Many students report that they find it difficult to engage with native speakers in the target language while on their Mobility Programme. Native speakers can often hear that the student is a native speaker of English, and will reply in English, even when the students attempts to use the target language.
This task will help students become more aware of the differences in pronunciation in the target language and enable them to work on their own production of sounds.
At the end of this activity, students will be able to:
- describe phonemes in their target language.
- demonstrate the pronunciation of difficult sounds in the target language.
- practice pronunciation of new words.
Procedure
These videos use the English language to introduce the International Phonetic Alphabet, and the production of the sounds which occur in European languages (the videos do not discuss clicks and other sounds that are possible).
The videos will make you aware of the different places where sounds are produced in the mouth, and the various manners in which these sounds can be produced.
Watch the following short videos.
- Note the sounds which occur in your target language and not in your native language.
- Practice listening for these sounds when you hear the target language being used.
- Sounds that do not occur in your first language are often difficult to identify.
- Once you have figured out what the phonemes should sound like, and where and how they are produced, practice producing these sounds yourself.
- You can access further material relating to your target language in the language specific section.
Source/attribution: DigiLanguages Author: Emma Riordan, Daniel O’Rourke
Attributed to: Emma Riordan, Daniel O’ Rourke
- Tá cur síos cuimsitheach ar chóras fuaimeanna na Gaeilge ar fáil ag an nasc: http://www.fuaimeanna.ie/ga/. Is suíomh é seo atá bunaithe ar ábhar an leabhair Fuaimeanna na Gaeilge leis an Dr Brian Ó Raghallaigh.
- D’fhéadfá breathnú freisin ar an bhfíseán gearr thíos faoi chúrsaí foghraíochta.
- Cuimhnigh freisin go bhfuil taisclann fuaimeanna ar fáil anois ar an suíomh www.focloir.ie, agus tá físeán mínithe ar YouTube a léiríonn an chaoi leis an leas is fearr a bhaint as na comhaid fuaime ar www.focloir.ie; féach:
Before the activity:
- Think about Italian pronunciation.
- What sounds and words are more difficult for you to pronounce?
- Are there any specific pronunciation rules that you know for Italian?
Watch these videos to revise Italian Pronunciation:
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Activity:
Activity online
– Click on the link: Esercizi di fonetica italiana per stranieri con file audio
- How do you pronounce these sounds in Italian? E-I; S-Z; R-RR-TR; CI – CHI; CE –CHE; SCI –SCE.
- Listen to the audio files (one table at the time).
- Are the words pronounced as expected?
- Repeat the words one by one until you feel comfortable with the correct pronunciation.
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After the activity (if applicable – for teachers):
-Go to the class blog. Pick one word for each table (possibly one word that you usually mispronounce) and record a sentence that contains that word. Upload your recordings in the blog.
-Are there any observations about the pronunciation of these words that you would like to share with your classmates? Write them in the blog and also remember to read the comments made by the other students
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Final Reflection:
What did you learn during this activity both in terms of:
– Oral skills
– Vocabulary/Language/Pronunciation
Source/attribution: DigiLanguages Author: Valentina Rizzo
Think about Spanish pronunciation. What sounds and words are more difficult for you to pronounce? Are there any specific pronunciation rules that you know for Spanish?
Watch these videos to revise Spanish Pronunciation:
Video 1: Spanish (European) Phonetics and Spelling
Video 2: Spanish Vowels
Video 3: Spelling Rules
