please send written confirmation if this would be okay
Pronunciation Teaching Post-ELF Erika Carrillo Pronunication I agree, pronunciation is core for communicating appropriately, but it is often neglected. So we teachers must find ways to teach it in a practical and effective manner and get the full potential of the language and the students' abilities.
American Sound Chart Vanessa Tavares I am glad to have come across I am glad to have come across this blog. It will be very useful for my practice in the classroom. Thanks a lot.
Rabbit in a Hat Julia A very original and funny A very original and funny pronunciation drill.
Life on Mars Melis Great! Thank you! It was an interesting topic for students.
Rome or Home? Rocío Rivas Pérez Me ha encantado, es súper Me ha encantado, es súper útil para trabajar las direcciones y la correcta pronunciación de las palabras.
Pronunciation Journey Rocío Rivas Pérez Un juego muy divertido. Un juego muy divertido.
Mazes, Maps, Rhymes & Raps: Pronunciation Made Practical Mark Hancock Thanks for letting me know, Thanks for letting me know, Juan!
Mazes, Maps, Rhymes & Raps: Pronunciation Made Practical Juan Campbell-Rodger Loved your workshop yesterday Loved your workshop yesterday. It was by far the best I saw. Thanks a lot!
Under the Water olga Thank you very much! Thank you very much!
The Parasol olga It's a rather interesting and It's a rather interesting and informative kind of activity. First students will get aquainted with the painting by Goya, then they will listen to a nice song and at the end they'll do the task. So thanks a lot for your activity!
Shop of Dreams olga Your site is interesting and Your site is interesting and nice , I think that you deserve a prize! Thanks a lot!
Which PronPack - ebook or print? Thanh Thank you! Thank you!
Mazes, Maps, Rhymes & Raps: Pronunciation Made Practical Sharon Ih International Dear Sir, I should be listening more carefully to your presentation right now but I might not have the chance to meet up with you later and thank you for the great and fun aid I have found in your pronunciation material. Grazie. Amazing "crazy" work. If nt unique.
The Kid you Need Oksana Thanks a lot! This song is Thanks a lot! This song is great!!!!!
English Pronunciation in Use - overview Luiz Alves English Pronunciation in Use This book has helped me a lot in teaching English pronunciation. All my students just loved it.
Pron Probs Game Thelma Marques Thank you very much, Mark! Thank you very much, Mark! Really useful resource!
Disappearing Sentence xiaoqionghuang great great
Wrong Lyrics 2 Mark Hancock Glad you like them! Glad you like them!
Wrong Lyrics 2 Aggie Fantastic resources! Thank Fantastic resources! Thank you :-)
Top Ten Tips for Teaching Pronunciation Mark Hancock I'm glad you like the idea! I'm glad you like the idea! Mark
Top Ten Tips for Teaching Pronunciation Yvonne Ho Pronunciation for meaning Mark, I have been teaching English pronunciation for years. I always stressed correctness and taught students correct pronunciation based on the International Phonetic symbols I learned at UCLA. It never occurred to me to focus less on correctness, but more on meaning. I think that focusing more on meaning is a great idea. There is a big difference between 'price' and 'prize'. Thanks for the tip! Yvonne Ho
Pronunciation Journey Mark Hancock You're welcome! You're welcome!
Pronunciation Journey Solange I loved this game Thank for this game. I loved.
Pronunciation Games for Spain diana fernandez I'm a teacher I'm interested I'm a teacher I'm interested in the talk
Listening: Problems from Learners' Perspectives Annie McDonald Hi and thanks again Richard, Hi and thanks again Richard, It occurs to me that the ideas themselves have to be good in themselves!
Listening: Problems from Learners' Perspectives Richard Cauldwell Your article The link after 'You can read the article here' doesn't work for me. Thanks for the mention of the book, and putting the ideas to such good use! R
Pronunciation Problems lalitha murthy Pronunciation sessions for working professionals Hi Mark At last have got a request for correcting the pronunciation of a few Indian engineers. I am planning to use your book. Where can I buy it, and how long will it take to reach me in India? Regards Lalitha
Pronunciation Teaching Post-ELF Camila In my personal experience as In my personal experience as a student of the English Language, I have figured out how important is to be understood by another speaker even if my Pronunciation is native-like or not. At least to me, I believe that as a future English Teachers we must make sure that our students can use and express their ideas through good grammar and vocabulary use which is the most important thing to understand and learn first, then we have to focus on pronunciation, but as you mention in your article, feedback is pretty important in that process, to practice hard even if the student doesn’t sounds like native speaker, that’s why we as a teachers have to be there!! Practicing, giving opinions and corrections allow them to make mistakes. I have to tell you that I agree with your ideas and I would like Chilean Schools and universities to implement them. Good article!!
Pronunciation Teaching Post-ELF Luis Cortes Nowadays, we are immense in a Nowadays, we are immense in a technological world in which every single place in the world might be just a click away from us, although people do not know your language, English is our bridge to communicate because it is used as a lingua franca, so everyone is using English in a way that is more familiar for them. Phonology, for instance, is important to produce more accurate items but sometimes if the message is understandable, although it is not well pronounced, it should be accepted as correct. There are some people that still believe that being native like is the only acceptable way to use a language, but it is not true due to, L2 acquisition is very complicated, it is like playing an instrument, because its sound improves as you practice. As a future teacher, I will always encourage my students to practice and produce language because it will make them better little by little, not frustrating them because they do not have a native like pronunciation.
Pronunciation Teaching Post-ELF Lorena As it was mentioned in Accent As it was mentioned in Accent snobbery, our language is like a prism, the pronunciation is like a rainbow with a wide spectrum of colors, such as the universal pronunciation of English, and therefore we cannot afford to talk or impose an exclusive pronunciation in terms of intelligibility. As we humans are different, there will be variations of pronunciation, and therefore we, as future teachers, should know or have some knowledge about what is essential or superficial for our students to know, in order to allow them to understand the objective of the communicative situation, so we can provide a feedback depending on what their thoughts or goals in pronunciation are. As an example, I can mention my experience at school with pronunciation, our teachers were not very interested in it, so they never put much effort in teaching it, but my goals were different and they still are. Here at University, we have specific classes about pronunciation and so, we can improve and we are given the choice to choose what kind of ''accent'' we like the most and how we want to speak, so our teacher is always providing opportunities and allowing us to explore the different pronunciation of words, so we can include them to our vocabulary and allow us to grow with the process of learning. The world is always changing and adapting itself to the new generations, and I truly believe that as teachers, we need to allow them to explore and adapt to the different variations of pronunciation, we must provide the feedback in order to receive, understand and compare the diversity of pronunciation features that surround us today, there is no need to correct or deny a variation if you are going to impose a unique type if pronunciation; our role must be supported by the discovery and personal growth that will help our students to get along fine with other speakers and that will allow them in terms of contribution to understanding and being understood with the rest of the world.
Pronunciation Teaching Post-ELF Pablo Bustamante Comment It is very important to know what kind of English should we use to teach at schools. It will help us to focus on what is useful for students to learn so that they can develop their competences, and be able to actually use the language in context, as I have been experiencing in College the last 3 years. Also, I agree with one of the purposes of the text. There should be a way of teaching English in which students use the language for their convenience, and we as teachers are the starting point for them to improve skills related to learning a second language. I also found interesting that it's kind of motivating learning English with the parameters mentioned in the text considering how difficult it us to pronounce in a native-like accent. It would be understandable and, in consequence, much easier to produce the language. I think that if that becomes a task while teaching, people would use the language without any prejudice.
Pronunciation Teaching Post-ELF Romina One point that calls my One point that calls my attention in the text is the idea that the global lingua franca is emergent and dynamic, so it’s impossible to establish a set of rules that can’t be changed because the real use of the language means change. It is known that language fulfills the necessity of the speaker which is everywhere in the world different. Consequently, as I see it is necessary to have just a set of rules which result extremely necessary for the intelligibility of the message and do not involves other things like history or a romantic view of the language because the fact is that it is going to change and even more than so far. The text also mentioned that taking part in one side of the battle between dogma and denial is old fashioned and even more for teachers, in my opinion, because they are both centered in the final product of learning and not in the process of learning from where we are able to make changes in the learning process and make students choose the aim they have to teach them in concordance with that goal. I also agree with the idea presented in the text about the acceptance we need to develop in ourselves and students to other ’s pronunciation that always vary from one speaker to another especially between speakers from different countries that use English as a lingua franca. In this sense, I think it’s also necessary to develop the capacity of students to accommodate to new or different accents in order that they are able to fit in any situation when the usage of English as the only language available to communicate between non-English speakers.
Pronunciation Teaching Post-ELF Pablo Bustamante Comment It very important to know what kind of English should we use to teach at schools. It will help us to focus on what is useful for students to learn so that they can develop their competences, and be able to actually use the language in context, as I have been experiencing in College the last 3 years. Also, I agree with one of the purposes of the text. There should be a way of teaching English in which students use the language for their convenience, and we as teachers are the starting point for them to improve skills related to learning a second language. I also found interesting that it's kind of motivating learning English with the parameters mentioned in the text considering how difficult it is to pronounce in a native-like accent. I would be understandable and, in consequence, much easier to produce the language. I think that if that takes place, people would use the language without any prejudice.
Pronunciation Teaching Post-ELF Alejandra In my own opinion, I agree In my own opinion, I agree with the idea that English is the simplest and the most appropriate language to be used as Lingua Franca. However, there are still natives of the language that are in a denial and think that accent is the most important thing in terms of communication and English should have a standard accent, but in fact, They are wrong. From my perspective as a student of the language, I think that the accent is important, but only in the case that the learner wants to sound like a native or wants to specialize in phonetics. But, if we just want to communicate with another person, the accent is not that relevant in the interaction because no matter how bad you want to sound like a native, your own accent will be shown as you relax and talk about yourself and your culture. So, as you start to learn a new language, I think that the most important thing that learners have to focus on is in the intelligibility of their speaking because no matter how strong your accent is, people will understand you.
Pronunciation Teaching Post-ELF Benjamin Álvarez Cherish the gift we are given We are humans, an Amazing race of live beings who have been given a gift we need to cherish: Communication. We are these greedy animals seeking to interact with each other and wanting to break all kinds of boundaries that exist all across the communicative highway we ride. Following the metaphor of the Light and prism, there we are, all these beautiful colours of the rainbow, as unique as all willing to be there together, I really liked thinking of that metaphor, for we are all so diverse, and so is language. Language is identity; identity is diverse. Why should language teaching after ELF be something restricted and Boundary setter? No way! We are all here looping for International English, International language, therefore accommodation is the goal we as teachers of English should look up to and thus trespass to our future class participants. I remember myself a couple of years ago doing cockney accent and the BBC one so hard, but one I happened to remember I am Chilean and I want to be a citizen of the World and not a Britton. Lets set the focus pointing towards intelligibility, tolerance, still keeping an eye on model, but always more on efficiency and not correctness. If we want to make a better wold, it includes the attitude of people among themselves, their language and healthy, conscious communication. Only that way we’ll be cherishing that precious gift.
