Elisabeth Boeck

I am a great believer in teaching phonetic script with new words, alongside their spelling, stress patterns and L1 equivalents. Being able to work out the correct pronunciation of a word from the dictionary all on their own helps the learner to become autonomous and independent of any 'helpers' in real life situations.

So one of my revision exercises goes like this:

• I draw up a list of the new words recently encountered in class, but I do so exclusively in phonetic script.
• The class is divided into groups A and B. I hand out one list to each group. In their groups, students work out the 'real' form of their words. The teacher goes round checking for correctness.
• Then group A gets a separate copy of group B's word list (phonetic). Group B students take turns dictating their words to group A, making up sentences with each respective word. Group A write down the words next to the already provided phonemic script.
• The same procedure is used by group A testing their words on group B.
• We then make transparency copies of both lists, put them on the OHP, and in plenum check for correct spelling. Also in plenum, words are translated into their L1 equivalents.

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