TeachingEnglish
Past tense pronunciation
Submitted by anaumoska on 7 January, 2009 - 16:42
Here is an idea that has been successful for me when teaching regular past tenses/participles.
- Prepare 15 separate pieces of paper containing one regular verb (infinitive) written on them, as well as 3 separate pieces of paper with the phonemic symbols of the –ed suffix: /d/, /Id/ and /t/. See below for examples to use.
- Put all of the verbs on the blackboard in mixed order, then put up the phonemic symbols as starters of 3 columns. Tell the students to make the correct past simple tense forms of all the verbs, emphasizing that they shouldn’t write anything down at this stage.
- Ask the students if they can sense a difference in pronunciation in terms of the –ed ending. Then tell them to put the 15 verbs into 3 columns (5 verbs in each column) depending on the pronunciation of the final past simple (–ed) suffix added to regular verbs.
Example verbs
/d/: satisfy, whisper, bathe, imagine, advise
/Id/: disappoint, interpret, decide, adjust, doubt
/t/: blink, develop, stuff, watch, notice
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Comments
I really liked your idea, and would like to try it on my elementary class.. but could you possibly explain what would be the best way to go about doing so, as i would not like to confuse my students. thankyou.
TE Team
Hi Missy Moo
To help lower levels with past simple pronunciation you might find this activity useful: http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/activities/pronunciation-past-simple-v...
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