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Home " ELT Materials " Pronunciation materials

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In my work as a teacher trainer I have been surprised at how often experienced teachers are reluctant to tackle pronunciation issues in class. I can think of at least two reasons why pronunciation tends to be neglected: firstly, the lack of clear guidelines and rules available in course books, and secondly the fact that isolated exercises once a month do not seem to have much of an effect. This is not surprising, however; like all other areas of language teaching, pronunciation needs constant attention for it to have a lasting effect on students, which means integrating it into daily classroom procedures. I find that addressing issues regularly during the language feedback or group correction stage of a lesson helps to focus learners' attention on its importance and leads to more positive experiences.

Using student talk to teach pronunciation

Using student talk to teach pronunciation
Pronunciation work can be kept simple and employ exercises which are both accessible and enjoyable for students, whatever their level. Whenever students do a freer speaking activity, the main aim is usually for them
to develop their spoken fluency in the language. However, the activity also serves to work on students' accuracy through the feedback we give them on their use of language.

When my students do such a group or pair work activity at any level I listen in and take notes which are divided into three areas of language: pronunciation, grammar and lexis. Within the latter, as well as unknown lexis I will also include areas such as register, function, set phrases...and within the former I will include notes on any area of pronunciation that leads to miscommunication. This includes diphthongs, vowel sounds (including weak forms), consonant sounds, word stress and sentence stress. All of these areas can be dealt with quickly and efficiently by having some simple exercises ready which require nothing more than the board and a basic knowledge of the phonemic chart.

If learners are introduced to the phonemic chart one phoneme at a time, it can be introduced from beginner level and students are quick to appreciate its value. A rule for when 'ea' is pronounced /e/ (head) and when it is pronounced /i:/ (bead) will not necessarily aid production, whereas the activities I propose here will. Once your students get used to the exercises, pronunciation work becomes even more efficient and, dare I say it, effective.

I hear a pre-intermediate learner say: 'I suppose (pronounced with stress on first syllable) I will see her tonight'. The listener doesn't understand because of the mispronunciation and asks the other student to repeat until finally they write it down and we see what the word was.

After the activity, on the board I put a column with two bubbles to represent word stress, the first small, the second much larger. I write 'suppose' under the bubbles and drill it before asking students to think of other two-syllable words with second-syllable stress.

After the activity, on the board I draw a column with the heading /e/. In this column I write the word 'dead' and have students repeat it. I then ask for examples of words which rhyme with this, which students find easy ('red', 'bed', etc.).

I do not write these, however. I then ask for words which rhyme and have the same vowel spelling, i.e. 'ea'. I put students in pairs or groups to think of words, giving myself some thinking time, too. In this case, depending on the level I will get 'head', 'bread', 'read', 'lead',... and we end up with an extendable list of words with the same spelling and sound.

I make a column with /ai/, drill 'find' and my students give me 'fight', 'bike', 'buy', 'eye','my', etc. for the sound.

I accept these without writing them and then encourage students to think of other words spelt like 'find'. I get 'mind' and 'kind'.

I make a column with a schwa, and drill 'vegetable', marking the word stress.

With an elementary class there is a case for simply teaching this point rather than eliciting known words, so I point out the number of syllables and the stress on the beginning of the word, explaining that this makes the final syllable weak and not pronounced as the word 'table'.

The activity is simply a choral drill, but of the whole sentence and maintaining an English rhythm. 'He me I have a holiday'.

The trick here is not to over-exaggerate on the stressed words, but keep the stress and rhythm natural. Think in terms of modelling a rhythm, rather than a stress pattern. Using gesture like the conductor of an orchestra or tapping on the board to show the rhythm is especially helpful for students who cannot hear it easily.

I add to the list 'comfortable' and 'presentable' as further examples, but avoid adding more so as not to overwhelm students at this level.

For the second example I point out that the stress is on the second syllable. I can think of objections teachers have made to my suggesting this, such as students' confusion at the lack of a steadfast rule or the non-uniformity of the examples, for example, but to cater to this merely serves to reinforce students' belief that a language always obeys a strict set of rules. In my experience this approach is not a useful one. The only way to learn these fundamental pronunciation points is to notice them, note them down and practise them regularly.

There may be only one or two for any given pattern. If I have thought of any other words myself I add them to the column, ensuring that they are not obscure words or too high for this particular level (in this case I might choose to introduce 'bind' and 'grind', but probably not 'rind' or 'hind').

