1. Pronunciation Matters: Communicative, Story-Based Activities for Mastering the Sounds of North American English Lynn E. Henrichsen Brent A. Green Atsuko Nishitani Carole Lynne Bagley University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor (1999)

2. Intended Audience: Intermediate and Advanced ESL or EFL Learners Intermediate and Advanced ESL or EFL Learners ESL Teachers ESL Teachers Not targeted to a specific Not targeted to a specific language group

3. Philosophy of Text “Story-based, contextualized approach that provides a wealth of instructional activities that are varied, flexible, and adaptable.” “Story-based, contextualized approach that provides a wealth of instructional activities that are varied, flexible, and adaptable.” Each story focuses on particular sounds and associated differences in meaning. Each story focuses on particular sounds and associated differences in meaning. Communicative approach Communicative approach

4. Two Books and Four Cassettes with 186 Instructional (Pronunciation) Units Vowels Vowels Consonants Consonants Consonant Clusters Consonant Clusters Reduction and Blending Reduction and Blending Word Stress Word Stress Sentence Stress Sentence Stress Intonation Intonation Segmentation (quotations, parentheses, etc.) Segmentation (quotations, parentheses, etc.)

5. Book One: Student Workbook Pronunciation Difficulties Diagnosis Pronunciation Difficulties Diagnosis 186 Pronunciation Units 186 Pronunciation Units –Stories –Contrasting Sentences –Variations on Practice Activities Phonological Explanations Phonological Explanations

6. Book Two: Teacher’s Manual Sample teaching plan outline Sample teaching plan outline Sample teaching script Sample teaching script Peer-teaching cards Peer-teaching cards (minimal pairs in context with illustrations)

7. What I liked: Thorough pronunciation diagnosis tests Thorough pronunciation diagnosis tests with convenient cross-referenced activities Independent units can be tailored to student needs Independent units can be tailored to student needs Great phonological explanations Great phonological explanations

8. What I liked: Lots of activity options Lots of activity options Teaching plan outline Teaching plan outline Contextualized approach keeps things interesting Contextualized approach keeps things interesting Reproducible peer-tutoring cards Reproducible peer-tutoring cards

9. What I didn’t like: Student workbooks are Student workbooks are a little confusing Some strange activities Some strange activities Peer-card stick-people illustrations Peer-card stick-people illustrations Mouth diagrams not very detailed Mouth diagrams not very detailed Technologically-challenged (cassettes?) Technologically-challenged (cassettes?)

10. Unfortunately... Pronunciation Matters is out-of print Pronunciation Matters is out-of print –used copies on Amazon.com –at some libraries But another resource for story-based pronunciation practice is: But another resource for story-based pronunciation practice is: Narrative Activities for the Language Classroom Narrative Activities for the Language Classroom by Ruth Wajnryb Cambridge University Press, 2003

11. Summary: Lots of good ideas for various activities (imitative, rehearsed, extemporaneous) Lots of good ideas for various activities (imitative, rehearsed, extemporaneous) More useful as teacher resource book, not as student workbook More useful as teacher resource book, not as student workbook Best if supplemented Best if supplemented with other materials with other materials