THANH HOA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING NONG CONG HIGH SCHOOL THE STUDY OF TEACHING EXPERIENCE SUBJECT: SOME OF MY EXPERIENCES FOR TEACHING THE SOUNDS /S/-/Z /AND / ʃ / - / ʒ / IN LANGUAGE FORCUS OF UNITS 12,16 ENGLISH 10 AND HOW TO HELP MY STIDENTS DO PRONUNCIATION EXERCISES BETTER By: Nguyễn Thị Oanh Position: Teacher Field: English THANH HÓA, 2016 The study of teaching experiences- 2016 TABLE OF CONTENTS CONTENTS PART I INTRODUCTIONS I REASONS FOR CHOOSING THE TOPICS II AIMS AND REQUIREMENT OF THE STUDY Aims Requirement III SCOPES AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY Scopes Objectives IV METHODS OF STUDYING PART II CONTENTS I THE THEORETICAL BASES OF THE TOPIC Bases Background information The theory of the consonants /s/, /z/, /ʃ/ and /ʒ/ II THE PRACTICAL BASES OF THE TOPIC The real states of the problems Solutions Application Collecting the result of testing and evaluating PART III CONCLUSION I Conclusion: II Some proposals to the leaders REFERENCE BOOKS PAGE 2 2 3 3 4 4 7 12 16 18 18 18 18 PART I: INTRODUCTION Nguyen Thi Oanh - Nong Cong high school The study of teaching experiences- 2016 I REASONS FOR CHOOSING THE TOPIC: As we know, language is a very important mean of communication One of the languages which is used widely all over the world is English because of its interests and advantages In Vietnam, English becomes more and more popular and it is being taught and spoken everywhere In the past, we mainly focused on reading, writing and grammar when learning English Nowadays, speaking and listening skills are becoming important skills To speak English fluently and accurately, I think one of the important things is pronouncing the sounds correctly so pronunciation of the sounds is forced to be taught in language focus periods in new English textbook But in fact, this section is perfunctorily learnt by most of our students because they are not aware of the important role of pronunciation Besides that the pronunciation section is a new part for us- the teachers of English so we have some difficulties when teaching this section Of all the sounds I think the four sounds /s/ ,/z/, / ʃ / and/ ʒ / are the sounds which are difficult to teach because they can make students confuse easily Moreover the exercises on phonetics relating to these sounds appear in the tests more and more and most of my students have difficulty in doing this kind of exercises Because of the reasons above, in this writing I want to share my experiences with you - all of my dear colleagues - the way to teach these sounds I also desire to improve my students’ pronunciation on these sounds and help them to the pronunciation exercises relating to these sound better“ Some experiences for teaching the sounds /s/ - /z/ and / ʃ / - / ʒ / in language focus periods of units 12, 16 English 10 and how to help my students pronunciation exercises better ” II AIMS AND REQUIREMENTS OF THE STUDY: Aims: The first aim of the study is to help my students pronounce the sounds /s/ - /z/ and / ʃ / - / ʒ / accurately The second aim is that through this study I also try to offer some experiences to help students the pronunciation exercises relating to these sounds better The third aim is to improve my students’ listening and speaking skills about the sounds through some exercises I hope my study is also an useful material for you - all of my dear colleagues to solve the problems relating to this aspect Requirements: Nguyen Thi Oanh - Nong Cong high school The study of teaching experiences- 2016 To succeed in the study, the requirement for the topic is that the teacher has to help students know how to pronounce the sounds / s/ ,/z/, / ʃ / and/ ʒ / and exercises correctly Teacher provides them with the best ways to assist them how to pronounce these sounds correctly through the illusions and examples Students have to attend regularly and obey their teacher’s requirements III SCOPES AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY 1.Scopes: As far as we know, teaching how to pronounce and how to the pronunciation exercises is a complicating and difficult area especially