[HUE]

Hi Dave,

Teaching large classes always presents all sorts of problems. I've never had to work pronunciation into such a large class, except for the usual difficult phrase or word, which we repeat periodically through the lesson. So I'm not sure how helpful my advice will be.

But I always advocate listening exercises as take-home work, as this helps students develop an ear for trouble sounds. Usually, if the students can hear the correct sound, they're halfway there to producing it correctly (albeit, with a lot more work on their part). I've found that even if you teach how to produce the sound--where to place the tongue, how to form the lips, etc--they still need more practice and monitoring than can be done in a single lesson, let alone one with 90 students or more. What's more, they still can't necessarily *hear* the word from a native speaker, and they simply guess.

The homework should have a list of vocabulary words, with a pause after each one for the students to listen and repeat. It should also have the vocabulary words in context, so they can hear everything put together. Again, listen and repeat again and again and again is very important. Maybe you can set something up on your website for your students, assuming that they all have computers? You could also direct them to websites with extensive listening files, and then have them listen for particular words.

By the way, I like what you've put up on your site. How long have you been working on it?

[DaveESL]

Chris,

Thanks a lot for the ideas. I like the idea of listening at home. Unfortunately, most of my students don't have internet access or their own computers. Putting a bunch of minimal pairs / vocab words / sample sentences on my website might be worth doing, though. This week, I'll ask my students if they would be able to use it.

As far as the website, I made it as a project in gradschool, but it was quite mediocre. Over the last three weeks, though, I've redone it and am planning to add a lot more.

Thanks again!
Dave

[livinginkorea]

Hi Dave, I'll second that about your website too. I listen to the first podcast. Very interesting to hear about your teaching experience in China.