It is the cognitive work of trying to think of similar words, writing them down and their organisation into columns that helps learners retain sounds and spellings, rather than their simply revising the lists. This is why all students should be encouraged to copy the list into their notebooks.

If the classroom allows it, it's also a great idea to have students pin posters with sound columns up on the wall and add to them whenever a new item comes up for that sound, particularly if it is a strange or different spelling.

I get 'outside', 'today', 'below' and 'behind', which I accept as correct before asking for verbs only. I then get 'accept', 'believe', 'forget'....and these go in the same column.

If a student asks for rules during this exercise, in this case 'Do all 2-syllable verbs have this stress pattern?', for example, I either ask them to think of examples that contradict their rule to give myself time to consider it or I tell them we will look at rules for this the following lesson. As a general rule I find that this procedure encourages learner autonomy by having learners form their own hypotheses which are then confirmed or disproved by the teacher in the following lesson.

Word stress
Here is a simple exercise I repeat regularly for work on word stress and individual sounds.

Vowel sounds
I hear a pre-intermediate learner say: 'Not now because he is did (dead)'.

Diphthongs
I hear an intermediate learner say: 'I didn't find (pronounced / f i: n d /) it anywhere'.

Weak forms
I hear an elementary learner say: 'I will buy vegetables (pronouncing 'table' at the end)'. I note that this is also an opportunity to work on word stress.

Sentence stress
I use fluency drills to work on sentence stress. I hear an intermediate learner say: 'He told me I couldn't have
a holiday' ( bold words are stressed). This causes confusion due to the stress being placed on the wrong words
in the sentence, i.e. the pronouns, or grammar words, as opposed to the content words.

Admittedly, this latter exercise on sentence stress does seem to take longer to have an effect, but if highlighted early on and practised relatively often, students do seem to internalise how English stress differs from their own language and helps overcome what in later stages of learning becomes a fossilised way of speaking. Sentence stress causes more communication problems for a fluent speaker than any number of grammatical errors.

Conclusion
One of the beauties of using student speech for pronunciation work is that it directly addresses students' problems. I have attempted to provide a couple of very simple exercises here to help teachers integrate pronunciation into their classes on a regular basis. Regular work in this area helps learners to develop their own hypotheses and gut-feeling for English pronunciation, something experts and researchers have long emphasised as an essential skill of a good language learner.

Barney Griffiths, Teacher trainer, Teacher, Materials writer, Spain

This article was first published in 2004

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In my work as a teacher trainer I have been surprised at how often experienced teachers are reluctant to tackle pronunciation issues in class. I can think of at least two reasons why pronunciation tends to be neglected: firstly, the lack of clear guidelines and rules available in course books, and secondly the fact that isolated exercises once a month do not seem to have much of an effect.

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Free online ESL games to help students learn English in a fun and interactive way.

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Do you like practising your English pronunciation? Have fun saying tongue twisters in English. Saying tongue twisters can be difficult at first, so don't worry if you can't do it very well to begin with. Just keep practising and have fun!

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Do you like learning English and having fun? In this section you can play games and practise your speaking with our fun tongue twisters. There are funny jokes in English to learn and tell your friends. You can also post comments!

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Below are some English Language Games that you can play online. We will be putting up more as we write them, so keep checking to find what we have new for you. If you want some free language games to download go here . HAVE FUN! Games for mobile devices

These English games are copyright and for use only on the English for Everybody website. Unauthorised downloading or direct linking to any games is forbidden, though linking to this page is welcome. Most games will only run on computers with windows IE 5 or above. Please report any problems to english-online.org.uk

© Biscuit Software
design by Simone Baj

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Games Zone - online English language games (learn English through games)

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Below are some English Language Games that you can play online. We will be putting up more as we write them, so keep checking to find what we have new for you. If you want some free language games to download go here. HAVE FUN!

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You can set this page as a homework task for a group of students; doing so will give you a record of who has completed the task. Visit the teacher's section for more information.

In the teacher's section you can also alter the sets of content, so that only some of the images appear. Additionally, you can get embed code to add this game to a blog or web page and you can create direct links to the game with content pre-selected. As an example, the link below will start the game with the jobs content automatically loaded.

Alternatively, this link will start the game with the food content automatically selected and loaded.

Use the teacher's section to create more links or embed code.

