Phonetics is the key.

Does your student have trouble pronouncing certain sounds? Do you have difficulty explaining how the student should produce the sound?

Different languages have different speech patterns. Sometimes, a student will have difficulty with the same sounds because those sounds just aren't used in their native language. This makes it rather difficult to learn how to pronounce words correctly.

The handouts below will help in identifying your student's phonetic problem areas.

Phonetics/articulation chart (PDF)
Pair-work exercise for TESOL Instructors (PDF)

Paired with Phonetics: The Sounds of American English, developed by the University of Iowa, you should have a better grasp of how certain sounds are produced. Each consonant and vowel has its own articulation animation, a step-by-step description, and video-audio of the sound spoken in context.

(Make sure you have Flash installed on your computer.)

Additional Resources:
Authentic American Pronunciation
Some Techniques for Teaching Pronunciation

Useful Links

The websites below provide tips for tutors, lesson plans, activities, etc.

• EL/Civics Online Citizenship and naturalization lesson planning.
• Dave's ESL Cafe The Internet's meeting place for ESL students and teachers.
• ESL Party Land English activities, interactive quizzes, lesson plans and more.
• One Stop English Hundreds of prepared lessons, guided reading worksheets and many other free resources.
• Everything ESL Download classroom activities, discussion topics, lesson plans, teaching tips and more.
• Activities for ESL Students Over 1,000 ESL activities.
• English for All English For All is a free Web-based multimedia system for adults learning English as a second language
• Literacy4All Free literacy resources for tutors and students.
• English Club Cambridge's English Club is a full-service portal for English-language learners. There are resources for teaching as well as learning. Users can join EC for free.
  
• English Page Advanced English lessons.
• U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Educator and volunteer resources.