ESL Teaching Tips

In an effort to make my blog more user-friendly and accessible, I've decided to dedicate a post to a "Table of Contents" of sorts displaying some of my most popular posts, specifically my ESL Teaching Tips posts. Subsequent posts sharing ESL Teaching Tips will be added to this post, so come back and visit often!

ESL Pronunciation Tips

The Three Sounds of the Suffix -ED

Pronouncing Plurals

Recognizing and Pronouncing Voiced and Voiceless Sounds

Rising and Falling Intonation in WH- and Yes/No Questions

Syllable Stress and the Schwa

Word Stress Predictability

Minimal Pairs (Part 1)

Minimal Pairs (Part 2)

Minimal Pairs (Part 3)

Free Online Pronunciation Tool

Teaching Students How to Self-Monitor to Improve Pronunciation

Potential Pronunciation Problems (Part 1)

Potential Pronunciation Problems (Part 2)

ESL Spelling Tips

Adding Suffixes

One-Syllable Words that End in S, F, and Z

Tricky Words: Usage and Spelling Help

English Sounds and Corresponding Spellings

Ten Consistent Spelling Patterns in English

ESL Grammar Tips

Common Suffixes

Common Prefixes

Proper Use of Commas

Nouns

Direct and Indirect Quotations

Parts of Speech

ESL Reading and Decoding Tips

Soft Sounds of C and G 

Is the Vowel Long or Short?

Syllable Division in Multi-Syllable Words

Ideas for Teaching Sight Words

Free Literacy Games and Manipulatives

Free Phonemic Awareness Activities

What Are Graphic Organizers?

Sight Words Vocabulary List
Engaging Activities to Teach Sight Words

What Makes a Good Reader?

Dictionary Skills

ESL Listening Tips

Listening Strategies

Listening and Speaking Activities
Listening Strategy Training Activity

ESL Teaching Strategies

23 Teaching Strategies for ESOL Students

ESL Pronunciation Tip: Syllable Stress and the Schwa

The following is an activity that can be used to teach students about syllable stress and the schwa. (More comprehensive information on word stress predictability can be accessed from a previous blog post here.)

Why:
• Stress is the volume and pitch a speaker gives to a sound, syllable, or word while speaking.
• Every multi-syllabic word (a word with more than one syllable) has one syllable that is emphasized more than the others.

• All English vowels in unstressed syllables can take the schwa sound. The schwa has the sound of short u (example: pencil) or short i (example: leverage). We show that a vowel has a schwa sound with an upside down e.

• Learning syllable stress will help you improve your pronunciation.

How:
• Following is a list of general rules for syllable stress. Even though there are many exceptions in English, it is helpful to use these general rules as guidelines when you come across a word you don’t know. Try to predict what the syllable stress will be for the new words you learn. If you need to, you can use a dictionary to check the syllable stress.
• There are no rules to help you decide if a vowel says the schwa sound. One helpful thing to remember is that the schwa sound is usually in an unstressed syllable (examples: open; human; pencil). Also, usually the vowel a at the beginning or end of a word says the schwa sound (examples: sofa; agenda; America; away).

ESL Pronunciation Tip: Rising and Falling Intonation in WH- and Yes/No Questions

A question mark is placed at the end of a sentence that asks a question. Questions end in both rising and falling intonation. If the sentence ends in falling intonation, the voice tone goes down at the end of the sentence, much like musical notes on a piano. If a sentence ends in rising intonation, the voice tone goes up at the end of the sentence.
 

Falling Intonation 

Questions that begin with who, what, when, where, why, which, and how (often referred to as “wh-questions”) usually end in falling intonation.

Examples: 

What time is it?
Who is she?
When is he coming?
 

Also, commands and statements end in falling intonation. Commands and statements end in a period.
Examples: 

Commands
Shut the door. 

Write your name.

Statements

The color is blue.
It is raining.

ESL Pronunciation Tip: Recognizing and Pronouncing Voiced and Voiceless Sounds

The last two teaching tips I posted referred to recognizing voiced and voiceless sounds to predict ending sounds (plurals and the suffix -ed). If your student needs help learning to recognize voiced and voiceless sounds, you may find the following lesson helpful.

Recognize Voiced and Voiceless Sounds

Why:
• Knowing if a sound is voiced or voiceless will help you pronounce certain sounds better, such as plurals, possessive s, and -ed endings.

