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Pronunciation with Colors
Judy Thompson
Learning2getherMay 22, 2014
An international organization of pattern
thinkers with simple solutions for thechallenges of learning and teaching
English
Come from the place of what is always true vs.
endless details and exceptions.
www.radicalenglish.weebly.com
Teresa Almeida d’Eca – Webhead L1 – L2
Rita Baker – The Global Approach Jennifer England – Business English Judit Tarczy – Vocabulary building –
games Peggy Tharpe – American Accent
Coach Judy Thompson – Speaking Made
Simple
Speaking Made Simple
Here is the big problem with English. Letters don’t represent sounds.
No one knows what words sound like from reading them:
blue throughyou whotwo dofew shoedue boo
Agenda
1. A short History of English showing speaking as a different language than writing
2. The English Phonetic Alphabet using colors
1. Consonants – sounds that stop2. Vowels – sounds that stretch
3. Take away pronunciation tools teachers and students can use anywhere
How English got to be such a Mess
40 sounds
26 letters
Checking in
English speaking is completely separate from English writing
The history provides context for students and their education so far
It is not their fault that their speaking has not gone as well as they’d hoped
We have a clean slate – a fresh start for a new approach
Solution for Speaking
We are at zero What we put in place now is a
model for how speaking works in all situations
Students can use this framework outside of class, independent of teacher support for ever and ever
2. Sounds
There are 40 sounds in English24 consonant sounds16 vowel sounds40
▪ Consonant sounds STOP▪ Vowel sounds s t r e t c h
ALWAYS attach new information to things students already know
Sound Notation
Explain the notation slash brackets/makes the sound/
This is a dog. – it makes the sound /woof/
This is a d - it makes the sound /d/
ThompsonLanguageCenter.com 11
24 Consonants of English
18 familiarb, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, v, w, y, z/b/ /d/ /f/ /g/ /h/ /j/ /k/ /l/ /m/ /n/ /p/ /r/ /s/ /t/ /v/ /w/ /y/ /z/
6 newSh, Ch, TH, Th, Ng, Zh/Sh/ /Ch/ /TH/ /Th/ /Ng/ /Zh/
Capital letters mean two symbols – one sound
EPA Consonants
_ b _ d _ f g h _ j k l m n _ p _ r s t _ v w _y z
/Sh/ - shoe, sugar, nation, machine*/Ch/ - church, cello, picture/TH/ - thing, thank, both, teeth/Th/ - the, them, these, mother, brother/Ng/ - singing, pink/Zh/ - Asia, garage, usual, Taj Mahal
(* Transformation)
Old Friends Old Friends Ol’ Frenz
We walked and talked, we wakt an taktAnd talked and walked. an takt an waktWalked and talked, wakt an taktTalked and walked. takt an wakt
We sat in a garden, we sat in a gardnAnd looked at the flowers. an lookt at the flowerzWe talked and talked, we takt an taktFor hours and hours. for ourz an ourz
(* Transformation)
Colors and Pronunciation
The first thing people learn in a new language is the names of the colors
Inside the names of 16 common colors in English are the 16 vowel sounds of English
Students learn the colors of words and crazy English spelling is no longer a barrier to confident speaking
What color is this?
Turn the card around slowly
Can you think of other words with the sound /Ay/?
What color is rain? Great? Play?
(* Transformation)
What color is this?
Think of other words with the sound /a/
Turn the card around
Spelling Doesn’t Matter Anymore
Secret Treasure in the Vowel Chart
Students understand the most important feature of English organically – you just wake it up in them
English is a stress-based language The stressed syllable determines the color of
the word Every word in English is a color
BAnana is not a word
Neither is banaNAThe word is baNAna
There are no variations. banana is a Black word
What color is your name?
It is one of the colors on the Thompson Vowel Chart
Every word in English is somewhere on that chart!
* Transformation
FYIIf the word-stress isn’t right, a native
English speaker can’t guess what is being said
Old Friends
Old Friends Ol’ Frenz
We walked and talked we wokt an tokt
And talked and walked an tokt an woktWalked and talked wokt an toktTalked and walked tokt an wokt
3. Take Away for Students
Every word in English is a color English is a stress-based language –
if someone can’t understand word stress is the problem not ‘accent’
Accents don’t matter – everyone has an accent – only word stress matters
Teacher Judy’s Sound Dictionary app
Take Away for YouThe other four tools we did not talk about today are: Content words carry message – grammar doesn’t Linking – all spoken words start with consonants Expressions – English is idiomatic Body Language – non-verbal is 80% of the message
It was my goal to show you a new way of looking at Spoken English and how to teach it using colors.
You should also know there is a full range of materials on this process that are available if you are
interested
Thank you
Judy Thompson2554 The Grange SideroadCaledon, OntarioCanada
www.ThompsonLanguageCenter.comEmail:
[email protected]: judycaledonFollow us on Twitter @ judyisblue