Visual materials.

Objects. There are a lot of things in the classroom such as pens and pencils of different sizes and colours, books, desks and many other articles which the teacher can use in presenting English names for them and in stimulating pupils’ activities to utilize the words denoting objects they can see, touch, point to, give, take, atc. Toys and puppets may be widely used in teaching children of primery schools, which is the case in the specialized schools.

Flashcards. A flashcard is a card with a letter, a sound symbol or a word to be used for quick showing to pupils and in this way for developing pupils’ skills in reading and pronunciation. Flashcards are usually made by the teacher or by the pupils under the teacher’s direction, though there are some ready-made flashcards.

Sentence cards. They bear sentences or sentence patterns which can be used with different ams, e.g., for reading and analyzing the sentences, for using these sentences in speaking, for compiling an oral composition using the sentence as a starting point, for writing a composition.

These cards are prepared by the teacher and distributed among the pupils for individual work during the lesson. The teacher checks his pupils’ work afterwards.

Wall-charts. A wall-chart is a big sheet of paper with drawings or words to be hung in the classroom and used for revision or generalization of some linguistic phenomenon. Such as “English Tenses”, “Passive Voice”, “Ing-Forms”, “Rules of Reading”.

Posters or series of illustrations portraying a story. They are used as “props” in retelling a story read or heard. The teacher himself, or a pupil who can draw or paint, prepares such posters.

Pictures. There are at least three types of pictures which are used in teaching a foreign language: object pictures (e. g., the picture of a bed), situational pictures (e. g., the picture of a

boy lying in bed), topical pictures (e. g., the picture of a bedroom). They may be big enough to be hung in the classroom or small to be distributed among the pupils for each one to speak on his own. Pictures may be utilized separately (as single units) and in sets to be used as “props” for oral composition or re-telling a story. For example, there is a set of pictures by M. S. Kaplunovsky which can be used for creating vivid situations on a flannelboard.

Printed pictures are available for the teacher to use in the classroom. However, they cannot cover the teacher s needs in these materials. So he should make pictures. The., teacher either draws or paints them himself or asks some of his pupils to do this. He can also use cut-outs (pictures cut out of some periodicals).

Photographs. They are of two kinds: black-and-white and coloured. One can use photographs which are on sale, e. g., “Views of Moscow” or have them taken, e. g., “We are going on a hike”, or “Our family”.

Albums. An album is a book of pictures or photographs which is used for developing pupils’ language skills. It usually contains textual material to supply pupils with necessary information, and in this way make their work easier in describing these pictures.

Maps and plans. In teaching English the maps of Great Britain, the USA, and other countries where English is spoken may be used. The plans, for example, of a house, a building, a piece of land with measurements may be a help in comprehension and thus stimulate pupils’ speaking.

Slides. A slide is a glass or plastic plate bearing a picture. Slides are usually coloured and used in sets to illustrate a story; the teacher can utilize slides for developing hearing and speaking skills.

Filmstrips. A filmstrip 3 represents a series of pictures, as a rule, situational pictures in certain sequence which a learner sees while listening to a story from the teacher or the tape to reproduce it later. Special filmstrips are available. They last about 5—10 minutes and can be used with synchronized tapes. When a picture appears on the screen, the tape is heard. See, for example, “Great Britain”, “London”.

Audio materials. Tapes and records or discs belong to audio materials. Tapes are usually prepared by the teacher (he selects the material and the speaker for recording). Tapes and records are used for teaching listening comprehension, speaking, and reading aloud.

Audio-visual materials. Sound film loops and films are examples of audio-visual materials:

Sound film loops are becoming popular with the teachers. They are short (each lasts 1.5—1.7 min.) and the teacher can play the film loop back as many times as necessary for the pupils to grasp the material and memorize it.

Films. Specially prepared educational films for language teaching have appeared, e. g., “The Mysterious Bridge”, “Robert Burns”, “Australia”, “New York”, “Winter Sports”.

Young children like to sing and play various games, that, is why songs and games should constitute an important part of teaching materials. Folksongs and popular current songs develop a feeling for the distinctive culture being studied. They furnish a frame work for pronunciation practice. Games give an opportunity for spontaneous self-expression in the foreign language and can be used as a device for relaxation.

Practical and educational functions of teaching materials are as follows:

Teaching materials used in various combinations allow the teacher to develop his pupils’ oral-aural skills. Recorded materials can provide the teacher and the pupil with an authentic model, tireless and consistent repetition and many different voices.

