English pronunciation (3): 7 Secret Pronunciation Rules Your Teachers Never Taught You

http://m.busyteacher.org/21353-7-secret-pronunciation-rules.html

7 Secret Pronunciation Rules Your Teachers Never Taught You (but You Should Teach Your ESL Students)

English spelling is at best confusing and at worst a hot mess.

It is no wonder so many ESL students struggle with making the connection between written words in English and how they are pronounced. Sometimes there doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to it. I am a big proponent of teaching the phonetic alphabet to ESL students, primarily because I think it makes a big difference in their ability to achieve accurate pronunciation. But sometimes the phonetic alphabet is not an option. You might have ESL students who are casually studying the language and do not want to cover any material so academic. You might opt out of teaching the phonetic alphabet because you just have too many other things to do. Or it might be some other reason. After all, how many dictionaries use the phonetic alphabet when listing the pronunciation for an entry? Whatever your reason for not using the phonetic alphabet, there is good news. As unpredictable as English spelling and pronunciation may seem at times, there are some rules that your students can follow when they encounter unfamiliar words. Here are seven simple spelling and pronunciation connections you can share with your students to help them achieve accurate pronunciation.

Remember Rules for Pronouncing Vowels

1. Before going through these rules with your students, they will need to know the difference between short vowel sounds and long vowel sounds. If you are unclear about these definitions, look for an explanation in a standard English only dictionary or read about it here.
2. 1

   A Vowel Followed by a Single Consonant at the End of a Word Is Pronounced as a Short Vowel

   Words that conform to this rule are often some of the first that students of English (as well as native speakers) learn to read. Pup has cup. Man has ham. All of these words follow the short vowel + consonant rule. You might see these words represented in this way. CVC.
3. 2

   A Vowel Followed by Two Consonants at the End of a Word Is Pronounced as a Short Vowel

   Words that conform to this rule may be single vowels followed by a consonant blend (see below for an explanation of consonant blends) or those that are followed by two distinct consonants. You may see these types of words represented in this way. CVCC. Some examples include the following: stops, want, hand, wish, and bark.
4. 3

   If a Vowel Is the Final Letter in a Word, It Is Pronounced as a Long Vowel

   A vowel at the end of a word may appear in a single syllable word or a multisyllabic word. Either way, the pronunciation rule remains the same. A final vowel at the end of a word is pronounced as a long vowel. Some examples of single syllable words which follow this rule are go, pi, lo, be, and he. Multiple syllable examples include ago and ego. You might see these words represented like this CV.
5. 4

   If an E Appears at the End of a Word, It Is Silent. The Preceding Vowel (Separated from the E by One or More Consonants) Will Be Pronounced as a Long Vowel

   Silent e is one of the first spelling rules children learn in school, and no wonder since it is so common in English. If you are teaching phonics, you might have students underline or cross out the silent e and mark the preceding vowel as long. You might see words which follow this rule represented in this way: CVCe. You can find examples throughout the English language, but some of them are hate, care, note, flute, bite, nice, and ape.
6. 5

   If Two Vowels Appear next to Each Other in One Syllable, the Second Vowel Is Silent and the First Vowel Is Pronounced as a Long Vowel

   We see vowel combinations all the time in English. A general rule as to their pronunciation is to say the first vowel and ignore the second. These vowel combinations come in all kinds of match ups. You might see words which follow this rule represented this way: CVVC. English examples include true, beat, train, leaf, and load.