the four sounds / s/ ,/z/, / ʃ / and/ ʒ / there are a lot of things to mention so in this study I only focus on the following fields: - Give the definition and how to pronounce these four sounds - How to the pronunciation exercises relating to these sounds - Collect the exercises containing these sounds to help the students practise listening and speaking at home Objectives: As I have said my study is aimed at improving my students’ pronunciation of theses four sounds and help them to solve some difficulties in doing the pronunciation exercises so my objectives of the study are: + My students + English textbook 10 + Some reference books + Some tests of the examinations IV METHODS OF THE STUDY: In this study I have used the following methods + Observing and investigative method + Testing and experimental method + Contrastive and comparative method + Statistic method + Analytic and systematic method Nguyen Thi Oanh - Nong Cong high school The study of teaching experiences- 2016 PART II: CONTENTS I THEORETICAL BASES OF THE STUDY: Bases: - Basing on the message No: 1753/SGD&ĐT- GDCN, No 2113/SGD&ĐT- GDCN a guide how to the study of teaching experience and the scientific research - Basing on the international transcription - Basing on the theory of the vowels and consonants Background information: 2.1 Vowels: What is a vowel? A vowel is a speech of sound in which the airstream from the lungs is not blocked in any way in the mouth or throat and which is usually pronounced which vibration of the vocal cords 2.2 Consonants: 2.2.1 What is a consonant? A consonant is a sound in producing it the airstreams coming from the lungs is stopped, impeded, constricted or otherwise interfered with in its passage to the outside air 2.2.2 How are consonants classed? Consonants are classed as VOICED if they are produced with vibration of the vocal cords and VOICELESS if they are produced without vibration The theory of the consonants /s/, /z/, / ʃ / and / ʒ / : 3.1: /s/ 3.1.1: Description: /s/ is a voiceless apico -alveolar fricative We can hear it at the beginning of a word ( Ex: singer, son …), in the middle of a word ( Ex: mister, asleep .), at the end of a word ( Ex: hiss, loose… ) or at the beginning and end of a word ( Ex: cease …) 3.1.2: How to make the sound /s/ : - Put the tip of the tongue near the alveolar ridge, the sound is articulated between the blade of the tongue and the teeth ridge - The soft palate is raised, the vocal cords are not made to vibrate Nguyen Thi Oanh - Nong Cong high school The study of teaching experiences- 2016 - The teeth are close together, the lips are spread 3.1.3: Spelling: /s/ frequently s ( sad, sing, meets ….) ss ( class, miss, hiss ) c ( place, face …) sometimes notes sc ( science, x can spell /ks/ ( mix, box, scissors… ) exercise ….) s is not always pronounced /s/ ( sugar, rise ……) 3.2: /z/ 3.2.1: Description: /z/ is a voiced apico-alveolar fricative We can hear it at the beginning of a word ( Ex: zoo, zip …) in the middle of a word ( Ex: amazing, surprising …) or at the end of a word ( Ex: buzz, prize …) 3.2.2: How to make the sound /z/ : /z/ is formed exactly like /s/ but the vocal cords are made to vibrate so that the voice is produced 3.2.3: Spelling: frequently sometimes note z ( zero, zinc ….) zz ( buzz … ) x spells /gz/ ( exact, exist s ( nose, music ….) ss ( scissor ….) …) /z/ -se at the end of a word is usually pronounced /z/ ( rise, because ….) 3.2.4: Note: Pronunciation may be connected to grammar /s/ /z/ abuse (n) abuse (v) excuse (n) excuse (v) close (adj) close (v) use (n) use (v) house (n) house (v) grease (n) grease (v) 3.3: / ʃ / Nguyen Thi Oanh - Nong Cong high school The study of teaching experiences- 2016 3.3.1: Description: / ʃ / is a voiceless alveo-platal fricative We can hear it at the beginning of a word ( Ex: sugar, she, shop …) in the middle of a word ( Ex: answer, nation, ashamed ….) at the end of a word ( Ex: fish, cash, wash … ) at the beginning and end of a word ( Ex: shush …) 3.3.2: How to make the sound / ʃ /: - The main body of the tongue is raised at the same time in the direction of the hard palate The tip of the tongue is curved back behind teeth ridge - Push air through the gap The sound is articulated between the blade of the tongue and the back part of the teeth ridge - The soft palate is raised, the vocal cords are not made to vibrate - The teeth are fairly close together, the lips are protruded 3.3.3: Spelling: beginning middle end sh ( shoes, she …) sh ( fashion, ashamed sh ( finish, wash, fish /ʃ/ s ( sugar, sure …) …) …) ss ( Russia) ti ( nation, initial ….) c ( ocean ….) 