How:
• Put your fingers on your throat. Say these vowel sounds: /a/, /e/, /i/, /o/, /u/. Do you feel your throat vibrate when you say these sounds? That is voicing. All vowels are voiced.
• Put your fingers on your throat. Say these consonant sounds: /p/, /f/, /t/, /s/. You do not feel your throat vibrate when you say these sounds. These consonants are voiceless.
• Put your fingers on your throat. Say these consonant sounds: /b/, /v/, /d/, /z/. You feel your throat vibrate when you say these sounds. These consonants are voiced.
• Put your fingers on your throat. Say these consonant sounds: /p/, /b/, /f/, /v/, /t/, /d/, /s/, /z/. Compare the voiceless sounds and voiced sounds.

Apply:
• Below is the alphabet. Say each sound. Which sounds are voiceless? Which sounds are voiced? Write the sounds that are voiceless in the left column. Write the sounds that are voiced in the right column.

          a     b     c     d      e     f     g      h     i     j     k     l     m
          n     o     p     q     r      s     t    u      v      w      x     y      z

                                  Voiceless                                            Voiced 



 

Evaluate:
• Can you hear the difference between voiced and voiceless sounds? Which ones are difficult for you to distinguish between?


For additional ESL teaching tips:

Click here to read about the pronunciation of -ed.

Click here to read about pronouncing plurals.

Click here to read about rising and falling intonation in questions.

Click here to read about syllable stress and the schwa.
Click here to read about adding the suffixes -ing, -ed, -er, and -est.
Click here to read about teaching common suffixes. 
Click here to read about teaching common prefixes. 
Click here to read about decoding multi-syllabic words. 
Click here to read about spelling words that end in S, F, and Z.
Click here to read about other sounds for c and g.

ESL Pronunciation Tip: Pronouncing Plurals

Similar to my last post on the pronunciation of the suffix -ed, the following is another pronunciation rule that ESL students appreciate. This rule teaches how to properly pronounce plurals. Pronouncing plural endings correctly is important for non-native English speakers to develop comprehensible, natural sounding speech.

What is a Plural?

One object (e.g., one hat, one pen) is referred to as singular because it is one single object. If we want to refer to more than one (e.g., three hats, five pens), an s is added to the word (hats, pens), and we call it plural.

  

Pronouncing Plural Endings

The sound of a plural s changes from /s/ to /z/ depending on whether it follows a voiced or voiceless consonant.

Plural S says /s/:

All the final consonants in the singular form of the following words are voiceless; therefore, the sound for s is /s/. 

           Examples: rats, cuffs, cups, kits

When s is added to words ending in the voiceless consonant sounds f, k, p, t, and ck, the plural s will have the sound of voiceless /s/. 

          Examples: cuffs, parks, pups, cats, stacks, etc.

Plural S says /z/:

The final consonant in the singular form of the following words are voiced; therefore, the sound of the plural s is /z/.
           Examples: flags, jobs, fans, pads

When an s is added to words ending in the voiced consonant sounds b, d, g, l, m, n, r, and v, the plural s will have the sound of voiced /z/. 

          Examples: cubs, hands, dogs, calls, clams, bins, cars, gloves

ESL Pronunciation Tip: The Three Sounds of the Suffix -ED

I decided it was time to post a series of ESL teaching tips. My next several blog posts will contain teaching tips for reading, spelling, and pronunciation. The following tip is a pronunciation tip for the three sounds of the suffix -ed. This rule may be familiar to the experienced ESL teacher, but it's an interesting rule nonetheless that never fails to turn on a light bulb in the heads of ESL students.

The suffix -ed has three sounds: /t/, /d/, /id/. The sound of the consonant that immediately precedes -ed determines the correct pronunciation of the suffix -ed.

-ed = /t/

• Following the voiceless sounds f, k, p, s, x, ch, th, and sh, the suffix -ed has the sound of voiceless t, /t/. 
     (Examples: huffed, kicked, mapped, dressed, mixed, matched, birthed, wished)

-ed = /d/

• Following the voiced sounds b, g, l, m, n, r, v, z, and th, the suffix -ed has the sound of voiced d, /d/.

(Examples: sobbed, hugged, pulled, filmed, fanned, starred, loved, buzzed, bathed)

-ed = /id/ 

• The suffix -ed cannot use the sound of t and d when it follows a word ending in t or d, so when it does, the sound of -ed is /id/.

(Examples: tested, landed, trusted, tended, lifted, handed)

(Click here to see also my post on the pronunciation of plurals.)

(For more information about how to teach students to recognize voiced and voiceless sounds, click here.) 

For additional ESL teaching tips:
Click here to read about rising and falling intonation in questions.
Click here to read about syllable stress and the schwa.
Click here to read about adding the suffixes -ing, -ed, -er, and -est.
Click here to read about teaching common suffixes. 
Click here to read about teaching common prefixes. 
Click here to read about decoding multi-syllabic words. 
Click here to read about spelling words that end in s, f, and z.
Click here to read about other sounds for c and g.

