Improving your German pronunciation
Teaching notes
The PowerPoint brings together five different strategies for improving students’ German
pronunciation. These could be covered in one lesson or used as a series of starter
activities over several lessons.
Strategy 1: focus on specific letter combinations which produce one sound
Slide 2: ei/ai/ey/ay
Give pupils mini whiteboards and challenge them to write down as many German words
as they can which contain the letter combinations ei/ai/ey/ay. The pictures on slide 2
should help to get them started.
Students can then come to the board to write up their ideas and you could add some if
needed (e.g. zwei, klein, nein, Mai, Bayern, Speyer etc.). Ask the class to listen to you say
each word and to repeat them – what do they notice about the sounds? Click to reveal
the answer: they all contain a sound like ‘I/eye’ in English.
Slide 3: ie
Ask students to take turns reading each word to a partner. What do these words have in
common? Click to confirm that it’s the ie spelling. What is the rule for pronouncing this
letter combination? Click to confirm that it’s like ‘ee’ in English. Go round the room saying
a number 1-8 in German and listening to individuals say the corresponding word from the
screen to check their pronunciation. Click again to show the pronunciation rule.
Slide 4: w
Students look at the words on slide 4 and identify three things they have in common. Click
to reveal the answers and then the pronunciation rule. You could challenge students by
asking what each question word means and for an example sentence using each one.
Slide 5: v
Read out the six words and ask students to work out the pronunciation rule. Ask them the
make of the camper van and car pictured and how this would be pronounced in
German (and its meaning!).
Slide 6: final e
Ask students to practise saying each of the words 1–5 to a partner before picking some
individuals to say each word. Elicit the pronunciation rule before clicking to display it.
Strategy 2: odd one out activities
Slide 7: st/sp
Students identify the words represented by the pictures and work out which word is the
odd one out in terms of pronunciation and why. Click for the answer: picture 1 (sp).
1. = Spiegel (mirror)
2. Stuhl (chair)
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3. Straße (street)
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4. Stadt (town)
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Improving your German pronunciation
Slide 8: ie/ei
Students say the numbers out loud and identify the odd one out in terms of pronunciation.
Click for the answer: sieben.
Slide 9: ie/ei
Students identify the German words, using a dictionary if needed, and say the words out
loud. Ask them to identify the odd one out in terms of the vowel sounds. Click for the
answer: Bleistift.
Strategy 3: categorise the words
Slide 10: ei or ie?
Students copy the headings and listen to you say the following list of words, writing them
under the correct heading Liebe, weiß, Biene, liegen, (ich) heiße, Fliege, viel. Click to see
the answers.
Strategy 4: tongue twisters
Slide 11: Zungenbrecher
Model the pronunciation of these tongue twisters before giving students time to practise.
You could then have a tongue twister competition and vote for the best attempt. More
examples are available online:
http://german.about.com/od/pronunciation/a/tonguetwisters_2.htm
http://www.uebersetzung.at/twister/de.htm
Strategy 5: dictation
Slide 12: Diktat
Dictate a phrase for students to write on mini whiteboards: Friedrich und seine Frau fliegen
nach Frankreich.
Click to show the answer.
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ei/ai/ay/ey in German = ‘I/eye’ in English
Improving your
German pronunciation
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w in German
die
sie
sieben
diese
wieder
vier
liegen
Dienstag
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•
•
•
•
•
Wer
Was
Wann
Wo
Warum
2
= ‘v’ in English
What three
things do these
words have in
common?
Answer: They are all question words, they all
start with w in German and they are all
pronounced with a ‘v’ sound.
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v in German
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
1
= ‘ee’ in English
ie in German
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
3
3
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e at the end in
German
= ‘f’ in English
Vater
Volk
Vorname
vormittags
Vorsprung
verboten
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
4
= ‘uh’ in English
Schule
habe
mache
wohne
spiele
© Alden Jewell 2013 https://flic.kr/p/i1SwSF Creative Commons license
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6
1
Which German word is the odd one out?
(clue: pronunciation)
1
Which German word is the odd one out?
(clue: pronunciation)
1
2
Spiegel
2
2
Stuhl
3
3
4
Straße
4
7
Stadt
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7
4
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8
Listen and write each word in the correct
column.
2
3
1
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Which German word is the odd one out?
(clue: pronunciation)
1
3
ei
ie
weiß
(ich) heiße
Fliege
Biene
viel
Liebe
liegen
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Zungenbrecher
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10
Diktat
Friedrich und seine
Frau fliegen nach
Frankreich.
Wir Wiener Waschweiber
würdem weisse Wäsche waschen
Wenn wir wüssten, wo warmes,
weiches Wasser wär.
Wenn Fliegen hinter Fliegen
fliegen, dann fliegen Fliegen
Fliegen nach.
More tongue twisters
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