3.4: / ʒ / 3.4.1: Description: / ʒ / is a voiced alveo-palatal fricative We can hear it in the middle of a word ( Ex: leisure, pleasure, vision …) at the end of a word ( beige, garage ….) We never hear this consonant sound at the beginning of a word 3.4.2: How to make the sound / ʒ /: / ʒ / sound is formed exactly like / ʃ / but with the addition of the voice Nguyen Thi Oanh - Nong Cong high school The study of teaching experiences- 2016 3.4.3: Spelling: middle /ʒ/ su ( treasure, usual …) si ( Asia, television ….) end ge ( garage, beige ….) II PRACTICAL BASES OF THE STUDY: Real states of the problems: + Basing on the investigation and tests when my method hasn’t been applied, the result which I have collected has been shown in the table below Class 10C2 10C5 Total students Good quantity % Quite good quantity % Medium quantity % Low quantity % Very low quantity % 44 45 1 2,3 2,2 14 15 31,8 33,3 17 18 38,6 40 4 18,2 15,6 9,1 8,9 + Through many years of teaching I see that Most of the students pronounced these sounds in the words inaccurately especially when they stand at the end of a word, They also confused /s/ with / ʃ /, /z/ with / ʒ / and they often confused sound /s/ in English with sound “s” in Vietnamese They didn’t also the phonetics exercises relating to these sounds effectively Why? The reasons are that these sounds are difficult sounds They are similar to each other The students didn’t give their whole mind to learn these sounds The time and the exercises for the students to practise are limited Besides that many of us – the teachers of English didn’t attach special importance to teaching phonetics in general and these consonant sounds in particular We didn’t also have a suitable method to teach these sounds Some of us only read and asked their students to repeat when teaching these sounds so we didn’t achieve the good result as we expected Solutions Because of the reasons above my solution to these is “ Some experiences for teaching the sounds /s/ - /z/ and / ʃ / - / ʒ / in language focus periods of units 12, 16 English 10 and how to help my students pronunciation exercises better ” 2.1 The steps of teaching these sounds: Nguyen Thi Oanh - Nong Cong high school The study of teaching experiences- 2016 These four sounds are taught in pairs in the two units 12,16 in English 10 To teach these pairs of sounds I often follow the following steps: - First, I write two sounds on the board and pronounce them clearly twice Ask students to listen and observe - Second, I show the mouth diagram of the sounds and explain how to make these sounds - Third, I pronounce these sounds again and ask students to repeat - Next, I compare the two sounds in some couples of words Ex: /s/ /z/ sink zinc cease sees loose lose course cause … … - Then I read the couples of words and ask students to repeat - And I ask some students to read the couples of words loudly - Finally I give some sentences that contain these sounds, read and ask students to repeat Ex: / ʃ / - /s/ + She sells seashells on the seashore + No one seems to be able to find out the cause of the explosion ……… 2.2 Some experiences help students phonetics exercises relating to the sounds /s/, /z/, /ʃ/, and / ʒ / better There are some letters transcribed into different sounds that make the students confuse easily For examples the letter “s” is pronounced /s/ in “ sing” but it is pronounced / z/ in “ music” or /ʃ/ in “ sugar”…… so in this study I also give out some of my experiences when doing the pronunciation exercises – find out the word that has the underlined part pronounced differently from the others- relating to the sounds /s/, /z/,/ʃ/, and / ʒ / I often teach this part in revisions or in extra-lessons because the time in class is not enough In this part, I often give out some signals to help students this kind of exercises better 2.2.1: If the underlined part is letter “s” Nguyen Thi Oanh - Nong Cong high school The study of teaching experiences- 2016 - “s” is frequently pronounced /s/ Ex: send, insect … but it is pronounced /z/ when it follows “ u, e, ea” Ex: busy, easy, present, desire, reason, preserve … ( Except: measure ) Ex: A music B design C insect D season The correct answer is “C” because in A, B, D “s” follows “u, e, ea” so it is pronounced /z/ - “ s” can spell /ʃ/ in a few words Ex: sugar, sure… Ex: A sugar B sister C sign D singer (Source: The entrance test of Tra Vinh teacher training college - 2003) “s” in B, C, D is pronounced /s/ In A, it is pronounced /ʃ/ so the correct answer is A A sure B this C ask D stop ( Source: The entrance test of Qui Nhon teacher training university 1997-1998 ) The correct answer is A because “s” is pronounced /ʃ/ in “sure” In the others, it is pronounced /s/ - When “s” is followed by “i + vowel”, it is frequently pronounced /ʒ/ Ex: Asia, explosion, revision … Ex: A television B illusion C expensive D Malaysia In A, B, D “s” is followed by “i + vowel” and in C, “s” is followed by “i + consonant” so the correct answer is C - “s” in “-nsion” is frequently pronounced /ʃ/ Ex: pension ['penʃn], expansion [iks'pænʃn] - “s” in “-su-” is pronounced / ʒ / in some words Ex: casual, pleasure, measure, treasure … - “s” is silent when it stands after a vowel sound and before a consonant sound Ex: island ['ailənd], aisle [ail], demesne [di'mein] - “s” is also silent in the word “debris” ['debri:] 2.2.2:If the underlined part is the endings “s,es”: is pronounced /s/ when it follows: /f/, /p/, /t/, /k/, /θ/ Ex: laughs, walks, cups, cats, tenths … is pronounced /iz/ when it follows: /z/, /s/, /dʒ/, / t∫/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/ “s,es Ex: refuses, passes, judges, churches, garages, wishes … is pronounced /z/ when it follows vowels or voiced consonants: /b/, /d/, /g /, /r/, /m/, /n/, /η/, /l/, /r/, /δ/ Ex: boys, lies ways, pubs, words, pigs, loves … Nguyen Thi Oanh - Nong Cong high school 10 The study of teaching experiences- 2016 Ex: A bushes B headaches C researches D wishes ( Source: College entrance exam- 2011) The correct answer is B because headache /'hedeik/ ends by /k/ so “es” is pronounced /s/ The others, “es” is pronounced /iz/ A pens B boots C dogs D lies ( Source: The entrance test of HCM national university 1997-1998) The correct answer is B because boots /bu:t/ end by /t/ so “s” is pronounced /s/ The others, “s” is pronounced /z/ 2.2.3: If the underlined part is the endings “se”: - “se” is pronounced /s/ when it follows /ɪ/, /ɜ:/ ,/aʊ/, /ə/, /n/ , /ei/ … Ex: nurse, sense, promise, mouse, purpose … The others, it is frequently pronounced /z/ Ex: please, disease, excuse, nose, because … Ex: A exercise B base C tense D promise The correct answer is A because “se” follows /ai/ so it is pronounced /z/ The rest, it is pronounced /s/ 2.2.4: If the underlined part is the letters “ss”: - “ss” is frequently pronounced /s/ Ex: class, glass, hiss … ( Except: dessert [di'zə:t]) but when “ss” is followed by “i”, it is frequently pronounced /ʃ/ Ex: discussion, Russian … ( Except: messianic [mesi'ænik], assist [ə'sist]…) Ex: A massage B grass C discuss D discussion D is the correct answer because “ss” is followed by “i” so it is pronounced /ʃ/ The others, it is pronounced /s/ 2.2.5 If the underlined part is letter “x”: - “x” can spell /ks/ when it stands at the end of a word or it is followed by a consonant Ex: box, mix, experience expand … ( Except: exhibit [ig'zibit], exhaust [ig'z˜:st] - “x” can spell /gz/ when it is followed by a vowel Ex: exist, exotic … ( Except: exercise ['eksəsaiz], … ) - “x” is pronounced /kʃ/ in “anxious” ['æηk∫əs], “luxury” ['l—k‘”ri] Ex: A exist B extinct C explorer D expand ( Source: The college entrance test - 2009) A is the correct answer because “x” is followed by a vowel 2.2.6: If the underlined part is letter “c”: - “c” is frequently pronounced /s/ when it stands before “ e, i, y” Ex: place, city, excite, cycle … ( Except: cello, concerto… ) 11 Nguyen Thi Oanh - Nong Cong high school The study of teaching experiences- 2016 - “c” is often pronounced /ʃ/ when it stands before “ea, ie,ia, iu,ious” Ex: ocean, official, delicious, politician …( Except: cease [si:s]…) - “c” is pronounced /tʃ/ in a few words Ex: cello ['tʃelou], concerto [kən'tʃɜ:tou]” - It is pronounced /k/ when it stands before a,o,u and l,r Ex: come, decade … Ex: A Confucian B cease C appreciate D special B is the correct answer because the underlined part is pronounced /s/, the rest, it is pronounced /ʃ/ A cinder B ceiling C cello D celebrate (Source: The entrance test of Phu Tho teacher training college 2003) The correct answer is C because “c” is pronounced /t ʃ/ in “cello” In A, B, D, it is pronounced /s/ 2.2.7: If the underlined part is letter “t”: - “t” is pronounced /ʃ/ when it stands before “ i + vowel” Ex: education, situation ambitious … - The rest, it is pronounced /t/ Ex: detective, teacher, politic … Ex: A initiate B contain C domestic D attentive ( The test for GCSE 2010) The correct answer is A because “t” is followed by “I + vowel” so it is pronounced /ʃ/ The others, it is pronounced /t/ 2.2.8: If the underlined part is letter “z”: - “z” is frequently pronounced /z/ Ex: zero, zip, zoom, zinc , buzz… but when it is followed by “u” it can spell / ʒ/ in a few words: Ex: azure [' æʒə, 'æzjuə], seizure ['si:ʒə] 2.2.9: If the underlined part is letter“ch”: - “ch” is frequently pronounced /tʃ/ Ex: change, church, children … - “ch” can spell /k/ in some words such as: architect, character, characteristic, chracterise, school, chemist, chemistry, chemical, machinate, machinator, machination… - “ch” is pronounced /ʃ/ in a few words such as: machine, machinable, machinably, machining, machinist, machineless, machinelike, machineman … Application: 3.1: Applying this study to teach the pronunciation section in language focus period unit 12 English 10 Nguyen Thi Oanh - Nong Cong high school 12 The study of teaching experiences- 2016 Unit 12: MUSIC (Pronunciation - Language focus) I Objectives: Education Aims: - Students can distinguish the sounds /s/ and /z/ - Students know how to pronounce the sound /s/ and /z/ correctly - students can pronounce the words and sentences containing these sound correctly Knowledge: + Language: - Pronunciation: /s/ and/z/ Skills: + Reading: - Read words and sentences aloud II Anticipated problems: - Students may confuse sound /s/ in English with sound / s / in Vietnamese III Teaching aids: - board, chalk, textbook IV Procedures: Teacher's activities Students' activities Warm-up: ( mins) + Let students play a game Write down a list of the words that contains the - Listen to the teacher sound /s/ or /z/ zoo sad zip learns see music - Call sts to the front of the class - Ask them to stand at equal distance from the board - Play the game - Call out one of the new word in a loud voice - The two sts must run forward and slap the word on the blackboard - The one who slaps the more correct word first is the winner - Lead to the new lesson Pronunciation:( 10 mins) - Aims: to introduce two sounds /s/ and /z / and help sts to practise these sounds Nguyen Thi Oanh - Nong Cong high school 13 The study of teaching experiences- 2016 - Write down two sounds - Listen to the teacher - Listen to the teacher and repeat a Write two sounds on the board and pronounce them clearly twice / z / : a voiced sound / s / : a voiceless sound - Show the mouth diagram of these sounds and explain how to make these sounds - Pronounce these sounds again and ask students to repeat - Give out two sentences containg these sounds for students to practise - Ask them to look at the textbook, listen and repeat - Then ask sts to work in pairs to read the words again so that they can check for each other - Move around to help - Ask two sts to read again and give remarks b Ask sts to look at sentences in page 130 in the book - Ask them to work in pairs to read the sentences and then find out the words containing sound /s / and