Free Online Resource for Developing Oral Proficiency in Adult English Language Learners

I was just introduced to a free online professional development resource for developing oral language proficiency in adults learning English. It's a self-paced module entitled, "Developing Oral Proficiency of Adults Learning English" published by the Center for Applied Linguistics. It can be accessed at http://www.cal.org/adultspeak/ or by clicking here. The module provides step-by-step information via informational texts, self-assessments, videos, instructional activities, and other resources.

Because research supports the role of oral language development as a precursor to reading and developing literacy, I see this resource as a great tool for not only teachers who teach listening/speaking classes, but also those who provide reading and literacy instruction. (See my blog post entitled, "The Connection Between Oral Language and Literacy".)

The Connection Between Oral Language and Literacy

I came across an article that talks about the connection (and interdependence) between oral language skills and literacy. An excerpt from the article explains this connection in a nutshell: "Strong oral language skills pave the way for the development of literacy in a second language...and literacy skills enhance oral language development." (The article can be accessed in full here.)

Something that stood out to me in the article was a section that discusses the importance of both top-down and bottom-up processes in reading. Relevant and interesting contexts are used to generate meaning (top-down processes), while also explicitly teaching sound patterns, syllables, and word families (bottom-up). A few of my previous posts discuss this concept, including the posts entitled "Teaching Reading to Beginning Level English Language Learners," "How do we 'Keep Language in the Teaching of Second Language Reading'?", "ESOL Instruction from the Bottom-Up," and "Why Phonics for ELLs/ESOL Students?"

An additional resource on the topic of oral language and literacy is a discussion on the LINCS adult education English language acquisition list. A summary of the discussion can be found here. (See also my blog post entitled, "Free Online Resource for Developing Oral Proficiency in Adult English Language Learners".)

ESL Lessons - Listening and Speaking Activities - Classwork and Homework

I was going through some old files and came across a handout I prepared for an ESL training I conducted in Hualien, Taiwan on Listening and Speaking activities. On the handout, I included different ESL lessons, activities and exercises that can be used both in class and for homework. I've included the table below:

Listening and Speaking Skills and Activities

Skill	Activity Types
	Classwork	Homework
Listening	Listen for: the main idea details vocabulary in cloze activity Classmates’ presentations: take notes selective listening Games: Activities on the chalkboard	Listen to English: TV programs, the news, movies radio, English songs internet (i.e. radio stations, NPR) Communicate in English: Talk to native speakers, other English-speakers, classmates
Speaking	Group work/Pair work: Generate interview questions; interview classmates Flashcards (vocabulary words, pictures of vocabulary words) Categorize Identify Pronunciation practice Games Student presentations in class	Talk to native speakers: Interview Survey Narrate/share experience
Vocabulary	Pictures: Picture prompts Internet Flashcards: Categorize by topic, parts of speech, etc. Worksheets: Identify words you know and don’t know	Worksheets: Cloze Categorize Matching Identify words you know and don’t know
Pronunciation	Pronunciation points taken from context of listening activities: Explicitly identify in listening samples Explicitly integrate into speaking practice Flashcards	Integrated into: Speaking activities Listening activities
Grammar	Grammar points taken from context of phrases learned: Explicitly identify in listening samples Explicitly integrate into speaking practice Phrasal verbs and idioms	Integrated into: Vocabulary worksheets Speaking activities Listening activities Phrasal verbs and idioms

In the presentation, I also presented a "process" or routine that could be followed in a listening/speaking lesson. The process in skeletal form is listed below:
1. Introduce the topic (such as "introducing yourself")
2. State the objectives
3. Provide listening practice (via sound/video recordings or in-class lecture/presentation)
4. Vocabulary/Phrases practice
5. Grammar review
6. Targeted pronunciation practice
7. Speaking practice (applying the skills just learned in a real-life context)
8. Listening review
9. Assign and discuss homework: vocabulary, speaking, and listening practice

Of course, this process can be adapted to meet the individual needs of students and teachers, but the process demonstrates the need to integrate the teaching of vocabulary and phrases, grammar, and pronunciation in an ESL listening/speaking lessons.

Improving ESOL Students' Pronunciation

There are quite a few ideas out there regarding how to improve ESOL students' pronunciation. I came across a few interesting resources in a discussion list I am a part of. One resource includes an article posted on the CAELA Network which discusses interesting points to consider when teaching English pronunciation. The article includes a couple of interesting tables, one of which provides a pronunciation checklist to identify ESOL students' areas of weakness which can then be used to help students set goals for improvement. (See Table 1 below.)

