The resources were varied and some of them had very practical, ready-to-use class techniques (especially the videos). In a way I also became more critical of teaching materials throughout this course. For instance, now I integrate more activities that are not from the course book, and I am trying to use the tips learnt to deliver paperless lessons more often.

The real challenge for me will be keeping up this awareness and not sliding back into old habits. 

Fran

I try to include a little pronunciation in every lesson since beginning this course. I enjoy teaching it and my students have so far reacted brilliantly to each aspect I’ve taught them. As well as being incredibly useful for students’ speaking and listening skills, pronunciation is actually fun in comparison to things like grammar or lexis. It forces people to participate and once the whole class is on board, the atmosphere is fantastic. Humour in the classroom is important for me. And luckily, modelling different aspects of pronunciation means lots of opportunities for teachers to make idiots out of themselves.

 Before this course I was shy about pronunciation because I had such little knowledge about it – phonemes terrified me, but now they’re littered all over my board. I feel like a better teacher having done this course. Thanks for your wisdom and patience Billy!

Another goal would have been to gain confidence at different areas of teaching pronunciation such as intonation and while I do know more about this and its importance, I still feel I need to do more practice in class and this is something I’ll continue to work on.

In terms of teaching, I’ve really learned that you need to teach small chunks often. Pretty much anything I write on the board these days is drilled, which is something I would have done a bit less with lower levels before. Now I also give my pronunciations lesson more structure as in I have a lead-in, drilling and controlled and freer practice whereas before I might have just done drilling.

I can see that my students have gained a lot also as a result of Oisin and myself doing a course. They are more aware of it and become very interested. One thing I’m particularly happy with in my intermediate class is that they practice outside of class. In the elementary class, they are getting a great start by learning how we speak from the get-go, which I think is so important.

Moving forward, I’m going to continue teaching it as much as possible and work especially hard at intonation as I feel it’s my area of weakness. 

I now dedicate at least 20-30 minutes of my Monday lesson to pronunciation, and 30-40 minutes a week with plus classes; the resources are great and now I feel “brave” enough to use them. But most importantly I can tell that most students really enjoy the activities, and that they understand the importance of recognising and producing sounds, changing their intonation and sentence stress. 

I’d like to keep working on intonation in the future, as it’s the area in which I feel less confident, but I think that now I have a much more solid foundation to build on. 

Before doing this I was a true beginner sitting solidly at foundation level. My knowledge of phonemics was very limited, I was unaware of common problems certain language groups had, I struggled with connected speech and had to really think about stressed syllables in words. Because of this pronunciation practice in my classes was extremely limited. It was really just dealt with if we encountered it in the coursebook.

However, I have since moved up a level and I feel more confident with integrating pronunciation into my classes regularly now. That’s not to say I still don’t have a lot of work to do but compared to when I started I think I’ve gained a great deal of knowledge and that has had a positive impact on my teaching. My boardwork has improved (stress-marking, Phonemes), drilling has become more dynamic and fun for students and I feel my teaching of target language has become more complete. I feel comfortable with doing a 30 minute lesson on a particular feature of pronunciation too. 

 I will continue to work on all aspects of pronunciation teaching and try out different ideas and resources that have been suggested throughout this course.

Thanks a million for all your patience and support Billy!

 

Learning the mechanics of how sounds are produced has been invaluable. It has meant that not only do I understand it better, but also that I can effectively explain to students how they can physically reproduce sounds.

 

Before doing the course, using supplementary pronunciation material is something that I would seldom do and found it all a bit overwhelming. Now I feel totally comfortable and confident in using various materials and in successfully delivering a pronunciation class, which has obviously improved my teaching a lot.

 

Overall, I feel that the biggest benefit for me has been this growth in my own confidence in teaching pronunciation. It is not something that intimidates me now and has become an integral part of all of my classes. Most importantly, the students are benefitting from it. I have noticed a big improvement in their receptive skills and in their general awareness of pronunciation.

 

I thoroughly enjoyed the workshops as well. They were so well done and have made a big difference to my teaching. I started out at a foundation level but I feel like I am at a good developing level and I am working towards proficiency. Thank you so much for all of your encouragement and hard work, Billy.