Name: Chienyu Jade Yi

Date: April 28, 2016

Pedagogy 5

Proposal for integrating pronunciation instruction into adverb clauses of time by Azar
I know this material Understanding and Using English Grammar by Betty Azar. I used it
when I was an ESL student in Austin, TX, in 1993 and later on when I worked as an EFL private
tutor for high school students in Taiwan in 2000. I recognized the swallow logo right away,
bringing back a lot of memories.
What you have given to us, the Chapter 5, is written for the Advanced English learners.
If it is in Taiwan, students are learning this in high school. Therefore, the following proposal for
integrating pronunciation instruction is suitable for ESL/EFL students in their advanced level.
I would focus on rhythm and intonation. Hypothetically, students have learned about
how to identify the anchor stress by using the #NAIL - the 1st Content Word rule. The
sentence structure in this unit is short and simple, and it is easy to identify anchor stress from the
main sentence and its adverb clause. Also, it is about time to have students to practice
intonation. English learners tend to focus on grammar and get nervous when they speak. It is
important to introduce students about how to say things as well as what to say.
I would use the third approach Dedicated Blocks for Pronunciation, to set apart a quarter
of the class time for integrating pronunciation instruction. Hypothetically, there are three
English classes per week, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday; each class lasts one hour. A quarter
of the class time would be 20 minutes. The 5-2 Table on page 72 is a good material to practice
rhythm for Monday class. Then on Wednesday class, I would use the same amount of time to
practice intonation by using the exercise 9. In the following class on Friday, I would assign
exercise 10 as their homework. Students are asked to record their answers at home and email
them to me to be graded. As recording, students need to pay attention to both rhythms and
intonation.
Activity for a quarter of the class time on Monday: Rhythm Snap & Clap 5-2 Table

Before coming to this class, students will have the anchor stresses marked, the primary
stresses are marked by the teacher already.
Introduction speaking with rhythm: Review the concept and meaning of the primary
and secondary/anchor stresses, and remind students that the primary stress is louder than
the secondary. They convey important messages that speakers are intended to.
Presenting missing key words: Four sentences are written on the board or showed on
the slide; not every sentence has words with the anchor stress. The primary stress is
replaced with the sound of Clap and the secondary stress with Snap. First, the
students are asked to read those sentences and replace the primary words with clapping.
Example:
Original sentence - When I got there, he had already left.
Students read and clap When I [CLAP] there, he had already [CLAP].
Students read, snap & clap When I [CLAP] there, he had [SNAP][CLAP].

The teacher debriefs the purpose of this Snap & Clap activity. Conclusion: when
important key words are missing, the whole sentence is meaningless.
Modeling The class is divided into two group. One group is responsible to snap when
the word with anchor stress is read; another group is responsible to clap when the word
with primary stress is read. Ask two volunteers from each group to come forward, each of
them will take turn to pick a random sentence from the board. As the student is reading
the sentence, two groups of students need to either snap or clap.
Activity Students are paired up to practice: while one is reading a sentence, another one
is doing Snap & Clap just as the earlier modeling demonstrates.
Example:
Student A saying: I will never speak to him again | as long as I live.
Student B doing:
[Snap]
[Clap]
[Clap]
Presentation The teacher asks random 3 5 pairs to present.

Activity for a quarter of the class time on Wednesday: Intonation Exercise 9

This would be the first time to introduce the concept of intonation. Therefore, what is
introduced here is very basic.
Introduction Intonation: Explain to students that our awareness of intonation certainly
aids our communication with others. Incorrect intonation can result in misunderstandings,
and both speakers and listeners would lose interest or even take offence!
Presenting Expressing our emotions/feelings through words: Teacher write the
following phrases and sentences on the board or show them through the slide.
Teacher says the following in different ways and have students to describe teachers
emotion/feeling/attitude.
Hello!
Goodbye!
How are you?
I dont like Facebook.
Can you come with me?
Modeling Role Play: A conversation between a mother and a daughter is written on the
board/showed through the slide. Teacher will play the role of the mom and ask a student
to be the volunteer playing the role of the daughter.
[The mother is doing dishes in the kitchen and the daughter is doing homework in the
living room.] Pick up a tone (engaging tiring annoyed - sad disappointing
worrying) to conduct the conversation without telling the class.
Mother: Did you see your dad when you got back from school today?
Daughter: What did you say? I didnt hear you.
Mother: Were your dad home when you came back from school today?
Daughter: No, I didnt. When I got home, he had already left.
Mother: I have been calling him, but he doesnt answer.
Daughter: Maybe he forgot to bring his phone with him again.
Teacher invite students to debrief what they have heard and reflect on how we speak may
convey a lot of meanings.

Activity Students are paired up to practice exercise 9 and asked to pick up a variety of
tones to practice intonation.
Presentation: The teacher asks random 3 5 pairs to present.

I am using the first principle introduced in the article, Integrating Pronunciation into
ESL/EFL Classrooms, by John M. Levis and Linda Grant: Aim for a primary through not
exclusive focus on suprasegmentals, namely, stress, rhythm, and intonation. The objectives of
these two activities are:
Students are able to:
a. Understand the importance of anchor and primary stresses in English conversation
b. Get used to speak with rhythms that are different from their 1st languages.
c. Internalize the intonation in their speaking.
If this book is used for teaching the grammar lesson, then the majority of time should be used to
teach grammar and to make sure that students understand and learn how to use adverb clauses
mentioned in this textbook. Taking a quarter of time is reasonable for high school students who
are preparing for their college entrance exams. I choose the activity of Snap & Clap so that
students will remember the sound of Clap-PS is louder than the sound of Snap-SS/AS. As they
are doing this activity, they do need to speak louder to cover the sounds of Snap & Clap. I do
believe that teachers are able to integrate pronunciation instruction as they are teaching other 4
skills, reading, writing, speaking, and listening. It also depends on the goals of the program or
the school. If they want to help students to learn pronunciation well, intentionality and
consistency throughout the course are crucial as they implement such integration into their
teaching.