Pronunciation Teaching Post-ELF Sofia Araya For me as a student and as a For me as a student and as a future English teacher this article was very helpful, it shows EFL premise and metaphor of the prism reality, and how non-native speaker English production can differ from one place to another,even though, there is a main goal or a main technique which help to develop the students abilit. There is a wide variety of English accents around the world, so that, teachers must be aware that the most relevant thing to accomplish is that the students are able to communicate and to be understood, rather than the pronunciation features, for me as a non-native speaker of English language is very difficult to achieve the Native speaker pronunciation although there are some aspects and contents that are relevant in the pronunciation, teachers in the future should be capable of understand that the communication process is more important than the aspects of pronunciation or the standard accent students use.
Pronunciation Teaching Post-ELF Andrea As an English student in As an English student in process to be a teacher, I think that the article is very helpful for us. I totally agree with some aspects. I think that a big problem of teaching and learning English is the fact that it is always wanted to reach a perfect accent to sound like a native English speaker, more than be intelligible or be understood for everybody who speaks English. A doubt that is always on my mind is if we are going to teach EFL to children or even people who don’t speak English at all, why do we want to sound perfect rather than to communicate intelligibly? I believe that is important to make a big effort to speak and sound correctly because we are teaching a new language that must be well known by us, but I consider more important communicate the message in a clear way than to sound like a native speaker.
Pronunciation Teaching Post-ELF Consuelo As an English learner I As an English learner I strongly believe that a good pronunciation is very important when we are learning a language and even more when we are teaching the language, because everyone wants a native pronunciation, because is the best way to speak. But I also believe that is very important to be aware of the existence of the different accents that exist in English, as a future English teacher it will be very important for me that the students know the diversity of accents that exist in English, because they have many benefits, for instance, it help us to know more about the country or language that we are studying and to feel more comfortable speaking with one accent instead of another. Also because in this way the students can assess the language in a better way, because they will turn capable of handling the language in the world and not only close in one type. For the same reason and as a conclusion I think that is more important to focus on the learning rather if the student speaks as a native speaker. It has more importance if the students can establish a conversation instead of an excellent pronunciation, that would be more significant to me, which will be my main goal when I become a teacher.
Pronunciation Teaching Post-ELF Pablo Díaz ELF and my national context In my opinion, this model seems interesting for my context, as a Chilean person. In my personal experience, I did not have much interaction with the English language in terms of pronunciation when I was at school, but that may be because our national curriculum does not have emphasis in production. This ELF seems as a suitable option for our classrooms, as it does not focus on being native-like, but to be able to understand other speakers and to give the needed competences to produce the language with confidence with other English users around the world; goal which is coherent, as our world is always evolving towards globalization, and let’s be honest: English IS the language which will open new opportunities to the people, learning it is a must, especially for us, the people who do not have any interaction with the language, as it is a totally foreign language. In this model, communication is the most important object of study, and it seems absolutely clever, because the main purpose of language is communication. As a future English teacher, I think that this model could be a contextualized answer to our country’s low levels of English.
Pronunciation Teaching Post-ELF Renato Learning English as a second Learning English as a second language is very important in this world. English is the language of business, pop culture, medicine, etc for this reason many people from different countries have decided to learn English as their second language. Communication allows us to relate to the world and be aware of the global situation. The aim of learning English is to achieve a successful communication with native and non-native speakers of English, that implies a lot of accents to recognize and understand. In my opinion, teaching the different types of accents it is important because that enables us to understand whoever we are talking. On the other hand it can result difficult to produce speech with sounds that are not used in our native language. To deliver our message successfully is important to consider specific aspects that result essential for achieving meaning, such as phoneme distinctions, syllables and tonic stress, but there are others that are superficial, according to the article these are; weak forms, elision, assimilation, linking and schwa. ELF approach considers that learning accents is important to understand messages, but not vital for producing output. As English language learner I have realized that a native like accent is not important to communicate with native speakers, but learning the way accents sound have allowed me to understand people from different regions. I have also realized that over-focus on achieving a native like accent is sometimes unhelpful and even makes the speech creation more difficult, while focus on fluency allows us to produce and receive more message.
Pronunciation Teaching Post-ELF Victor .. I agree with the text and I found it very interesting. First of all, we are not native speakers, so it is hard for us to use a correct accent of it. We are not insert in the language, even if we try it. Obviously, this doesn’t mean we cannot do it or acquire it. According to the text, I agree with the idea of teaching the features of the pronunciation leaving the option for the learner of choosing what is easier to him to acquire and try to improve what is more difficult. As teachers we need to look for a balance between the RP and LF, both are options to the students. If we want to communicate our ideas, we can buy a full equipment car or we can use a standard not very equipped, but both are giving us the chance to reach the destiny.
Pronunciation Teaching Post-ELF Gabriela ELF Few days ago I read an article about ELF and everything that some teachers had taught me “fell apart” but not in a bad way. Now with your article and with the prism and light metaphor I see it clear. ELF is the way we need to teach our students, I totally agree with everything you stand. English – as every language- is used to communicate ideas, feelings and mostly everything we want. And for that purpose we do not need to have a standard pronunciation but we need a pronunciation that can be understand by everyone (in this case English speakers native or no native). So as a future English teacher, I will focus in the process rather in the product. I will also explain to my students that there are a huge variety of English and that they can adopt the one they feel more comfortable with. However, I will insist that the most important thing to consider is the intelligibly of the language. Now, I’m in the ‘Post-ELF’.
Pronunciation Teaching Post-ELF Daniela Communicating and making ourselves understood After reading this article many ideas have come to my mind. First of all, the prism and light metaphor helps me to confirm that all humans are different, as well as their capacities (in these case English pronunciation). As a student, I have always asked myself why I have to pronounce like a native speaker to be proficient on the language. Why I need to be “native-like” to achieve a higher level, why I cannot just be myself and use my own accent. Through these past years I have noticed a difference among teachers. Some of them had given me some feedback just to help me to improve my English as much as possible. But some others had corrected me insistently, and told me I was wrong every time I did not pronounce the word as I was supposed to. Nevertheless, this article has shown me that I have to be like the former ones. There is no need to put an enormous pressure on my future students if they cannot pronounce as a native speaker. I will teach them to focus on communication and on being understood by others. Keeping in mind that feedback is essential to teach and reinforce English pronunciation, as long as I am aware of what essential and what is just superficial for the students. “Language is the key for communication, not for showing perfection”.
Pronunciation Teaching Post-ELF Benjamín Araya THE ELF PREMISE This article represents the reality of almost every learner in the context of ELF. Also, it explains some very solid implications for teaching. Personally, I feel completely related to the situations presented in the text; on one hand, as a language learner, sometimes it’s difficult to follow entirely an English standard accent. In fact, our mother tongue sounds will remain noticeable until hours of practice and pronunciation drills have been done. Moreover, we must consider that it is very unlikely that any English learner (as a foreign language) may talk in English most of the time outside the class; instead, he/she will fall back to their mother tongue. The results of this constant loop are actually countering our pronunciation skills’ progress – something that is awfully problematic. On the other hand, as a future teacher of English (L2), this article illustrates the significance of the study of phonology in the classroom; the most remarkable thing, in my opinion, is how the hierarchy shown portrays the process of our pronunciation skills development.
Pronunciation Teaching Post-ELF Paloma Amed Sag... ELF and Pronunciation I have been studying English during the last nine years – first, I graduated from English-Spanish Translation, and I am currently in an English Teacher Training Program – and all this time I have had this feeling of being the only non-native speaker in the world who thinks that it is not necessary to sound native-like when speaking a second language. This article proves that I was not as wrong as I thought. Many people want to learn a new language because it is an additional skill that allows them to get a better job or just because they enjoy learning foreign languages; however, it is very common to find people lost in this accent snobbery, obsessed with a specific accent and forcing themselves to reach this native-like sound. As you stated previously ‘(…) all the participants in the communication event are participating in good faith and without prejudice. However, I certainly wouldn’t want to deny the existence of prejudice (..)’ I completely agree with you and I think that nowadays it is almost impossible to get rid of the standards imposed by the community itself. Wherever you go, you are supposed to talk in a perfect accent and, if you don’t, you are either judged or corrected. In my opinion, I truly believe that no matter how hard we practise and try to improve our second language, we are always going to sound non-natives. We second-language learners are never going to sound native because we were born neither in the United States nor in the United Kingdom; therefore, we are not natives! It is impossible for learners to memorize every phonetical exception for all the different varieties of English; it is even more impossible to speak in just one of this varieties since each of them has different types of pronunciation, collocations, etc. It is inevitable for us to get confused and mix standards. Language dogma should be just a guide, not a must. As long as intelligibility is not affected, the standard or the form in which we speak in English should not be a matter to concern about. Obviously, it will also depend on the purpose each second language learner has. If a person wants to speak like a real native speaker, then it is fine having him practising just one accent; if a learner only has a communicative purpose, then exceptions to the phonetic rules are really unnecessary. Nevertheless, we, as future English teachers, must know the standards and appropriate use of English and, as specialists of the language, we are responsible for what our students will learn depending on the aim to reach.
Pronunciation Teaching Post-ELF Paz Escobar Such an interesting article, Such an interesting article, since it is a totally different point of view of what we are used to be told and taught. As a student of the English Teaching Training Program, teachers make us choose and reach a native-like accent being the options RP or GA. This is something I have never agreed. First of all, the main purpose of learning another language is for communication so, does it matter the accent if the message is intelligible? Secondly, there are other aspects of a second language that are more important than the accent, for instance grammar, spelling (in writing performance), vocabulary, etc. Also, I think accents are beautiful and make English evolve and more interesting to learn. When become a teacher, I will certainly provide different feedback for the two kinds of pronunciation features and make my student know that accent is not important but to produce an intelligible message is. Also I´d like to teach them different accent of English in case they ever want/need to use English as lingua franca with other EFL person.
Pronunciation Teaching Post-ELF Romina As a non-native English As a non-native English learner and future English teacher, I found this article very intriguing. We can see how both sides can improve one of our main goal, which is intelligibility. Most of the time we face the two realities presented of learning the proper rules of English and also learning how to communicate and understand the language. It is important for English speakers and learners to know about at least the basis of phonology, as they can help us to facilitate the process of communication, no matter the range of accents we hear. However, as teachers, we should be more aware of all the implications and varieties of accents so we can give better feedback to our students while they are acquiring the new language. For communication, sounds and specific phonological features are maybe superficial skills, but they can be a key element to improve a better understanding of the language. We should also be aware of how different the learning process is for each person. Why should we look for a perfect set of rules immediately as a product from everyone when we can focus on the process of acquiring different skills, and enhance the quality of what the students are learning as a whole.
Pronunciation Teaching Post-ELF Sade ELF From my experience as language learner I have to say that it is a difficult process. It requires a lot of effort, work and study. It is necessary to keep ourselves constantly learning and studying the language's essentialities. In the case of pronunciation, from my personal experience, I consider it is difficult to achieve. It is a quite challenge to modify my Spanish accent for English accent. Nevertheless, we as future teachers of the language it becomes necessary to speak properly, clearly and closely to the English native language, because we are using the idiom not just for communicative purposes but also for teaching. Regarding to the article, it is a well written work with the ideas clearly displayed. Plus, It is interesting and dynamic the way that the topic is explained through all the pdf. The use of images and metaphors make it understandable. I appreciate the shared knowledge.
