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In unit 13 we learned about a very difficult topic to teach, as most native speakers don't really learn about it unless they study it formally: Pronunciation and Phonology. I took a linguistics class in college, so I was already familiar with the IPA and how to classify sounds (voiced, unvoiced, fricatives, palatal, alveolar, plosive, etc). I did find it useful though to consider this type of knowledge in the context of teaching English as a language. The tips on how to help students with difficult pronunciation in class were great. It was good to realize that different activities, like choral drills, or even peer dictation, can be of use with helping students out. Intonation, stress, and overall pronunciation problems (like rise/fall sound structures) were also discussed. I learned a lot actually about things that come naturally to native speakers, like falling tone signalling that the person is not looking for a response or doesn't need confirmation. These insights will help me to teach students the things that come "natural" to a language, and hopefully I'll be successful in helping them to just feel the natural music of the language.
