Pronunciation Teacher Training Video

This popular video teacher-training tool is ideal for anyone wanting to learn more effective methods for teaching or tutoring students with pronunciation challenges. It has been used widely in teacher-training programs, ESL centers, and pronunciation workshops. The features include:

Demonstrated practical and easy-to-use techniques along with before and after samples
Student demonstrators from 13 language backgrounds: Japanese, Chinese, Arabic, Portuguese, Thai, French, Korean, Vietnamese, Russian, Indian, East African, Norwegian and Spanish.
Extensive focus on vowel length, linking, intonation and other suprasegmental features that help students change their pronunciation quickly.
Low-tech techniques using rubber bands, hand movements and mirrors so teachers anywhere can become more successful pronunciation teachers.
Authentic student-teacher interaction, suggestions and demonstrations for the techniques used in Pronunciation for Success.
Techniques for low, intermediate, and advanced learners.

Skills Demonstrated

Speakers in order and areas demonstrated on the tape:

1. Japanese Speaker
Jaw movement
Vowel length in stressed syllables
Downward movement of tongue
Linking of 2 vowels
Enunciation especially of "r, l, ch"
Building pathways to words

2. Chinese (Mandarin) speaker
Lowering high pitch quality
Vowel length before sonorants
Enunciation for key terms

3. Arabic (Palestine)
"P" and "B" enunciation
Sentence stress and lengthening
Vowels in content words

4. Portuguese (Brazil)
Final "L" sound
Enunciation and linking
Lengthening content words
Imitation of "bad tourist"

5. Thai
Linking
Phrasal stress and intonation using hand movements

6. French (Haiti)
Lip and tongue movement for back vowels

7. Korean
Jaw Movement, Enunciation with more mouth and lip movement
Eliminating extra "iy" sound

8. Vietnamese
Final consonant sounds
Staircase technique for lengthening vowels
Linking final sounds
Pinched nose technique to eliminate nasalizing of "L"

9. Russian (Ukraine)
Breathing techniques

10. Indian (Tamil Speaker)
Thought group divisions
Read-and-Look-Up Method
Slowing down

11. East Africa (Oromia/Ethiopia)
Use of emphasis for contrastive stress
Compensation skills for emphasis

12. Norwegian
Intonation using conducting and mirroring
"V" and "W" contrasts

13. Spanish (Mexico)
"B" and "V" contrast
Vowel reduction in unstressed syllable
Contrastive stress

About the Authors

Colleen Meyers and Sheryl Holt are both advanced ESL instructors at the University of Minnesota, teaching pronunciation and writing for over 30 years each. They have taught teaching assistants, business professionals, and graduate and undergraduate students in the United States and many countries around the world. They are frequent presenters at local and national conferences such as TESOL and NAFSA. Their long experience in the classroom has contributed to the practical and easy-to-use strategies that have been tested with students from over 50 countries.