Techniques & Tactics for Teaching Pronunciation

Spoken English - Understanding and Being Understood 

• We will address the following issues in a hands-on, interactive workshop:
• What happens when native speakers of North American English speak naturally?
• How will learning the rules of spoken English help your students understand English speakers more easily and make themselves more easily understood?
• Why are stress, rhythm, intonation and pausing key to comprehensible spoken English?
• Why is stress perhaps the most important aspect?
• How can we integrate pronunciation work into all of our classes in ways that are fun and easy?

Shirley Thompson

Shirley Thompson has a Master's Degree in Linguistics from the University of Michigan. She taught for many years at George Washington University and has also taught at the University of Maryland, American University and Montgomery College. She taught middle and high school English in Benin and Togo as a Peace Corps volunteer and at the university level in Senegal, where she was a Fulbright Senior Lecturer. She directs an adult ESL program at All Souls Church in Washington DC and does teacher-training workshops focusing on spoken English and pronunciation.