These materials are valuable for presentation, exercises, revision, testing, etc.

Visual materials have an important role to play in the development of hearing and speaking skills. Carefully devised they help to get rid of the necessity for constant translation and assist the teacher in keeping the lesson within the foreign language.

7.Aims and content of teaching pronunciation

Pronunciation involves far more than individual sounds. Word stress, sentence stress, intonation, and word linking all influence the sound of spoken English, not to mention the way we often slur words and phrases together in casual speech. 'What are you going to do?' becomes 'Whaddaya gonna do?' English pronunciation involves too many complexities for learners to strive for a complete elimination of accent, but improving pronunciation will boost self esteem, facilitate communication, and possibly lead to a better job or a least more respect in the workplace. Effective communication is of greatest importance, so choose first to work on problems that significantly hinder communication and let the rest go. Remember that your students also need to learn strategies for dealing with misunderstandings, since native pronunciation is for most an unrealistic goal.

A student's first language often interferes with English pronunciation. For example, /p/ is aspirated in English but not in Spanish, so when a Spanish speaker pronounces 'pig' without a puff of air on the /p/, an American may hear 'big' instead. Sometimes the students will be able to identify specific problem sounds and sometimes they won't. You can ask them for suggestions, but you will also need to observe them over time and make note of problem sounds. Another challenge resulting from differences in the first language is the inability to hear certain English sounds that the native language does not contain. Often these are vowels, as in 'ship' and 'sheep,' which many learners cannot distinguish. The Japanese are known for confusing /r/ and /l/, as their language contains neither of these but instead has one sound somewhere between the two. For problems such as these, listening is crucial because students can't produce a sound they can't hear. Descriptions of the sound and mouth position can help students increase their awareness of subtle sound differences.

Here are some ideas for focusing on specific pronunciation features.

Voicing Voiced sounds will make the throat vibrate. For example, /g/ is a voiced sound while /k/ is not, even though the mouth is in the same position for both sounds. Have your students touch their throats while pronouncing voiced and voiceless sounds. They should feel vibration with the voiced sounds only.

Aspiration Aspiration refers to a puff of air when a sound is produced. Many languages have far fewer aspirated sounds than English, and students may have trouble hearing the aspiration. The English /p/, /t/, /k/, and /ch/ are some of the more commonly aspirated sounds. Although these are not always aspirated, at the beginning of a word they usually are. To illustrate aspiration, have your students hold up a piece of facial tissue a few inches away from their mouths and push it with a puff of air while pronouncing a word containing the target sound.

Mouth Position Draw simple diagrams of tongue and lip positions. Make sure all students can clearly see your mouth while you model sounds. Have students use a mirror to see their mouth, lips, and tongue while they imitate you.

Intonation Word or sentence intonation can be mimicked with a kazoo, or alternatively by humming. This will take the students' attention off of the meaning of a word or sentence and help them focus on the intonation.

Linking We pronounce phrases and even whole sentences as one smooth sound instead of a series of separate words. 'Will Amy go away,' is rendered 'Willaymeegowaway.' To help learners link words, try starting at the end of a sentence and have them repeat a phrase, adding more of the sentence as they can master it. For example, 'gowaway,' then 'aymeegowaway,' and finally 'Willaymeegowaway' without any pauses between words.

Vowel Length You can demonstrate varying vowel lengths within a word by stretching rubber bands on the longer vowels and letting them contract on shorter ones. Then let the students try it. For example, the word 'fifteen' would have the rubber band stretched for the 'ee' vowel, but the word 'fifty' would not have the band stretched because both of its vowels are spoken quickly.

Syllables

Have students count syllables in a word and hold up the correct number of fingers, or place objects on table to represent each syllable.

Illustrate syllable stress by clapping softly and loudly corresponding to the syllables of a word. For example, the word 'beautiful' would be loud-soft-soft. Practice with short lists of words with the same syllabic stress pattern ('beautiful,' 'telephone,' 'Florida') and then see if your learners can list other words with that pattern.

Specific Sounds

Minimal pairs, or words such as 'bit/bat' that differ by only one sound, are useful for helping students distinguish similar sounds. They can be used to illustrate voicing ('curl/girl') or commonly confused sounds ('play/pray'). Remember that it's the sound and not the spelling you are focusing on.

Tongue twisters are useful for practicing specific target sounds, plus they're fun. Make sure the vocabulary isn't too difficult.

