Một số kinh nghiệm giúp học sinh lớp 4 5 trường tiểu học nga bạch phát âm tốt tiếng anh

1. OPENING
1.1. Reasons for choosing the research:
English is considered the common language of the globe. According to the
continuous development of exchanges and international integration as deep as
today, English universalization has become an indispensable thing. It is the key
to open the door to help us access the quintessence, progress in culture,
education, science, technology and many other areas of humanity. Not only
adults want to be able to speak fluently with foreigners, but even small children
want to be able to communicate in English with international friends. Therefore,
the Education and Training sector has conducted a comprehensive renovation of
the curriculum, teaching methods, the quality of English teachers to improve the
quality of teaching and learning.
Previously, Vietnam did not integrate with other countries in the world, the
investment for students to improve English was still limited. But today, in the
integration stage, learning foreign languages is extremely necessary. So, the
need to learn English is very high today. Seeing this importance, the Education
and Training sector brought English teaching and learning right at the primary
level.
As we all know, the ultimate nature of language learning is that we can
communicate and even communicate fluently. But looking back at the process of
approaching English language, especially of Vietnamese students - we have
spent a lot of time to learn grammar and vocabulary but forgotten the two most
important skills to be able to communicate proficiently are listening and
speaking skill. So to listen well and speak well, we must have a good phonetic
background. If the pronunciation is correct, all other skills like listening speaking - reading will become a lot easier. Conversely, if the pronunciation is
wrong or unclear, it will make the listener misunderstand or even not understand
what the speaker wants to say.
Compared to secondary and high school students, English teaching and
learning at primary level is still new and difficult, especially the phonetic part.
Determining the importance of phonetics in particular and English in general,
the Ministry of Education and Training is currently implementing the National

Foreign Language Project 2020 to improve foreign language capacity for
English teachers in the country. In fact, after nearly ten years of teaching, I have
found that students' communication skills are limited, this is because their
pronunciation is not good. To overcome this situation, I researched and studied a
number of measures to improve pronunciation for students. This is the reason I
chose the topic of experience innovation: "Some experiences to help students
in grade 4 and 5 of Nga Bach Primary School pronounce English correctly
to communicate effectively".
1.2. Research purposes
Studying this topic, I want to:

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- Find practical solutions to improve the quality and effectiveness of
teaching and learning English in general and pronunciation ability in particular
for Nga Bach Primary School students
- Improve uneven quality between grades.
- Help students have a good phonetic background to be more confident in
communication as well as better learning in later levels.
1.3. Research subjects
Students in grade 4 and 5- Nga Bach Primary School- Nga Son DistrictThanh Hoa Province.
1.4. Research methods
During the implementation process, I applied the following method groups:
Methodology of theoretical research:
- Materials on teaching methodology.
- Materials on phonetic teaching methodology.
- Thematic language games, group activities.
- Regular Training Program.
- Studying the teaching and learning English of Nga Bach Primary School.

Practical research methodology:
- Understanding the teaching and learning of teachers and students,
colleagues.
- Exchange, attend, discuss, talk with my colleagues.
Experimental method:
- Conduct experiential teaching, control, exchanging experiences, assessing
the effectiveness of applying the innovation of content - teaching methods to
pupils in grade 4, 5 at Nga Bach Primary School.
2. CONTENT
2.1. Theorical basis
Nowadays, all primary schools across the country have taught English
programs starting from the 3rd grade and some schools have taught English right
from the 1st grade. At Nga Bach Primary School - where I am working, has and
is applying compulsory English program from grade 3 according to the textbook
program published by the Ministry of Education and Training with a duration of
2 periods per week and grade 1, 2 according to the English elective program.
However, many views that elementary school students are still small, they
have not read and written Vietnamese well yet so it is hard to learn English and
they just need to learn to know, it is not necessary for them to pronounce
correctly as native speakers. But for me, on the contrary, we have to teach them
to speak correctly and right from when they start to learn English. Because the
old people often say: "Young bamboo is easy to bend" and partly due to personal
experience from many years of teaching elementary school students, I clearly
see the drawbacks of students. If the teacher neglects to correct the
pronunciation errors, does not give instructions to pay attention to the stress,
intonation in the sentence when listening to other people correctly pronounce,
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they will not recognize and understand what the other person is saying. On the

other hand, students will be embarrassed not to know whether their teachers are
teaching correctly or that other teachers are teaching correctly, it makes them
shy and not confident in communication. And the fact that there are many
teachers who often pronounce English sounds exactly the same to Vietnamese
sounds, and usually do not pronounce the ending sounds of the words, it leads to
the students also mispronounced. So long into a habit that is difficult to fix.
Many students learn English at other extra classes with many different teachers.
They have a comparison of pronunciation of the teachers. They do not know if
their teachers pronounce correctly or other. This I have met a lot and it made
students very confused.
For effective English pronunciation learning, it is necessary to regularly
listen and practice pronunciation according to the standard reading of native
speakers and teachers. In addition, learners should be equipped with some basic
knowledge of how to pronounce English. “But English pronunciation rules are
not simple. And English is also not one of those languages that people can rely
on the syllables in the word to decide to accentuate. Many authors of English
have said that English word stress is difficult to predict so the best way is that
we should consider marking the word stress as a characteristic of each word and
when learning each word, we must learn how to mark the stress of that word.
This is a valid view and nothing is exaggerated.”[5]
Therefore, the problem is that teachers must have a good phonological
background, study appropriate methods to help students pronounce English well.
2.2. Reality
Nga Bach Primary School is recognized as a second-grade national
standard school and is highly concerned, supported English teaching and
learning by parents and departments. Besides, the textbook program with
knowledge content is suitable for students' real life and has many beautiful
pictures, easy to attract students, creates excitement for students. Moreover, the
development of science and technology helps teachers get more resources to
teach more effectively. In addition, teachers are very enthusiastic, responsible,

