Workshop on Strategies in Teaching Accurate Pronunciation and Appropriate Intonation to Primary School Pupils

19 March 2010

Focus

This is a whole-day, seven-hour workshop specifically aimed at the Primary level. Its emphasis is on introducing to Primary School teachers effective strategies they can use to help pupils acquire accurate pronunciation and appropriate stress and intonation patterns in English.

Teachers in Singapore schools would find the workshop useful because it provides them with practical tips on teaching their pupils how to speak English fluently and clearly with accurate pronunciation as well as the intonation appropriate to the context.

Approach

A practical, hands-on approach to the teaching of Pronunciation at the Primary Level, based on the following sequence, will be used.

1. Exploration of the pronunciation of vowels and consonants in English, and the use of word and sentence stress and common intonation patterns
2. Explanation of the sounds, their production using the appropriate speech organs and their use in context
3. Experience and abundant practice in producing the sounds, using word and sentence stress and intonation patterns in contexts appropriate to the level.

Topics covered

• Vowels and Vowel Combinations in English
• Consonants and Consonant Clusters in English
• Clear Articulation and the Place of Articulation
• Word Stress and Some Rules on Stressing in English
• Features and Variations in Sentence Stress in English
• Pace, Volume and Tone in Spoken English
• Common Intonation Patterns in English
• Common Errors in Spoken English in Singapore
• Reading Aloud Passages and extracts from Plays / Reciting Poems with Correct Pronunciation and         Appropriate Intonation, Meaning and Expression
• The teacher as a Good Model of Spoken English

 

Trainers' Profile

Mr Sundara Rajan


The Workshop Leader, Mr Sundara Rajan, is a Principal Consultant at Educare, Singapore, and has over 45 years' experience in English Language Teaching and Language Teacher Education in Singapore and the other 9 countries in Southeast Asia, as well as in India, Iran, Papua New Guinea and Taiwan. Mr Rajan was with RELC, Singapore for 22 years and has taught MA, Post-graduate Diploma and Specialist Certificate courses there. He has also managed/conducted a variety of Language Teacher Education courses for teachers from Singapore Schools including the Singapore-Cambridge Certificate Course in English Grammar for Primary and Secondary teachers in Singapore schools. He has also designed and taught a wide variety of courses in oral communication skills.

Mr Rajan has authored/co-authored several books on ELT including Grammar Matters, the best-selling 5-part series, which looks at aspects of the grammar of English that are particularly important to users of English in Singapore and neighbouring countries, and English in Focus, which looks at how grammar operates at the text level.

Mr Rajan's area of interest include: The Teaching of Grammar at the word, sentence and text levels , ELT Instructional Materials Design, Language Testing and Assessment, Teaching Spoken English Designing Courses in English for Specific Purposes and Oral Communication Skills Development.

 

Mr Duncan Watts

Mr Duncan Watts has over 40 years' experience in teaching Drama, Spoken English and Oral and Written Communication Skills in schools in several countries in Africa and Asia, including Japan and Singapore.

Mr Watts has worked as a Teacher at the British Council, Singapore from 1979 to 1994 and as a news reader at Mediacorp (Radio & TV) Singapore from 1990 to 2004. He has also conducted English Language Courses at various schools in Singapore.

 

Venue & Time

Hersing Hub 743 Toa Payoh Lorong 5, Singapore 319457

9.00am – 5.00pm

 

Fees & Registration

Servicing Schools: $180

Non - Servicing Schools: $230

*Servicing school: A school with support staff (TA, ASA, ICT Exec,etc) engaged from Educare and still in employment in March 2010

 

Application Procedure

1. Download & complete the application form and email  to programmes@educare.sg Principal’s signature will not be required if the application is sent via email. Note, all email application must be copied to the respective school Principal (unless the sender is the school Principal) otherwise; it will not be valid.
2. Alternatively, you could also fax the application form to 6297 7386 (Principal’s signature will be required).