This is a simple game for learning basic English vocabulary. Primarily, it is aimed at ESL (English as a second language) learners, but other learners may find it useful too. To play, just listen to the words and click on the matching images. The game gets faster as you progress and if you do not click quickly enough, then the game will end. You can choose which vocab to practice by clicking on a set in the content screen. There are about 30 sets of content that cover most of the basic vocabulary items. A list of all the vocab used in this game is available for download here.

At the first screen you can click on 'Fast' or 'Slow'. These both lead to the same game; the difference is that the 'slow' option does not have the countdown timer. You can also choose to review a set of content by clicking on the 'review' option. This screen simply displays the images and text while playing the audio. At the end of the game there is also a high scores screen which shows the best players for each set of content according to time period in which the game was completed.

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A game to practice simple English vocabulary. You listen to the words and then click on the matching pictures. You can use this to learn English online for free.

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ESL Flashcards - Download free printable flashcards!

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FREE printable flash cards!! 50+ vocabulary sets with colorful pictures for teaching English or any other language. Easy to download and print. No registration!

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- This site offers English Courses for kids from Preschool, Kindergarten to 6th Grade. You don't have to be a professional teacher to teach kids.

ESL Kids Lab This site is an extension of English 4 Kids

ESL Galaxy : Printable worksheets, board games, word search, matching exercises, crosswords, music worksheets, video worksheets and more free stuff for all levels.

English Media Lab: This free online classroom has a huge database of videos, esl quizzes, grammar exercises, activities for all levels, beginners, elementary, pre-intermediate, intermediate, advanced levels.

ESL Downloads: Download ESL lesson plan materials and interactive exercises for students

ESL Games World : ESL Fun Games for Teachers and Students

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ESL Flashcards, Printable PDF Worksheets & Picture Cards

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This site offers English Courses for kids from Preschool, Kindergarten to 6th Grade. You don't have to be a professional teacher to teach kids. ESL Kids Lab This site is an extension of English 4 Kids ESL Galaxy : Printable worksheets, board games, word search, matching exercises, crosswords, music worksheets, video worksheets and more free stuff for all levels.

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As a class, brainstorm what makes a day great, and then make another list for what makes a day bad. Have pairs of students ask each other questions and give answers about a day in the past. For example, one student might ask, "Did you spill your coffee yesterday?"

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ESL Kids lesson plans, flashcards, worksheets, songs, classroom readers, crafts & games

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ESL kids resources for English teachers. Printable lesson plans, flashcards, worksheets, classroom readers, songs, games, clip art images, crafts and more.

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ESL EFL Speaking Activity - Elementary - 30 minutes
Here is an amusing speaking game to help students practice past simple affirmative sentences as well as past simple regular and irregular verbs. In the activity, students play a board game where they make excuses for arriving to class late. The class is divided into groups of four and each group is given a copy of the game board and a set of excuse cards. When a student lands on a square marked 'Sorry I'm late', the student picks up an excuse card and changes the sentence in to its past simple form to make an excuse for being late, e.g. 'Sorry I'm late. I missed the bus'. If the sentence is formed correctly, the student stays on the square. If it is incorrect, the student must move back to their previous square. The first student to arrive at class wins the game. Play continues until most or all of the students have arrived at class.

How was your weekend?
ESL EFL Lesson - Elementary - 50 minutes
This engaging three-page lesson teaches students how to use the past simple tense to talk about what they did at the weekend. The lesson also introduces students to small talk techniques such as expressing interest and keeping a conversation going. Students begin by putting words into the correct order to form past simple questions about weekend activities. Students then match the correct reply to each question. After that, the students focus on how to express interest in a conversation. The students read brief dialogues and choose the most suitable answer that indicates interest in the conversation. Then, the students complete a dialogue that shows them how to keep a conversation going. Finally, the students break into pairs and create their own past simple conversation about what they did at the weekend. The conversations are then presented to the class.