eager to learn, always cultivate professional knowledge.
But through the teaching practice for many years, I realized that the quality
of English at primary level is not high. The students often say: learning English
is too difficult, especially pronunciation. By withdrawing my own practical
experience, exploring, investigating and consulting students, I noticed some
causes of the limitations:
- For the teachers: teaching in a large group (usually a class has about 30
students or more), the level of awareness has many different levels, teaching
aids are not synchronized. These distract students 'concentration, greatly impact
on skills training for students, slow down the process of acquiring students'
knowledge. In addition, when at the university, the teachers did not learn much
and specialize in pronunciation, the background of English teachers' phonetic
knowledge is limited, they do not master the pronunciation of all English
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sounds, so it is very difficult to teach students to pronounce correctly and
exactly.
- For the students: because they are in rural areas, the practical application
of what they learn in everyday communication is limited. They do not have the
opportunity to communicate with foreigners to use what they have learned.
Besides, they are not aware of the importance of this subject. Students go to
class are compulsory because English is a subject in the curriculum. Many
children are afraid of making mistakes, so they do not dare to speak, do not dare
to practice in front of the crowd. In addition, students in Nga Bach are affected
by the local accent, so English pronunciation is not good. And because in
English there are many different sounds than Vietnamese, it is very difficult for
them to pronounce correctly. In addition, the children are at a very playful age,
so they have no sense of self-review at home. Moreover, in rural areas, the
majority of parents do not know English so they cannot help them revise at

home.
Because of the above situations, the quality of teaching and learning
English of students has not achieved high results as expected. At the beginning
of the school year 2018-2019, I got students in grade 4 and 5 to do the test and
here is the result of speaking skill:
Total of
Grade
students

Mark 9-10

Mark 7-8

Mark 5-6

Mark < 5

SL

%

SL

%

SL

%

SL

%

4

126

12

9,5

35

27,8

56

44,4

23

18,3

5

117

10

8,5

30

25,6

57

48,8

20

17,1

Looking at the table of figures, we see that the number of students scoring
at 9-10 is small, while the number of students scoring at 5-6 and below 5 is high.
Therefore, I have studied and proposed solutions to overcome the above
limitations in order to improve the quality of English teaching and learning in
Nga Bach Primary School in general and students’ pronunciation in particular.
2.3. Solution
During the teaching process, I realized that students still had many
difficulties in pronunciation. As I said above, pronunciation plays a very important
role in learning foreign languages in general and English in particular. The
pronunciation is considered to be the basis of communication, which is the basis for
the learners' speaking and listening skills. Good pronunciation, learners will be
more confident when speaking and listening better. The question is why many of us
learn English for a very long time but cannot communicate with native speakers,
we say they do not understand or misunderstand what we want to say and vice
versa. Therefore, if the pronunciation is wrong, or not remember the pronunciation,
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especially with words that are difficult to pronounce or words with many syllables,
it will make the students less confident when speaking which leads to poor English
speaking and poor listening. Due to can not read, they will have heavy psychology,
do not want to read and became more and more inferior. As a teacher, I always try
to motivate and encourage students and especially create a comfortable
atmosphere, use lively and funny visual images to introduce words or sentences to
make students excited to learn and like to talk more.
So how to help students pronounce English better? This is a question asking
English teachers in general and myself in particular to answer with many
different methods to help students pronounce and practice pronunciation better.
And when teaching phonetics we have to focus on the three main parts: teaching
individual sound, the stress of the word and intonation in the sentence. So I have
come up with the following methods:
2.3.1. Help students pronounce English well through using the
international phonetic alphabet- IPA
I realize that, for primary students, the English phonetic system is too new
and complicated. In Vietnamese, if we memorize the alphabet, we can
pronounce all the words. But in English there is very little connection between
the alphabet and the transcription. There are only 26 letters but there are 44
sounds. A letter can make a lot of sounds and vice versa many different letters in
different words have the same pronunciation. Besides, there are many sounds in
English that there are not in Vietnamese and English is different from
Vietnamese, so students have difficulties in English pronunciation. So in order to
avoid confusion between sounds and letters, we have to introduce the phonetic
alphabet to students because in English there is a difference between writing and
reading. There are a lot of people wondering whether in English it can be spelled
as in Vietnamese? The answer is yes if we master the sounds in the international
phonetic alphabet. So let's find out what an international phonetic alphabet is.