Pronunciation Teaching Post-ELF Natalie In my opinion this is a In my opinion this is a really good article that help us as future teachers of English to understand what is the real importance of a perfect pronunciation. There are many people that think you must speak like a native speaker, that we have to imitate an almost perfect accent, but it is extremely difficult to speak like a native speaker, because of the way the different cultures that use English as lingua franca are used to speak, the sounds they produce, the way they use the speech organs, etc. I agree with the idea that we do not have to be intransigent teachers, and that we have to make our students aware of those mistakes that could affect the correct communication, the essential features of the language, in order to speak an intelligible English and be understood but regarding to superficial features, we have to give them the choice to imitate them or not.
Pronunciation Teaching Post-ELF María Luisa As a future teacher of As a future teacher of English, I believe that pronunciation teaching is a challenge we have to face. English is the global language, and to accept that means accepting the outcome of pronunciation learning varies around the globe. I think it’s as interesting as challenging to not only understand English as a global language, but also to change the classroom practices according to that idea. We, teachers of English, have often been taught that the native-like model is desirable, and, even though we do have to develop a correct pronunciation and acquire knowledge about phonetics and phonology, we have to be aware that student’s goals are not the same as ours (teachers). As the text says, pronunciation skills as “accommodation” should be the target in the classroom. In this way, the focus would not be in achieving a certain model, but to actually develop intelligibility. In this way, the role of the teacher is fundamental, in the way that he/she will have to decide which features of the pronunciation are essential and which ones are not. I also believe it’s crucial the point that states that feedback has a fundamental role in the classroom. Teachers shouldn’t correct every single mistake, as the aim is not related to that. Instead, feedback should way of showing when intelligibility is at risk, and also it could help in order to give students options in terms of superficial features. To sum up, I agree and find very interesting the idea that pronunciation teaching should be focused on intelligibility, and considering that communicative approach, there has to be a process of questioning and adapting what is taught and how it is taught.
Pronunciation Teaching Post-ELF Denisse Very interesting In my opinion I think that we as students of English teachers have to be very acquarite in terms of prununciation. We are the closest "image" to a native for the student, so we have to speak like the standards (American-British). Here in our country we don't have contact to native speakers so in that case as I said before, we are an image to imitate. But I also think we will never sound like a native because we are not a native speaker of english. Our accent will influence always the pronunciation and it's going to happen always with every other person depending on their country. The idea is to be able to speak the language in a way to be understood, not in a perfect way. Many people around the world use the language to only communicate in certain cases such as business, when you are a tourist and you have yo ask for directions, etc. As I said before the idea is that the message must be understood and nothing more.
Pronunciation Teaching Post-ELF Elizabeth Córdova As a soon to be English As a soon to be English teacher, I strongly agree with what's presented in this article about ELF . It is a well known fact that we do not need to sound native like to be understood and nowadays the ultimate goal is that, to be understood and be able to communicate according to our needs. While at school we don’t have a lot of time to teach our students perfect pronunciation and we certainly can’t make sure they all sound native like with two or three hours of classes per week, that’s why I believe we, as teachers, should concentrate on helping our students learn about the importance of the understanding of their message, making effectiveness their main goal and ours to observe and supervise the process rather than the product, providing feedback and not empowering students so they can modify and accommodate to situations so they can be easily understood and able to also understand different varieties of accents.
Pronunciation Teaching Post-ELF Eloísa ELF I regard as a student of an English teaching programme and also as a learner of the language that the use of the English as ELF is very important and useful in terms of communicating at anywhere. First of all, we all must consider the prism and light metaphor because there it is explained that there are a central model of pronunciation, but there are also a lot of variations. To continue, when a student is learning the language, he is considered as a snob and he is exposed to all kinds of accents, and obviously, he will not produce the same pronunciation that he heard, that is when we found the difference between being productive and receptive. He may receive the message very well but he will not be able to produce as it was. So, when we are learning the language and its pronunciation we must know that there are always essential and superficial features, which help the speaker and the listener in order to get a clear communication between them. To finish, I want to make clear that children or people who is starting the process of learning should worry about being understood by the ones who are listening to him and also understand what the other people say. We don’t have the necessity of having just one specific pronunciation if there’s a lot of variety for you to learn, and of course, we can choose the one that fits better with us.
Pronunciation Teaching Post-ELF Katerin Wong Leyton Opinion My personal view, based on my school and university experience and my future teacher performance, is that the fact that English Language has become the world’s tool of communication has changed the “English pronunciation” paradigm. I strongly believe the EFL premise of the global use of English as Lingua Franca, and therefore the pronunciation’s goals issue, because as we can see, people from around the world still have their mother tongue alive in everyday speech, with specific and particular characteristics that not only their minds make but also, are physically adapted to create those sounds. As the text separated the teaching of English pronunciation elements in two, essential and superficial, the need of a change in the feedback of each one affects on the teaching methodology of this new paradigm, which I personally agree with this modification urgency in order to prepare English speakers who are well equipped to communicate around the world, adapting themselves to understand the varied range of English accents.
Pronunciation Teaching Post-ELF Alejandra Segovia In my opinion, I think it is In my opinion, I think it is neccesary to apply for one standard accent while we, ESL learners, are acquiring a phonology completely different for ours. It would represent a good way to order the new codes and feautures, and would help to construct the target language in a easier way. However, it does not mean that the learner must replay the exact accent learned in class once he has developed the language in structural terms and is capable of producing. As far as allowed by the language, the learner is free of using some variations. The point of the “esscential vs superficial” contributes in this aspect, dividing the feautures based on the strictness of intelligibility and directly on the benefits of the speaker. In this conext, as teacher, I would apply for this methodology, teaching a standard model, but always contrasting it with other varieties in order to develop the critical sense in my students.
Pronunciation Teaching Post-ELF Jorge Torres The development of ELF has The development of ELF has challenged the process of teaching and learning English. First, it affects us, future teachers, in knowing what kind of accent or pronunciation is better to teach when doing a class. Second, it affects directly students who are in the process of learning English. For that reason, I think that we as future teachers have to know the purpose of teaching a language, which is to achieve a successful communication between the participants since they learning English for different purposes. One of the important steps for this idea, is to concentrate in things that impede intelligibility, so in that way, students can be more fluid and more confident about the language. Also, it is important to teachers to encourage the students independently of their accent or pronunciation of certain words; but also very aware if they are doing it in the most understandable way for their classmates, in that way, teachers will be far away from the “accent snob” which is commonly present in traditional teaching. In conclusion, the decision has to be made in relation with the purpose of learning English whether be: a) the learner´s goals to achieve and manage English or b) the teacher as they are in charge to understand how intelligible their learners are, and what priorities should be in relation to intelligibility.
Pronunciation Teaching Post-ELF Mónica Cortés ELF According to the article. I think as a future teacher and student of an English program to achieve a standard accent and pronunciation or some features of it is part of the final objective because as a teacher I will be the nearest model for the students. However, for learners who aim is only communication, some features will be more important or essential to teach than others. Due to, the reason and context why English is needed it will determine the proficiency of the language. In addition, today exists a considerable number of variation of a language, and each of them varies in some rules and ways a pronunciation. Of course, the variations will depend on the region. Moreover, for the same reasons will be different phonological features that must be taught in order to convey in a better communication or intelligibility between non- natives or natives and non- natives.
Pronunciation Teaching Post-ELF Fabio Very accurate In my opinion, according to what I’ve experienced as an English language learner and a future teacher of English, the article is very interesting and all of what it says is really accurate to the reality of the process of teaching and learning English. The main purpose of ELF must be communication, the intelligibility of the language regardless the correct and almost perfect form of accent and pronunciation, moreover as in the text says, “we must accept that the outcome of pronunciation learning around the globe will be a wide spectrum of differing accents”, how can a global language have only one singular way of accent? It is impossible, and of course the idea that none of the different accents are more correct than others is certainly true. I think that in the case of schools and my future as a teacher, English has to be taught as a way of communication with intelligibility and not a way of trying to be a native´like speaker, the important point here is to understand each one.
Pronunciation Teaching Post-ELF Vanessa Leiva As a student of English As a student of English Teaching, I consider that there are two different ways to analyse accurate production of English phonemes. For one thing, seeing pronunciation from a self-related perspective, analysing the way my own pronunciation has been corrected with the help of my teachers. This so-called correction came in different ways, but I found the definition “accent snobbery” extremely relatable, since I often experienced it whenever my pronunciation was not “proper English” according to some of my teachers, specially the older ones. For another thing, and from a pedagogical perspective, it is possible to build a better offer for students, considering the struggles that they have to face to accurately produce English phonemes. Usually, English programs only consider “British” or “American” accents as valid, and most of teachers often ask us which one of those accents is the one that we use, not giving any space to a more global pronunciation of English. During the early stages, it was very difficult for me to identify and distinguish sounds that sounded pretty much familiar, such as /ʒ/ and /dʒ/. In those first years of learning, I must say that the feedback I received from my teachers was very insistent, especially the correction of words that would have a whole different meaning if I produced a different phoneme, also known as the “essential features” of pronunciation. Looking back, I do remember questionable situations in which a teacher would tell a student off just because they mispronounced a phoneme, even if the feature was only “superficial”. From a personal point of view, I think that ELF is just as valid as any other English use, and I would dare to say that even more valid, as most of the English speakers use it as a Lingua Franca. I think it is time for us to let the languages evolve and let English enrich itself from all cultures around the world.
Pronunciation Teaching Post-ELF Dylan As a language learner of As a language learner of English and upcoming teacher, I found this article very interesting about the way of teaching phonological features, where we don't have to be very emphatic in a perfect way of pronouncing or speaking to someone, as we are not native-speakers we don't have to care about being extremely perfect in terms of phonetics and phonology. We came from a variety of countries, which each one of them has its accent, so it is clear and accepted that we can mix our accent with the new language, it is something that is part of us and we as teacher don't have the properties of denying this of our students, we have to encourage them in order to follow their own way of learning phonological aspects. In addition to this if our students want to learn as it is written for example a specific accent, we as teachers must to support their initiative and give some material which could help them.
Pronunciation Teaching Post-ELF Joe galleguillos My opinion about the article As far as I am concerned the way in which this article deals with the teaching of pronunciation to non-native students seems to me quite interesting, since if I see it from my context; that is, as a language learner and a future teacher, I would say that although the pronunciation of the language is relevant, the most important thing; In my opinion, and as this article demonstrates, it is to achieve communication between the speaker and the listener, more than the accent that the apprentice has, if he manages to be understood: the goal of communication can be achieved. I think it is useless to maintain that ELF should follow a standard accent because in each country the way speakers pronounce is different, and it will be difficult for them to pronounce in a correct way or as a native speaker, that’s impossible! As in text says “people simply will not end up speaking one and the same accent even if this were desirable”, teachers need to be aware of it, they need to know that despite the fact that students need to learn certain aspects of pronunciation, these must be just the needed ones, as in the example of the car (essential and superficial features) teachers have to make a difference between what is and what is not important, in order to be able to offer their students the greatest amount of knowledge, but that these taught contents are necessary and productive, on which a mobilization of knowledge can be generated.
