Up till now … during the text-based lesson

1. The students have studied the chapter at home in advance
2. We have checked homework exercises
3. We have worked orally on the new words of the next chapter
4. We have listened to the chapter and checked understanding of the text
5. NOW we have to read the text aloud
6. Deepening the understanding of the text
7. Doing oral activities, written exercises or underlining text in class

The teacher or a good recording is the best model for pronunciation. Believe in the power of imitation, students repeating after the model.

Why reading at this point? Simply because now we understand the text properly and there is no point in reading something you do not understand.

Why reading aloud? Simply because we have to practise pronunciation and we remember things better if we say them aloud. And because at the same time we develop our listening skills too.

Teaching beginners is exciting and rewarding because if you work your way through systematically you can quickly see and hear the progress in the students pronunciation and speaking.

I love teaching pronunciation and I am very ambitious in doing that. See my articles on English under vertical heading ‘Pronunciation’.

Who is going to teach pronunciation if it is not done at the school? Rehearse it in every lesson.

The following points will help you to improve the quality of your students’ pronunciation.

1. The teacher him/herself is the best and most flexible model in pronouncing a new language because he/she can adjust the speed of reading aloud to the level of the students.
2. Remember that beginners need a model they can imitate and a lot of repetition. Believe in the power of repeating/imitating after you or the recording. Students shadow what they hear while looking at the text.
3. Start a new textbook chapter by reading aloud the words in isolation with your students, preferrably having a list with the English words and their translations in mother tongue. Why? See vocabulary section! LINK
4. When reading the words aloud make sure the sounds and stress are correct. If not, have them repeated altogether.
5. Beginners cannot repeat very long utterances so when reading texts divide every sentence into smaller bits (breath groups) in a natural way. Even intermediate students benefit from this kind of reading.
6. Finally read the whole sentence. However, remember that if the sentences are too long, students easily get frustrated and give up reading altogether.
7. Young children in particular and some adults are amazing in how quickly they learn to pronounce English beautifully.
8. These days it does not matter if you speak British, American or some other accent as long as it is clear and understandable.
9. Little by little you can give up the breath group reading, cutting the sentences to smaller units, and let the students repeat whole sentences.
10. Having listened to the chapter of the textbook senior high students should be able to read on their own or in pairs or groups.
11. Try not to correct the pronunciation of individual students, especially when they are talking freely in pairs of groups. Otherwise they may get scared of talking and stop talking.
12. Finally, at an appropriate stage you can reveal the secrets of the use of weak forms and basic intonation patterns in English. By now your students master most of these things thanks to reading aloud and imitating the models.

Finally let me remind you of five different ways of reading a text aloud with the students.

1. Read after the teacher (recommended for beginners, read in short sections, not whole sentences).
2. Read after a pre-recorded model (CD etc., maybe the most widely used style).
3. Read in pairs or groups without a CD or model (for advanced students).
4. Read out aloud alone at your own pace (hilarious to listen to).
5. Read the sentence and the teacher or CD will repeat after you (great fun if the model reading has been listened to earlier).

I remember the very first lesson in 1978 when I started doing my teacher training: To my surprise, after listening to the tape the teacher asked the senior high students to read the text aloud at their own pace. First it sounded cacophonic but suddenly the freedom given to the students was all music to my ears. The teacher warned the students ‘One minute left,’ and of course everyone did not finish at the same time but it was ok because, as the teacher later told me, the matter had been agreed upon at the beginning of the course. Nobody’s feelings were hurt: the time given was used effectively and it is only natural that some read faster than others.