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English pronunciation: teaching unfamiliar sounds and phonetic patterns

20 November, 2018 by Paloma González-Nash Leave a Comment

English pronunciation: How do you go about teaching it?

In the Poppies Foundation Plus Course, we are now dealing with one of the components of Linguistic Competence. As usual, we connect these aspects with our syllabus, units and how we teach. The post first appeared here on 27th February 2018. There are a few slight changes.

Let’s start by considering…

How we learn unfamiliar sounds and phonetic patterns

When teaching the spoken language it is essential to take into account how humans learn unfamiliar sounds and phonetic patterns.

  • Initially, our brain registers those sounds as undifferentiated from the ones a person is familiar with.
  • As exposure continues, the listener’s brain learns to differentiate among different sounds. Then, among short sequences of sounds that correspond to words or parts of words. Neural connections that reflect this learning process are formed in the auditory cortex of the left hemisphere for most individuals.
  • With further exposure, both the simple and complex circuits ─which correspond to simple sounds and sequences of sounds─ are activated at virtually the same time and more easily.

What we learn from research

Research has also shown that these neural connections are formed not only in terms of sounds. They are also formed with other regions of the brain associated with visual, tactile and even olfactory information related to the sound of the word. All of which give meaning to such sound.

Neural activity is not unidirectional

Moreover, the flow of neural activity is not unidirectional, from simple to complex. It also goes from complex to simple. In the early stages of learning, the neural circuits are activated in bits, incompletely and weakly. With more experience, practice, and exposure these neural circuits achieve an increasingly complete picture of what is being learnt. The more the exposure, the less the input required to activate the whole picture. In this respect, knowing what the problems are, will be essential to tackle the specific problems each student has.

English pronunciation: Word stress in English and in Spanish

The teaching of word stress in English words is very important. This is particularly so because the stressed syllable in a word has roughly the same length as all the unstressed syllables together. So while in Spanish it is only a question of loudness, in English it is a question of loudness and time length.

The importance of stress

Thus, for example, both in English and in Spanish not placing the stress on the appropriate syllable (loudness) may lead to serious misunderstanding. This may be so because there are two words which have the same sound, but different meaning. Think, for example, of the difference in Spanish between LIbro and liBRÓ.

to avoid confusion

Even when there are no such pairs, though,  placing the stress on a different syllable may easily lead to the listener perceiving a different word like, for example, understanding “reTAIN” instead of “WRItten” if the stress were misplaced on the latter and pronounced as “writTEN”. On the other hand, words such as COMfortable, in English, have the stressed syllable with the same duration as all the weak syllables together.

Teaching word stress in English

This is why it is essential to teach the intonation and stress pattern of a word when we introduce it for the first time or when the teacher sees that it is mis-stressed.

There are different techniques (e.g. repetition, writing the stressed syllable in capital letters, marking it, exaggerating its stress, etc.)  to draw the students’ attention to their problems with word stress.

Teaching word stress on cognates

One such problem may be caused by cognates and the differences should be pointed out right from the beginning. Thus:

Cognates ending in -ción/-tion

  1. Spanish words ending in –cion (condición, estación, etc.) have a primary stress on the last syllable,
  2. while the English words ending in –tion (condition, station, etc.) are stressed on the preceding syllable.

Cognates ending in –al

  1.  Spanish words ending in –al stress the last syllable (capital, animal, natural),
  2. whereas English words ending in –al stress the third but last syllable (capital, animal, natural)

 Cognates ending in –dad/-ty

  1. Spanish words ending in –dad stress the last syllable (responsabilidàd, humanidàd, dificultàd.
  2. English words ending in –ty usually have the stress on the third but last syllable (responsibility, humanity), but sometimes the stress falls on the same syllable as the original adjective (difficulty).

Focus on stress when you teach any new word

As rhythm is connected to physical human activities, kinesthetic activities are particularly useful, according to authors such as O’Connor or Celce-Murcia. One of those kinesthetic activities can be done just by using Cuisenaire Rods. Watch how this can be done:

Others, like Lado, advise the use of a musical scale with “dots” of different size representing the words in the tone group. This form is rather visual and the rhythmical beat is clearly seen:

…………………………..…………..

…………………………..☻………..

………………………◦……..………

…….●…●………………………….

………………………………………

I   need                   a  rest

English rhythm patterns

In this line, and arguing that, English being stress-timed, its rhythm patterns are very similar to a musical phrase, Celce-Murcia, Avery and Underhill, among many others, advocate for the use of nursery rhymes, verse, limericks, Jazz Chants or rap.

