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Getting
a perspective
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Some
students would like to sound like native speakers & I'm sure we all know some learners like this. And it would
be lovely if all of our students could sound like native
speaker but unfortunately for the majority this is hardly
a reasonable expectation. So a degree of awareness on
what level is required of individual levels can help to
put this area into perspective. At the beginning of a
course, or when beginning on a pronunciation strand, a
discussion about this can be useful.
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following questions are designed to help you to think
about the level of intelligibility you could aim for
with your pronunciation. |
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1.
Does it bother you if your pronunciation isn't very
good? Would you prefer it to be better?
2.
Would you like to retain your accent when speaking
English?
3.
Who will you be using English with in the future
- native speakers of English or non-native speakers
of English? Which might be the more tolerant conversation
partner?
4.
What kind of target situations might you be using
your English in? E.g. on the phone, face-to-face
business meetings, social eating & drinking?What
different levels of pronunciation proficiency might
be required in these different situations?
5.
To what level do you want to get to with your pronunciation?
6.
How could you develop your pronunciation outside
of class?
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Exposure
to English is obviously very important for pronunciation
development &, very probably, your students will be
dealing with non-native speakers of English in English
so it would seem sensible to use different non-native
models in listenings in class. That's not to say we should
discard the native model as it does give a catch-all level
to aim for. A combination of the two would seem sensible.
Back
to the contents
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Burns
Night
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In
the eighteenth century, the French philosopher Voltaire
said 'We look to Scotland for all our ideas of civilisation.'
Round about now, those that still agree with him, &
others, across the globe will be celebrating Scotland's
most famous poet, Robert Burns, with Burns Night, a meal
that includes eating traditional Scottish food - the haggis,
drinking whisky & reading aloud some of Burns' poetry. Among
Burns' more famous poems are Tam O'Shanter, A Man's a man
for a' that, O' My Luve is like a red, red rose, Holy Willie's
Prayer, To a Mouse & Address to a Haggis. He also wrote
Auld Lang Syne.So
this is the perfect excuse to look at Scotland as a theme,
focus on Burns & look at some poetry at the same time.
This would ideally span a couple of lessons at least;
the first part being an introduction to Scotland - the geography,
history & culture & the second about Burns & a poem. There
are some links to sites about Scotland & Burns at the
end of the Tip where you can find plenty of material. If
you do use material from a web site, don't forget to give
full credit by writing on the address of where it originally
came from. We
are going to focus on one of Burns' poems, 'John Barleycorn,
a drinking ballad. Below is the original poem together with
the modern english translation. A lot
of people, students included, tend to be confused when presented
with a poem, with barriers immediately going up as they
feel they won't understand it. This poem does contain quite
a bit of unknown vocabulary so a friendly approach is needed,
explaining that the aim is not to understand everything
but to get the general idea. It could be used at upper intermediate
level but more comfortably with advanced students. Here
are a few ideas for this poem that could be used with poetry
in general..
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after introducing Burns & looking at one of Scotland's
greatest exports, whisky, introduce 'barleycorn' &
elicit the process in the growing & harvesting.
(This poem would obviously fit nicely into the theme
of drink & alcohol, without going into Scotland...)
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then tell the students the story that is in the poem
- preview it - before giving them the poem to read.
- the
poem could be slightly mixed up & the task being to
re-order it. You could give the beginning, middle & end two verses for each part with the task to insert the
remaining nine verses, or however many you think they could
cope with.
- or
ask the students to read the poem fairly quickly, not bothering
with any vocab they don't know. They should be able to get
the idea from the key words. Then on to a comprehension
task - if needed?
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the students could now put the poem into prose form
- they write out the story in paragraph format.
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there are some excellent Graham
Higgins illustrations to the poem.
He
has used an abbreviated & more modern verion
of the poem. Before they read you could give out
the pictures, go through the vocabulary above each
picture, & ask the students to put the pictures
in a chronological order. After reading, the students
could return to the pictures, see if their order
matched & then get them to find where the pictures
fit into the poem.
The illustrations are taken, with permission, from:
http://www.pokkettz.demon.co.uk/barleycorn/about.html
Click on the links in the poem for each illustration.
You might want to use the version of the poem on
that page instead of the one below.
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the
poem humanises 'barley' - the students could go on
to choose something else to write about in a similar
vein - or you could give the objects.
at
the end it would be interesting for the students to
see the original poem & compare it with the modern
translation.
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John
Barleycorn
A Ballad
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Burns Original
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Standard English Translation
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There
was three kings into the east,
Three kings both great and high,
And they hae sworn a solemn oath
John Barleycorn should die. |
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There
was three kings into the east,
Three kings both great and high,
And they have sworn a solemn oath
John Barleycorn should die. |
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They
took a plough and plough'd him down,
Put clods upon his head,
And they hae sworn a solemn oath
John Barleycorn was dead. |
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They
took a plough and ploughed him down,
Put clods upon his head,
And they have sworn a solemn oath
John Barleycorn was dead. |
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But
the cheerful Spring came kindly on,
And show'rs began to fall;
John barleycorn got up again,
And sore surpris'd them all. |
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But
the cheerful Spring came kindly on,
And showers began to fall;
John barleycorn got up again,
And sore surprised them all. |
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The
sultry suns of Summer came,
And he grew thick and strong:
His head weel arm'd wi' pointed spears,
That no one should him wrong.
