What are quick tips to teach pronunciation to ESL students

Hello,

Can anyone give me some simple, if at all possible, tips for teaching pronunciation to ESL students? I have some experience working with adults, however I am soon beginning a new position teaching children ages 7-17.

When I was teaching adults, I had an English conversation textbook that my school published and required us to use in the classroom. Within each chapter there was always a pronunciation "pitstop exercise." Essentially, certain pronunciation mechanics were identified, discussed, and reproduced by the students. Admittedly, the teacher's manual we were given was quite unhelpful in providing clear and concise explanations of the material we taught in the classroom. As such, I had to "wing it" at times by using the phonetic alphabet, minimal pair exercises, listening CDs, etc. to help my students. There was NO WAY I could "simply" explain the mumbo-jumbo linguistic explanations we were given. Subsequently, I walked away from this job feeling I should know more about how to effectively teach my students how to improve their English pronunciation abilties.

Is there a simple and straightforward approach I can use to truly help my students improve their pronunciation?

Many thanks in advance for anyone who responds to my post.