PRONUNCIATION WORKSHOP:
TEACHING TONES & PINYIN
Methods that build students’ confidence
让学生学习有成就感！
Aubrey Kuan Roderick 管栗云Associate Faculty of Chinese, Mira Costa College
Rachel Meyer 梅洁如Owner/Director, ABC Language School
AMERICANS SPEAKING CHINESE Image if the two Americans in the video
took your Chinese classes for 2 years, how would you feel?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnxDEX30Znk
NEW STUDENTS MAY FEEL LIKE BABIES WHO WANT THEIR MOMMIES…• Mandarin tones and sounds can be difficult at first• Pronunciation IS important• How you approach it as a teacher is important
THE FIRST CLASS: THE FOUR TONES Americans have no
point of reference for the 4 tones
Giving your students a key or memory device helps
Your student won’t forget with these associations
1st Tone: “Open your mouth and say ‘ma’”
2nd Tone: “huh?”
3rd Tone: “boing”
4th Tone: “Hey!”
TEACHING PINYIN TEACHING INITIALS子音No need to waste much time on the intuitive
sounds: b similar to 'b' in the English 'boat' p similar to 'p' in the English 'top' m same as 'm' in the English 'mat' f same as 'f' in the English 'fat' d similar to 'd' in the English 'down' t similar to 't' in the English 'top' - n similar to 'n' in the English 'name' l similar to 'l' in the English 'look' g similar to 'g' in the English 'go' k similar to 'k' in the English 'kiss' h similar to 'h' in the English 'hope' - with a slight rasp
as in 'loch' j similar to 'j' in the English 'jeep' - sh similar to 'sh' in the English 'ship's similar to 's' in
the English 'see' ch similar to 'ch' in the English 'cheap'
NON-INTUITIVE PINYIN SOUNDS q similar to 'ch' in the English 'cheap' -
tongue is positioned below lower teeth x similar to 'sh' in the English 'sheep' -
tongue is positioned below lower teeth zh similar to 'j' in the English 'jam' r similar to 'z' in the English 'azure' z same as 'ds' in the English 'woods' c similar to 'ts' in the English ‘cats'
TEACHING FINALS母音
(y)i similar to 'ee' in the English 'bee' (w)u similar to 'oo' in the English 'room' yu purse your lips and position the tongue high and forwards a similar to 'ah' in the English 'Ah-hah!' (w)o similar to 'or' in the English 'bore' e similar to 'er' in the English 'hers' (y)e similar to the English 'Yay!' ai similar to the English 'eye' ei similar to 'ei' in the English 'weigh' ao similar to 'au' in the English 'sauerkraut' ou similar to 'ou' in the English 'dough' an similar to 'an' in the English 'fan' en similar to 'un' in the English 'under' ang a Mandarin 'a' followed by the 'ng' sound like in the English
'sing' eng a Mandarin 'e' followed by the 'ng' sound like in the English
'sing' er a Mandarin 'e' with the tongue curled back
HOW TO TEACH THE DIFFICULT SOUNDS
umlauted ‘u’: “think of Kermit the Frog”
Retroflexive sounds (zh, ch, sh) – using mirror
How to teach the initial ‘c’: like “cats” or “t + S”
How to teach the initial ‘r’ – your thoughts??
How to the teach longer finals: iao, iang, uang, etc
Zi, si, ci – using “uh”
STAGES OF CORRECTING: AVOIDING FRUSTRATION
First Step: Don’t over-correct. Use humor. Correct one thing at a time. Emphasize modeling.
Second Step: Start correcting both tone and pronunciation. Correct all common errors.
Third Step: Anything and everything.
TEACHING ACTIVITIES Combine teaching culture and pinyin
Famous Cities/People in ChinaChinese festivals and legends
Use pinyin cards to play games on: Initial and final sounds4 tones
Teach Chinese songs using familiar tunes“Head, shoulders, knees and toes”“Two tigers”
Tongue twisters can break the iceUse simple one and avoid poetry initially
ONLINE RESOURCES BBC Chinese focusing on tones:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/chinese/games/tones.shtml
Pinyin Practice on all levels:http://pinyinpractice.com/wangzhi/
Voice and image recording:http://voicethread.com/#home
Voice recording only:http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
WHAT RESEARCHERS SAYProblem: Pinyin spelling affects a learner’s ability to
replicate the sounds accurately.
Solution: Assign students audio homework so they can relate the native pronunciation with the pinyin spelling
Fact: Visual speech provides significant benefit for learners to improve their pronunciation.
Advice: Encourage students to watch your mouth and imitate. Encourage use of mirror.
Problem: Learners often cannot integrate accurate tones into the natural cadence of Mandarin speech.
Solution: Have students memorize and replicate dialogues, skits/ plays, stories and other content in full form to capture natural cadence of tones in speech.
THE FREE-FLOATER & THE TONE ROBOTHow to help the
Free Floater: Assess if the
student is really memorizing tones
Assign more audio work
Encourage student to memorize passages
How to help the Tone Robot:
Have student listen to audio of unfamiliar material before looking at vocab list & tones
Encourage student to spend time listening to Mandarin TV or online content to get a better feel for cadence
’ HANDLING YOUR STUDENTS’ PRONUNCIATION FRUSTRATIONS
What to say to your students and how to encourage them in English:
•You don’t have to get it all right, take it one-step at a time.•Don’t be hard on yourself – listen as much as you can to audio and you will get the hang of it.•Download extra audio from sites like Chinesepod.com and you will get more exposure.•Chinese people are patient with learners and know how it feels to struggle with English.
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS?•What do your students find most difficult?•How do you handle teaching the difficult points of pronunciation?•Have your students ever come to you frustrated?•What are some successful methods you have used?
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