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As a self taught language learner, I know how difficult it is to be in contact a the target language. Yet, today it is rather easy to do so, thanks to the Internet.
Here’s a list of some resources we can find:
– Music (song lyrics), podcasts,
– Movies, series, videos,
– Blogs, articles, newspapers,
– Natives or language learners you-tubers…
Media possibilities are huge!
Such resources help us get used to the target language through keeping in contact with it.
As we listen to it and look at it…
Keeping in touch with Spanish Language
That’s what we want our students to do, so that in time they can use it in a productive way, that is: Speaking.
But, to do so, we need to cover pronunciation first:
Little by little, students get familiarized with all new sounds, stress, connected speech, so they’re finally able to produce them with their own voice. Most students need to feel confident enough before speaking aloud.
Thanks to approaching standard pronunciation first, they’ll feel less self-aware of their accent, as they feel motivated and capable of overcoming any Speaking Assignment you create.
Approaching Pronunciation
As a native Spanish tutor, I have realized the most substantial thing when it comes to target language is:
The degree of frequency, intensity and awareness with which we listen to and look at it. Pronunciation is one of those aspects that need a considerable amount of such 3 pillars. But, since our students aren’t getting enough opportunities to speak in Spanish, they’re most likely not becoming conversational before High School graduation.
Long story short: no speaking practice, no pronunciation practice!
“…the most substantial thing when it comes to target language is: the degree of frequency, intensity and awareness with which we listen to and look at it”.
As in all languages, Spanish also involves the practice of a proper pronunciation, at least to the point that it’s tangible when speaking it. The relation between what they hear and see will allow them to develop a natural pronunciation.
As you know, the more students look and listen to the target language, the more they get used to it. As a result, resistance from native language gets dissipated. Students will notice progress is being made when they’re able to pronounce all new sounds. And finally, they’ll feel ready to hold conversations in the target language.
How to teach Spanish pronunciation?
This guide is for teaching standard Latino-american Spanish pronunciation, containing helpful Speaking Assignments ready to use, so students enhance their learning process either inside and outside the classroom!
Speaking is the most urgent and exciting skill to learn, while at the same time, it may be the one that makes students most anxious and often insecure. Yet, there are plenty of hacks that will help them improve pronunciation, to achieve a much more natural diction, and thus develop confidence when speaking in Spanish.
So, here’s the Ultimate Guide to Teaching Spanish Pronunciation.
It’s broken down into 3 main Lesson plans with 7 to 15 Speaking Assignments.
You and they can access to the audio of each of the words you will find here, so your students listen as many times as they need, then practice and get instant feedback on pronunciation.
Wait! No need to rush!
It’s not realistic to approach 3 hearty lessons such as these in a single class.
It’s important to remind ourselves and our students to be patient and kind during the learning process.
Any units of sound that distinguish one word from another is what we know as a phoneme.
For example p, b, d, and t in the English words pad, pat, bad, and bat.
Let’s approach Phonemes in two ways:
First: as how consonants and vowels sound together (Listen).
And second: as how consonants and vowels are spelled together (Look). Good news is that there are plenty of phonemes in common between English and Spanish,
as in how they are spelled and how they sound.
What does Spanish sound and look like?
Now let’s take a look to all 16 new sounds, including new spelling matters:
Consonants
Get your students to notice that there are no isolated consonants in Spanish! Every other should always be along with a vowel.
B and V In spite of the difference regarding pronunciation between ‘B’ and V’ in English, both letters are pronounced the same in Spanish (i.e. bebé, violín) Speaking activity: B and V sound the same
C, K, P and T They are not explosive in Spanish! Speaking activity: Non-explosive C, K, P, & T
C sounds like K Whenever it’s followed by an ‘A’, ‘O’ or ‘U’ (i.e. casa, color, cuidado) Speaking activity: C sounds like K before A, O & U
C sounds like S
Whenever it’s followed by an ‘E’ or an ‘I’ (i.e. cielo, césped)
Speaking activity: C sounds like S before E & I
Ch It’s pronounced like in ‘choice’ (i.e. chao, champú) Speaking activity: Ch sounds like in ‘choice’
G It’s pronounced like in ‘girl’ before A, O & U (i.e. gato, amigo, agua) It needs a muted ‘U’ to get this sound before either ‘E’ and ‘I’ (i.e. guitarra, espagueti) Speaking activity: G sounds like in ‘girl’ before A, O & U Speaking activity: Gu sounds like in ‘girl’ before E & I
G sounds like H Whenever it’s followed by an ‘E’ or an ‘I’ (i.e. gente, gimnasio) Speaking activity: G sounds like H before E & I
H It’s ALWAYS muted! It is mainly used as an spelling matter (i.e. ahora, hielo, alcohol). Speaking activity: Always muted H
L ‘L’ pronunciation is lighter than in English (i.e. lago, luna) Speaking activity: Lighter L
Ñ Pronunciation it’s actually pretty similar to Italian phoneme “gn” from Lasagna. It’s like saying ‘N’ but adding ‘yeh’ at the end (i.e. jalapeño, niña) Speaking activity: ‘Ñ’ Pronunciation Hack
Q It’s ALWAYS spelled with an ‘U’, which is ALWAYS muted (i.e. Quiero queso = I want cheese). This phoneme is similar to ‘Ch’ pronunciation in English, as in Architect and Orchestra (i.e. Arquitecto, Orquesta) Speaking activity: Qu sounds like K
R There are strong and weak R’s. Strong R’s scenarios: 1. When it’s at the end of the word (i.e. estudiar, color) 2. When it’s at the beginning of the word (i.e. ropa, ratón) 3. When it’s before any consonant (i.e. abierto, sonrisa) 4. When it’s double (i.e. perro, carro) Speaking activity: Strong R’s escenarios Weak R’s scenarios: There are only two cases when you would use a weak R: 1. When it’s between two vowels (i.e. claro, para, pero). 2. When it’s between a consonant and a vowel (i.e. gracias, pregunta, trabajo) Speaking activity: Weak R’s escenarios
Y When isolated or after ‘O’ is pronounced as ‘E’ (i.e. ¿y tú?, hoy). When in combination with a vowel, it’s similar to ‘J’ (i.e. ya, yo, yuca) Both Y and LL are pronounced the same in Spanish. Speaking activity: Y and LL sound the same!
We won’t find these in Spanish…
Show students the phonemes they’re so used to in their mother tongue that aren’t in the target language. This is a great way to dissipate resistance from native language.
whereas most Spanish words tend to be from 2 to 3 syllables each.
That’s a huge difference!
So, how do we know how long or short is a word in Spanish?
It will depend on how many beats the word takes to be fully pronounced.
Beats per Word
For instance: ‘Sonrisa’ (Smile) takes 3 beats.
We broke this word down like this: Son-ri-sa
The penultimate syllable is the one that is stressed.
It’s like this slice has a slightly larger strawberry compared to the others.
That’s how we count syllables in Spanish language. It’s like…
Cutting a Strawberry Cake
Syllable Breaking is like when you want to cut a word into slices.
Syllables are broken into groups of pronounced sounds in a single beat.
Help students to train their ear so they notice every single one by ear.
Syllable Breaking Hacks!
Every syllable has only 1 vowel.
A single syllable may gather 3 to 4 consonants (i.e. trans-por-te).
Remember: A syllable is defined by a group of pronounced sounds per beat.
All words in Spanish have at least one stressed syllable. Yet, not all stressed syllables carry a tilde. In other words, it’s very likely to find a large number of words without it.
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