Pronunciation Teaching Post-ELF Gisselle ELF and Pronunciation As far as I am concerned, teachers must be aware of this ELF premise and the metaphor of the prism. They must know that there is a wide spectrum of different accents for speaking English. Because of these different rages of accents, teachers should be able to make students aware of this situation and consider their main aims for learning the language. However, it is also true that in terms of features of phonology the forms such as weak forms, elision and linking are not as essential as phoneme distinctions, syllables and tonic stress. Based on my experience as language learner, I think that the most important thing while communicating in English is to be able to deliver a well-formed message rather than focusing on the pronunciation of the speaker. However, at the same time, I think that as future teachers we should insist students that some important features of pronunciation are important to consider or to be aware of, in order to make a distinction between, for example, English as a foreign language and English as a lingua franca.
Pronunciation Teaching Post-ELF César Meneses Generally speaking, I think Generally speaking, I think that the English language will change as it has done in the last centuries ago, and to focus in just one variety is not clearly the best answer. American and British English are the tip of an iceberg, meaning that under the surface you will find lots of varieties. Ok, we are future teachers, so we must achieve a native like pronunciation or being really close to it. But as I have mentioned above the language is changing, and we must be aware of that, so we as future professors should be capable of identify which are the best features to teach to our students phonologically speaking. So it will be their choice whether to pronounce as it should be (standard) or if they just want to communicate without being misunderstood. Today’s English language accepts many varieties and as the author says, it ends in a rainbow of different pronunciations depending on the local interlocutor region is, focusing more in the intelligibility more than in the pronunciation.
Pronunciation Teaching Post-ELF camila It’s really interesting what It’s really interesting what this article talks about. As it is said, it is important to keep in mind while teaching ELF, that a student is not likely to learn only one type of Standard English. And, at the same time, he would be able to understand not only one type of English but several ones. We must have in mind that the ‘native-like’ pronunciation is not always needed to achieve. For instance, for communicative purposes is good to focus and teach what is essential, such as productive and receptive competences, and avoid what it may be superficial. It is important to avoid accent snobbery because it is not helpful at all. Nevertheless, while teaching we have to make students aware of it, just because they might face it in the future. Moreover, as teachers, it is important to distinguish what is or is not intelligible, in order to teach students how they can be understood and understand each other.
Pronunciation Teaching Post-ELF Joaquin Briceño I believe that the article is I believe that the article is very interesting and helpful, because it has clarified to me two of my biggest questions as a future teacher, which is how pronunciation affects the communication between two non-native speakers and how important is to sound like a native English speaker. Personally I think that the whole purpose of elf is to communicate regardless a “perfect pronunciation”, that is to say, is much more important that the message is clearly understood than if it was correctly pronounced following a standard that does not corresponds with our native language sounds and features. On the other hand I do recognize that it is totally valid to aim for a native accent and to work hard in order to achieve the features of that specific accent. The key, is that it should be optional to decide whether your objective is to communicate effectively or in addition to sound like a native speaker.
Pronunciation Teaching Post-ELF Mark Hancock Thanks Natacha, I think your Thanks Natacha, I think your plan sounds like a good way to go!
Pronunciation Teaching Post-ELF Natacha In my opinion as a student In my opinion as a student and as a future teacher, I strongly believe that English is the most appropriate language to use as a lingua franca, but I differ in the thinking that ELF should follow a standard accent. I think that it is almost impossible to actually achieve a standard accent when people from different cultures speak a lingua franca because we can’t help to add our culture to the pronunciation of the language, and I think that it was best explained with the example of the prism and the rainbows of colours. I will teach my students the rules of pronunciation and phonology because they are important in the meaning of a conversation, but as long as their speech is intelligible I don’t think I will make a repair in their accent, because even if we want it or not we are not natives of the language and even native speakers don’t conceive an standard accent as they have different accents depending on the region they live.
PronPack 2: Pronunciation Puzzles ana Barrios i would like to have access i would like to have access to this book. is that possible through this page? thanks
Post-ELF Pronunciation Teaching Mark Hancock Thanks Alan! Thanks Alan!
Post-ELF Pronunciation Teaching Alan Marsh Post-ELF Pronunciation Teaching An enlightening and stimulating talk. Great stuff! Thanks, Mark
Pronunciation Problems Mark Hancock Thanks Malaika! Yes, go ahead Thanks Malaika! Yes, go ahead and use that cartoon! Mark
Pronunciation Problems Malaika Kusumi I am doing a motivational I am doing a motivational workshop to try to encourage students to go out an find various learning opportunities. I would like to recommend your site as it is entertaining and helpful. Could I use the cartoon and dialogues of piss & shit? Please send written confirmation if this would be okay. Thanks very funny and good work!
What accent do students think they want? Mark Hancock Thanks for your comment Thanks for your comment Philip. Teachers are de facto the model in most classroom contexts. The majority of those (globally) don't speak in accordance with RP norms. This may have been felt as their guilty secret, but I don't think it should be. RP is not necessarily more intelligible globally than other accents.
What accent do students think they want? Philip Taylor "Your own accent is as good as any ..." I am not convinced that this is necessarily true. It seems to me that there are two sets of pronunciation that can be legitimately taught to other than specialist students studying linguistics -- the local accent (be that Bute, Birmingham or Brighton) and RP. To seek to teach "correct" pronunciation through the medium of a third, non-local (e.g., Tyneside in Tilbury or vice versa) accent is surely a serious error of judgement -- by all means expose the students to other accents (by which I think we both mean topolects) and explain that such an accent/topolect is not only acceptable but is "correct" in the area(s) in which it is the local topolect, but please don't use such an accent/topolect as a normative reference.
PronPack Shortlisted for ELTons Award! Olive Award ceremony Hi Mark, this is great news, good luck on monday!
Pronunciation Teaching in a Lingua Franca Context Rafael Filibert... Thanks for answering. I'll Thanks for answering. I'll try that with my students in a masters course and let you know.
Pronunciation Teaching in a Lingua Franca Context Mark Hancock Thanks for this feedback, Thanks for this feedback, Rafael!
Pronunciation Teaching in a Lingua Franca Context Rafael Filibert... Tonicity worshop A really useful workshop. I have downloaded the slides and will use them with my EAP Practical English Course. They will get acquainted with the topic and use the slides as primary and secondary school teachers. I am the participant who you realized was a little skeptic on sentence decontextualization. I think that with advanced lessons contextualizing the tonality and tonicity would be very useful. Thanks for everything you taught me that day. Best, Rafael
Crazy Email Mark Hancock Thanks for the feedback Penny Thanks for the feedback Penny!
Crazy Email Penny Thank you! I am doing a course in France to be a professional trainer for adults with a view to teaching English. I had to prepare and present an English lesson that was marked by my trainer. I based the lesson around the text of a crazy email and it was VERY well received by both my trainer and the students, so thank you for providing me with an original text to work from.
Pronunciation: be a teacher, not a preacher Francesca Di Mambro Looking forward to it! Looking forward to it!
Accent: are we bovvered? Mark Hancock Thanks Catarina! Thanks Catarina!
Accent: are we bovvered? Catarina Pontes Congrats on yet another great Congrats on yet another great presentation on such a relevant topic, Mark!
Accent: are we bovvered? Mark Hancock Thanks Stella. It's odd the Thanks Stella. It's odd the way the glottal stop tends to be willfully ignored in ELT. Ok, it doesn't form a phonemic contrast, but it can be confusing for the learner-listener, and we don't do them any favours by pretending it doesn't exist.
Accent: are we bovvered? Stella The social dimension Hello Mark! I am impressed by the social effect of the glottal stop. Even though I have always been aware of the use of this phonological feature of English pronunciation, I never taught this aspect of pronunciation from an attitudinal perspective. Fortunately, phoniticians like you, share with teachers from all over the world their expertise . Thank you for sharing Mark!! Best, Stella
Sometimes Shoak Thanks a lot. It sounds a Thanks a lot. It sounds a great activity. I'm eager to try it.
Marks Chart Brandon Pronunciation opportunities Mark, I love the chart and all the possibilities it provides me in an esl classroom. I am presenting a development workshop to colleagues on Friday 31march and was wondering if you would care to comment on any further opportunities to use your chart and do more pronunciation in a classroom. . Any input would be valuable. This will also be the first time many of my colleagues actually experience your chart. Thanking you in advance.
Marks Chart Mark Hancock Brandon, check out the newer Brandon, check out the newer versions of the chart here: http://hancockmcdonald.com/materials The vowels are slightly rearranged in this newer version, and you've got options for pictures and different symbols. Also, there is an infographic to explain the chart here: http://pronpack.com/the-pronpack-sound-chart/ The infographic could be useful for your colleagues! Mark
Marks Chart Brandon Pronunciation opportunities Mark, I love the chart and all the possibilities it provides me in an esl classroom. I am presenting a development workshop to colleagues on Friday 31march and was wondering if you would care to comment on any further opportunities to use your chart and do more pronunciation in a classroom. . Any input would be valuable. This will also be the first time many of my colleagues actually experience your chart. Thanking you in advance.
Acoustic Drills and Audio Concordances Mark Hancock Hi Stella Hi Stella Do you mean the tone doesn't seem to match the audio in intonation manuals? A lot of teachers complain that they can't actually hear the intonation. One problem may be that a fall-rise often has a lot of fall and only the slightest hint of a rise, nothing more than a slight flick in the tail; something you intuit more than hear. I think acoustic drills help with this - the repetition becomes more than the sum of its parts, somehow.
Acoustic Drills and Audio Concordances Stella Looping and Microlistening Hello Mark.Thank you for sharing your article. I couldn't agree more with the point you make. Sometimes,itis funny to listen to the recordings that accompany some texts. The authors include the key to the tones they mean to illustrate but the audio does not coincide with the scripted dialogues. In that case, the listener/reader has to take the extra trouble of decoding the audio before delivering it to a less learned audience. It is hard. Cheers, Stella
Acoustic Drills and Audio Concordances Mark Hancock Many thanks for these useful Many thanks for these useful links Mura. I'm including your micro-listening post into the post above. Annie and I did it the hard way, manually, and that has benefits too, if what you're doing is pedagogical invention rather than linguistic research. I'll keep on the lookout for more research articles on prosody of formulaic language.
Acoustic Drills and Audio Concordances mura nava looping & microlistening Hi Mark Thanks for the post. I have found audipo listening app [https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=jp.ne.sakura.ccice.audipo] great for looping audio which is analagous to your audio drills; and videogrep [https://eflnotes.wordpress.com/2014/09/26/easy-micro-listenings/] is good for audio concordances (which I think falls under John Field's category of micro-listenings) There are a number of options now available for speech corpora [https://plus.google.com/u/0/+MuraNava/posts/HL2Qf3SajQy?sfc=true] I was wondering if you knew of any researchers in this area such as Phoebe M.S. Lin [ https://www.academia.edu/4624848/The_prosody_of_formulaic_expressions_in...? ta mura
What's New? Mark Hancock Tadpole zapped. Thanks for Tadpole zapped. Thanks for the observation, David! Lovely to get feedback on authentic listening book, and it's interesting that students go for the characters of their own nationality.
What's New? David Rowles "Flying tadpole" Not sure whose responsibility it is to check the page, but, should there really be an apostrophe in "partners"? (Line 1) BTW, I have used your Authentic Listening" book here in China, and my students lapped it up, especially the Shanghainese girl. Fantastic resource. Listening and pronunciation is a real problem here, but I trust that, as I explore the site further, I will be able to recommend it 100% to my students.