In this respect, C. Graham has designed many different activities and provided a lot of suggestions and ideas on how to use jazz chants. See for instance: http://www.teachingvillage.org/2010/05/23/how-to-create-a-jazz-chant-by-carolyn-graham/ , or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAYwoLZso7s

We certainly recommend all teachers to watch this video by AdrianUnderhill on Teaching pronunciation

Si te gusto ¡Compártelo!

Filed Under: EFL teaching & learning Tagged With: Food for thought, teaching pronunciation

Poppies’ homage to MP Jo Cox on the first anniversary of her murder

16 June, 2017 by Paloma González-Nash Leave a Comment

From POPPIES, our homage to MP Jo Cox murdered a year ago.

 In Memoriam

Jo Cox, a proud, no-nonsense Yorkshire lass was murdered on 16-06-2016

Last year today, a young, good and honest politician from Yorkshire was murdered in Britain.

She was 42 and had become the Labour MP for Batley and Spen in 2015.

Jo described herself as a proud Yorkshire lass. In her maiden speech,  she commented on the cultural, religious and racial mix of the constituency she represented and on the fact that she found they all had more things in common than not.

She was a woman who believed in a fairer, more compassionate world. She also thought that the British parliament needed more women. This is just a token of what she was up to when alive.

On her way to her weekly constituency surgery

MP Cox was murdered by a white-supremacist while on her way to the library in Birstall, where she was to hold a constituency surgery. Constituency surgeries are part of British -and Irish- politics and consist of the MP holding one-to-one meetings with her constituents (the people the MP represents).

As she had mentioned in her maiden speech, Jo Cox felt proud of the mixture of people and cultures in her constituency. Her killer wanted a “White-only” Britain.

She was killed seven days before the referendum on Remaining or Leaving the EU.  MP Cox was in favour of Remaining in the EU whereas her murderer was pro-Leaving the EU.

Why we, at POPPIES, are paying homage to MP Jo Cox

We share the values she lived by and admire what she did and what she intended to do:

  • POPPIES is multi-coloured -and not just red like the typical poppy- for the same reason Jo was proud of being the MP for Batley and Spen.
  • Our site is for English teachers in the Spanish state Education System. English language and culture are what we promote and teach.  POPPIES mixes English and Spanish because our family and our team are made up of English and Spanish people. We’ll find it difficult to cope with Britain outside Europe. The British community, my friends, are very concerned about what may happen to them. I am concerned about not being able to enjoy Britain as freely as we can do now. Together we are stronger, and we have more things that unite us than that separate us.
  • Joe Cox was concerned about lonely people and social isolation, deprived children, innocent civilians in Syria and women in public life. So are we.
  • She believed that the greatest challenges can be overcome. So do we.
  • In the words of Malala Yousafzai, “she believed in the power of people to bring about change from grassroots up”. We believe the same.
  • Barak Obama urged us to “Combat and guard against hatred, intolerance & injustice, and to serve others with dignity and love” as a way of remembering Jo Cox and all she stood for.

The Great get Together

So between the 16th and the 18th of June this year, and inspired by Jo Cox, the Jo Cox Foundation have launched, in Britain,  The Great get Together initiative. I think we can do something similar in our schools in Spain to honour her and what she stood for:

  • As she said, “we have more in common than that which divides us”
  • And I think that, for the next academic year, we can design great activities in our classes following this idea.
  • If you do, I’d love to hear about them.
Si te gusto ¡Compártelo!

Filed Under: Poppies in General Tagged With: Food for thought

Mis niños son los mejores. Un ejercicio de Listening Practice

1 December, 2016 by Paloma González-Nash Leave a Comment

Teachers & Students: diverse and with specific needs: connected and together

¿Afirmas, como todas, que tus niños son los mejores? ¿Crees que la escuela pública es para aquellos que no pueden pagar otra educación mejor? ¿Cuál piensas que es el fin o finalidad de la escuela pública? Te propongo ahora el siguiente ejercicio 

Listening Practice

Te servirá tanto si quieres mejorar tu inglés, como si estás preparándote para la oposición a profesores de inglés, bien sea de secundaria o de primaria. Y es válido para cualquier comunidad autónoma que tenga listening practice.

This is how you should proceed:

Watch the video

And as you watch…

Answer the following 50 questions on…

(They lead you from the onset to the end of the video, but I have separated them into four sections. Do not use the subtitles if you really want to practise and develop your Listening Skills)

Introduction: The setting

  1. How many kids does she have?
  2. What 5 features make her kids special?
  3. What can’t the kids see in themselves?
  4. What does she see in them?

School days for her

  1. What do her parents do?
  2. What wasn’t the primary ambition in their home?
  3. What was the consequence of this?
  4. What was the “educational jackpot” they struck?
  5. What did she have to do every day?
  6. What did she think when she was 5?

