The day began at 8.15am with the first session on writing for the IATEFL Voices and other teaching magazines, which gave us practical tips on how to turn an idea into an article.
We then moved on to the beautiful Auditorium for the plenary session given by Kathleen Graves. She described how she believes that we need to have an ecological approach to our curriculum and being "inefficient", i.e. Straying from the curriculum in order to deal with language and issues that arise, can actually mean focusing on language and increased learning.
Following the plenary, it was time for PronSIG Day to get underway. Richard Cauldwell kicked off proceedings. His main message was that we need to aim at decoding spontaneous speech. A CSM (careful speech model) can be useful for guidance and informing, but we need something more sophisticated to help our learners deal with casual speech.
After a coffee and doughnut break, thanks to the publishers at ETp (English Teaching Professional) and MET (Modern English Teacher), scholarship winner, Marina Cantarutti from Argentina, presented her project and findings on pronunciation practice through developing an e-portfolio. She demonstrated how she used social networking and recording facilities for her learner to practise their pronunciation and give them the opportunity to receive feedback, self-reflect and self- evaluate. A fascinating project that I would to set up with my own learners.
Following this, Kristyna Poesova presented her research on the importance of teaching the schwa and vowel reduction in both word and sentence level. She provided practical tips on how one can achieve this in their lessons.
Next up was Mark Hancock who led a very practical and interactive workshop on rhythm and stress. He divides these two pronunciation features into two layers: grammar (layer 1) and discourse (layer 2). He kept us on our toes and gave us the opportunity to try out the activities as students.
We then had Katy Simpson and Laura Patsko discussing the goal of productive and receptive pron in an ELF (English as a Lingua Franca) context. They presented advice for both monolingual and multilingual classes.
From Cultura Inglesa in São Paulo in Brazil, Catarina Pontes presented her reasons for developing a pronunciation course for teachers and also outlined the layout and application of the course.
The last speaker of PronSIG day was Piers Messum with his holistic approach to teaching pron. He described the value of making pronunciation a physical skill that requires learners to discover and become aware of their bodies.
The final session of the day was the PronSIG Open Forum where delegates and speakers were invited to ask questions and comment on what had been presented during the day. The biggest question that came out of the discussion was : Why is pronunciation teaching being neglected? Some reasons included: poor training, lack of pron in course books, lack of confidence on behalf of both teachers and learners, and also learner expectations.
After such a pronunciation packed day, some PronSIGgers went off to discuss matters further over a meal and some beverages! On arriving back to our apartment at 3am, I made an executive decision that it was too late to blog!
Following the plenary, it was time for PronSIG Day to get underway. Richard Cauldwell kicked off proceedings. His main message was that we need to aim at decoding spontaneous speech. A CSM (careful speech model) can be useful for guidance and informing, but we need something more sophisticated to help our learners deal with casual speech.
After a coffee and doughnut break, thanks to the publishers at ETp (English Teaching Professional) and MET (Modern English Teacher), scholarship winner, Marina Cantarutti from Argentina, presented her project and findings on pronunciation practice through developing an e-portfolio. She demonstrated how she used social networking and recording facilities for her learner to practise their pronunciation and give them the opportunity to receive feedback, self-reflect and self- evaluate. A fascinating project that I would to set up with my own learners.
Following this, Kristyna Poesova presented her research on the importance of teaching the schwa and vowel reduction in both word and sentence level. She provided practical tips on how one can achieve this in their lessons.
Next up was Mark Hancock who led a very practical and interactive workshop on rhythm and stress. He divides these two pronunciation features into two layers: grammar (layer 1) and discourse (layer 2). He kept us on our toes and gave us the opportunity to try out the activities as students.
We then had Katy Simpson and Laura Patsko discussing the goal of productive and receptive pron in an ELF (English as a Lingua Franca) context. They presented advice for both monolingual and multilingual classes.
From Cultura Inglesa in São Paulo in Brazil, Catarina Pontes presented her reasons for developing a pronunciation course for teachers and also outlined the layout and application of the course.
The last speaker of PronSIG day was Piers Messum with his holistic approach to teaching pron. He described the value of making pronunciation a physical skill that requires learners to discover and become aware of their bodies.
The final session of the day was the PronSIG Open Forum where delegates and speakers were invited to ask questions and comment on what had been presented during the day. The biggest question that came out of the discussion was : Why is pronunciation teaching being neglected? Some reasons included: poor training, lack of pron in course books, lack of confidence on behalf of both teachers and learners, and also learner expectations.
After such a pronunciation packed day, some PronSIGgers went off to discuss matters further over a meal and some beverages! On arriving back to our apartment at 3am, I made an executive decision that it was too late to blog!
No comments:
Post a Comment