The international phonetic alphabet- IPA
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IPA or International Phonetic Symbols is a system of phonetic symbols
created and used by linguists to represent syllables in all human languages in a
precise and separate way. The international phonetic alphabet is used in learning
a new language for pronunciation and listening ability. It is also used in voice
training for actors to have an inspiring voice or change the tone of the language.
IPA can help to use mouth, lips, teeth, tongue position and how to control
airflow to produce standard sound when learning a foreign language.
Similar to the Vietnamese spelling table, the IPA international phonetic
alphabe has 44 sounds including vowels and consonants. The above three lines
are vowels, the following three lines are consonants. The vowel consists of 20
sounds that are divided into 2 halves, on the left is monophthongs (there are 12
monophthongs), on the right is dipthongs - assembled by 2 monophthongs (there
are 8 dipthongs). Monophthongs will be arranged in pairs, with the opening of
the mouth growing from top to bottom. Vowels with /: / beside are long vowels.
Consonants include 24 sounds, including non-vibrating consonants and vibrating
sub-sounds (voiceless and voiced sounds).
After grasping the international phonetic alphabet, students will distinguish
the difference between spelling and pronounciation. They will read better when
looking at the transcription of that word in the dictionary.
2.3.2. Teach sounds in conjunction with practising words and sentences
The biggest reason why we can't learn English is we have learned FALSE.
We learn the wrong pronunciation, the wrong method so the more we learn, the
more wrong we are, then the correction will take a lot of time and effort.
Remember when learning English we must be determined to read correctly. Why
we must read correctly? Read right to communicate. What is the benefit of
learning without speaking? Read correctly to practise the muscles of the mouth.

Our English is not fluent because our mouth muscles are hard. Read exactly to
listen easily. Native speakers read correctly, you also read correctly, so it will be
easy for you to recognize the words that they say.
So, the first important thing is that we have to teach students to pronounce
each sound exactly. Learning to pronounce each syllable correctly, you will be
able to pronounce each word correctly and then to higher levels are phrases and
sentences. You will not encounter the situation you say you understand. Besides,
you will understand the pronunciation of a new word by searching it in the
dictionary and combining the sounds to pronounce the words correctly.
To teach a sound and make it easy for students to acquire and pronounce,
we follow the following process:
Presentation:
- The teacher lets students listen to the recording made by native speakers
several times
- The teacher reads aloud a few times, students listen
- The teacher writes that sign of the sound on the board
- The teacher hangs the diagram showing the pronunciation of the sound
and then describes how to pronounce to the students to understand
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(how the position of teeth, lips, tongue ... is)
- Ask students to read in chorus, in groups and finally call some of them to
read it again.
Practice:
- The teacher turns on the tape for students to hear the words that contain
that sound and then the sentence twice. Students listen.
- The teacher reads words and sentences again, students listen
- Then the teacher asks the whole class to look, listen and repeat in unison,
then in groups and individuals

- In the process of students' practice, the teacher monitors and corrects the
mistakes.
Production:
- The teacher can offer some games or activities to reinforce knowledge,
help students practice and memorize sounds. Such as :
Silent sounds: teachers will pronounce without sound the sounds they are
learning. Students observe the teacher's mouth movement and guess what the
teacher is saying. The teacher then divides the class into groups of 3-4 to play in
the same way.
One or Two (or three): the teacher writes on the board two or three
international transcriptions, and numbers one, two or three, respectively. After
that the teacher reads the words one by one and the students listen and guess that
word contains which sound then say 1, 2, or 3.
Minimal Pairs: The teacher writes the same pairs of sounds on the board,
students list similar pairs of words that contain those sounds.
Missing words: the teacher gives some sentences in which one word is
missed, then reads the sentences, the students listen and write the missing word
in the blank (the missing word is the word containing the sounds being learnt).
Circle the odd one out: students circle the word with the underlined part
being pronounced differently from the other words.
Find out the words: teachers write phonetic transcription of some words
that contain learning sounds, students look at phonetics to write the right words.
Example:
In Unit 11- Lesson 3 - Part 1,2,3- Grade 4 Students’ book 2.
When teaching 2 sounds / ʊ / and / u: /, I teach the following process:
Presentation:
- The teacher has students listen to the recording the / ʊ / sound 2 times
- The teacher lets the students listen and repeat twice
- The teacher pronounces the /ʊ/ sound 2 times, students listen and observe
teacher’s mouth.