Growing up

  1. Mention the three things she started noticing as she got older.
  2. What feeling did she have in her belly as she got older?
  3. Say the 9 things she thought she wasn’t supposed to have.
  4. Why did she think that?
  5. What is the question she poses concerning education?
  6. How does she describe the education she had, compared to that of other children in her neighbourhood?
  7.  She compares herself to Moses. Why?
  8. What couldn’t she justify?

The teacher

  1. Where does she work now?
  2. What is the difference, in terms of access to tools, between her as a schoolgirl and her as a teacher?
  3. Why does she feel frustrated and sad?
  4. Why is there an achievement gap, according to her?
  5. What should it be called?
  6. Why shouldn’t it be called achievement gap?
  7. What is the “little-known secret” in American history?
  8. According to her, how was the public school system built, bought and paid for in the USA?
  9. Why did the public school system in America “have it all wrong” from the beginning?
  10. Why are schools today more segregated than when they were first desegregated?
  11. Why is it awkward in her class when they deal with desegregation? Mention the question children ask
  12. How did she build the first library for her class?
  13. Were students eager to read then?
  14. What ‘s DonnorsChoose?
  15. What did she do there?
  16. What happened after she did that?
  17. How did the children react to this?
  18. What question did the kids ask her?
  19. What was her answer?
  20. Why were the kids “almost” suspicious?
  21. What did the girl in Kandice Sumner’s class find “pretty cool”?
  22. How have the children’s attitudes to reading changed after the donation?
  23. What has the public school system in America never done, according to Ms Sumner?
  24. How does she explain test results in poor areas?
  25. What happens if you neglect a child long enough?
  26. How can you determine the quality of a country’s education system?
  27. What should school funding not depend on?
  28. What happens to schools?
  29. What are the requirements for public education to be truly public?
  30. What should public education be called as it is now?
  31. What can people attending “rich schools” do to improve the quality of public education in America?
  32. What can each one of us do to change things?

Y, ahora, volvemos a las preguntas iniciales

¿Son tus alumnos “tus hijos” ?

Si estás en la enseñanza porque te gusta sé que la respuesta es un rotundo “sí”.

Una respuesta afirmativa implica que seguro que te equivocas a veces, otras no sabes qué hacer con alguno de ellos y, otras, consigues “llegar”.

Pero siempre haces todo lo posible por ayudarles, motivarles, animarles y exigirles responsabilidad.

¿Crees que la escuela pública es para quienes no pueden pagar otra educación mejor?

Ayer hablaba con alguien que pensaba que así es y así será en el futuro. Pero esa persona está en una empresa privada que ayuda a niños con autismo.

Yo no pude dejar de preguntarme,

  • ¿que ocurre si no tengo dinero para pagar por esos cursos o esas ayudas, y tengo un hijo autista?
  • ¿sólo me queda “ajo y agua”?
  • ¿No debería ser una responsabilidad social y, por tanto, de las Administraciones Educativas? Para todos, sin distinción de clase social o situación económica?

Si estás en la educación pública, confío en que la respuesta sea un no rotundo a la pregunta del título. Por tu bien, y por el de tus alumnos. A pesar de lo que en muchas ocasiones hacen las Administraciones Públicas.

Una educación pública, de calidad, equitativa que no igualitarista, es absolutamente necesaria para que exista una sociedad sana.

Nuestros alumnos son el reflejo de la sociedad en la que viven, en la que vivimos. Y las familias tienen responsabilidad, sin duda. Pero nosotros, como educadores, tenemos también la nuestra y es esencial que la asumamos.

La tercera la planteo de forma abierta, para el debate o la reflexión:

¿Está la escuela pública abocada a llegar a su fin, y la solución está en ofertas privadas o semi-privadas, como las “academies” en Inglaterra, las “charter schools” en USA o los “concertados” en España?
¿Cuál es, cuál debería ser la finalidad, el objetivo de la educación pública en España?

Ahora que se vuelve a hablar de un Gran Pacto Educativo, creo que es una pregunta totalmente pertinente.

Espero vuestras opiniones y comentarios.

 

Si te gusto ¡Compártelo!

Filed Under: Educación, Sin categoría Tagged With: 21st Century schools, Escuelas del s. XXI, Food for thought

Food for Thought and Listening Practice for Opositores & teachers at large

24 October, 2016 by Paloma González-Nash Leave a Comment

994800_10151434438362587_838206712_nFood for Thought

That the discussion forums at the Poppies Courses are called Food For Thought is not a whim. It is rather the firm conviction that teachers and learners need to analyse, come to conclusions, synthesise, combine different parts, assess, explain and then give reasons for our conclusions or statements. More on this in the next post.