Wrong Lyrics 1 Mark Hancock I'm glad you've found it, I'm glad you've found it, Fernando. Thanks for your message!
Wrong Lyrics 1 Fernando Barboza I have been using your books I have been using your books for quite some time. I can't forgive myself for taking so long to discover this wonderful site. Great idea! Greetings from Lima, Peru
Pronunciation Tasks Video Mark Hancock Many thanks for your Many thanks for your clarification, Carlos!
Pronunciation Tasks Video Carlos Torres Hello. I am sending a comment Hello. I am sending a comment on the meaning of the arrows on the chart. I quote Underhill's book, Sound Foundations. "The stress and intonation symbols The primary and secondary stress symbols as used in most dictionaries are shown in the top right – hand corner of the chart, and beside them the five basic discourse intonation patterns (ie fall, rise, fall – rise, rise – fall and level) are shown in one composite symbol." Regards. Carlos.
Either will do Mark Hancock Thanks Lia. The idea of Thanks Lia. The idea of 'correct' in accent, is bizarre. Some languages, like French and Spanish, have an 'academy' to tell you what's correct. As if language users are like sheep who can be herded, whereas I guess we're more like cats, who can't. We do what works.
Either will do Lia Smith Thank you, Mark Hancock. I Thank you, Mark Hancock. I just went to a presentation by a colleague here in San Francisco and learned about your work. I agree with you about idiosyncratic variation. If instructors don't move on, as you say, about this old idea of "correctness," they will be left behind by language learners. I am excited about the new energy being put into helping learners of languages improve their intelligibility to not only native speakers of the target language, but to non-native speakers of the target language. And your comments about /id/ /t/ and /d/ are right in line with intelligibility.
Either will do Mark Hancock Yes, Paul, certainly not on a Yes, Paul, certainly not on a par, importance-wise, with the /id/ ending. We should initially focus on when -ed is an extra syllable or not, I'd say. However, I think the /d/ /t/ distinction does make a difference where the next word begins with a vowel, eg walk tinto versus turn dinto.
Either will do Paul Davies Interesting article, Mark! My Interesting article, Mark! My own favourite example of pronunciation that isn't worth teaching is the difference between /d/ and /t/ endings in the past simple.
Materials Writing: Turning constraints into assets Mark Hancock Yes, Kath, agreed! Yes, Kath, agreed!
Materials Writing: Turning constraints into assets Katherine Bilsb... I really like the way you've I really like the way you've used a comparison of the constraints we give our students to 'help' them write. I hadn't thought of that before. My favourite things to write are stories. I write them for my own books and I've recently started writing them for other people's books. I start with a list of vocab, key grammar and 'other constraints 'related to appropriateness (stories are usually for primary and what I can write for a 5 year old is very different from a 9 year old, for example). Then I start writing. It's like doing a huge jigsaw puzzle. It can be frustrating at times but when the final piece is put into place it's extremely rewarding.
Materials Writing: Turning constraints into assets Luke Guilfoyle Materials writing Hi Mark, thanks for your interesting and thought-provoking article on materials writing. It's particulary relevant to what I'm doing at the moment on my website. If you and any of your many readers would be interested in giving me feedback, the following link is to a short story under construction with exercises for the first 3 parts finished with illustrations pending. http://lukelanguagetraining.com/product-a2-reading-accidental Thanks for sharing your knowledge, experience and ideas which are always a great source of guidance and inspiration.
Accent: a Manner of Speaking Mark Hancock Hi Clive Hi Clive Sorry, the talk wasn't filmed at all. Might do it again sometime though. We're living in UK now too. Chester. What about you? All the best Mark
Accent: a Manner of Speaking Clive Oxenden Your talk Hi Mark, Hope you and Annie are both well. I just saw an advert for your talk on accents. Will you be filming the talk? I'd be very interested to see it if it were available. Back 'home' in Valencia for the summer (we have relocated to the UK). Are you still in Madrid? All the best and hope to see you soon, Clive
Doctor, doctor Javier ESL Cool Stuff! Cool Stuff! This helps me a lot in my EFL classes. Congratulations Hancock! Javier.
TESOL Spain interviews Eliana Thanks for sharing! Thanks for sharing!
The Complete Pronunciation Workout Mark Hancock Thanks Svetlana, glad you Thanks Svetlana, glad you liked it. All the best to you too!
The Complete Pronunciation Workout Svetlana Kluter it was very interesting to it was very interesting to take part in your workshop at IATEFL. Thank you and all the best!
The Complete Pronunciation Workout Mark Hancock Thanks for your support, Thanks for your support, Marina!
The Complete Pronunciation Workout MARINA N CANTARUTTI Thank you! Thanks a million, Mark, for sharing these materials so that this 12,000 distance to IATEFL feels smaller! Wish you all the best!
The Escape Mark Hancock Thanks for your message Guliz Thanks for your message Guliz. We did a series of picture books here: http://hancockmcdonald.com/books/overview/pen-pictures-overview
What's New? Mark Hancock Thanks for this Guliz. On Thanks for this Guliz. On balance, I agree with you.
The Escape Guliz Dear Mark, Dear Mark, I think picture stories are great. I have used this one in one of my classes and the students loved it. I was wondering if you could recommend a source for picture stories? I am trying to plan a writing lesson and I really would love to use picture stories like that but I cannot find any. Thanks in advance
What's New? Guliz permalink, I think you should permalink, I think you should never avoid using "difficult" words or structures. On the contrary you should make your learners "notice" so that they should raise awareness
Making Listening Memorable: Listening in chunks Annie McDonald Hi Daniel, Hi Daniel, Thanks so much! Let me know how things go and if your students enjoy the activities, if you get the chance. BTW, if you look through the attachments accompanying both my talks on listening and Mark's on pron on our website, you might find more useful materials for your students.
Making Listening Memorable: Listening in chunks Daniel Rouco You've nailed it! Thank you for your inspiring listening strategies. They are very useful and I'm putting them into practice with my students. I've enjoyed your conference at TESOL Vitoria very, very much.
Making Listening Memorable: Listening in chunks Annie Many thanks Alex. Hope you Many thanks Alex. Hope you and your students enjoy.
The Complete Pronunciation Workout Alex Wad udder do for didder nav Wad udder do for didder nav ewe? Aga doll me yak TV deez! Sprill! Thanks
Making Listening Memorable: Listening in chunks Alex This is just what I need. No, This is just what I need. No, this is just what learners need. Thanks very much
Pronunciation Games for France Mark Hancock You're welcome, Julie! You're welcome, Julie!
Pronunciation Games for France Julie Fabian TESOL Thanks for your presentations. I enjoyed them. Julie
Pronunciation Games for France Mark Hancock Thanks for liking it, David! Thanks for liking it, David!
Pronunciation Games for France David Tremayne-Smith Tesol Conference Thanks a lot for your informative and entertaining talk at TESOL this year Mark!
Pronpack Sound Chart Mark Hancock Eric, I left out the CURE Eric, I left out the CURE vowel because for many speakers it has merged with the FORK vowel. This chart is a pedagogic device and I don't believe students need to learn to distinguish these two vowels, since so many native speakers do not. PALM and ARM share the same symbol - there is a small bracketed (r) as part of this symbol (and several other vowels which are commonly r-coloured) on the chart. This hopefully makes the chart usable for both rhotic and non-rhotic users. See also my American version of the chart, where the (r) is no longer bracketed. Note that the colours of the chart are not hugely significant, merely replicating some of the structuring already present in the positioning.
Pronpack Sound Chart Eric Armstrong Mark, Mark, I'm intrigued by your chart. I've done experiments with this kind of idea before, especially in terms of connecting colour to placement on the traditional chart, to the same sort of effect. Where does the CURE lexical set go? Unfortunately you've run out of spaces! And PALM I assume is merged with "Arm". That doesn't work so well for non-rhotic speakers, I'm afraid. I love how your chart words are all body parts. I suppose the unspoken thing we're supposed to figure out is that "clock" has a surplus of L, and that it's mere decency that is causing you to leave that letter in. ;-) (I can't imagine that you could make it through a class without some jackass making a comment to that effect...)
Pronunciation at IATEFL 2015 - some reflections Bindu Varghese Hi Mark! Hi Mark! Thanks for attending my presentation. I'm glad you found some useful "take-aways". Have you been able to use any of the activities and do you have any feedback on them? Bindu
Review of English Pronunciation in Use Mark Hancock Hi Siti. Students read 1 and Hi Siti. Students read 1 and match it to 'bone' in the picture. Then they read 2 and match it to 'bore' and draw a line from 'bone' to 'bore'. Then they find 3 and match it to 'young' and draw a line from 'bore' to 'young'. Then they find 4 and match it to 'bear' and draw a line from 'young' to 'bear'. And so on, ok?
Review of English Pronunciation in Use siti khoiriah i'm from indonesia. for Sir i'm from indonesia. for Sir Hancock. i'm sorry sir, now i really want to know clear about one game of your pronunciation game, asspecially for join the dots game. sir can i look at other site the explanation of them?
The Word Blender Mark Hancock Glad you like it, Dulce! Glad you like it, Dulce!
The Word Blender Dulce Martínez Nice and simple A great activity to help students with the feeling of hearing "garbled speech" every time they face a "real speech" situation.
Pronunciation at IATEFL 2015 - some reflections Mark Hancock Thank YOU Catarina! Thank YOU Catarina!
Pronunciation at IATEFL 2015 - some reflections Catarina Pontes Hi, Mark! Hi, Mark! Thanks once again for attending my presentation and for summarizing it here so nicely! :) Cheers, Catarina
Pronunciation at IATEFL 2015 - some reflections Mark Hancock That's an interesting sound That's an interesting sound-bite to ponder. Thanks Umes.
Pronunciation at IATEFL 2015 - some reflections Umes Shrestha Hi Mark, Hi Mark, Adrian Underhill also gave a short "masterclass" at the Macmillian Stand where he gave us a demo on how to use his pronunciation chart. I remember him saying "I am not interested in teaching symbols, I am interested in teaching sounds".
Doing things with Sounds: practical pronunciation activities for EFL classrooms monica vidal It sounds very interesting. It sounds very interesting.
Practical Pronunciation Mark Hancock Many thanks for your Many thanks for your appreciation, Manuela. I hope you will be able to use some of the ideas in class!
Practical Pronunciation manuela Mr Hancock's speech in Udine for OUP Dear Mark, I have jus downloaded the material you prepared for your talk in Udine, and I really would like to thank you for your lovely seminar - rich in practical ideas and made precious by a touch of humour. In time, I'll surely have a look at this precious website you have been nourishing with such a care. Have a nice weekend, wherever in the planet you might be. Manuela Tellini, Udine, Italy
Marks Chart Mark Hancock Hope it goes well! Hope it goes well!
Marks Chart James Chantry /ʊə/ Yes, that's really helpful. When I say "poor", my natural pron is /pɔ:/ not /pʊə/; it's only the teacher in me that makes me say /pʊə/ as I know that this helps to distinguish it from "paw", "pour" and "pore". It's interesting to note that /ʊə/ seems to be absent from many / most American English phonemic transcriptions. Many thanks. I'm going to show my students your 'honeycomb'.