Consider Rules for Pronouncing Consonants

1. One thing to keep in mind when discussing consonant pronunciation are consonant blends. A consonant blend is two or more letters that are pronounced as one sound in English. Some blends are clearly two sounds which become one complex sound (for example bl in black, tr as in atrophy). They often include the letters l, r, or s but not always. Other “blends” are actually only one English sound which is spelled by using two or more consonants. These sounds include sh (wish), ch (chair), tch (watch) and others.
2. 6

   If One Consonant Follows a Vowel in the Middle of a Word, It Is Pronounced as the First Sound in the Next Syllable

   Where a consonant is pronounced in a word does make a difference in a student’s pronunciation, particularly if they speak slowly. Think about the difference between pap-er and pa-per. Clearly the second is the correct pronunciation while the first sounds, at best, strange, and at worst like a different word entirely. Other examples include tele-phone (not teleph-one), la-bor (not lab-or), lo-cate (not loc-ate) and pro-tect (not prot-ect).
3. 7

   When Two Consonants Follow a Vowel in the Middle of a Word, One Consonant Is Pronounced at the End of the First Syllable and the Other Is Pronounced at the Beginning of the Next Vowel

   Of course, consonant blends act as one consonant sound, but non-blend neighboring consonants will follow this rule. When a consonant is doubled in the middle of a word, it also follows this rule. Some examples include sub-ject, tal-ly, ab-ject, top-ple, and haz-mat.

Ultimately, English is a complicated language with complicated rules of spelling and pronunciation. These rules, while generally true, do have exceptions. When you teach them to your students, be sure that they know these rules are not hard and fast and that exceptions can be found to each of them. They may choose to use these rules to pronounce words they have never seen before, or they may use the rules to determine the spelling of an unfamiliar word they have heard pronounced. What matters most, however, is that these rules give your students a place to start when they encounter a word that they do not know how to pronounce.

What other pronunciation rules do you teach your ESL students?

English pronunciation (2): 14 Phonics Rules for Reading and Spelling

https://www.understood.org/en/learning-attention-issues/child-learning-disabilities/reading-issues/14-phonics-rules-for-reading-and-spelling#slide-8

14 Phonics Rules for Reading and Spelling

By Ginny Osewalt

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Phonics instruction teaches the connection between word sounds and written letters. It’s a key part of learning to read. But phonics instruction also teaches spelling patterns. For success in both reading and spelling, here are some important phonics rules to know.

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Short and long vowels

When a vowel is followed by one consonant, that vowel is usually short. A vowel is usually short when there is only one vowel in a word or syllable as in on, red and fantastic.

A vowel is long when it says its own name. When a single vowel is at the end of a word or syllable, it usually makes the long vowel sound, as in go and paper.

Vowels also have long sounds when they’re paired with a silent e or when they are vowel digraphs (two vowels paired together).

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Vowels in syllables

Every syllable of every word must have at least one vowel. A vowel can stand alone in a syllable, as in unit and animal. It can also be surrounded by consonants, as in jet, shut and fantastic.

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Silent ‘e’

When e is the last letter in a word, and there’s only one other vowel in that word, the first vowel usually says its own name and the e is silent, as in cake.

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Consonant digraphs and blends

In a consonant digraph, two consonants work together to form one sound that isn’t like either of the letters it’s made from. Examples include chap, ship, think and photo.

Consonant blends are groups of two or three consonants whose individual sounds can be heard as they blend together. Examples of that are clam, scrub and grasp.

5 of 14

Vowel digraphs and diphthongs

In a vowel digraph, when two vowels are paired together, the first one is long and the other is silent, as in boat, paint and beach.

In a diphthong, a new speech sound is formed when two vowels are paired together, as in cloud or boil.

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R-controlled vowels

When a vowel is followed by an r in the same syllable, that vowel is “r-controlled” and is no longer short. Sometimes we refer to the r as “bossy r” because the r “bosses” the vowel to make a new sound, as in spark, cork, germ, birthday and burn.

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The ‘schwa’ sound

Any vowel can make the schwa sound; it sounds like uh. Words like banana, vitamin, item, and another have the schwa sound.

The schwa is only found in words with more than one syllable, but never in the “accented” syllable. The schwa is the most common sound in the English language!

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Soft ‘c’ and hard ‘c’ and soft ‘g’ and hard ‘g’

When the letter c is followed by the vowels e, i or y, it usually makes its soft sound. Examples of that are cent, circus and cytoplasm. The letter c also makes a hard sound, as in cat and cocoa.