In my two previous posts, I was asking readers to sign up a petition started by a young student of ESO. He is asking the Spanish minister of Education not to introduce the SATs called “reválidas”, at least not this academic year.  Not only are these tests standardised, one-size-fits-all exams but also they have not been designed properly if they have been designed at all. And neither teachers nor students know what they will be like. I urge you to sign the petition and spread the word if you haven’t done so yet.

So, here’s the Food for Thought I invite you to give your mind while you do some listening practice.

Listening Practice

Mainly for those who are preparing for the Competitive Exam for English Language Teachers, but also good food for any teacher, and particularly for administrators.  Those who have known me for some time have heard me talk, no doubt,  of Sal Khan, the founder of Khan Academy. Also of Mastery learning and flipping the classroom. But more on this in the next post.

So, without any more ado, here is the TED talk he recently gave with some questions:

  1. What is the purpose of his talk?
  2. Why did his cousins think they didn’t have the Maths-gene?
  3. In which way does traditional schooling differ from the way we learn to do something? Is that sound?
  4. Why does he talk about home-building? Feel free to elaborate.
  5. What is Mastery Learning & how can it be achieved today?
  6. What implications can be drawn from the example he provides on reading?
  7. Why does he talk about the pyramid?
  8. Write a summary so that those who haven’t heard the talk get a good idea of its contents.

Looking forward to reading your answers!

Si te gusto ¡Compártelo!

Filed Under: Educación, Oposiciones-Profesores Inglés Tagged With: 21st Century schools, Food for thought, oposiciones

Three issues concerning education to give you food for thought

12 October, 2016 by Paloma González-Nash Leave a Comment

Three issues I would like to raise here to serve us as Food for Thought:

Food-4-Thought no. 1:

What are the Spanish Education Authorities doing to ensure that every student gets the education they need for the 21st century?

I’m afraid not much.

I spent last year and a large part of this reading and analysing the changes in legislation, once again.

Indeed, I am currently revising the book on “Programación Didáctica” so that it reflects the changes introduced by the LOMCE and all its ensuing Royal Decrees, Orders, etc. Other than the name, I fail to see any improvement in this legislation. At least,  not for Foreign Languages in general and English in particular.

If anything, it aims to impose “standardisation” of the wrong kind, without seeking any kind of consensus with the Education stakeholders. This made me think of the post I received on Monday from the Plataforma Reivindicativa por una Educación Independiente del Poder Político. The post was just a link to this YouTube video  published by 27-year-old poet, filmmaker, and  speaker, Prince Ea . His website is a good source of materials to use in class. Particularly if you seek to motivate your students and give them some food for thought. I hope it will make the Authorities and the System think and reflect.

Food-4-Thought no. 2

What are we, Education stakeholders, doing to change the things we do not like in Education?

I believe that complaining about things we do not like is easy, but useless. If we really want to change things, we need to take action. That is why I have signed various petitions concerning the education system or for a fair access to become a permanent teacher. And for that same reason, I have also signed first

the petition started by a student of ESO,  and also, to put greater pressure on this other promoted by a couple of students of Bachillerato. 

This is the least I could do. And I encourage you to sign both petitions and to spread the word as much as you possibly can. Tell your friends, colleagues, family, acquaintances. We can change things if we take action.

Food-4-Thought no. 3

What are teachers doing to provide their students with the education they need?

Poppies

Those who truly care, as much as they can.

As a token, I was talking to Maria, a highly professional, motivated English teacher who is constantly seeking how to motivate her students. She was rather concerned about the fact that with the LOMCE, the Publishing Companies have crammed a lot of, very often biased, contents in the English curriculum. Yet, they seem to have forgotten about a key 21st-century issue: raising students’ awareness about environmental issues.

So, I told her about a series I really like. It’s called Life and it has been published by National Geographic Learning.

I have no commercial interests whatsoever in promoting this series. It is just very interesting and motivating. I like the way they structure grammar, functions, and lexis in each of the units. The way they cover issues related to the environment, technology, culture, customs, etc. from an international perspective is, in my view, highly motivating. Their videos and photography are beautifully attractive. That is why I recommend it to supplement or even substitute those aspects you find lacking in your textbooks. This is the link in case you want to have a peep: Life

And if you like the post,  or think that it may be useful to somebody you know, don’t forget to share it!

Si te gusto ¡Compártelo!

Filed Under: Educación, The Spanish Education System Tagged With: 21st Century schools, Escuelas del s. XXI, Food for thought

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