Marks Chart Mark Hancock Hi James, you're right - Hi James, you're right - according to the various editions of Gimson, this diphthong is tending to coalesce with the vowel in sport. It remains distinct in Scots and NE England. But my main problem with it is that if students see both symbols on the chart, they're almost compelled to ask what distinguishes them, when for most purposes they would be fine without the distinction. The chart is supposed to be useful, rather than comprehensive.
Marks Chart James Chantry How important is /ʊə/? Hi Mark When I first saw this honeycomb version, I wasn't sure (mainly because I'm used to the layout of Underhill's chart), but the more I think about it, the more I like it. I especially like the way the longer vowels appear as an extension of the shorter vowels, with the six main branches and the diphthong interconnects. Could you give a comment about /ʊə/? I realise that the honey comb allows for 19 slots and so this 20th would make it messier, but have you also left it out as we use this vowel less and less often? Many thanks for your views
ELT Pronunciation for Spanish speakers (Collection) James Chantry Possessive 's maze Many thanks. As well as Spanish speakers, this will really help my Chinese students who don't produce /Iz/ endings.
ELT Pronunciation for Spanish speakers (Collection) Mark Hancock James - thanks for noticing James - thanks for noticing that the maze was missing from this file! I've just added it as a jpeg...
ELT Pronunciation for Spanish speakers (Collection) James Chantry Possessive 's maze Hi Mark I'd like to use the Possessive 's maze referred to within the Final -s suffix worksheet. Could you tell me where I can find it? Really appreciate the materials. Many thanks James
Marks Chart Lyubov I think it's useful when I I think it's useful when I teach my pupil I'll use it! thanks!
Mark's Vowel Sound Chart Mark Hancock 'r' Hi Laura. It's not only about spelling. A large proportion of world accents pronounce this post-vocalic r, and it doesn't seem to damage intelligibility. If students find it hard and anti-intuitive to not pronounce it, I certainly wouldn't insist. So I would like the chart to be 'r-ambivalent'. (Incidentally, Jenkins in her work on ELF has suggested that in international communication, you're probably more intelligible if you pronounce it than if you don't)
Mark's Vowel Sound Chart Laura B schwa Hi Mark, I like it too though it seems a shame that on the interactive one the schwa has the (r) added. I understand the spelling issue but as it is usually silent (unless you come from Dorset, Somerset or Cornwall...) most language learners over pronounce it. I think I would rather have it silent.
Mark's Vowel Sound Chart Petr Thanks! Thanks!
Mark's Vowel Sound Chart Mark Hancock Ok, looks like Mura Nava has Ok, looks like Mura Nava has corrected that problem, Petr.
Mark's Vowel Sound Chart Mark Hancock Thanks Petr - I'll check it Thanks Petr - I'll check it out!
Mark's Vowel Sound Chart Mark Hancock Thanks, John - coming soon! Thanks, John - coming soon!
Mark's Vowel Sound Chart Petr thumb The speaker pronounces the /b/ in thumb. This should be corrected.
Mark's Vowel Sound Chart John Whipple More DIY Phonemic Charts, Please! Well done. This is an ELT area that has been begging for more thoughtful design and a return to its roots. I like that there is a (mostly) body parts theme and that you have included male/female and rhotic/non-rhotic accents without getting over-protective of learner sensibilities in the interactive version. The layout is super. Keeping the central vowel central. Very useful. Also it was great to see collaboration between colleagues (Bravo Mura Nava) and a little openness in displaying the source code etc. Bring on the consonants!
Mark's Vowel Sound Chart John Whipple More DIY Phonemic Charts, Please! Well done. And I like that there is a bit of a body parts theme, but the more radial positioning is a step forward from the Gimson '62/Adrian Underhill chart. Bravo to Mura Nava putting up the code. Also it was great to see flexibility and inclusion on the accent samples: male/female, rhotic/non-rhotic etc... Bring on the consonants!
Mark's Vowel Sound Chart Mark Hancock Yes, Phil, consonants coming Yes, Phil, consonants coming soon. I like Underhill's chart too, but find it doesn't systematize the long and short pairs, and makes schwa appear to be 'just another vowel sound' like the rest, whereas it's different in kind.
Mark's Vowel Sound Chart Phil Keegan Chart Hi Mark. I like it, despite being wed to Underhill"s chart. Positioning the diphthong sounds with related vowel sounds makes a lot of sense. Are you going to work on consonant sounds and produce an actual, full size chart?
Mark's Vowel Sound Chart Mark Hancock Thanks Bill! Would pulling it Thanks Bill! Would pulling it apart upset the simplicity of the hive? Why flip? Mouth front is currently left - would you prefer it right? Yes, needs American version. But maybe this one would be ok for Aussie, given the symbols represent phonemes rather than precise vowel qualities?
Mark's Vowel Sound Chart Bill Acton "Hive model" Nice, Mark. I'd probably pull it apart a bit to represent some of the conceptual/articulatory "distance" and flip it mirror-image! (And North American or Aussie it later.) Honey of a concept, however!
A Map of Motivation video Mark Hancock Many thanks for your comment, Many thanks for your comment, Oya!
A Map of Motivation video Oya ES(O)L Hi Mark Thanks for these useful materials. The map is amazing and touches all the important and key areas. Oya
Stephen Krashen at TESOL France Mark Hancock Yes, Nicholas, compromise. Yes, Nicholas, compromise. Speakers often try to achieve salience by overstating their case. When that happens, audiences are required to find the more realistic compromise for themselves.
Stephen Krashen at TESOL France Nicholas Tims Lovely summary, Mark Saw Krashen a few years back at a Reading conference in Germany. Struck me then he had a backup career as a sage standup then... He's also someone who will back up their claims with some hard statistics - and in favour of extensive reading, the research is compelling. The wider debate needs compromise. Readdressing the balance between instruction/graded input would be a more realistic start.
Stephen Krashen at TESOL France Mark Hancock I'm afraid my memory of Bilko I'm afraid my memory of Bilko's gone very hazy!
Stephen Krashen at TESOL France Simon Andrewes Krashen Nice report. He is funny, and he has a Sergeant Bilko style delivery. Know what I mean?
Pronunciation for Listeners Webinar Mark Hancock Hi Marwa Hi Marwa Just found your message. It's now over. You had to go through the Delta link at the top of this page to get to it. But don't worry, a recording of it will be available soon.
Pronunciation for Listeners Webinar Marwa Huseino pronunciation for listeners I'd like to join it right now.
Pronunciation for Listeners Webinar Mark Hancock Hi, it starts 16:00 (4pm) UK Hi, it starts 16:00 (4pm) UK time. According to google, that seems to be 13:00 (1pm) in Argentina...
Pronunciation for Listeners Webinar monica HI! I have a question.It says HI! I have a question.It says that the webinar starts at 6.00 but I live in Argentina.How shall I know what time it starts in my coun try?
Pronunciation for Listeners Webinar monica Hi!!!!! I've been working Hi!!!!! I've been working with your books for 14 years.They're really useful.I'm an Argentinian teacher and I'm anxious to attend the webinar!
Pronunciation for Listeners Webinar Mark Hancock Hi Monica. What's that? Hi Monica. What's that?
Pronunciation for Listeners Webinar monica vidal It sounds very interesting!I It sounds very interesting!I'd love to attend this seminar as I'm a techer of oral expression!
Wrong Lyrics 1 Mark Hancock Glad to hear it, Adem! Glad to hear it, Adem!
Wrong Lyrics 1 adem soruç This exactly worked in my This exactly worked in my classes, made learners become aware of English orthography and enjoy the class as its one part. 10x a lot
The Melon Maze Mark Hancock Hi Marie It's the file above Hi Marie It's the file above called audio of answer key. If you have problem playing it directly from the site, save it to your computer instead.
The Melon Maze Mark Hancock Hi Marie, thanks for your Hi Marie, thanks for your message. There is an audio file below the melon maze. Have you tried clicking on it? What happens when you do? I'm not sure if the audio files are working at the moment...
The Melon Maze Marie Nordstrom melon maze Hi I visited your course in Gothenburg two years ago and I use the Melon maze with my students. I cannot find the audio when YOU are reading it. It is possible to get that on this page? Best Regards Marie
Shop of Dreams Afarin hi, I am a English student hi, I am a English student from Iran. this activity was very useful. I really like it, thank you so much. I think all parts are excellent and useful.
A Map of Motivation video Mark Hancock Print-friendly version Note the link above to a new print-friendly version of the map which includes different kinds of classroom tasks and materials.
A Map of Motivation video Mark Hancock Also: this map is a thing in Also: this map is a thing in evolution. There's already a Version 2, and I suspect there will be more.
A Map of Motivation video Mark Hancock Hi Jill! I would locate that Hi Jill! I would locate that in the North East 'aspirations' corner. Wouldn't you agree?
A Map of Motivation video Jill Hadfieild motivation Very useful - love the map idea! re Motivation - no mention of Future Possible Selves? - see Dornyei's theory
Wrong Lyrics 1 sherry english I like the activities and hope they will help my students understand English better
Pronunciation Tasks Video Mark Hancock Thanks Nick! Thanks Nick!
Pronunciation Tasks Video Nick Possible solution to the query above... Hi Mark, Assuming there are no complications to the ownership of the video, you could put the URL of the youtube video in here: http://en.savefrom.net/ and it should give you the option to download the video in various formats. MP4 would be the best for playing in a media player such as VLC. Then, of course, you'd have to post the video to a cloud service with a suitable link. NB: This might not be quite within the T&Cs of YouTube ...
Pronunciation Tasks Video Mark Hancock Sorry you can't see it Sorry you can't see it Kristina! I can't think what I can do for you - I don't even have a 'hard copy' myself...
Pronunciation Tasks Video kristina smith YouTube Hi, I would really like to watch these videos. have you got them on any other site? YouTube is still blocked in Turkey :(. There are workarounds but they really slow down my browser. Hope you can help....
Sugata Mitra, ed-tech evangelist Mark Hancock Yes, Debbie, it's good to Yes, Debbie, it's good to challenge the status quo. But we also have to take careful steps and relate the new with the old. If we just turn over everything we have ever believed about education, we'll be condemned to making so many mistakes all over again. I think we should try to connect Mitra's ideas with what we already know and evaluate them dispassionately. That's the way to improve.
Sugata Mitra, ed-tech evangelist Debbie WEST I think he has caused some I think he has caused some people to wake up and smell the roses and for others he is challenging them to rethink their style and resources of teaching. We are after all in the business of helping people to learn how to learn and to think, so not so sure why some are all bent out of shape. But if it causes them to question, reflect, act and change for the sake of those we teach, coach, guide instruct, then I say go for it. It is about helping the next generation and those thereafter. They will know more than we do and it may not be communicated and used in a way we are used to. So let's shake ourselves up, improve, grow and continue. Deb WEST
Pronunciation for Listeners: Making sense of connected speech Mark Hancock Hi Mia. Glad you liked it, Hi Mia. Glad you liked it, and thanks for letting me know!
Pronouncing Meaning: rhythm and stress games Mark Hancock Thanks Mia. Yes, I think Thanks Mia. Yes, I think unintentionally stressing a function word can easily lead to misunderstanding, so I want to explore what we can do about this.
Pronunciation as a Listening Skill: understanding connected speech Mark Hancock Thanks Hamide! I'm very happy Thanks Hamide! I'm very happy that you enjoyed it!
