Bartek's Blog

Today I watched a video about teaching pronunciation in 8 steps. Here comes my reflections. #1 Perception Introduce the sound and make sure the students can actually HEAR it. It’s always a good idea to allow them to hear it in comparison to a similar sound that exists in their language and that they might be confusing it with. For example, the tense /i/ as in ‘see’ versus a neutral /i/ that might exist in the student’s first language’.  It’s also a good idea to introduce similar vowels in English, that might sound the same to your students like ‘sheep’ vs ‘ship’ when learning one of them.  Also, discuss the possible spelling patterns of the sound and show them how it may be confusing for them when pronouncing it. For example, the schwa might be represented with the letters ‘o’ ‘a’ ‘u’ ‘i’ or more, yet, the vowel is pronounced the same.  #2 Pronunciation   First, start with a clear description of the physical aspects of the articulation of the sound. Make sure they k...

This week I had a revision about the schwa sound, which is really interesting.  Schwa, as syllabic consonants, often appears in non-stressed syllables in English. S chwa appears in unstressed syllables but can also occur before [ɹ], as in bird [bəɹd]. Stress is not found in all languages. For example, French and Mandarin are usually described as not having lexical stress (no prespecified prominent syllable in a word). For languages with stress, two main types can be distinguished:  -Fixed stress languages: stress always fall in the same position. e.g., in Finnish, stress is always placed in the first syllable; in Polish, stress usually falls in the second-to-last syllable.  -Free stress languages: stress position is not fixed or predictable. e.g., English: record [ˈɹɛk.əɹd] vs. record [ɹɪˈkɔɹd] Spanish: canto [ˈkan.to] ‘I sing’ vs. cantó [kanˈto] ‘s/he sang’. You can also give special stress to particular words, giving them broad meanings (e.g., contrast): I don’t want t...

This week I took a closer look at IPA. It was first developed in 1886, last revised in 2015. It is a consistent and universal notation for representing speech sounds. And it mainly uses Roman characters (some Greek) and modifications (e.g. upside-down symbols). Although IPA symbols tend to “suggest” the sound they represent, this is not always the case (esp. attention to vowels!) Even more, some “consonant-looking symbols” can represent vowels (e.g., [y]) and the other way around (e.g., [ʋ]). Some symbols are very close, but it is important to form each correctly, e.g., [z] and [ʒ]; [a] and [ɑ]; [ɾ] and [r]. Benefits : It is used and understood worldwide. It is totally consistent: 1:1 sound to symbol correspondences. It allows us to overcome, e.g., different spellings but the same sound:  English: this [ðıs] 'this’ Spanish: boda [boða] 'wedding’ Turkmen: aдak [aðak] 'foot’ (O’Grady & Archibald, 2021: 15) Also, in a single language. For example, in English the segment [k...

Microteaching  Reflection I liked my microteaching a lot. It helped me build my confidence in teaching whole lessons. I had five times of microteaching. Most of them were based on the topic of the body system. Sometimes it was challenging for me a bit, but everything went well as long as I spent time learning and preparing for the class carefully in advance. I provided students with different types of activities. Sometimes, my mentor teacher gave me materials and I created tasks based on the materials. I have given students crosswords which I made to help them review vocabulary, listening activities and reading activities.   For the first time, students were figuring out the crosswords, and we checked the answer together, so it was not that challenging.  The second time was on St. Patrick's Day☘️; I knew the holiday but it was my first time going deeper to know more about it. Fortunately, it went really well, and I was happy because it also expanded my knowledge. The...

Today, I watched a short video about phonetics and phonology, which made me better understand the sound system of English. Previously I was a bit confused about these two terminologies, but this video refreshed my memory about what I had learnt sometime before.   Phonetics is smaller than phonology. The unit of phonetics is called the phone which is not the same as the phone we use to call people. However ,  phonology is more systematic and its unit is named phoneme.    Also, in phonectics it usually looks like /r/, while in phonology it is in the bracket - [r]. Phonetics is a scientific description of what speech sounds exist in a language. It represents how they are produced and perceived and what acoustic properties they have. Thus, it can be put in the class of natural sciences. Phonetics essentially seeks to trace the processes physiologically involved in sound production. It describes the ways the sounds are produced and the points at which they are articulated...

SILENT LETTERS with RULES | English Speaking, Pronunciation, & Vocabulary, American English     After Lucy's British English, I decided to explore Rachel's American English on the same topic of silent letters. She started the topic by introducing two examples ( Wednesday-d debt-b) in a quiet voice to show the topic, which is very intriguing.   There are overlaps in the lexis they used to introduce the silent letters, such as logically. Both mentioned the same thing about the change between double vowel sound and single vowel sound. For example, "quit" without "e" in the end the letter "I" is pronounced as the single vowel sound /i/ but "quite" with "e" in the end the letter "I" is pronounced as the double vowel sound "/aɪ/". I liked the way how she explained the word "akimbo" using gestures very much. Another thing I am impressed by is that she inserted the ad about "audible" naturally...

Reflection on Webinar with Mr. Ben Shifrin It was so pleasing to have Mr. Ben Shifrin on 01.04. He talked about dyslexia, which was mentioned in the programme and executive functions (Executive function is a set of mental skills that include working memory, flexible thinking, and self-control. We use these skills every day to learn, work, and manage daily life. The trouble with executive function can make it hard to focus, follow directions, and handle emotions, among other things.), which was new to me.  It was a bit difficult for me to understand everything because of the lack of background knowledge. However, it provided me with some new concepts which enabled me to broaden my knowledge span. It also helped me enhance the knowledge I have already known.  In a nutshell, it was very motivating. I am looking forward to having the special needs education course now.