Gone in 30 Seconds - Board Game
ESL EFL Speaking Activity - Elementary - 30 minutes
This entertaining board game helps students to utilize their knowledge of the past simple to talk about a variety of everyday topics. Students take it in turns to roll the dice and move their counter along the board. When a student lands on a square, they have to talk about the topic on the square in the past simple tense for 30 seconds without stopping. If a student can't think of anything to say, makes a grammar mistake, or stops talking before the 30 seconds are up, they have to move back to their previous square. The first student to reach the finish wins the game.
ESL EFL Reading and Writing Activity - Elementary - 30 minutes
In this fun worksheet activity, students create a story about a holiday romance by inventing answers to questions and writing them down. The grammar focus is on past simple affirmative sentences as well as past simple regular and irregular verbs. Students sit in a circle in groups of five or six. Each student is given a copy of the worksheet. The students answer the first question on their worksheet by inventing details and writing the answer down in the form of a past simple sentence. After that, the students fold the paper and pass it to the person on their right who answers the next question. This continues until all the questions have been completed. When everyone has finished writing, students take it in turns to read their stories to the group and the group chooses the best one. These are then read aloud to the class and the class votes for the best story.

In the Past
ESL EFL Speaking Activity - Elementary - 25 minutes
Here is a challenging game to help students practice past simple affirmative sentences and sentence formation. Each group of four is given a set of time expression cards and verb cards. The time expression cards are placed face down in a pile and the verb cards are dealt out equally between the players. Players take it in turns to turn over a time expression card from the pile and make a true past simple affirmative sentence using one of the verbs on their cards and the time expression. If the player constructs a believable past simple sentence, which is agreed on by the other students to be true, the player may discard the verb card. If the other students think the sentence can't be true, or if the sentence is grammatically incorrect, they challenge the player, and he or she has to keep the verb card. The aim of the game is to be the first player to get rid of all their verb cards. The game is quite easy at first because there is a choice of verbs, but it becomes more challenging to make a meaningful sentence as the game progresses.
ESL EFL Reading and Writing Activity - Elementary - 30 minutes
In this worksheet activity, students read a text about 'Mark the Jogger'. Students then complete past simple affirmative and negative sentences about the text. Each student is given a copy of the worksheet. The students read a text about Mark's typical working day. The students then pretend that yesterday was a typical day for Mark and complete past simple affirmative and negative sentences about what he did and didn't do. They do this by changing the verbs in the text into their past simple form and using them in the sentences. When the students have finished, the answers are checked with the class. Students then write a short paragraph about what they did yesterday in the past simple tense. Finally, students read their paragraphs to the class and feedback is given.

Present to Past Board Game
ESL EFL Speaking Activity - Elementary - 25 minutes
This enjoyable board game teaches students how to make past simple affirmative sentences with time expressions. Students also practice changing regular and irregular verbs into their past simple form. Students take it in turns to roll the dice and move their counter along the board. When a student lands on a square, they make a past simple affirmative sentence with the time expression and words in the square. If a student forms the sentence correctly, they stay on the square. If a student makes a grammar mistake, they must go back to their previous square. The first student to reach the finish wins the game.

Restart
ESL EFL Speaking Activity - Elementary - 25 minutes
This fun card game helps students to talk about various routine actions and activities in the past using past simple affirmative sentences. In the activity, students play a past simple card game where they talk about what they did yesterday using picture cards. The class is divided into groups of four. Each group is given a set of picture cards, which they shuffle and deal out evenly. One student goes first and lays down a picture card. The student then makes a past simple affirmative sentence about the action shown on the card, e.g. Yesterday, I went cycling. The next student must now lay down either another 'I went...' card (e.g. Yesterday, I went shopping.) or a 'Restart' card which enables the student to change the verb into something else, e.g. Yesterday, I did my homework. This process continues until one of the students has laid down all their cards. That student wins the game. Students can play several rounds to practice talking about all the actions in the past simple.

True Lies
ESL EFL Speaking Activity - Elementary - 30 minutes
Here is an amusing guessing game that helps students practice past simple affirmative and negative statements, past simple questions, and regular and irregular verb forms. In the activity, students take it in turns to make true or false statements about things they did or didn't do in the past. Other students must then decide whether the student is telling the truth or not by asking past simple questions. The class is divided into groups of four and each group is given a set of time expression cards and verb cards. Students take it in turns to pick up a time expression card and a verb card. The student then makes an affirmative or negative past simple statement using the words on the cards. The other students in the group ask past simple questions to help them decide whether the student is telling the truth or not. After asking a few questions, the other students say if they think the student is telling the truth or lying. The student then reveals the answer. Students who guessed correctly win a point. Then, the next student picks up two cards and so on. This continues until all the cards have been used. The student with the highest number of points at the end of the game wins.