- The teacher writes / ʊ / on the board
- The teacher hangs the description diagram of the /ʊ/ sound and explain
how to make sound /ʊ/:

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The diagram depicting the pronunciation of the /ʊ/ sound
When pronouncing, the mouth is rounded a little, the lips are slightly
forward, back of the tongue is up little in the oral cavity and pronounced fast.
This is a short vowel. (pronounced like sound / ua / in Vietnamese but faster and
shorter).
- Students listen and the whole class repeat again, then in groups and
individuals
- The teacher monitors and corrects the mistakes for students.
Practice:
- The teachers reads the words containing sound / ʊ / - cook, book; students
listen and repeat in unison, groups and individuals.
- The teacher reads the sentences with words containing sound / ʊ /;
students listen and repeat.
My mother cooks at six o’clock.
Your book is on the table.
- The teacher shows students how to identify sound / ʊ /: letters that come
together often make up the / ʊ / sound, such as: u / oo / ou / o
Example: woman /'wʊmǝn/, foot /fʊt/ , sugar /'ʃʊgǝr/ , should /ʃʊd/
With the sound / u: /, the teacher teaches the same process
When pronouncing the sound / u: /, we first pronounce the sound / ʊ/, but
the mouth is more rounded, the lips are forward, then back of the tongue is up
and retracted behind in the oral cavity, make it longer . We will get the sound / u:
/. This is a long vowel.

The diagram depicting the pronunciation of the /u:/ sound
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- The teacher shows students how to identify sound / u: /: letters that come
together often make sound / u: /, such as: oo / ou / oe / u / ue / ew
Example: too /tu:/ , group /gru:p/, shoe /ʃu:/ , blue /blu:/
- The teacher asks the class to pronounce the two sounds again, then call a
3-4 students to pronounce and show the differences.

Phonetic lesson of students in class 4A - Nga Bach Primary School
Production:
- In order for students to memorize the 2 sounds, I have students work in
groups of 4 to write words containing sound /ʊ/ and /u:/, then call the
representatives of 2 groups to go to the board and write their words.

Students in Class 4A are working in groups of 4 to write words containing
sound /ʊ/ and /u:/
- Then the teacher and the whole class check and remark.
After students have known the pronunciation of each sound correctly, I
noticed they pronounce it better. In addition, when they look at the transcription
of a word in the dictionary, they can read it.

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2.3.3. Teach communication in conjunction with the correct
pronunciation
When the students have mastered the pronunciation of each sound, the

matching of sounds to read words will be very easy and simple like that in
Vietnamese. But there is another thing here: in English, if the word has 2 or
more syllables, it must be read with accent. And in English there are 2 types of
accents, they are word stress and sentence stress.
* Word stress:
First of all, we have to explain for students what the word stress is. A
word with two or more syllables will have accent. The stress of a word is a
syllable of the word that is read stronger, longer and higher than the other
syllables. The word stress is always fixed. English accents are very important,
what will happen if the accent is wrong? That is:
- Can change the meaning of the word. With the same word, the position of
the stress changes will change the word form and the meaning of the word.
Example: : with the word “record”, if we stress on the first sound / ri'kɔrd /
then it is a verb and means to register sound .
If we stress on the second sound / 'rekǝrd / then it is a noun and means
information or data on particular subject collected and preserved.
- It will be difficult for the listeners to listen, and they may misunderstand or
do not understand the meaning of the speaker.
- Even the listeners will feel disregarded, ridiculous or even the conversation
can be obstructed.
Word stress in English is divided into four categories. They are primary stress,
secondary stress, tertiary stress and weak stress. However, English 4 and 5 only
refers to a type of stress that is the primary stress with the sign “ ' ”
Example: 'elephant, e'normous, kanga'roo, 'visit
Because each lesson has only 35-40 minutes, the teacher does not have time
to explain all the accent rules. Moreover, the students are primary school
students, so they cannot understand all of the rules, they only grasp the stress of
words in books and simple rules. In order to remember the word stress, students
have to practise a lot.

Students in class 5A are learning the word stress
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When teaching the word stress, I often do the following process:
- Have students listen to the tape twice to identify the stress of the words,
then ask the students to repeat it twice
- Call some children to read it again
- Have the students listen to the sentences that contain the words and repeat,
then call some students to read them again
- When students read the words, the teacher one finger to make an accent
symbol then write the words on the board with their phonetic transcription and
accents so students look at that to read easily.
The teacher gives some rules to emphasize accent (in the rules there will be
exceptions):
Rules
Example
A word has only one main stress.
PIlot, MOther, PHARmacy
2 - syllable nouns and adjectives often
have the stress on the first syllable.

DOCtor, CLEver

2-syllable verbs usually have the accent
on the second syllable
If the noun and verb have the same
spelling, then we stress on the first syllable
when it is noun, stress on the second
syllable when it is the verb.

The words end by is -ic, -ion, -tion, we
press the accent in the sound just before it.

to enJOY, to inVITE.

The words with the end is: -cy, -ty, -phy,
-gy, -al, we press the stress on the 3rd
syllable from the ending syllable
Compound nouns, accent is in the first
word