Pronunciation for Listeners: Making sense of connected speech Mia what listening to authentic speech is hard Thanks for a great, inspiring presentation . Mia
Pronunciation as a Listening Skill: understanding connected speech Hamide Behboodzade Dear Mark, Dear Mark, this lecture was awesome. I really become interested in pronunciation and such things. I'm going to work on this more. Thank you for sharing this and thank for you fabulous presentation. I wish there were the video of your lecture. hope to see you again, Hamide
Pronouncing Meaning: rhythm and stress games Mia Significance of Supra-segmental features Thanks for sharing your ideas at TESOL ARABIA. I'm looking forward to reading your next work at IATEFL. I'm exploring the same topic. My students have problems with weak forms ( tend to stress every word in an utterance ). I CAN do it ( sounds like I CAN'T. One of my student said " I CAN use excel ) and I felt silly when I offered to help him. Another problem is intonation . When they speak in English they sound bored or uninterested . Mia
Means, Methods, Motivation Mark Hancock I'm very happy you liked it, I'm very happy you liked it, Nada!
Means, Methods, Motivation Nada Al Jabban ... Thank you so much for a very Thank you so much for a very interesting presentation.
A Map of Pronunciation Mark Hancock Yes, see you in Harrogate, Yes, see you in Harrogate, Sue!
Ray Parker on stress-timing Sue sullivan Thanks Ray. And Mark. I'm Thanks Ray. And Mark. I'm encouraged. 'Sszaklee wo' my speechstream exercises focus on! :-)
Wrong Lyrics 1 Sue sullivan Superb! :-) Superb! :-)
A Map of Pronunciation Sue sullivan See u at Harrogate? Hope we'll see you at iatefl, Mark? I've long loved your pronunciation exercises and used them. I'm making my long and nervous journey from down under - my first foray into the real life companionship of the international well - known and well-loved, like yourself.
A Map of Pronunciation Mark Hancock Would be great, Debbie! Would be great, Debbie!
A Map of Pronunciation Debbie WEST pronunciation map Thanks... hope to see you in November in Paris
Teaching Listening with Authentic Texts Annie McDonald Authentic listening texts Dear John, Many thanks for your email and interest in my talk. Regarding the texts, I tend to use one particular text in a talkto illustrate how tasks and activities can be exploited in a variety of different ways and with different texts. I've posted the audio script on this site, and hope that, by looking at this alongside the powerpoint, you'll have a clearer idea of what I was getting at. The 'Viking Mice' text itself, a very short snippet, was taken from a programme on Radio Bristol FM. You might also find my handout from TESOL-Spain 2013, and an article I wrote on the topic, 'Authentic Listening Step by Step', also available on the site, under talks and articles respectively. Finally, I haven't written up the talk in full yet, but thanks for nudging me! With very best wishes, Annie
Pronunciation as a Listening Skill: understanding connected speech Mark Hancock Dear John Dear John I suggest you look at this page for material and a soundcloud recording of a very similar presentation I did at IATEFL: http://hancockmcdonald.com/talks/pronunciation-listeners-making-sense-connected-speech
Pronunciation as a Listening Skill: understanding connected speech John Batty understanding connected speech Dear Mark, I am writing to you because I am extremely interested in your talk on understanding connected speech to develop students listening sub-skills but alas I will not be able to attend as I am based in London. I have two questions that I would like to ask. The first is: Will you be recording and uploading the talk on youtube? And the second is: when you publish the activities on your website, will they include the accompanying notes? I ask this as I can't find the notes to some of your and Annie's materials. I look forward to hreaing from you. Kind regards, John Batty
Teaching Listening with Authentic Texts John Batty teaching listening with authentic texts Dear Annie, I am writing to you say that I am extremely interested in teaching listening with authentic texts but have been unable to attend your talk on the subject. I have downloaded the pdf 'viking mice" talk but cannot find the accompanying notes. I have also looked for a recording of the talk on youtube but again without success. I would be extremely grateful if you could tell me where to find the notes and/or the recording. If a recording is not available, will you be repeating the talk in the London area in the near future? thank you in advance. Kind regards, John Batty
Watery World gulnaz watery world quiz thank you very much, very interesting for my students
Internet Quiz Mark Hancock Thanks Janaina. We put A2, Thanks Janaina. We put A2, but perhaps it should be B1?
Internet Quiz Janaina Great acitivity. Thanks! Great acitivity. Thanks!
Pronunciation Play XingxingLi I already change my Email, I already change my Email, hope can get your response soon. Thank you for you kindness.
Pronunciation Play Mark Hancock Hi Xing Xing Hi Xing Xing The email I sent to you was returned - the email address wasn't accepted. Maybe you have another?
Pronunciation Play Xing xing Li You are so kindness. Thank You are so kindness. Thank you very much reply me. And I send my e-mail to the contact page already. I'm look forward to hearing from you.
Pronunciation Play Mark Hancock Yes, ok Xingxing Li. Please Yes, ok Xingxing Li. Please can you send us an email? Go to the tab labelled "Contact" at the head of the page...
Pronunciation Play Xingxing Li Hello! I am a Chinese master Hello! I am a Chinese master degree students, now I'm working on my thesis about improve Chinese students 'English pronunciation. I have read you books，they are very help for my English pronunciation study.In my research I would like use your book named 'English Pronunciation in use' to be my materials to teaching English pronunciation. But my University ask me to get your permission that I can use this book in my research. So, can I get a permission mail from you that I can continue my research? I'm very grateful if I can get your permission !
Pronunciation Play Mark Thanks for your message, Thanks for your message, Stella! I'll put the slides and handout for this talk up in a couple of weeks. In the meantime, look at the titles in the 'articles' section of this website and you'll find one on playful approaches to pronunciation...
Pronunciation Play Stella Phonetics material Hello. I am a teacher from Buenos Aires who has discovered your articles on pronunciation on Iatefl magazine. I would like to have access to the information you delivered on the talk on pronunciation play. Unfortunately, I cannot attend your seminars because I live on the other side of the world. Can I buy it online? Cheers, Stella
A Map of Motivation video Mark Hancock Many thanks for this, Barbi. Many thanks for this, Barbi. Glad you like it!
A Map of Motivation video Barbi Bujtas Thank you :) The map idea is just amazing, thank you so much for this. Thorough and concise, with the map concept very much to the point. Motivating :)
Adrian Underhill on pronunciation as the Cinderella of ELT Mark Hancock Yes. And diaphragm, rib cage Yes. And diaphragm, rib cage muscles etc. I guess the 4 buttons idea is just to make it very simple, for both teachers and students.
Adrian Underhill on pronunciation as the Cinderella of ELT Mike McDonald 4 buttons tongue lips jaw ...and voice, the first three are physical body parts the forth a product of their use , it struck me that one could go further, looking at head resonators, soft and hard palates, head and chest voice; All this is basic stuff if one is learning Bel Canto, or Opera singing, maybe singing could be used more.
Priorities in pronunciation teaching shelly stange great great
TESOL Spain 2013 conference review Tom Spain Thanks very much Annie! This Thanks very much Annie! This is really useful stuff and I'm proud and very grateful to be included. Tom
Hints and tips on developing listening skills using authentic materials (TESOL France) Annie McDonald Hi Karen, Hi Karen, Many thanks for your comment. It'd be be worth you checking out subsequent talks as often I'll take a slightly different angle on using authentic listening materials - depending upon the conference. Take a look at handouts, too. For example, I've posted an annotated handout related to my TESOL-Spain presentation -which has been designed for people who couldn't actually attend the conference. Please feel free to get in touch if you have any queries.
Hints and tips on developing listening skills using authentic materials (TESOL France) Karen Greaney Listening Hello I am currently doing my DELTA and have chosen to do listening for my second LSA, I was hoping to focus on authentic listening and while researching came across your site. So this is really helpful, I have tried to use authentic listening in my class before but without going into so much depth. Is there any way we can view your talks? I live in France (but work in Switzerland) and didn't know about TESOL France, I'll keep my eyes and ears open for the future now that I know they have events here. Thanks for sharing, Karen
Hugh Dellar on technology and principles Mark Hancock Agreed that the 'expected' is Agreed that the 'expected' is bad. It's a paradox. Tech is inherently attractive to a lot of people - students included - so it ought to be a good thing; but it's too much of a good thing if it means non-technophile teachers get trashed for not sharing the enthusiasm. Before this tech mania, similar things were going on. Certain entusiastic teachers were spending weekends laminating sets of cards, for example. But fablon-mania never reached the heady heights of tech, so perhaps less of a problem vis a vis showing up your colleagues in a poor light.
Hugh Dellar on technology and principles Kath Bilsborough Not at all! Most teachers do Not at all! Most teachers do unpaid overtime. We expect to. It's the 'expected' bit that bugs me. I was a union rep for a number of years and the amount of 'extra work' that teachers are expected to do is definitely increasing. I'd say that attending conferences is part of self development and the more the better, for the teacher and the students. But being expected to spend extra time preparing IWB activities (for example) isn't the same thing - not if you aren't into IWBs. This whole subject is controversial because lots of technophiles are doing brilliant things with technology and (as Hugh says) expectations are rising for those of us who are less in the know (or just prefer a non-technical approach for whatever reason.
Hugh Dellar on technology and principles Mark Hancock Kath: I do a fair bit of Kath: I do a fair bit of unpaid overtime myself. Like attending conferences. Hope that's not putting my colleagues in a bad light!
Hugh Dellar on technology and principles Kath Bilsborough Great review, I really wish I Great review, I really wish I'd seen this. I agree with most of what Hugh's saying ... maybe all. I think he was brave to go against the general current. As an author and a teacher I particularly liked the bits about payment problems and all that expected volunteer work. Practical issues that sort of make the pro theory a bit redundant. So, at the moment it looks like it's 2 against the rest of the TESOL world.
TESOL France: Christina Rebuffet-Broadus on how Dogme is perceived through students’ eyes Annie McDonald Hi Christina, Hi Christina, I enjoyed your talk very much - it was extremely informative to have the opportunity to see a real-life example of a dogme class emerge before my very eyes. So, thank you, and yep, see you at IATEFL.
TESOL France: Christina Rebuffet-Broadus on how Dogme is perceived through students’ eyes Christina Rebuf... Hi Mark & Annie, Hi Mark & Annie, Just came across this today--thanks for the write-up of my talk (especially the kind words). I hope you got some interesting ideas from the talk and some practical things to use in the classroom. Many thanks and see you at IATEFL!
ELT Pronunciation for Spanish speakers (Collection) Mark Hancock You're welcome! You're welcome!
ELT Pronunciation for Spanish speakers (Collection) Carmen Medina Phonetics and Phonology Thank you for the link to such excellent materials.
David Block on the commodification of English Mark Hancock Your google's as good as mine Your google's as good as mine, Simon... I'll take a look at some point.
David Block on the commodification of English Enda Thanks for this Mark, sounds Thanks for this Mark, sounds fascinating
David Block on the commodification of English Simon Andrewes commodification whetted my appetite - of course; can you recommend any sources? you mentioned a Monica Heller, anything on her, - or shall I google her exchange values have permeated all forms of social relations; use values have become practically irrelevant thump the tub
A Map of ELT Mark Hancock I'm very happy you find it I'm very happy you find it helpful, Maria!