The Sounds of English, American Accent Training, and EnglishClub.com websites below offer guidelines for describing how to produce various English sounds. You can find representative practice words for every English sound on the English is Soup site.

Here are some resources for teaching pronunciation.

Sounds of English Mouth diagrams and photographs; instructions for producing selected English sounds, word stress, sentence stress, and intonation; many example sound clips to play with audio software such as RealPlayer (free).

American Accent Training: Pronunciation The most common trouble sounds in English and how to pronounce them.

EnglishClub.com English Pronunciation - Pronunciation for ESL learners Guides to word and sentence stress, linking, pronunciation of '-ed' and 'the,' and other topics.

Some Techniques for Teaching Pronunciation Detailed instructions for two pronunciation activities.

English is Soup: A Phonics Resource For ESL Adults Mouth diagrams and representative words showing various spellings for every English sound; short introduction to rules of pronunciation based on spelling; PDF format.

The Tongue Twister Database Large collection of tongue twisters to practice specific sounds.

Teaching Pronunciation

Main Problems:

Aim

Content

Strategies

Types of Exercises.

Aim is to form and develop clear and comprehensible pronunciation. It is impossible to achieve the aim of communicative ability without forming and developing clear and comprehensible pronunciation habits and skills. Received pronunciation of the English language is taught in school, that is the pronunciation of the language of radio, TV, universities, colleges and schools.

Sound is the basis of all languages Language exists in meaningful sound sequences. Words are meaningful combinations of sounds. Speech is meaningful sound sequences.

So teaching/learning pronunciation is a matter of great importance.

To use a language as a means of communication, on the one hand, the learner should form and develop receptive pronunciation habits and skills, that is to hear and discriminate pronunciation units correctly and automatically to comprehend the information conveyed, on the other hand productive pronunciation habits and skills, to articulate pronunciation units automatically and correctly, to convey the information clearly and comprehensibly.

In our conditions to teach/learn absolute correctness in pronunciation is hardly possible, so we expect approximate correctness that makes communication possible, among people speaking the same language.

So the aim of teaching/learning pronunciation is to form and develop clear and comprehensible pronunciation, receptive and productive pronunciation habits and skills, that is automaticity in hearing, discriminating, understanding, on the one hand, and in articulating the pronunciation units on the other.

The following factors affecting pronunciation learning should be taken into consideration.

native language of the learners

the age of the learners

exposure

innate phonetic ability

identity and language ego

motivation and concern for good pronunciation.

The Content

The content of teaching/learning pronunciation includes:

sounds (vowels, consonants, and diphthongs),

stress (word and logical stress),

intonation (rise, fall, rise-fall),

rhythm and melody.

Connected with the content the peculiarities of sounds, stress and intonation should be taken into account in both languages, comparing both phonic systems similarities and differences, difficulties for assimilation and strategies to overcome the difficulties should be underlined.

Learners should become able to hear, discriminate, understand, stress correctly, intone, articulate, produce pronunciation units automatically, subconsciously.

Strategies for Teaching/learning Pronunciation

Languages have their specific phonic systems. The systems of Armenian and English should be compared to find out similarities, differences, sounds which don't exist in Armenian, sounds which seem similar but have a different shade of pronunciation, to underline difficulties for assimilation in stress, sound and intonation, [to design strategies to overcome/them aimed at organizing effective teaching/learning process.

Sounds such as

The length of vowels ship-sheep, Iip-leap

Voiced, voiceless consonants at the end of word bet-bed, hit-hid/ diphthongs …..

create a lot of difficulties for assimilation or are cause of interference.

The pronunciation of words is not only a matter of sounds but also of stress. Stress is fixed in Armenian and isn't in English which is another source of interference/ negative transfer.

Intonation also presents difficulty to Armenian learners. It has grammatical meaning as well.

îÕ³Ý Ý³Ù³Ï ·ñ»ó. ѳëï³ïáõÙ The boy wrote a letter.

îÕ³Ý Ý³Ù³±Ï ·ñ»ó: The boy wrote a letter?

Learners automatically pronounce English sounds, stress words and intone sentences the way they do in their mother tongue. If the regularities coincide learners don't make mistakes, if not interference creates mistakes. Teachers should know what these mistakes/difficulties are and how to overcome them.

Teaching/learning pronunciation is based on both didactic and methodological principles, such as automaticity, meaningful learning, native language effect, self-confidence and so on.

Strategies for teaching pronunciation are: imitation, explanation, demonstration, synthetical and analytical.