Judy Thompson TESL Niagara April 26 2014 The Problem with English Letters dont represent sounds No one knows what words sound like from reading them blue through you who two do ID: 247006
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Slide1
English is Stupid, Students are Not
Judy ThompsonTESL NiagaraApril 26, 2014Slide2
The Problem with English
Letters don’t represent sounds. No one knows what words sound like from reading them:
blue through
you who
two do
few shoe
due booSlide3
Agenda
A short History of English showing speaking as a different language than writing
The Sounds of English
Consonants – sounds that stop
Vowels – sounds that stretch
Take away pronunciation tools students can use anywhereSlide4
How English got to be such a Mess
40 sounds
26 lettersSlide5
Checking in
English speaking as completely separate from English writingThe 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 some new thinkingSlide6Slide7
Solution for Speaking
We are at zero What we put in place now is a structure for how speaking works in all situationsStudents can use this framework outside of class, independent
of teacher support for ever and everSlide8
2. Sounds
There are 40 sounds in English 24 consonant sounds 16
vowel sounds
40
Consonant sounds
STOP
Vowel sounds
s t r e t c hSlide9
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
9Slide10
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 new
Sh
, Ch, TH,
Th
, Ng,
Zh
/
S
h
/ /
C
h/ /
TH/
/
T
h/ /N
g/ /
Z
h
/
Capital letters mean two symbols – one soundSlide11
EPA Consonants
_ b _ d _ f g h _ j k l m n _ p _ r s t _ v w _y z /Sh/ - sh
oe,
s
ugar, na
t
ion, ma
ch
ine
*
/
C
h/ -
ch
ur
ch
,
c
ello, pic
ture /TH/ - thing, thank, both, teeth /Th/ - the, them, these, mother, brother /Ng/ - singing, pink /Zh/ - As
ia, garage, usual, Taj Mahal
(* Transformation)Slide12
Old Friends
Old Friends Ol
’
Frenz
We walked and talked
we
wakt
an
takt
And talked and walked
an
takt
an
wakt
Walked and talked
wakt
an
taktTalked and walked takt an wakt(* Transformation)Slide13
Families of Exercises
BingoListening SkillsConsonant HuntSound MazeWord SearchMystery MatchCry Wolf
www.englishphoneticalphabet.pbworks.comSlide14
EPA Vowels
The first thing people learn in a new language is the names of the colorsInside 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 speakingSlide15Slide16
What color is this?Slide17
Turn the card around slowly
Can you think of other words with the sound /Ay/?Slide18
What color is rain? Great? Play?
(
*
Transformation)Slide19
What color is this?
Think of other words with the sound /a/
Turn the card aroundSlide20
Spelling Doesn’t Matter AnymoreSlide21
Secret Treasure in the Vowel Chart
Students understand the most important feature of English organically – you just wake it up in themEnglish is a stress-based languageThe stressed syllable determines the color of the word
Every word in English is a color
BA
nana
is not a word
Neither is
bana
NA
The word is
ba
NA
na
There are no variations.
banana
is a
Black
wordSlide22
What color is your name?
It is one of the colors on the Thompson Vowel ChartEvery word in English is somewhere on that chart!* Transformation
FYI
If the word-stress isn’t right, a native English speaker can’t guess what is being saidSlide23
Old Friends
Old Friends Ol’
Frenz
We walked and talked
we
wokt
an
tokt
And talked and walked
an
tokt
an
wokt
Walked and talked
wokt
an
tokt
Talked and walked tokt an woktSlide24
3. Take Away for Students
Every word in English is a colorEnglish 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 mattersTeacher Judy’s Sound Dictionary appSlide25Slide26
Take Away for You
The other four tools we did not talk about today are:Content words carry message – grammar doesn’tLinking – all spoken words start with consonantsExpressions – 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
And to assure you that a full range of materials are
available if you are interestedSlide27
Thank you
Judy Thompson2554 The Grange Sideroad
Caledon, Ontario
Canada
www.ThompsonLanguageCenter.com
Email:
judy@thompsonlanguagecenter.com
Skype:
judycaledon
Twitter: @
judyisblue