Exercise 2: MORE SENSITISATION
The exercises in the download below were devised by J C Catford, a phonetician. They are taken from A Practical Introduction to Phonetics(1988, OUP) which contains 122 similar exercises and text which explains all a teacher could ever need to know about how speech sounds are made. We recommend the book highly.
Exercise 34A demonstrates that we change the size of our glottis (the opening in the larynx which air passes through) when we whisper. When we speak, the opening and closing of the vocal folds change the size of the glottis continuously.
Exercise 47 is an example of how we can watch our tongue in action, making the position of the tongue more apparent by changing the direction of the airflow.
Exercise 48 reveals how the tongue creates a /t/ differently if it approaches it from a vowel or from an /l/.
Exercise 49 reveals another part of the articulatory mechanism, of which we are normally unaware.
It is this kind of careful observation that will make you more sensitive to how you make sounds. As a result, you will be better placed to help your students, as you will be able to recognise with more insight what they are doing when they speak English, and will be able to coach them more effectively.
Please share any thoughts you have about these exercises in the Comments section.
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