Anne - TS #5

Date/Time:  Friday, January 15, 2016, 6:00-7:00

Location:  Lyon County Library

Topic/Skills:  Modal verbs; pronunciation of <ng>

Teacher Presentation:  Last week, the students asked about the uses of modal verbs, and because I didn’t know how to explain them, I told them I’d find out.  So, even though this is a pronunciation class, we started out with modal verbs.  I had a handout for students to follow as I explained their different uses.  The students were able to give examples and use these verbs correctly. 

We moved on to the sound <ng>.  I asked students to practice the pronunciation individually and as a group.  We combined different letters with ~ing, ~ong, ~ang, and ~ung (e.g., sing, song, sang, sung).  I suggested students use these words which they know to remind themselves of how to pronounce <ng>.  Once the students mastered this, we moved on to ways in which <ng> is used differently in the middle words, including anger, angry, hungry, hanger.  We used <ng> words in sentences to move between sounds (i.e., <ng> words in combination with other words).

When we were working on thing, one student (Chinese speaker) asked about how to say <th>, so we worked on that a bit.  A hint for next lesson:  the difference between <th> as in thing and as in this. 

Feedback provided to tutee:   I corrected pronunciation as we went along, first with the group, then with individuals. 

Lessons learned:  It was very helpful to have a handout for students to follow during my presentation of modal verbs.  Note taking ability is important, but I thought that in this case, writing down what I was saying would slow students down.  They seemed relieved to have the material at hand.  I was glad to get a hint from our practice about what to cover next week.