Recording Dialogues: A Fun Pronunciation Activity!

Pronunciation can be tricky! Here's one activity to help your learner practice their English pronunciation skills.



In this activity, you and your learner will create a recording that includes natural pronunciation they can practice at home.

Sometimes it's hard for learners to practice their pronunciation outside of lessons - they mainly interact with non-English speakers at home. Here's one way for your learner to practice their pronunciation when you're not around. They'll use your pronunciation as a model.

In short, you'll create simple mp3 recordings using either free software or a free online service.

By recording your speech and your learner's attempts to mimic it, you'll help your learner listen for the differences between how you pronounce words and phrases and how they do. Better yet, your learner can listen to and compare your speech with theirs as many times as they want back home, leaving you free to work on other goals during your sessions.

To show you how the technique works, program manager Adam Bolonsky and I created a sample recording of phrases he thought would be useful to him in another language. Since both of us are native English speakers, it wouldn't have been genuine to try to work on English pronunciation. Instead, I decided to help Adam work on his pronunciation of a few crucial French phrases and words! (By the way, his pronunciation is terrible...)

Listen to our activity here and follow along with our sample dialogue:
(Online mp3 recording sample HERE)



          (English Translation)                                         (What we're saying in French)

My name is Adam Bolonsky.	Je m’appelle Adam Bolonsky.
I live in Arlington.	J’habite à Arlington.
I’m fifty-two years old.	J’ai cinquante-deux ans.
I am not married.	Je ne suis pas marié.
I don’t have children.	Je n’ai pas d’enfants.
I have lived with my partner Yvonne for fifteen years.	J’habitais avec ma partenaire Yvonne pendant quinze ans.

Here's how the method works:

1. Write out a short dialogue (5-10 lines) with your learner in English. Explain that you will record this dialogue together and will focus on pronunciation.

2. If you have a built-in microphone on your computer, open up a program to record audio. I recommend Audacity (for Mac or PC), or www.vocaroo.com, which lets you record straight from the web -- no download necessary.

3. Read and record your dialogue as follows:

• The learner speaks the first sentence 
• You repeats the first sentence using your pronunciation
• Do this at a NATURAL PACE. Don't place unnatural stress on difficult words, and avoid unnatural pauses. Basically, say the sentence the way you normally would.
• Then have the learner repeat the first sentence, and try to imitate your pronunciation.  
• Give them only one chance to repeat the sentence!
• After they've repeated the sentence, tell them "good job" and have them read the next sentence.
• Repeat this pattern until you've each recorded every sentence. 

4. Once you've gone through all the sentences, stop recording. Download the recording, or save it as an mp3 file (just like a song in iTunes).

5. Send the downloaded file to your learner so they can listen at home.

The dialogue should be on a topic you and your learner agree upon, using more of their input than yours. Let your learner decide which topics they want to talk about. The dialogue should be short and include phrases that your learner understands. The goal is not for your learner to learn new vocabulary or grammar, but to work on pronunciation. The meaning of every word in the recording should already be familiar to your learner. 

Say each phrase ONLY ONCE. Even if your learner indicates they want to hear a phrase again, do not repeat it. Your learner can listen to the recording at home if they want to hear it again. This helps ensure you do not say the phrase differently the second time around. You should also point to each phrase as you record it, so the learner keeps track of what they are supposed to repeat. For longer sentences, draw ellipses (......)  to indicate natural pauses. 

As always, feel free to contact us if you have any questions!

Happy tutoring!

Catherine Sigmond 
Project Assistant, English At Large 
MA Candidate, Tufts University Department of Education 
catherine@englishatlarge.org


ENGLISH AT LARGE
Literacy and Learning for Life
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