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The
sultry suns of Summer came,
And he grew thick and strong:
His head well armed with pointed spears,
That no one should him wrong. |
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The
sober Autumn enter'd mild,
When he grew wan and pale;
His bending joints and drooping head
Show'd he began to fail. |
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The
sober Autumn entered mild,
When he grew wan and pale;
His bending joints and drooping head
Showed he began to fail. |
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His
colour sicken'd more and more,
He faded into age;
And then his enemies began
To show their deadly rage.
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His
colour sickened more and more,
He faded into age;
And then his enemies began
To show their deadly rage. |
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They've
taen a weapon long and sharp,
And cut him by the knee;
Then ty'd him fast upon a cart,
Like a rogue for forgerie. |
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They
have taken a weapon long and sharp,
And cut him by the knee;
Then tied him fast upon a cart,
Like a rogue for forgery. |
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They
laid him down upon his back,
And cudgell'd him full sore.
They hung him up before the storm,
And turn'd him o'er and o'er.
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They
laid him down upon his back,
And cudgeled him full sore.
They hung him up before the storm,
And turned him over and over. |
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They
filled up a darksome pit
With water to the brim,
They heaved in John Barleycorn --
There, let him sink of swim!
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They
filled up a darksome pit
With water to the brim,
They heaved in John Barleycorn -
There, let him sink of swim! |
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They
laid him out upon the floor,
To work him further woe;
And still, as signs of life appear'd,
They toss'd him to and fro.
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They
laid him out upon the floor,
To work him further woe;
And still, as signs of life appeared,
They toss'd him to and fro. |
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They
wasted o'er a scorching flame
The marrow of his bones;
But a miller us'd him worst of all,
For he crush'd him between two stones.
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They
wasted over a scorching flame
The marrow of his bones;
But a miller used him worst of all,
For he crushed him between two stones. |
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And
they hae taen his very heart's blood,
And drank it round and round;
And still the more and more they drank,
Their joy did more abound.
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And
they have taken his very heart's blood,
And drank it round and round;
And still the more and more they drank,
Their joy did more abound. |
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John
Barleycorn was a hero bold,
Of noble enterprise;
For if you do but taste his blood,
'Twill make your courage rise.
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John
Barleycorn was a hero bold,
Of noble enterprise;
For if you do but taste his blood,
It will make your courage rise. |
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'Twill
make a man forget his woes;
'Twill heighten all his joy:
'Twill make the widow's heart to sing,
Tho' the tear were in her eye. |
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It
will make a man forget his woes;
It will heighten all his joy:
It will make the widow's heart to sing,
Though the tear were in her eye. |
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Then
let us toast John Barleycorn,
Each man a glass in hand;
And may his great posterity
Ne'er fail in old Scotland! |
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Then
let us toast John Barleycorn,
Each man a glass in hand;
And may his great posterity
Ne'er fail in old Scotland! |
A
few links to Burns & Scotland among many:
'The
Bard - the complete guide'
The
Official Burns site
The
Beginners Guide to Robert Burns from the World Burns
Club
Back
to the contents
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Listening
in
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If
you've been teaching for a few years, has your approach
to the writing skill changed? When I first started, writing
was usually just given as a homework task to consolidate
what was done in the classroom & not really dealt with
as a skill. With the advent of ideas on the processes of
writing, the skill came to be taken more seriously & sub-skills were looked at. Product writing become combined
with process writing. As an extension of process writing
here is an idea, source unknown I'm afraid, that really
lets you into the students thoughts on their writing.
It
is sometimes called 'protocol analysis' & lets you listen
into the processes that the student goes through.
1.
Choose a writing task & ask your students to carry it
out as you usually might.
2.
In the meantime, you also do the task but as you do it,
tape your thoughts as you go along - ideas about the content & the structure of the writing. As you rewrite, keep
doing the same.
3.
When the students have done their writing task, play them
the tape of your thoughts & see if they had any similarities.
Show them your drafts & listen to your ideas. Ask them
to reflect on the processes they went through & how
the final draft could be improved in the light of your tape.
4.
The next time you assign a writing task ask the students
to do the same - tape themselves as they do the task in
each of its stages.
5.
When you come to assess the writing task, listen to the
tape as well, taking the processes into account. Maybe start
by ignoring the product & only listen to the tape & help them out where you think they became stuck or give
ideas on stages that might have been missed out. You could
give each student taped feedback too.
This
use of taped thought processes can really help with the
writing skill. It does require more of your time & might
be more appropriate for the smaller group & one-to-one
class. Give it a try & see how it works.
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to the contents
To
the Past Teaching Tips
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