When the letter g is followed by the vowels e, i or y, it usually makes its soft sound. Examples of that are gel, giant and gym. The letter g also makes a hard sound, as in gas, gorilla and yogurt.

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The ‘fszl’ (fizzle) rule

When f, s, z and l follow a vowel at the end of a one-syllable word, they’re usually doubled, as in stuff, grass, fuzz and shell.

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Using ‘k’ or ‘ck’

We use ck at the end of one-syllable word when it follows a short vowel, as in duck and trick. We use k when there’s another consonant immediately following the vowel, as in task and drink.

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The /j/ sound and the /ch/ sound

When the /j/ sound follows a short vowel in a one-syllable word, it’s usually spelled dge as in badge, hedge, bridge, dodge and smudge. (The d protects the vowel from “magic e.”)

When the /ch/ sound follows a short vowel in a one-syllable word, it’s usually spelled tch as in catch, fetch, stitch, blotch and clutch. Common exceptions are the words such, much, rich and which.

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Doubling

When adding ed or ing to a word, we double the consonant if the vowel before that consonant is short. Examples of that are gripped and winning. We don’t double the consonant when the vowel is long.

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Plural nouns

When a plural noun ends with s, ss, sh, ch, x or z, we add es to make it plural, as in classes, brushes and foxes. Otherwise, we just add s, as in cats.

When a plural noun ends with y and it follows a consonant, as in pony, family and baby, we usually change the y to i before adding es to make it plural: ponies, families and babies.

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Broken rules

In the English language, phonics rules are often broken. Your child will frequently come across exceptions to the rule. But your child’s teacher or reading specialist will teach those, too!

"Approaches to teaching English as a second language"

Hi there!

I found an article on the Internet about language teaching methodology, and thought it might be useful to English teachers or English teachers - to - be, so I post it here so that people can read. Enjoy!
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The Grammar-Translation Method

This method was the most common way of learning languages for centuries and is still used in many situations and countries. The Grammar-Translation method of teaching English as a second language focuses mostly on teaching students about the language but not how to use it practically. Students may have a vast knowledge of grammatical rules but are never provided with opportunities to put their knowledge into practice through discussion, conversation, activities or role-playing.

The fact that the Grammar-Translation method of teaching is based on grammatical analysis to understand the construction of English as a foreign language means that it is not a "natural" method of learning a language. Children do not need to learn the rules of their native language, they assimilate the rules through using and hearing the language.


The Audio-Lingual Method
This method to teaching English as a second language relies heavily on the assumption that learning is a result of habit formation through conditioning. Conditioning usually takes the form of long, repetitive drilling and is considered boring by most students. Drilling is not real, nor is it realistic language that speakers use in everyday life. However, it is an effective tool, used sparingly, for beginners to learn vocabulary.

This method went rapidly out of fashion in the language learning circles because learning to speak a foreign language is far more subtle and complex than forming habits.

The Task-based Method

The emphasis of this method is on language-based tasks rather than on the language itself. Teachers who use this method focus on giving tasks to be completed to students. During the task, problems and errors often become evident and once the task is finished teachers then discuss the error and explain why it was wrong, teach the necessary rules and set another task for their students.

An example of a lesson using the task-based method of language learning:

The task is for students to ask for and give information about train and bus timetables.

Students are given the timetables, put into pairs and perform their task.

The teacher walks around and listens to students while jotting down any language problems.

Once the task is completed, the teacher goes through the errors with students and explains how to correct them.

The Communicative Language Teaching Method

The CLT method differs radically from the other, older approaches to teaching English as a second language that have tended to dominate language teaching over the years. It has two main strands to it:

All language used involves language functions such as inviting, agreeing, disagreeing etc. and must be used appropriately.

Students are given enough exposure to language and opportunities to use the language for language learning to take place,

The idea behind this method is that people learn languages in order to communicate and not to simply know the rules of grammar without being able to use them practically. Adults and children learning English are given the chance to use real language in a classroom setting through role-playing, language games, discussions, technology-based ESL activities and other activities.

Source: http://www.brighthub.com/education/languages/articles/86390.aspx