The Pronunciation PDG Group My Experience by Billy Rogers https://padlet.com/billy19/3gdumlpi7am8 Post your comments here en-us 2018-03-06 15:37:04 UTC 2018-06-04 22:05:09 UTC hello@padlet.com Post course Self-Assessment bryandennisoleary https://padlet.com/billy19/3gdumlpi7am8/wish/260219125 I feel I have benefited enormously from this pronunciation course. My pronunciation teaching was generally centred around the production of phonetic sounds generally done in minimal pairs of the win/wine variety. The areas where I have really improved in are stress, intonation and connected speech. To be honest I avoided 
these skill areas because I didn't have the terminology and exposure to teaching methodology that I felt I needed. When I compare my teaching competencies 'can do' list pre-course with post-course, i feel I have really developed. The developing and proficient categories where I was not confident have risen to a level of relative confidence now. Through my observed lesson I have become more aware of pronunciation materials we have in our library, namely Hancock's 'Pron Packs, which I plan to make more use of in the future. The pronunciation skills I have developed have caused my view on student needs to shift from phoneme production to intelligibility. When you relate to students how these skills are intended to make them understood in the 'real' world, they see the value and are very engaged and motivated. This is my new 'selling point' and I feel it can become one for the school also, particularly with the Asian market. Finally, hats off to Billy for producing an engaging, informative and
 well-structured course.
Bryan





]]> 2018-05-13 12:28:01 UTC https://padlet.com/billy19/3gdumlpi7am8/wish/260219125 Post-course Task https://padlet.com/billy19/3gdumlpi7am8/wish/264517084 I feel that I've gained a lot from this pronunciation course. Before this course my teaching of pronunciation was generally limited to common connected speech features (have to = hafta, for example), but now I try to integrate pronunciation into the majority of my lessons. I include features like connected speech, sentence stress, word stress, and intonation in the majority of my lessons, and I've resultantly noticed a big difference in the quality of students' production in the later and freer practice stages of class. 

I've also realised that pronunciation helps build rapport in class. Repetition drills seem to create a sense of common purpose in class - so I often do pronunciation towards the beginning of a lesson, and this seems to keep spirits high until the end of class.

I'd also like to add that Billy's delivery of PDG workshops was great, and the information on course tasks was conveyed clearly. Billy was also really approachable for teachers who had questions about course tasks, pronunciation materials and so on. As my teaching partner for the course, Ali also added a lot to my learning experience on the course. The peer-observation lesson gave me a lot of insight into another way of teaching, and I've actually incorporated some elements of her teaching-style into my own lessons. 5 stars for both of them.

In terms of some ways that the course, or future courses, could be improved, I have a few thoughts. One of the big things was how the course workshops were all delivered in a very short period of time. This meant we were learning about the next topic before most people had even started on the course tasks related to the first workshop. This wasn't a big problem, but I think it led to less interaction between teachers on the padlet, as teachers ended up completing course tasks at different times. An informal deadline might encourage people to complete tasks at the same time, and therefore to interact more on the padlet, but I know this won't work for everyone because of schedules and so on.

Anyway, those are my main thoughts on the course. I feel that I've benefited greatly (my students too, of course) from focusing more on pronunciation, and I'm sure it'll remain a key part of my teaching-approach in the future.

Tom]]> 2018-05-30 13:11:37 UTC https://padlet.com/billy19/3gdumlpi7am8/wish/264517084 Post-course Task daphne_conway1990 https://padlet.com/billy19/3gdumlpi7am8/wish/264902258 I feel that I have learnt a lot from this pronunciation course. Before the course, even though I thought I dealt with pronunciation in class, I limited myself (and of course my students) to pronunciation of specific sounds (especially /θ/ /δ/ ) and intonation in question forms. I didn’t have the confidence to take my teaching that step further and deal with the more “difficult” aspects of pronunciation. Through these workshops, I have started to incorporate aspects of connected speech, sentence stress and word stress and I also know where to search for appropriate/ helpful material depending on the focus of the lesson. Through these new practices I believe that class atmosphere has also changed. Students realize that they all face difficulties when it comes to producing sounds accurately and seem to enjoy sharing this experience as well as helping each other out through peer correction and no longer shy away from asking for assistance when they are unsure of pronunciation. 
 