phoTOgraphy

PREsent, preSENT

teleVIsion

BOOKshop, HOMEwork

Compound adjectives, accent is in the
second word

HardWORking

Compound verbs, accent is in the
second word

underSTAND

When checking the lesson, the teacher can give students the exercises such

as:
Mark the word stress: the teacher give some words to ask students to mark
the stress of those words.
Example: Look at the words. Write them with stress marks (') and say them
aloud – unit 18 – grade 4:
ruler, invite, repeat, hungry, jacket, complete, enjoy, trousers
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- Teacher lets students work in pairs to put stress marks then calls 2 students
go to the board and write.
- Teacher calls some other students to remark.
- Teacher asks students to explain the reason.
- Teacher gives remark and correct answer.
- Teacher has students to read the words aloud.
(answer key: 'ruler, in'vite, re'peat, 'hungry, 'jacket, com'plete, en'joy,
'trousers)
Circle the odd one out: the teacher gives a number of words that ask
students to circle the word with an accent in a different position than the other
words.
* Sentence stress:
Similarly, in a sentence, the important words conveying the content and
intention of the speaker will be said more clearly, stronger, higher and press
more than the remaining words. That is the sentence stress.
Each sentence usually has at least one stress, but sometimes a sentence may
have two or more stresses, depending on the length of the sentence or depending
on the meaning the speaker wishes to convey to the listener. A sentence like
“What is your hobby?”. There may be two stresses, one in “What” and one in
“hobby”. A short answer like “Yes, she does.” can have two stresses, one in
“Yes” and one in “does”.

Sentence stress is not fixed as word stress. It changes depending on the
context of the sentence and the meaning of the speaker wants to move to the
listener.
Example: I went to the zoo with my mother yesterday.
When we emphasize stress on the word I, we want to answer the question
“Who went to the zoo?” – “I went to the zoo.”
When we stress the word went, we want to answer the question “What did
you do yesterday?” – “I went to the zoo.”
When we stress the word zoo, we want to answer the question “Where did
you go?” – “I went to the zoo.”
When we stress on the word mother, we want to answer the question “Who
did you go with?” – “I went with my mother.”
When we stress on the word yesterday, we want to answer the question
“When did you go to the zoo?” – “I went to the zoo yesterday.”
In order for the students to understand the sentence stress, the teacher must
also let students listen to the tape regularly with a standard native voice and
repeat it many times.

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Students in Class 5A are practicing listening to the accent of the sentence
The process of teaching sentence stress is similar to word stress. After that,
the teacher explains why the words are pressed and gives the rule to accentuate
the sentence.
- The words containing the main content will be stressed. Those are the
following types of words:
+ Noun: for example: in the sentence "I have a headache", the word
"headache" will be stressed.
+ Main verb: for example, in the sentence "Tom’s reading", the word

“reading” will be stressed.
+ Adjective: for example, in the sentence “She’s kind”, the word “kind”
will be stressed.
+ Adverb: for example, in the sentence "They roared loudly", in addition to
the main verb "roared", the word "loudly" is also stressed.
+ The form of negative meaning: for example, in the sentence "I never
late for school" the word "never" will also be stressed
+ The words used in Wh-questions are: What, Where, How, Why, When,
Which, Who ... for example, in the sentence "What are you reading", the word
"what" is also stressed
+ Words express emotions: wow, oh, hey ...for example: in the sentence
“Wow! Your bedroom is beautiful.”, “wow” is also stressed.
The remaining types of words will not be stressed, which are functional
words, such as:
+ Pronouns: I, We, You, They, He, She, It
+ Objective pronouns: me, us, you, them, him, her, it
+ Possessive Adjectives: my, our, your, their, his, her, its
+ Articles: a, an, the
+ Auxiliary verbs: do, does, did, will, would, can, can not, should ...
+ Conjunctions: and, but, if ...
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+ Prepositions: in, on, at ...
To help students grasp sentence stress, teacher gives some exercises such
as: mark the sentence stress.
Example: Mark the sentence stress (') on the wordss. Then say the
sentences aloud. (Unit 7- grade 5- Students’ book).
1. How do you practise reading? I read English comic books.
2. How do you practise listening? I watch English cartoons on TV.

3. Why do you learn English? Because I want to sing English songs.
4. Why do you learn English? Because I want to read English comic books.
- Teacher lets students work in pairs to put stress marks then calls 2 students
go to the board and write.
- Teacher calls some other students to remark.
- Teacher asks students to explain the reason.
- Teacher remarks and gives the correct answer.
- Teacher has students to read the sentences aloud.
Answer key:
1. 'How do you 'pracrise 'reading? I 'read 'English 'comic 'books.
2. 'How do you 'pracrise 'listening? I 'watch 'English car'toons on 'TV.
3. 'Why do you 'learn 'English? Be'cause I 'want to 'sing 'English 'songs.
4. 'Why do you 'learn 'English? Be'cause I 'want to 'read 'English 'comic
'books.
After the students have understood the stress of the words and sentences,
they have correctly read the accents. They no longer read without the accent like
they did before so they can express their feelings, intentions exactly that help
them communicate better.
2.3.4. Help students grasp the intonation of sentences
Intonation is the "melody" of the language. Intonation is expressed in the up
and down of the voice. Intonation is very important when we express meaning,
especially in describing our attitude (surprised, happy, sad....). The importance
of intornation in English can be compared to the importance of tone in
Vietnamese. The word “Ba” will change according to the tone that we use: “Ba Bà - Bá - Bả - Bã - Bạ”. In Vietnamese, we often raise the voice at the end of
the question. But in English, depending on the type of question, we can raise or
lower our voice at the end of the sentence. However, in daily communication
people use a variety of “sub” intonation to express their different ideas
accurately. In the primary school, English program, especially in the grade 5
program, there are two main types of intonation: “Rising intonation” and
“Falling intonation”.

