All posts by ebgblog_autho

Teachers, Training & Conferences

10 Tips of the Week for Teachers

Everyone knows that using English is the only way to really improve your pronunciation. But what if you can’t practice with a native speaker every day? Don’t worry! There are plenty of ways to stretch your vocal chords.

[tabs type=”vertical”][tabs_head][tab_title]Listen to yourself[/tab_title][tab_title]Slow down![/tab_title][tab_title]Forget about democracy[/tab_title][tab_title] Picture it…[/tab_title][tab_title]Get physical! [/tab_title][tab_title]Watch yourself[/tab_title][tab_title]Copy the experts[/tab_title][tab_title]Practice alone[/tab_title][tab_title]Find a language buddy[/tab_title][tab_title]Be poetic[/tab_title][tab_title]Sing a song![/tab_title][/tabs_head][tab]If you can’t hear your pronunciation problems, it’s tough to correct them. Try recording your speech on a tape and comparing it with a native speaker’s.[/tab][tab]Many English learners say that speaking too quickly reinforces their bad habits. Practice a few basics each day. Start with single sounds, then move on to words, and finally, string several words together.[/tab][tab]You want to be a supportive, open-minded autocrat. If you make soft suggestions and ask for input, you create a lack of confidence among your subordinates. Be assertive; lead by unwavering decisiveness.[/tab][tab]Close your eyes and think about how to make a sound before saying it. Visualize the positioning of your mouth and face.[/tab][tab]Pronunciation is a physical skill. You’re teaching your mouth a new way to move and using different muscles. Focus on difficult sounds each day. Having trouble with ‘th’? Put your tongue between your teeth (don’t bite down) and blow air out of your mouth. Feel the air move over the top of your tongue.[/tab][tab]Stand in front of a mirror to see the placement of your tongue, lips, and shape of your mouth when you make certain sounds. Compare what you see with an Englishtown pronunciation video![/tab][tab]There’s no replacement for learning pronunciation from the experts – native speakers. So listen! Listen to English radio programs and watch television and movies in English. (Don’t read the subtitles!) Imitate what you’re hearing – even if you’re not sure what they’re saying yet.[/tab][tab]Pronunciation problems persist because we’re afraid to make mistakes. Create scenarios – meeting someone for the first time, ordering at a restaurant, asking for directions – then act out the dialogue by yourself. Don’t be shy![/tab][tab]Getting feedback from an outside observer is crucial. Find a friend who’s also interested in improving their English. Try exchanging recorded messages so you can listen closely to each other’s pronunciation.[/tab][tab]Good pronunciation is more than just mastering individual sounds. It’s also understanding intonation (the rise and fall of the voice) and stress (some sounds in words and some words in sentences are louder or clearer than others). Read poems, speeches and songs aloud, concentrating on the word stress and intonation.[/tab][tab]Learn the words to popular English songs and sing along. Singing helps you relax and just get those words out, as well as helping your rhythm and intonation.[/tab][/tabs]

Professionals

5 Ways to Make Your Team More Brilliant

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Every leader wants employees with great ideas. But great ideas don’t just appear in a vacuum. They tend to come most readily in environments where people feel intellectually stimulated, where deep thinking is valued and, most importantly, where people are given the time to think. Here are five ways you can nurture that environment in your company and among the people who report to you.

[tabs type=”vertical”][tabs_head][tab_title]Choose a video of the day[/tab_title][tab_title] Start a book club[/tab_title][tab_title]Schedule in creative team building[/tab_title][tab_title]Curate content[/tab_title][tab_title]Take a MOOC together[/tab_title][/tabs_head][tab]When Sal Khan started posting his videos years ago at KhanAcademy.org, he only covered math topics. But now Khan Academy features everything from physics to economics to art history. Send around a selection of a favorite video each day and bring up what you learned in conversations. Even writing a fact from a video on the white board before meeting starts will send the message that it’s OK to spend time stretching your brain. [/tab][tab]You can access classic works of literature in bite-size chunks via DailyLit (which emails a passage every day from books like The Odyssey or Moby Dick). Host once-a-month lunchtime discussions until you make your way through. Or you can buy a more current book for everyone and have the author call in during a lunchtime discussion. You may be surprised how many authors are willing to do this! [/tab][tab]Yes, you’re busy. Yes, everyone has a lot of work to do. But the work will still be there if you have an art teacher come in with paints and canvases for a 90-minute workshop. It will still be there if you all go do a session at a local pottery studio or learn how to make fabulous pastries at a commercial kitchen that does classes. When people get away from their inboxes for a while, they get a ton of ideas, and doing team building during the workday scores points from people who feel like they don’t see their families enough anyway.[/tab][tab]This takes some effort, as people get a lot of emails and tend to delete most newsletters they receive. But if your links to articles and reports are relevant and interesting (be sure to put the highlights in the email and interrupt an intriguing sentence with a “…” to get people to click), you can get your team in the habit of reading them. This is especially true if you devote 5 minutes at the start of any staff meetings or calls to discussing them.[/tab][tab]Massive open online courses (MOOCs) let people around the world hear from top professors and work through assignments, just like you would at that university. Coursera.org, for instance, features free courses taught by professors from Princeton, the University of Michigan, Duke University and other places, and covers topics from robotics to world history. MOOCs tend to have a high dropout rate, but if you take a course as a team, you’ll be accountable to each other.[/tab][/tabs]