sound /z / - Ask them to work in minutes - Move around to conduct the activity - Ask one st to report and other sts to give remarks - Check and give the correct answers - Ask some sts to read these sentences aloud - Listen and give remarks Nguyen Thi Oanh - Nong Cong high school - Look at the book , listen and repeat /s/ /z/ sing zinc cease sees loose lose - Read these words in pairs and check for their partners - Look at the book and work in pairs - Answers: /s/ /z/ Susan music classical jazz sound records - Read the sentences 14 The study of teaching experiences- 2016 3.2: Exercises for further practice: I also collect some exercises relating to these four sounds and ask the students to practices at home 3.2.1: Listen and repeat /s/ /z/ decrease disease Sentences: gease(n) gease (v) lacy lazy What is Stella staring at? Sue zoo The music caused pleasant memories to arise said Z His assistant sat close by his side /ʃ / /s/ shed said Sentences: shell sell I had no wish to make an issue of the matter short sort She sells seashells on the seashore ash ass Where did the collision take place? /z/ zzz Mrs hisses buzzes zoo these smell noise buzzing bees something’s spells /ʃ / sheets shouldn’t shirts special shrunk shall show sure marsh finished shop hake /ʒ/ explosion television collision Asia garage usual measure treasure 3.2.2: Conversation: Practise in pairs Ex: A: Shall we go to the seaside or stay at home? B: Let’s go to the seaside stay at home Shall we take a suitcase or a basket? Shall we go sailing or water-skiing? Shall we sit in the sun or go swimming? Shall we eat biscuits or ice-cream? 3.2.3: Practise reading aloud: She speaks slowly, and smokes special expensive cigarettes As she steps upstairs, her long skirt sweeps over her silver slippers She is small and smart and 15 Nguyen Thi Oanh - Nong Cong high school The study of teaching experiences- 2016 sweet-smelling Her skin is like snow “ You have stolen my heart.” I once said stupidly, and she smiled But when she smiled, she smiled the smile of a snake 3.2.4: Find out the word that has the underlined part pronounced differently from the others: A music B city C send D said A comb B price C piece D concept A poison B smog C disposal D process A plays B gets C swim D cleans A shakes B washes C steps D meets 3.3: Games with the consonant sounds /s/-/z/ and / ʃ/-/ʒ/ help improve listening skill for students at high schools To motivate the spirit among the students when learning these four sounds I suggest some useful games used when teaching these sounds 3.3.1: Dictation list: - Draw two columns on the board with the headings: /s/ and /z/ - Teacher reads aloud a list of words that contains the sound /s/ or /z/ Ex: singer, music, phones, parks, flowers, student present, stay … - Students have to put the words they hear into the appropriate column Give the first one as an example to the class - Call sts to go to the board and write down the answer Who writes more right words will become the winner /s/ /z/ singer music parks phones … … 3.3.2: Slap the board: Nguyen Thi Oanh - Nong Cong high school 16 The study of teaching experiences- 2016 - Write down a list that contains the sound /ʃ/ or /ʒ/ illusion station television measure finish machine - Call sts to the front of the class - Ask them to stand at equal distance from the blackboard - Call out one of the new words in a loud voice - The two sts must run forward and slap the word on the blackboard - The one who slaps the more correct words first is the winner Collecting the result of testing and evaluating: After some of my experience in teaching these four sounds and doing phonetics excercises had been applied, I had composed some questions to give a test between class 10C2 and 10C5, analyse and study the statistics The class 10C2 is the class which some of my experience in teaching these four sounds and doing phonetics excercises had been applied and the class 10C5 is the class which some of my experience in teaching these four sounds and doing phonetics excercises had not been applied After giving the same tests on the phonetics questions relating these four