If you are a wanderlust and at the same time want to establish your career abroad, then having a job as an ESL teacher can be a great option. All you need are a TEFL certification, a good command of the English language, and a Bachelor's degree to teach English as a foreign language in non-speaking English countries. Along with that, you should know some specific interesting tactics to teach your students how to pronounce English words correctly. So, what's this ESL game?
ESL pronunciation games have been a proven method that helps in teaching pronunciation of English words to the learners. Your teaching career is going to be flourishing if you act smartly by applying techniques that will enable your students to learn faster, easier, and better.
Speakers of other languages will initially find it difficult to pronounce words correctly that do not belong to their native language. ESL pronunciation activities make the task smoother for them. Therefore, it is always better to know ways that will help your students to grow better which in turn will increase your reputation as an ESL teacher.
ESL pronunciation games for young learners:
Kids are always energetic and they look up to something innovative. They love to explore new ideas and since their brain performs faster than adults they tend to learn things quicker.
Phonology activities for ESL are classic steps in teaching students English pronunciation. Pronunciation Bingo is one such game that helps students to learn English pronunciation faster. This game needs a board and some dices having letters carved on them. Make a group of 3-4 students and give that board and those letters to them. After that, give them a word and say some letters like 'e' or 'i' if they are present in that word. Let them guess and frame the correct word.
Words that rhyme can be used tactically to teach how to pronounce words correctly to ESL students. There are multiple words in the English vocabulary that rhyme with one another like Bat, Cat, Mat, etc. You can always start with these easy words first to teach your students. Later, once they cross the initial stage you can start using complex words like Right, Kite, Height, etc.
ESL pronunciation games for teenagers and adults:
It is always to test the knowledge of your students. Let's say, you already have had a pronunciation session with them. The next day, narrate some passages that have similar or exact words that you have taught them but in a different way. Pronounce some words wrong intentionally and observe who all can catch the mistake. Correcting a teacher's mistakes will give them confidence and you will also get to know about their progress rate.
Minimal pair games are another very interesting game that students love. This is more like the word rhyme game but in a more creative way. Bring some flashcards in the class having names of animals or flowers or anything else that you have already taught your students. Ask them to pick up one and read it. Once they are done with reading the word mentioned there, ask them to name another word that matches that word like a rhyme. This is how their knowledge will improve.
ESL pronunciation games for adult students and professionals:
This section focuses majorly on how to correct pronunciation and make them errorless. It also emphasizes making a sentence sound correctly.
Simple tongue twisters can be used to teach adult learners and professionals. Sentences like I Scream. I scream you scream, we all scream, for ice cream! can be used where the learners have to concentrate to find out the basic differences between the pronunciation of those words. This is actually a very competitive approach because tongue twisters are meant to be spoken faster. Hence, students will try to learn better how to pronounce words correctly quicker.
To increase student talk time, you can make them play a game called Sound Chain. To begin with, create a group of 4-5 students and number them serially. Give a word to the first person and then ask the second person to say that word and then add another 2 words or more with a similar pronunciation. Let this cycle continue. This is a very effective method.
These are the certain methods using which you can easily teach your students to pronounce English words correctly. Your ESL teaching certificate will give a serious boost to your teaching career. Your teaching experience will shine more. Do let us know what other approaches can be used to enhance ESL pronunciation games. Follow this awesome link where you'll get to know a lot more about ESL certificates and TEFL jobs.
Written By : Shivangi Chakraborty
