Manythings.org
targets ESL or EFL learners. It is non-commercial and does not contain any
advertisements. Covering the macro-skills of speaking, listening, reading and
writing, it offers various CALL activities, including quizzes, word games, word
puzzles, proverbs, slang expressions, anagrams and a random-sentence generator.
TESOL teachers, especially those who teach English pronunciation, may find it practically
useful for English language teaching and use the exercises provided in the
website in teaching pronunciation to their students. Teachers of English
pronunciation will find the website beneficial for their students and helpful
in pronunciation instruction. The website’s section that aims at pronunciation
practice is accessible through the link provided “http://www.manythings.org/pp/”. It is
appropriate for ESL students of all levels. The front page is well-organized,
presenting the contents of the website. Teachers and students can directly
access the interested contents, including game-like minimal pair practice and
quizzes and “listen and repeat” videos with which students can practice segmental
and suprasegmentals of pronunciation, such as consonants, consonant clusters,
r-controlled vowels, diphthongs and stressing two-syllable words. What is more,
it has some fun activities, such as tongue twisters, song and poems. Also, the
opening page supplies the instructions on how to use the pages of the activity
for minimal pair practice. There are several additional, intriguing, embedded
videos varying in the selected elements of English pronunciation. As there are
many sets of minimal pair exercises, teachers can choose one set of the minimal
pair exercises related to sounds in the present lesson and have the students
practice such sounds through the selected set of exercises. Alternatively,
teachers may recommend the website to their students so that students can
access the website to practice at any time.
Monday, August 27, 2012
5. A Review of an Online Resource "Pronunciation Tips"
“Pronunciation
Tips” by BBC Learning English offers a variety of resources, including videos,
quizzes, activities and downloads. It is appropriate for everyone who likes to
learn about and enhance English pronunciation. The URL for the Pronunciation
Tips is http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/pron/.
Interestingly, Pronunciation Tips provides a series of videos presenting
pronunciation of each sound represented by a particular phonetic symbol with
example words in which the sound exists and the difference between a long and
short sound. Also, it gives the audio recordings of the words for learners to
practice differentiating the contrast in the two sounds different in length.
Teachers may use this function in demonstrating that the same sound can occur
from different spellings. What is more, it supplies interactive and
downloadable exercises on other features of English pronunciation, including
sounds and spelling, schwa, connected speech and voicing together with the
explanation in detail. Teachers can print these exercises and hand them out to
the students for them to increase their understanding of these elements of
pronunciation. The answers for these exercises are given. There are five
quizzes about sound symbols, similar sounds, spelling, pronunciation and listening
for sounds from easy to medium level. The quizzes are printable and the
recordings for the print version of the quiz are downloadable.
4. A Review of an Online Resource "Rachel's English"
Rachel’s
English is a website comprising a series of video recordings presenting
pronunciation of American English sounds. It is appropriate for everyone who
likes to improve American English pronunciation. Through the video recordings
giving credible, detailed explanation by a native speaker of American English,
TESOL teachers, especially non-native English teachers, can learn not just how
each sound is created but also how to explain the sound production to their
students. The website is well-designed, so it is easy for the web users to
navigate through all sections of the website. There are a series of videos
thoroughly explaining the place of articulation of each sound. In such video
recordings, as a presenter is pronouncing a particular sound, there are the
drawings of the articulatory organs on the presenter’s face to illustrate the
anatomy of the mouth together with a description of how the sound is produced
and the movement of the articulatory organs. It is highly helpful for teachers
to use these videos in teaching their students the place of articulation. The
videos teach how to pronounce individual sounds, covering consonants, vowels
and diphthongs, accompanied by example words and stressing of the words. A
video text or transcript of a video is provided under the selected video.
3. A Review of an Online Resource "Phonetics Focus"
Phonetics
Focus created by Cambridge English Online offers a wide range of fun, free
phonetics lessons and games specifically designed for all ages. It provides a
variety of enjoyable, interactive resources helpful for learning and teaching
English pronunciation and the knowledge of phonetics. The website can be
accessed via the following link given “http://cambridgeenglishonline.com/Phonetics_Focus/”.
With its stylish, innovative design, the website is attractive, showing the
icons of the features, through which the users can simply access the interested
lessons provided. Every activity has clear instructions. This is a heartily
recommended website to English pronunciation teachers, as well as learners, as
it presents a more entertaining style of English phonetics learning, including
phonemic chart, phonemic chart quiz and many various, creative games. Teachers
may embark on using the interactive phonemic chart, showing the active phonetic
symbols with audio recordings and example words where a particular sound exists
before allowing the students to enter the phonemic chart quiz. After going
through the phonemic chart, the students will become familiar with all the
phonetic symbols and the English sounds they represent. Then teachers may pick
one of the games to reinforce the students’ better understanding of phonetics
and sound production. Another interesting function teachers may find useful is
“Flashcard Maker”.
2. Critical Evaluation of a CALL Software Package
Issues
in English is a very interesting, interactive CALL software application
as it allows students to learn English language through eight topical issues
concerning animal rights, discrimination, euthanasia, gambling, the
environment, smoking, growing old and public transport. The software program
has emphasis on assisting students in enhancing their vocabulary, grammar,
speaking and writing. The current review will thoroughly discuss the usefulness
of such a software package in promoting the development of the speaking and
listening skills. A main navigation menu has four different levels of language
difficulty from the fundamental to advanced level, one of which student can
select. Getting started to learn English through the program is simply straightforward
by selecting the level and moving the cursor onto an icon representing an
issue. The pronunciation of each issue is automatically activated as soon as
the cursor is moved onto its icon. Each issue is presented in a video clip in
which a person shown only his or her face in the video shares a story related
to the issue. Every issue has the option ‘Getting started’ that provides
students with comprehension questions, clozes, spelling drills and dictation
which I find very challenging but absolutely useful. By doing dictation
exercises, students can practice listening, spelling and writing. Students can
choose to watch a video with or without a script, in which some words can be
activated to show their definitions. Some words show their meanings by photos
representing their meanings. Students can listen to the recordings of all the
sentences in the script. It always has a help icon and clear instructions for the
exercises.
In
the speaking exercises at all levels of Issues in English, students can
record their pronunciation of words and sentences and compare it with the
recordings of native pronunciation of English. Learning pronunciation by listening
to and imitating the pronunciation of native English speakers is an effective
way of improving pronunciation. In the listening exercises available in only
the first and second level, there are two types of exercises. One is matching
spoken and written words. The other is matching a picture and spoken sentence.
Listening exercises are interesting and impressive as the software program will
give an immediate encouraging response to the answer.
All
in all, Issues in English Version 1, I find it productive and useful for
English language development, especially speaking and listening skills as it
provides pronunciation of words and words in contexts. It is suitable for self-learning
and classroom practice. Teachers can use the topics in Issues in English
to encourage conversation and discussion in the classroom. Its strength lies in
presenting English language in contexts. Its weakness lies in the way all
videos are presented is the same. Different ways of video presentation will
help promote students’ interest.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)