While teaching intonation, the teacher should let students listen to the tape
several times to grasp and imitate the intonation of the sentence. To express the
intonation of a sentence, the teacher can use the hands to perform.
The teacher guides students to be aware of the two basic intonations:
- Rising Intonation: when we raise our voice at the end of the sentence, we
create a rising intonation. Rising intonation is used in Yes / No questions. Yes /
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No questions are questions that we can answer with either Yes or No. Rising
intonation with the symbol is often used (
).
Example : Would you like some noodles?
Can you sing?
Raise our pitch at the end of a phrase to indecate an unfinished thought, or
series of words or choices:
Example:
Would you like some noodles or some rice?
I like football, basketball and table tennis.
- Falling intonation: when we lower our voice at the end of the sentence, we
produce a falling intonation. Falling intonation is often expressed the ending and
affirmative. Falling intonation is used in statements and WH –questions, such as
Where, What, Why, When, Who, How, Which ... Falling intonation with the
symbol is often used (
).
Example:
What does your mother look like?
My birthday is on the twenty- third of October.
In order for students to master the sentence intonation, I let them listen to the
tape and repeat three times and give some exercises, ask them to draw up or

down arrows to show intonation of the sentences.
Example: Ask students to draw the up and down arrow to show intonation of
sentences in the following conversation – part 1- Lesson 2- unit 15- Grade 5Students’ book 2.
Linda: What would you like to be in the future, Mai?
Mai: I’d like to be a writer.
Linda: Why would you like to be a writer?
Mai: Because I’d like to write stories for children.
Linda: Would you like to be a writer too, Tony?
Tony: No. I’d like to be a pilot.
Linda: A pilot? Why?
Tony: Because I’d like to fly a plane.
- Teacher lets students work in pairs then calls 2 students go to the board and
write.
- Teacher calls some other students to remark.
- Teacher asks students to explain the reason.
- teacher remarks and gives the correct answer.
- Teacher has students to read the sentences aloud with right intonation.
- After that, teacher will let students play Linda, Mai and Tony to practice the
dialogue.
Answer key:
Linda: What would you like to be in the future, Mai?
Mai: I’d like to be a writer.
Linda: Why would you like to be a writer?
Mai: Because I’d like to write stories for children.
Linda: Would you like to be a writer too, Tony?
15


Tony: No. I’d like to be a pilot.
Linda: A pilot? Why?

Tony: Because I’d like to fly a plane.
When they practice like this, students not only remember the new words,
sentence patterns, but also improve their speaking skill, they can speak better,
express their emotions and attitudes. Since then, it will help them become more
confident in communication.
2.3.5. Guide students to pronounce the ending sounds
In English, to pronounce a word correctly, we cannot ignore the last
consonant of that word. Our Vietnamese does not have the last syllable, in
English there are many words with the last syllable. The ending sound in
English is the same as the mark in Vietnamese, if the pronunciation is not clear,
it will be misleading.
Example:
With the words "nine"(number 9), "nice" (good, beautiful), "night"
(evening), "knife" (knife), most students read "nai" and ignore all their ending
sounds. Meanwhile the last sound of “nine” is / n /, the last sound of "nice" is /
s /, the last sound of "night" is / t /, the last sound of "knife" is / f /.
So if we don't pronounce the ending sound, the listener will not understand
what we want to say.
And one very wrong thing in teaching and learning English is that many
people often translate English sounds into Vietnamese ones.
Example: with the word "road" instead of having to read / rǝʊd / (the last
sound is "d"), many people read similar to "rốt". Or the word "place", must read
"pleis" - the last sound is "s", then many people read "p-lết".
That's the reason we say native speakers do not understand or they say we
do not understand either. Therefore, right from the beginning teaching words, I
always pay attention to the ending sound of the word, emphasize and guide the
students how to pronounce. It is the best way that we pronounce syllables one by
one and then join them together. Remind and promptly correct for them, form
the habit of pronouncing the ending sound for them.
In addition to the last sound of the original word, in English there are two

ending sounds that students need to master when pronouncing. They are "s, es"
and "ed" ending sounds.
*How to pronounce words ending in “s, es”
In English, countable nouns when converted to plural form are often added
's' or' es' to the end of the word, and verbs that go with third-person singular in
the present tense are also added 's' or “es” to the end of the word .
The way this ending is pronounced depends on the last sound of the noun
and verb. There are three different ways to pronounce them. They are /s/, /iz/
and /z/.
- If 's' comes after the sounds: / p /, / k /, / f /, / t /, / θ / or the letters p, k, f,
gh, t, then it is pronounced as /s/.
Example : look - looks /lʊks/, stop - stops /stɒps/, book - books /bʊks/
16


- If 'es' comes after the / s /, / z /, / ʃ /, / tʃ /, / dʒ /, / ʒ / or the letters ce, se,
ge, ch, sh, x, z, s, ss, it is pronounced as / iz /.
Example: wash - washes / 'wɒʃiz/, house - houses /'haʊsiz/, place –
places / 'pleisiz/
- If 's' comes after the remaining sounds like / b /, / l /, / m /, / r /, / v /, / d /, /
n /, / g /, then it is pronounced as / z /.
Example: pens /penz/ , lives /livz/
- If ‘s’, ‘es’ come after the vowel, they are pronounced / z /.
Example: play - plays /pleiz/, go - goes /gǝʊz/, do - does/ dʌz/
*How to pronounce words ending in “ed”:
We add "ed" to all the verbs with rules in the past tense. The "ed" ending
may also appear in some adjectives such as "bored", "interested" ... And there
are three ways to pronounce it. They are / id /, / t / and / d /.
- First, if "ed" comes after the / t / and / d / sounds, it will be pronounced
as /id /.