Moreover, Billy’s assistance throughout the course and his creative ideas really encouraged and supported the learning process, as did the communication and exchange of ideas/ discussions with my teaching partner. One of my favorite tasks was the peer observations. As teachers we rarely get the chance to observe other lessons and it gave me many new ideas as well as an insight on a different way of teaching. All in all, I really enjoyed the course  :)

Daphne
]]> 2018-05-31 22:45:35 UTC https://padlet.com/billy19/3gdumlpi7am8/wish/264902258 Now, I REALLY understand shaneen_gorman https://padlet.com/billy19/3gdumlpi7am8/wish/265236279 Well, actually , I don't. Buuut, I'm in a much better position to understand my students' needs, and perhaps more importantly, what they don't need. 
I guess I find the jargon frustrating but I blame myself for that - for too long I abandoned pronunciation and ignorantly believed that my students would simply absorb my lovely south mid-west brogue. However, the onus is on the teacher to understand the terminology, not the student. It's my responsibility to guide the student towards a natural and intelligible form of communication. 
It's also my responsibility to encourage the student confronting problematic sounds and to offer not just one solution, but a tailored list, specifically appropriate to their level and needs.
This course certainly highlighted the myriad of ways that pronunciation in generally can be considered, understood, planned, practised and mastered. 
Although,  not initially enamoured by the prospect of doing this in an online forum type thing, I now realise that it is, in fact, the only way to do it. 
The greatest assets to a project like this are the participants. It's been truly refreshing to see everyone taking ideas and tips from the tasks and making them more dynamic and personal and natural. Jargon be gone!

I do think that, had we been given these tasks over a great time frame and afforded more time to digest and really come to terms with the concepts, we would have had more time to activate the knowledge. That said, I realise that this is simply a planting ceremony - the real fruits will take time to come to bear.

Finally, a mention for the constant gardner - Billy. 
The entire project was an impossible and yet careful consideration of an uncountable number of details.... and yet you still of roses.
Thanks for everything.
Enjoy your garden.

Fergal]]> 2018-06-03 19:10:11 UTC https://padlet.com/billy19/3gdumlpi7am8/wish/265236279 Still learning :) https://padlet.com/billy19/3gdumlpi7am8/wish/265499064 I loved the workshops and while I was definitely behind the pack in the first class in terms of the terminology, the subsequent workshops were really enlightening and fun! Which was fantastic because I had always dreaded pronunciation activities in the set textbook or found the pronunciation books just went over my head. 

Looking back to my 'pre-course expectations', my hope was that I'd gain confidence in teaching pronunciation and leave behind that awful feeling that I was bluffing my way through. I'm glad to say I no longer feel like I'm bluffing, I feel I have actually got solid skills and resources to build on those skills more and more. I had also wanted to "relish teaching pronunciation and be secure in the knowledge I know exactly what I’m talking about" – while I have made inroads, I'm still learning, but I do really enjoy teaching pronunciation now.  I now make sure if I'm going into class I'm actively looking for an aspect of pronunciation I can incorporate into the lesson, rather than actively avoiding it as I used to! 

I've brought my students on this journey with me, it'll be interesting to get their feedback in the questionnaires to see if/how they feel the pronunciation has impacted them.

The peer observation was great too, I really got to see how students value well-thought out pronunciation lessons and how much they engage. It was great to see how my partner teacher's methods of teaching pronunciation differ from mine and I learnt a lot from the experience.

As Tom and Fergal have said, in terms of time I do feel that if the workshops have been spaced put even further then we all might have digested the wealth of material at a better pace. For me personally, it's been a bit of a rush to get things done and I'd have liked to have had time to ruminate on things a bit more. Then again, I have had other time pressures which haven't helped.

On a final note, I've loved the chance to get my teeth deeper into some pronunciation that had previously terrified me. Thanks for the opportunity Billy! 

Ali

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