sounds to class 10C2 and 10C5, I have collected the result below Number Options of Test Contrast(10C5) Experiment(10C2) Contrast(10C5) Experiment(10C2) Contrast(10C5) Total Experiment(10C2) Xi N 45 44 45 44 90 88 0 0 0 0 4 14 11 17 13 30 16 14 15 11 23 25 11 11 22 9 10 Chart 3.2 The mark frequency of two experiment tests The analysing result of two tests From the result above, we have a chart describing the mark frequency of two experiment tests from the experiment and contrast class Nguyen Thi Oanh - Nong Cong high school 17 The study of teaching experiences- 2016 * Evaluation The chart shows that at the contrast class, the mark from to increases and is higher that from the experiment one while the mark from to decreases and is lower than that at experiment one even without over mark At the experiment class, the mark from to rises up and is more than that at contrast one, even there is no mark under 4, the mark from to 10 at the experiment class is more than that at contrast one This means the mark result after the tests from the experiment class is better than that at the contrast one From the result above we can say that the class my experiences applied to is better than the contrast one, so the topic I study is really important and significant in the improvement of teaching pronunciation lessons in general PART III: CONCLUSION I CONCLUSION Nguyen Thi Oanh - Nong Cong high school 18 The study of teaching experiences- 2016 After applying this study to teach the consonant sounds /s/-/z/ and / ʃ/ - /ʒ/ in language focus periods unit 12,16 English 10 in three academic years 2013-2014, 2014-2015, 2015-2016, I can affirm that: For the interest and the frequency of learning When applying this study in teaching, it can improve motivation and warmth on the class especially when the students play games For discovering skill and knowledge acquirement From the result of the test has shown that the discovering skill and knowledge acquirement of the students at the experiment class is better than that at the contrastive class about the speaking and listening skills and how to the phonetics exercises on these sounds during learning and in the tests For their learning competence themselves After some of my experience has been taught to the students, most of them are active in the process of learning and acquiring the knowledge, they feel more confident to the exercise relating to these sounds II SOME OF THE PROPOSALS TO THE LEADERS: After studying the topic, I realise that the successful lessons depend on a lot of visual aids and reference documents, so the schools need to buy and add more equipment for teaching such as projectors, videos and reference books That will make the process of teaching and learning better and better Although this study has obtained some reasonable results as I have said above, this material may still have some restrictions and some mistakes are unavoidable Therefore, I would like to receive your attention, comment as well as advice to make this one more effective REFERENCE BOOKS Lê Văn Sự - English linguistics Mark han Cook – English pronunciation in use Ann Baker – Ship or Sheep? ELTTP - English language teaching methodology Đặng Đình Trung - Giới thiệu đề thi tuyển sinh vào đại học-cao đẳng toàn quốc Nguyen Thi Oanh - Nong Cong high school 19 The study of teaching experiences- 2016 XÁC NHẬN CỦA THỦ TRƯỞNG ĐƠN VỊ Thanh Hóa, ngày 20 tháng năm 2016 CAM KẾT KHÔNG SAO CHÉP (Tác giả ký ghi rõ họ tên) Nguyễn Thị Oanh Nguyen Thi Oanh - Nong Cong high school 20 ... seashore ash ass Where did the collision take place? /z/ zzz Mrs hisses buzzes zoo these smell noise buzzing bees something s spells /ʃ / sheets shouldn’t shirts special shrunk shall show sure... solution to these is “ Some experiences for teaching the sounds /s/ - /z/ and / ʃ / - / ʒ / in language focus periods of units 12, 16 English 10 and how to help my students pronunciation exercises better... class 10C2 is the class which some of my experience in teaching these four sounds and doing phonetics excercises had been applied and the class 10C5 is the class which some of my experience in teaching