Excellent English Pronunciation Guide for Japanese Students (Share with your JTEs!)
I'd like to share some materials I've found that show how to pronounce virtually all of the sounds in English. But first...
DISCLAIMER: I did not create any of the content contained in these materials. All credit for the images and Japanese descriptions belong to the good folks at http://mymeet-up.com/ You can find the original PDF here: http://mymeet-up.com/hatsuon/sheet.pdf
However, I did make two important modifications: 1) I made the images black & white printer friendly and 2) I made an editable Word document version that allows you to change the sample words for each sound to match your own pronunciation and preferences. I used the North American accent used in the textbooks, so you will probably need to modify it heavily to match a different English dialect. I included 200 anchor words, so it might be a pain if you want to redo it.
So what is this exactly?
This is a pronunciation chart showing almost all of the major sounds used in English, including International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) symbols, mouth diagrams, and Japanese descriptions of how to make the sounds. Since this was written by native Japanese speakers for Japanese speakers, it is easy for students to understand. It can fit neatly on just two papers as long as you print double-sided. Pages 1-2 are vowel sounds (母音 boin), pages 3-4 are consonant sounds (子音 shi'in).
How can I use these materials?
I just discovered this website, so I don't have a lot of experience using them yet. But I have some ideas of how these can be used:
1) Use it as a reference:
* ask students to keep it in the back of their English file, encourage them to refer to it whenever they have trouble with certain sounds (individually or as a whole class)
2) Use it when teaching new content:
* as new sounds are taught, refer to the chart and practice as a class (the sounds are numbered for quick reference)
* encourage students to write the pronunciation of new words in their notebook using this chart or the IPA pronunciation in the back of the textbook
* when practicing new sounds, have students make pairs and take turns reading the example words, the listener gives feedback
* make a handful of big flashcards highlighting just one sound each to use when teaching phonics
3) Use it to play games:
* write a "secret" word or phrase on the board using only the IPA symbols an have students try to find the original word(s)
* say a sound out-loud and have students point to the sound they hear or say the number
* cut up the charts and turn them into karuta cards for listening comprehension practice
* pick one sound on the chart and challenge students to find as many words that use that sound as they can (in pairs or groups)
* make minimal pair word trees to practice sounds and words on the chart
* make a worksheet with multiple choice options for word pronunciations and have students use the chart to determine which is correct
I'm sure there are more ideas (and I'd love to hear yours!) so be creative. If you have any questions or notice any errors, please let me know. I'm hoping this will be a good resource for your schools if you teach phonics or review pronunciation.
If you use these in your classes, let me know how it goes!
Download the printout:
English Pronunciation Guide in Japanese.doc
(If you need the larger raw black & white images, you can download them here.)
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Originally Posted by naginataonthebrain
