I am struggling a little in this discussion with the practicality of some  of 
the suggestions. I teach total beginners. Most are refugees with little to no 
 experience in school.  I have always done needs based curriculum and found  
it effective.  We keep our students for a pretty short time as they need to  
get jobs.
I see the point of more work on phonemic recognition.  We certainly do  some 
but our main focus is on practical vocabulary and related issues (how to  find 
a job, see a doctor, talk to your child's teacher).  I've also had  great 
success with things like Jazz Chants.
But when I use more *rule based* curriculum, their eyes glaze over.  I  use 
Clear Speech for pronunciation but minimize the rule content.   Even books like 
Pronuncation Pairs don't work as well for them.
So the question is how to integrate these phonemic skills in such a  way that 
is effective and not a turn off?
 
Sandy Fox
Columbia, MO
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