Example: point - pointed /'pɔintid/, need - needed /'ni:did/, visit visited /'vizitid/
- Second, "ed" is pronounced as / t / when it comes after the voiceless
sounds like / f /, / k /, / p /, / s /, / ʃ /, / tʃ / or after the letters k, p, f, ce, ch, sh, s,
ss, x, gh.
Example: dance - danced /da:nst/, cook - cooked /kʊkt/, watch watched /wɒtʃt/.
- Third, "ed" ending is pronounced as / d / when it follows the sounds like /
b /, / g /, / l /, / m /, / n /, r /, v /, / z /, / dʒ / and the vowels.
Example: listen - listened /'lisnd/, play - played / pleid/.
I see that after students have mastered the last syllable, when they read,
they have noticed the pronunciation of the ending sound of the word, they have
read the word better, more correctly and their listening and speaking skills are
also better .
2.3.6. Help students understand how to link sounds
It is extremely easy to read individual words. However, in communication,
native speakers do not read / speak individual words but they tend to read
quickly and connect words in their speech. They often connect words while
speaking by linking the last sound of the previous word to the first sound of the
next word. If we know how to connect sounds, when speaking, it will sound
more natural, smoother, softer and better. That is why, when I teach, I always
guide students the rules to link the sounds, read samples and use symbols to
show them clearly where to connect.
The rules of linking sounds:
- Connect a consonant to a vowel: when a word ends with a consonant and
the next word begins with a vowel, we can connect the final consonant to the
next vowel. It likes the second word starts with a consonant. This is the most
common and easiest rule.
Example: hands up = hand sup,
I like it = I likit
17

Or in the sentence "There is a book on the table". We will connect the "r"
sound of the word "there" to the "i" sound of "is", the "z" sound of "is" with the
"ǝ" sound of "a", the "k" sound of the word "book" with the "ɔ" sound of "on"
Or in the sentence: "What time is it?", We will connect the "m" sound in the
word "time" with the "i" sound in the word "is", the "z" sound in the word "is"
with the "i" sound in the word" it ".
- Connect a consonant to a consonant: When the final consonant of a
word is the same as the first consonant of the following word, we only need to
pronounce that consonant once. The final consonant of the first word will not be
exploded and aspirated. The first consonant of the second word will be exploded
and aspirated.
Example:
black car = bla car
orange juice = oran juice
The same rule applies for the consonant in the same group. The ending
consonant sounds on the first word will not be exploded and aspirated. The
beginning consonant sound of the second word will be expoded and aspirated.
They are:
+ Lip - tooth consonant group: / p /, / b /, / m /, / f /, / v /
Example: five pots = fi pots, stop moving = sto moving
+ Tongue - tooth consonant group: / t /, / d /, / s /, / z /, / ʃ /, / ʒ /, / tʃ /, / ʤ /
Example: hot dog = ho dog
+ Throat - tongue consonant group: / k /, / g /, h /, / ŋ /
Example: sing clearly = si clearly
- Connect a vowel to a vowel: if a word ends with a vowel and the next
word begins with a vowel, we won't wars between the two words. We will add /
w / or / j / before the vowel of the second word and read it lightly.
+ Rounded -lip vowel group: / a /, / ɔ: /, / ɒ /, / aʊ /, / ǝʊ /, / u: /, / ʊ / ...:
when a word ends with a rounded vowel and the next word starts with a vowel,

we will add the very slight /w/ sound before the second word.
Example: go out = go wout, do it = do wit
+ Flattened vowel group: / i /, / i: /, / ei /, / e /, / ai /, / æ / ...: when a word
ends with a flat vowel and the next word starting with a vowel, we will add the
very slight / j / sound before the second word:
Example: I am = I jam, buy it = buy jit
After the process of instructing students how to connect sounds, I see they
speak more fluently, sound smoother than they used to.
2.4. Achievement:
The school year 2018-2019, through the process of applying experience:
"Some experiences to help students in grade 4 and 5 of Nga Bach Primary
School pronounce English correctly to communicate effectively", I myself
have achieved some very good results. First of all, these experiences are very
suitable for new programs and textbooks. Students are more interested in
learning, more active and they are no longer shy, afraid to speak, or afraid to
read. I still remember that the first time students started to learn how to
18


pronounce when I pronounced, they all laughed because normally when we
speak Vietnamese, we do not use the mouth muscles much and the position of
teeth, lips, tongue but English is different. So they find it very strange and
difficult to imitate, so they often pronunce incorrectly. And when I ask students
to stand up, they are very shy and don't dare to read aloud. Second, when they
get used to learing pronunciation, they are very interested in English lessons.
Moreover, there are many students who practice a lot and pronounce very well.
The atmosphere becomes more lively and gentle. Besides this, they enhance the
pupils’feelings of security, achievement and confidence in using English. They
no longer hesitate to learn English.
Their progress is reflected in the following results:

