Pronunciation Drilling Activity for Native Speakers of Arabic

Activity Description:

Some English sounds are not found in the Arabic language, and as a result students may face difficulties in producing these foreign sounds.

Some differences:

-The ‘p’ is pronounced as ‘b’.

-The ‘ch, t ʃ’ may be pronounced as ‘sh, ʃ’, or as a /k/ sound.

- The present continuous ending (ing, ŋ) is pronounced as (i, n, g, students highlight the /g/ sound without assimilating the -ing together).

Pronunciation Activity for teachers: 

-Drilling:

To break the habit of repeating the same wrong sounds by Arabic-speaking students, use drilling actively with some minor corrections here and there so not to overwhelm the students or frustrate them.

1- Write on the board words that have the / p, b/ or /ch,sh/ or words that have the /ing/ sounds, pronounce them and ask the students to repeat after you.

2- Give the students a paper that has the target words, give them time to read and prepare, and then ask some to pronounce them.

Example words:

Repeat this activity as a warmup ( at the beginning of the class), or as an exit slip (which are small activities that the students have to do at the end of the class, before they leave to be allowed to exit the room. Exit slips are indicators of the effectiveness of the teaching approach and student understanding), or even just to freshen the class up.  This activity is great because it gets the students to hear themselves and their classmates repeat the same words/sounds. Repetition makes perfect.