When I started teaching French III (FRE 201) for the first time, it was a challenge for me to promote new college students to the communicative approach.
Some students told me directly that they felt unsure of themselves because for the first time, pronunciation did matter a lot. This was one of the reasons for their lack of participation at first. Some said that their previous instructors in High School did not correct pronunciation or care for it that much, and that having a native speaker as a teacher was a big change for them.
I make a point of immersion and authenticity, and I used this challenge as an opportunity to do a lot of pronunciation activities as warm-ups before class or cool-downs at the end of grammar-intensive lessons. By using tips, tricks, and PowerPoints with visual cues like the one below, we managed to make tremendous progress.
Attached below is the presentation I used to cue up several words or phrases that are difficult to pronounce, as well as tongue twisters. These can be used with any French class levels!
