Help with CELTA application is needed

[Marusha]

Hi all!

I am in the process of doing my CELTA application. As I am not a native speaker and my language awareness does not seem to be really good, I have encountered a number of difficulties with the pronuncation task. My lack in teaching practice does not allow me to describe ideas for lesson appropriately.
Could you help me please.


PRONUNCIATION


What sort of problems do you think learners may have with the pronunciation of the following words and phrases?


Example


rough, though, through, cough


All these words are spelled with –ough but the prounciation is different in each case.
‘rough’ rhymes with ‘stuff’
‘though’ rhymes with ‘toe’
‘through’ rhymes with ‘shoe’
‘cough’ rhymes with ‘off’



MY ANSWERS ARE IN BLUE.

1. knot, salmon, mortgage, plumbing

All four words have consonants which are not pronounced.
Compare:
Knot like knock – k is not pronounced (or shall I use some word without "K" "not"?)
salmon like...??? l is not pronounced
mortgage like morning
plumbing like climbing


2.Fish and chips, bread and butter, now and then

We observe the assimilation in all three word combinations.
“fish and chips” “d” in the conjunction “and” assimilates with ch and is not pronounced at all.
In “bread and butter” we observe the same. “d” in “and” is left out.
In “now and then” the “d” in the conjunction “and” assimilates with th and is pronounced as th.


IDEAS ABOUT TEACHING


1. Ideas for a lesson


You are teaching a group of high level adult learners and have decided to use a five minute recording of today’s radio news (e.g. from the BBC or Voice of America) as the basis of a sixty minute lesson.


Briefly describe what you could ask the students to do at each of the following stages of the lesson:

1. before they listen to the recording
2. as they listen to the recording
3. after they have listened to the recording

Give a maximum of three ideas for each stage.


a) 1. introduce the news, ask if the learners know anything about it
2. ask their opinion about it: interesting, topical etc.
3. ??? any ideas?


b) 1.make notes of the content
2.note the words they don't understand
3.put down the questions to the recording


c) 1.work in pairs to make dialogues on the issue raised in the recording
2. ask the learners about some other news they are interested in
3. ask some learners to sum up the news



Could you comment on my answers or correct them please.
I would appreciate any help greatly.
Thanks in advance.
Marusha

[Soup]

Hi Marusha

Since this is a test you're asking about, I can't give you the answers, but I can point out whether you're on the right track or not.


Your explanation for 1. is good; the one for 2., however, is not. 'Assimilation' is not the answer.

As for your sample lesson, I have few pointers for you:

Getting the students to "think" about the topic
1. introduce the news [topic], ask if the learners know anything about it.
2. ask their opinion about it: interesting, topical etc.
3. You could start with the day's events--the news of that day, then move on to number 1. above.; e.g., you could have the students to rank the top news stories that week.)


Getting the students to recognize the patterns
1. make notes of the content: How and what? Words, phrases, idioms, pronunciation, transitional devices? This part has to be very clear and quite specific. After all, the students don't get a chance to see the language spoken, so they'll need to focus on something specific.

2. note the words they don't understand: this is good for lower level classes. With higher level classes you'll want to prep the students for the odd vocab they don't know before they listen; e.g., give half the class definitions, the other half the vocabulary and have the students mix and mingle to find out the meanings/new vocab. You could also write the vocab on the board or hand it out to small groups and have the students brainstorm the kinds of news stories they are about to hear.

3. put down the questions to the recording: Again, this would be OK for lower level classes as they require comprehension checks such as this, but higher level students do not. You could have the students in pairs think up there own questions, and then elicite and clarify the answers.


Getting to students to own the new language
1. work in pairs to make dialogues on the issue raised in the recording: This may not be as interesting to the students as it sounds to you. You'll need a bridge, a way of connecting the dialogue work to the recording. What you could do is have the students come up with debate topics based on a present day news story; something that's "real" to the students; something they know about and hence will be more likely to want to write a dialogue about and, most importantly, be able to fold in the new language with their present language base.

2. ask the learners about some other news they are interested in: Ask yourself, why am I asking the students to do this? What language aspects will they be learning/practising? Will they be in groups or pairs or watching you lead the class in a plenary lesson? Avoid the last one. The point is, there needs to be a goal here that the students can see and work towards. Otherwise, they are just going through the motions of doing what the teacher said because the teacher said to do it.

3. ask some learners to sum up the news: Again, what will the other students in the class be doing while the one student is monopolizing the class time? Think about how you can involve everyone so that no one is sitting passively. They are, after all, there to practise speaking English.

Good luck, and all the best.

[Marusha]

SOUP, THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! You are great!

Could anyone help me with the 2nd Pronunciation assignment. I am at my wits end. PLEASE.

Thanx in advance,
M.