Teaching Pronunciation


A 3-week on-line course focusing on practical ideas for teaching pronunciation effectively and with confidence. This course is suitable for recently qualified TEFL/TESOL teachers with an interest in improving in this area quickly and for more experienced teachers who would like to build their skills and confidence in teaching English pronunciation.

Duration	Fees*	Starting dates	Apply now
3-week on-line	€ 225	30th August	Application form online

* € 175 for OxfordTEFL graduates.



Aims of the course, course content
Why a Teaching Pronunciation Course?
How to apply, assessment, Certificate, course timetable
The trainers, Recommended Reading
What is an online course like?

Aims of the Course

By the end of the course you will have a greater understanding of how to approach teaching pronunciation. You will have reflected on the typical difficulties your learners, and learners in general, have with pronunciation and how you can help them. You will have looked at a range of materials, techniques and strategies and tried some of them out with your students, if you are currently working. The course emphasises practical application, but there will also be reference to, and use of, technical knowledge where it is helpful, such as use of phonemic script and understanding of the basic patterns of stress and intonation.

Course Content

The course is divided into three weeks and for each week there are three sessions. Each session will include a practical task that will suit your teaching situation. In some tasks you will be invited to try something out with your students (if you are currently teaching) and report back. You will receive feedback from an experienced tutor on your work. The tasks must be completed for you to be awarded the certificate.

The sessions will include group and individual work with a strong emphasis on peer and tutor feedback. The following areas are covered.

• Listening to learners and giving feedback effectively
• Drilling
• Individual sounds
• Word stress
• Rhythm
• Intonation
• Integrating pronunciation with grammar and vocab teaching
• Communicative pronunciation teaching
• Materials and On-line resources for teaching pronunciation

Why a Teaching Pronunciation Course?

Even teachers with substantial experience in teaching English can lack confidence when it comes to teaching pronunciation. Students however really appreciate working on their pronunciation. They realise that this is something they need to improve to be understood easily and that their teacher is the best person to help them with this. Teaching pronunciation is useful and fun for students and needn't be difficult for teachers. This course will give you the guidance you need to help incorporate pronunciation activities regularly into your classes.

How to Apply

If you are registering for a CertTESOL course with us, simply indicate on the application form which course you wish to attend. You will receive a discount of €50.

If you have already completed a CertTESOL course with us, e mail us to let us know you would like to do our Teaching Pronunciation course. You will receive a discount of €50.

If you have not completed a course with us, please complete the On-line Application Form

Assessment

To pass the course and receive the certificate you will have to:

• attend 100% of the course



• complete the assessed tasks mentioned above to a satisfactory standard

Certificate

The OxfordTEFL Teaching Pronunciation extension Certificate will state that you have passed the course, outline the components of the course in detail and state the length of the course.

Course Timetable

The course is online over three weeks and you will have about 7 hours of work per week. There are deadlines for the completion of tasks at the end of each week. You are free to work when you choose during the week, giving you flexibility to combine the course with your working schedule. More on on-line leaning with OxfordTEFL. There are three sessions per week each with their own input and tasks. You will be required to do a variety of exercises, reading and practical tasks.

The Trainers

Our team of trainers are highly experienced and qualified teachers and teacher trainers with a specialist interest in teaching pronunciation and experience of creating dynamic and enjoyable on-line training courses.

Recommended Reading

How to Teach Pronunciation by Gerald Kelly - Published by Longman. The How to…series offers practical teaching ideas within a clear, theoretical framework. Each title includes a photocopiable 'Task File' of training and reflection activities to reinforce the theories and practical ideas presented.

The following websites also offer useful material and articles.

Onestopenglish

Developingteachers.com

Teachingenglish.org.uk

www.cambridge.org

Cambridgeenglishonline

About on-line learning with OxfordTEFL

We believe that distance learning works best when it captures, as far as possible, the dynamics of face to face learning, even when that means less flexibility (see below). A sense of isolation can cause people to drop out of distance learning courses. Our Distance/On-line Teaching Pronunciation Courses have the following key features, which ensure motivation remains high:

Variety of ways of learning
Through our virtual learning environment you will use the internet to communicate with tutors and fellow course members, access materials and complete learning tasks.

Interaction
Our virtual learning environment (VLE) allows you to communicate individually and collectively with tutors and other course members, both for social and study purposes. You will be assigned individual, group and pair tasks, as in a "real" classroom with the difference that, instead of all working at the same time (synchronised) you can log on and off and contribute at times which are convenient to you. You may, on a few occasions, be required to log on at the same time as other course members for "lessons", "conferences" or "chats" in the virtual classroom.

A real class of fellow students
In many distance courses, learners start and finish courses at any time of the year and join an infinite number of other distance learners at various stages of their course. Our courses have start and finish dates and a defined group of participants, just like our face-to-face courses. You will have tasks and deadlines to keep and be expected to maintain an appropriate rhythm (see above). In other words, flexibility is limited in order to maintain motivation.

Learning how to learn on-line
As well as learning about teaching and language you will have the opportunity to experience and reflect on the nature of on-line learning itself.

Ease of use
You will find it easy to use the virtual learning environment, even if you are relatively unfamiliar with this kind of learning and there will be plenty of support and guidance from tutors to deal with any queries and make sure you are on track.

We use “Moodle”, a “virtual learning environment” (VLE), which allows you to:

• upload and download course information and material
• access materials on and off-line
• participate in live and non-synchronised discussions
• send work to tutors and receive feedback
• communicate with tutors and other members of the class individually and as a group.
• interact in ways similar to a real classroom with the advantage of being able to access it at times convenient to you.

We use skype/messenger or telephone for personal tutorials.

You will need to have regular access to a computer with internet connection, but won’t need to spend huge amounts of time actually on line.

We recommend you install skype if you don't have it already to take advantage of cost free calls to tutors. www.skype.com