Another interesting resource is a document that lists core items of English pronunciation to teach as suggested by Tran Thi Lan, PhD, at Hanoi University of Foreign Studies. The information is specific to native Vietnamese speakers, but I would consider many of these aspects to be relevant and adaptable to teaching speakers of other languages, as well. The document can be found in full here.

The core items listed by Lan are as follows, with particular emphasis given to the first seven items:

1. The English alphabet. A focus should be put on the following letters which [Vietnamese] students confuse the sounds of: R, I, E, G , J, H, K, Q, W, X, Y

2. Familiarization with the English phonemic chart. Essential as it helps students to be able to know the pronunciation of words from dictionaries. Teachers should encourage students to use monolingual dictionaries made by reputable publishers.

3. Voiced and unvoiced sounds. Students should be taught this to help with the pronunciation of ‘s’ and ‘ed’ endings.

4. Long and short vowels. Students need to be able to confidently differentiate and produce these as they are both challenging and have an effect on meaning.

5. Word final consonants. Vietnamese students often neglect these and constant exercises on final endings should be done attentively during any course.

6. Consonant clusters. These are not a feature of Vietnamese and therefore are challenging. ‘sts’, ‘ts’, ‘str’, and ‘tr’ appear to be the most challenging for many students.

7. Suprasegmental level: Word stress, sentence stress, and intonation are essential items to address. Tonic intonation should be given special care as changes alters meaning. Sound linking is important, but not essential. When learners say the words correctly, they will link sounds naturally themselves.

8. English sounds not found in Vietnamese. For example, the interdentals /d/, /q/, can be mixed up with /f/ or Vietnamese /th/, though this may not influence comprehensibility.

9. /l/ and /n/ can be mixed up in the northern dialect (Hai Phong, Hai Duong, Hung Yen, Quang Ninh etc.).

10. Initial /j/ like in yes, young, yellow may be heard as in zes, zoung, zeallow. This sound can be a bigger problem for learners from the south or central provinces of the country.

11. /r/ The Hanoi accent does not distinguish between /r/, /z/, or /gi/. Some people in the central part of Vietnam, such as Nghe An, Quang Binh, Hue, or Danang, can say /zed/ instead of /red/.

12. The difference between aspirated and non-aspirated ‘t’. Initial ‘t’ in English is aspirated as in ten and tea. After ‘s’ as in stop and steel, ‘t’ is not aspirated and is more similar to its Vietnamese counterpart. This is advisable to teach, but not in a short course.

Table 1: Pronunciation Checklist

Pronunciation	Always	Sometimes	Never
Mark “x” where applicable, according to frequency of error
Consonants
th (e.g., thin—not[t])
th (e.g., then—not[d])
s & z (e.g., sue vs. zoo)
r (e.g., rice vs. lice)
l (e.g., parrot vs. palate)
Final consonants
Voiceless, voiced (e.g.,nip . nib; seat vs. seed; lock vs. log; larch vs. large)
final l (e.g., final, little, sell)
final s (e.g., pupils, writes, schools)
-ed suffix to mark past tense
Vowel variation
hill vs. heel
cut vs. cart
cot vs. caught
pull vs. pool
pen vs. pan
Intonation
Use of rising intonation: yes/no questions (e.g., Are you coming?)
Use of falling intonation: statements (e.g., Yes, I am coming); wh questions (e.g., What are you doing?)
Voice
Mark “x” where applicable, according to frequency of error
Audibility level
Too loud
Too soft
Fading out at end of statements
Pitch and range
Monotonous
Other comments

Note: This checklist was designed by Nora Samosir & Low Ee Ling (2000) as a means to assess teachers’ oral English proficiency.

Phonics for Arabic speakers

I have been approached a few times in the last year or so with questions about the use of phonics by native Arabic-speaking students in the United States and in the Middle East learning English. I have received some very interesting anecdotal feedback on the topic that fascinates me, including the feedback that phonics has played a critical role in helping Arabic speakers improve their pronunciation, reading, and listening skills. I am interested in learning whether there is research that has been conducted on this topic that anyone could share with me. I'd love to hear it so I can pass it along.

(See also my post on Reading Horizons in the Middle East here.)

Typing International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) Characters

I have been working on a correlation of the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) with the sounds of the English language. In this process, my colleague and I have learned how challenging it is to type the IPA characters into a document and have them look the way you want them to in the end. If you have done any work with trying to type IPA characters yourself, I'm sure you can relate. I came across a website today, however, that I wish I had found before. This tool allows you to type some of the IPA characters that are difficult to find. You then copy and paste the text into your document. Click to visit the site on the International Phonetic Alphabet.