A Map of ELT Maria Antònia Farré I attended your talk at the I attended your talk at the ELT APAC convention 2013 and I deeply thank you for your great work. I’m one of many trainee english teachers getting rather confused about too many ESL / EFL teaching concepts, and I awfully needed to have an overview of all from a bird’s eye point of view. It will help me to reflect and organise my overloaded mind. Thank you very much again.
Hints and tips on developing listening skills using authentic materials (TESOL France) Annie McDonald Thanks for your comments, Thanks for your comments, Thao. I'm so pleased the materieal is useful. Feel free to get in touch and let's discuss further. Also, look out for updated posts on this talk. I shall be giving a developed version as a workshop at TESOL-Spain, and talk at IATEFL, Liverpool - both coming soon.
Hints and tips on developing listening skills using authentic materials (TESOL France) Thao Nguyen Thank you so much for your Thank you so much for your useful materials. It will not only help me with my graduation paper but also a resource for consultation later in my English teaching. If possible, I would really like to exchange further information with you on the matter of using authentic materials in the future.
Simon Andrewes on new needs in the EFL classroom. Annie McDonald An Olympian view ... somehow sounds grander than the bird's eye one, and someone's got to see it so great teachers can also get everything into perspective if they want or need to.
Simon Andrewes on new needs in the EFL classroom. Simon bird's eye When I started university I wrote an essay and the lecturer said it presented 'an Olympian' view' - he explained I observed the subject matter from a great height. And it is a kind of fault, for I have little enthusiasm for getting involved in the nitty-gritty detail, which I think is essential to be a great teacher. But there you go...
Silent Stories: using pictures in ELT Mark Hancock Hi Alexis! Yeah, was great to Hi Alexis! Yeah, was great to be in Rio again after 20 years. Next time, south to see you and family! M
Silent Stories: using pictures in ELT Alexis Graf rio 2012 Hi Mark! I just discovered you blog.. fantastic material available! I found very interesting this article about silent stories as i also work with images.. so you were in Rio this year! It must had been very special after all this years.. next time you should come by a little souther! Abrazos, Alexis
What's New? Mark Hancock Ok, Maria. I see what you Ok, Maria. I see what you mean, and it's a good point. Thanks for the feedback!
What's New? maría casado Hi Mark! thank you. I would Hi Mark! thank you. I would avoid using news in that context since it is such a difficult word to teach. Visually students remember "... are good news" if you see what I mean. Thanks a lot anyway. By the way, I'm using some of your materials and they are very effective.
Simon Andrewes on new needs in the EFL classroom. Annie McDonald Your talk It was an honour and luxury for me to be presented with an insightful bird's eye view of ELT. Just love overviews and trends, and your 'then' and 'now' details were very clear and convincing. Many thanks, Simon.
Simon Andrewes on new needs in the EFL classroom. Simon my talk I couldn't have put it better myself. You are clearly an excellent and experienced conference goer with great listening and critical thinking skills! And it was nice and practically an honour to have you in my audience...
IATEFL Hungary: Review of conference Annie McDonald Thanks for your thanks! Just to add that it's great to contribute to keeping the conference alive. So much work, and so much to learn. It benefits us all to be able to reflect.
IATEFL Hungary: Review of conference Mark Hancock Thank you Zsuzsa and Barbi. Thank you Zsuzsa and Barbi. We benefited from writing it, and it's great if others benefit from reading it!
IATEFL Hungary: Review of conference Barbi Bujtás Dear Annie and Mark, Dear Annie and Mark, Thank you soooo much for your work, all your coverages of this conference, it adds so much to the experience, days after the conf we can recall, consolidate, digest, deepen .... all the things we heard there. Thank you ever so much.
IATEFL Hungary: Review of conference Zsuzsa Lindner thanks Thank you for this great blog entry about our conference! We hope the Eger Online Blog reaches many people, we are at 6888 hits at the moment. :-) Let me add that the blog was set up in cooperation with the British Council in Hungary - a big thank you to them! :-)
What's New? Mark Hancock Hi Maria! Do you mean in the Hi Maria! Do you mean in the sentence "Which events are good news and which are bad news"? Here, "are" is plural because "events" is plural. Or did you mean something else?
Patagonia kate Awesome Awesome
What's New? maría casado i think there is a serious grammar mistake in this page no news is good news. news is always singular because it is an uncountable noun.
Creating Motivation Mark Hancock Thanks Belen. If you try out Thanks Belen. If you try out any of the activities, let us know how it goes!
Creating Motivation Belén Thanks so much for sharing it Thanks so much for sharing it. I learned many things and I am so glad I went to hear your conference!. It was a pleasure.
IATEFL Poland: Hanna Kryszewska on Gardner's "5 Minds for the Future" Mark Hancock IATEFL newsletter Hania says she has written this talk up as an article due in the next IATEFL newsletter...
IATEFL Poland: Piotr Steinbrich on 21st century skills Technofun 21st century skills There are different categorizations of 21st century skills. Piotr selected one, which is neither logical nor useful. That is why it was easy to criticise them. If a teacher teaches reading and writing which are technology-based language skills, he or she has to teach technology-based language skills - which were not even mentioned in this presentation. Moreover, it is a populist trick to discourage people from using tech in language learning in a country where only 20% of inhabitants are interested in using new inventions and technology in their daily activities. It is an easy way to tell teachers, what they want to hear, but it is deceitful.
IATEFL Poland: Lucyna Wilinkiewicz-Gorniak on 21st Century Skills Lucyna Wilinkie... IATEFL Poland: Lucyna Wilinkiewicz-Gorniak on 21st Century Skill Dear Mark and Annie, thank You, so much, for including my presentation about 21st century skills in Your review. As You know, problems with my "personal set of technological devices" swallowed the most precious time at the beginning of my presentation. Therefore I was almost certain that, by the time I had eventually managed to fix everything, nobody would be willing to listen to me. But, evidently, I was wrong! That is just what we, teachers of English, are like! In my opinion the discussion following my presentation was the most inspiring part of the whole, because it proved to me, that we are among those teachers who really care! All we need to do now is just to keep up the good work and... spread the news among those who do not care... Best wishes, Lucyna W-G In my opinion the discussion following my presentation was the most inspiring part of the whole, because it proved to me, that we are among those teachers who really care! All we need to do now is just to keep up the good wok and... spread the news among those who do not care...
Pronunciation Games for Brazil Mark Hancock Wow, that's lovely feeback to Wow, that's lovely feeback to hear. Thanks Fátima!
Pronunciation Games for Brazil Fátima Ramirez Braz-Tesol presentation I would like to congratulate you on your brilliant presentation at Braz-Tesol Conference! You are simply marvelous! I really enjoyed it! Presentations like yours have made a difference in my professional development! Big hug! All the best!
Pronunciation Games for Brazil Mark Hancock Thanks Elisangela. There's Thanks Elisangela. There's always space for improvement, so let me know if you have any ideas!
Pronunciation Games for Brazil Elisângela Fonseca Your BRAZTESOL workshop Just to let you know that I really appreciated your workshop. Definitely, the ideas/games are very nice and my students are going to benefit a lot from them.
Pronunciation Games for Brazil Mark Hancock Thanks Ricardo Let us know how the activities go in class!
Pronunciation Games for Brazil Ricardo Barros I thoroughly enjoyed the I thoroughly enjoyed the presentation at Braz-tesol! I'm definitely using these activities with my students. Thanks for sharing.
BRAZ-TESOL: a talk on listening/reading skills Isabela Thank you for summarizing our Thank you for summarizing our talk so nicely, Mark! Your website is great and I'll be sure to follow it. Nowadays my greatest source of professional development has been blogging and reading other professionals' blogs. Thank you for your interest in our session. Best wishes, Isabela
Pronunciation Games for Brazil Mark Hancock That's great, Thanks Gladys! That's great, Thanks Gladys!
Pronunciation Games for Brazil Gladys Garcia Thanks! I loved your presentation! The ideas are very practical and I've already started using them in class. My students loved the games. I highly recommend them. Thank you so much!
Dangerous Dictation n.2 Mark Hancock You got it, Giorgio! You got it, Giorgio!
The Life of a Tree Mark Hancock Very observant, Haluk!!! Very observant, Haluk!!!
Dangerous Dictation n.2 Giorgio solution Gentlemen must wear bow ties!
The Life of a Tree Haluk SENGEC The Life of a tree Great story! Very exotic music. A nice combination. Takes you in, makes you curious to listen, and takes you back to Hiroshima. Then you have a lot to write! Haluk
Braz-tesol Diary Mark Hancock Wow Your blog is really fascinating, Michelle! We'll be in touch!
Braz-tesol Diary Michelle Cannon hey you guys Was flicking through Linkedin and found you Annie - followed you to this blog.... great that you're going back to Rio! I can see much overlap with your stuff and mine at the moment - see my MA dissertation blog about media production, moving image and young learners ... fashioningandflow.wordpress.com ... have just put a phd proposal together ... trying n get a bursary ... have always thought that main stream ed has lots to learn from TEFL. Let's connect in a less public/worky way. Will let you know ref. phd thing and who knows I may need to come and interview you! Shelle XX
The Life of a Tree luis parra He descubierto hace unos días He descubierto hace unos días esta página, y la verdad es que resulta muy útil. No tengo muchas oportunidades de practicar inglés, y aquí he encontrado una manera de escuchar y acostumbrar mi oído a este idioma. En buena hora, y muchas gracias Hancock Mc Donald por esta oportunidad.
Sounds with rhyme and reason Glennie Great stuff. Great stuff. Will have a look now.
Sounds with rhyme and reason Mark Hancock Videos You can mention my name if it seems relevant. I've made the Bilbao talk into video, with the slides and voiceover. It's on Youtube already, and I'm just working on getting links to the site under Talks...
Sounds with rhyme and reason Glennie I want to use some of this in I want to use some of this in class. How would you like to be credited?
Crazy Email Mark Hancock Thanks Mike Correction made!
Crazy Email Mike Brother Andre brilliant Mark/ Annie, Great website...only just started looking through it. Like it. ps.crazy email....is there a typo ..should be contradictions.?
'Marking' Speaking Annie McDonald Expanding your asssessment focus Yes, absolutely, and then you could also use the CEFR communication strategy scales for spoken production (planning, compensating and repair) if your students are giving mini presentations.
'Marking' Speaking Anna Steele Marking speaking Great ideas and fit into many different course book or original activities. I also have students do journal writing for homework and then have them spring into the speaking.
Pen Pictures Mark Hancock reviewing writing Yes, we were very keen that the kids should get into the habit of checking their own writing before handing it in. In books 1 and 2, we included colourful tracks leading from the end of the lesson across the various pages to the review pages - to intrigue the kids into following.
Pronunciation Games Mark Hancock phonetic symbols I agree with Anthony Bennet, who says that the phonetic symbols are perhaps over-used in Pronunciation Games. They do make things a bit more academic than necessary, and they can lead to inappropriate precision. This is something I would try to steer away from if I were writing this book again.
Review of English Pronunciation in Use Mark Hancock Supremacy of RP I'm glad Michael noticed that RP supremacy is not assumed. The value of a variety resides in its currency, and is not intrinsic the the variety. No accent is, in itself, better than any other.