The result of the second mid-term test – speaking skill – the school year
2018-2019

Grade

Total of
students

Mark 9-10
SL

Mark 7-8

Mark 5-6

Mark < 5

%

SL

%

SL

%

SL

%

4

126

30

23,8

47

37,3

43

34,1

6

4,8

5

117

28

23,9

45

38,5

39

33,3

5

4,3

Through the above data table, we can see that the number of students
scoring at 9-10 has greatly increased, the number of students scoring 7-8 has
also increased significantly, the number of students scoring at 5-6 and below 5
has markedly reduced. Thus, the application of my experience is very effective.
3. CONCLUTION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
3.1. Conclution:
We should remember that we are not native speakers so we cannot
pronounce exactly the same as they do. So we need to try to pronounce
correctly, speak naturally, it will be okay. To do like that is not easy. Through the
process of applying "Some experiences to help students in grade 4 and 5 of
Nga Bach Primary School pronounce English correctly to communicate
effectively”, I found that teaching phonetics to elementary students is not easy
at all. It requires teachers not only to have good phonological knowledge but
also have teaching methods that are creative, flexible, easy-to-understand and
easy-to-learn for students. And in the process of teaching, teachers should pay
attention to correcting pronunciation mistakes for students more and more
regularly.
19

3.2. Recommendations:
Derived from the theoretical, practical and teaching purposes as well as the
successes and limitations in the topic implementation, contributing to the
teaching of English in general and teaching phonetics in particular to achieve
quality and more improved, I myself have the following practical
recommendations:
- Toward the school:
+ As a typical subject, English studying should have a separate room to
avoid noise. Classrooms must be large enough for students to learn and move
easily.
+ The maximum number of students should be about 25.
+ The school needs to provide more visual aids, radios, tapes, reference and
advanced books for teachers.
- Toward superior leaders: It is necessary to create conditions for teachers to
have opportunities to exchange and learn and share experiences through
seminars.
COMFIRM OF PRINCIPAL
..........................................................
..........................................................
..........................................................
..........................................................
..........................................................
..........................................................
..........................................................
..........................................................
..........................................................

Nga Son, April 19th 2019
I guarantee that the experience

initiative is written by myself
without coppying.
WRITER

Mỵ Thị Phương

20


REFERENCES
1. Ship or Sheep? / An intermediate pronunciation course/ Third
edition, Ann Baker.
2. How to teach Pronunciation, Gerald Kelly, Pearson Longman,
2000
3. Tips for teaching Pronunciation: A Practical Approach, Linda Lane,
Pearson Longman, 2010.
4. English Phonology and Pronunciation Teaching, Pamela RogersonRevell, Continuum International Publishing Group, 2011.
5. Nguyễn Kim Hiển, Hướng dẫn ôn tập thi tốt nghiệp THPTnăm
2010-2011.
6. Tài liệu từ các trang web:


/>
THE LIST OF EXPERIENCE INITIATIVES HAS BEEN RATED GRADE
C OR HIGHER BY THE PROVINCIAL COUNCIL FOR EDUCATION
AND TRAINING.
21


Full name: My Thi Phuong

Position and work unit: English teacher

Order

1.

2.

3.

Title of the initiative
Some methods to
improve the
effectiveness of
teaching and learning
new words for primary
students
Some measures to help
teaching and learning
English effectively for
students in grade 3 of
Nga Bach Primary
School
Some measures to
improve the
effectiveness of
teaching and learning
English vocabulary for
students in grade 3 in
Nga Bach Primary

School

Rating rating
District/provincial
education,province.

Rating
results
(A, B,
or C)

Year of
assessment
rating

District education

C

2012-2013

District education

B

2014- 2015

District education

C

2016-2017

TABLE OF CONTENTS

22


Ordinal
number

CONTENTS

PAGE

1.

Opening

1

1.1

Reasons for choosing the research

1

1.2

Research purposes

1

1.3

Research subjects

2

1.4

Research methods

2

2.

Content

2

2.1

Theorical basis

2

2.2
2.3

3
4

2.3.4

Reality
Solution
Help students pronounce English well through using the
international phonetic alphabet- IPA
Teach sounds in conjunction with practising words and
sentences
Teach communication in conjunction with the correct
pronunciation
Help students grasp the intonation of sentences

2.3.5

Guide students to pronounce the ending sounds

16

2.3.6

Help students understand how to link sounds

17

2.4

Achievement

18

3.

Conclution and Recommendations

19

3.1

Conclution

19

3.2

Recommendations

20

2.3.1
2.3.2
2.3.3

5
6
10
14

23