Video timeline00:00 Introduction
01:11 The Story
01:54 My AHA moment
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Video transcriptHow often do you teach your learners about intonation - the music of the language- the way it goes up and down? If you’re like most teachers, probably not often. It’s tricky and so a lot of teachers just avoid it. But is it important?
Let me tell you a story about an ‘aha’ moment I had a few years ago that made me re-think this….
If this is the first time we’re meeting, I’m Jo Gakonga, I’ve been teaching for 35 years, and training teachers on CELTA and MA TESOL programmes for 25 of those. I’ve also got a website at ELT-Training.com where I make video based material for teachers at all stages of their careers. Check it out – the link is right below - and don’t forget to like and subscribe if you want to see more – I make a new video every week.
In the 1990s, I lived in Prague for a year. I loved it. I had a lot of Czech friends and I put quite a bit of effort into learning the language- AND IT’S TRICKY! It’s got seven cases so it felt like some kind of mad grammar puzzle a lot of the time.
Anyway, after about 6 months, a friend said to me ‘You know, your Czech is getting quite good’. At this point, my chest is puffing up and I’m feeling quite pleased. ‘… but you always sound as if you’re talking to a child’.
Deflated ego but….
Mind blown!
To put this in context, Czech has much flatter intonation than English does. And I knew this – but I couldn’t bring myself to SPEAK LIKE THIS because to ME it sounded as if I was being really boring. It wasn’t that I didn’t know I should- it just didn’t feel like ME.
And there was the AHA moment- I’d spent the previous six months imploring the Czech people in my classes to make their English more intonated because they sounded so bored- and I suddenly realised why they were struggling with this. A flatter intonation- in Czech terms- makes you sound serious and intelligent. It’s how adults speak. What I was trying to make them do just went against the grain of them as people: made them feel as if they were talking to children. And this didn’t sit with who they were.
So here’s the rub- it IS worth focusing on pronunciation and raising awareness of intonation because it can have much further reaching consequences than just people understanding the words you’re saying… BUT ... Be aware that the way you speak (in any language including your first one!) it’s part of your identity and so it’s not always easy to tamper with.
Just something to think about!
If you enjoyed this, you’ll love my course
Teaching Pronunciation Made Easy. Check it out on the link below.
See you soon.