Who did the same?
ESL EFL Writing, Listening and Speaking Activity - Elementary - 35 minutes
In this rewarding worksheet activity, students complete past simple affirmative sentences with true information about what they did in the past. The students then try to find someone who did the same as them. Each student is given a copy of the worksheet. The students begin by completing the past simple affirmative sentences on their worksheet with true information about what they did in the past. Students also write one more true past simple sentence at the end. When the students have finished writing, they stand up and move around the class and try to find someone who did the same as them, e.g. 'A: I woke up at 7 o'clock this morning. What about you?' 'B: I woke up at 7 o'clock too.' If both students' answers are the same, the two students write each other's name in the 'Name' column next to the sentence. However, if their answers are different, neither student writes anything. When everyone has finished, students tell the class what they found out.
ESL EFL Speaking Activity - Pre-intermediate - 30 minutes
In this speaking game, teams work together to make a story using past simple affirmative and negative sentences. The class is divided into four teams. The teacher takes three word cards and writes them on the board. One student from the first team starts the story. The student can say anything, but he/she must use the past simple tense and keep talking until he/she uses one or more of the words on the board. For every word the student uses from the board, his/her team scores one point, so in any one turn a team can gain between one and three points. When the student has completed their turn, the used words are rubbed out and replaced. A member from the next team then plays and continues the story. The team with the highest score at the end of the game wins. If you think your students will be too shy to play this game in front of the class, they can play the game in small groups.

My Memories
ESL EFL Speaking Activity - Pre-intermediate - 30 minutes
In this insightful speaking activity, students use past simple affirmative and negative sentences to talk about various things they remember. This activity works best with older students or adults and is good for developing fluency. Students work in groups of three or four. Each group is given a set of topic cards. Students take it in turns to pick up a card from the top of the pile. The student who picks up the card then talks about the topic on the card for one or two minutes using past simple affirmative and negative sentences. The rest of the group asks the student questions to get him or her to speak more. Then, the next student takes a card and so on.

One Day...
ESL EFL Speaking Activity - Pre-intermediate - 30 minutes
This creative speaking activity gives students practice at using past simple affirmative and negative sentences to tell stories. This activity is similar to a chain game. Each group of four or five is given a set of introductory phrase cards. The students shuffle the cards and place them face down in a pile on the desk. One student begins by picking up a card from the pile. The student reads the introductory phrase on the card and completes it with their own idea to start off the story. Then, in turn, each member of the group continues adding to the story by saying a sentence in the past simple tense. The story is about the first student's introductory sentence so all of the following sentences must be based on his or her plot. When the story hits a dead end, the next student starts over with a new introductory phrase card and so on. This continues until all the cards have been used.

Sentence Building Race
ESL EFL Reading, Matching and Writing Activity - Pre-intermediate - 20 minutes
In this sentence-building activity, students race to make past simple affirmative and negative complex sentences. The students are split into pairs and given a set of cards. Each card contains a clause. Students race to make ten past simple complex sentences by joining three cards together. Students join the second clause to the first clause using the conjunction 'and'. Students add the third clause using 'but'. The third clause is negative. Students must write 'and' and 'but' in the spaces provided and lay the cards out on the table in the correct order. The first pair of students to complete all the sentences correctly wins.

MythBusters
ESL EFL Reading, Writing and Speaking Activity - Intermediate - 45 minutes
Here is an engaging past simple worksheet activity for intermediate students. In the activity, students complete statements with past simple regular and irregular verbs. The students then guess which statements are historical facts and which are myths. The class is divided into three groups (A, B, and C) and each student is given a corresponding worksheet. The students work together with the people in their group and complete ten statements by writing the regular and irregular verbs from the box on their worksheet into the sentences in their past simple form. When they have finished, each group's answers are checked. The class is then rearranged into teams of three, comprising of a Student A, B and C. The teams are told that each student's worksheet contains six historical facts and four myths. Their task is to read the statements together, discuss them, and decide which are historical facts and which are myths. When everyone has finished, teams give their answer for each statement in turn, justifying their response when possible. Teams score one point for each correct guess. The team with the highest score at the end of the game wins.

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Past Simple Affirmative and Negative - ESL EFL Activities, Games and WorksheetsExcuses Excuses Board GameESL EFL Speaking Activity - Elementary - 30 minutesHere is an amusing speaking game to help students practice past simple affirmative sentences as well as past simple regular and irregular verbs.