pronounce the following words; mark stresses; learn by heart; find the rhyming words
eg. Spring is /green/
Summer is /bright/
Autumn is /yellow/
Winter is /white/
For Stress – bubble techniques can be used
eg. nice -O
easy - Oo
different -Ooo
[big bubble is stressed syllable, small – unstressed one]
· *- Notation
a) LONdon d) London
b) ‘London O o
c) Lŏndon e) London – good for oral work
Follow up activity [ a simple writing task is added by preparing a worksheet with columns each headed by a particular pattern. Learners have to enter words in the correct column, like this:
(the content of _____________’s handbag
Oo oO Ooo
Hairbrush receipts handkerchief
Wallet cassettes eyeliner
Lighter aspirin
Oo – is the most common pattern in Eng.
For word stress:
· names of class members (during the 1st class, elementary)
T. Anton Mukutenko
S. yes.
T. Not Anton, but Anton?
S. Anton
T. Anton (repeats students pronunciation)
Sentence stress:
We need activities which make learners think about the relative importance of parts of a message.
eg. * sending a telegram, one pays by word, and the majority of people react by limiting the number of words as much as possible. [give situation – make whole sentence- cut it to the most meaningful parts]
* newspaper headlines - often omit articles, auxiliary verbs, and some prepositions, in order to have more space fro the “content “ words which will give the gist f eth news item. There is also another convention that can be useful to the teacher; very often the very first line of the article ia an expanded version of the headline. [give headline- discuss what words have been left out- contrast reading out the headline with reading aloud full version, where the same words are unstressed – learners then devise their own headlines or expends headlines and read them aloud to each other.]
Asserting, denying, correcting:
Speakers often want to assert a fact or opinion quite strongly, deny what another speaker has said and offer a correction, or ask about alternatives and options in order to come to an agreement about what to do.
Eg. if the speaker has just mad a statement with which you disagree, than you can assert the opposite by repeating their words almost exactly, but changing the verb from positive or vice versa, and moving the main sentence stress:
People are funny
People aren’t funny. They are strange.
Learners of Eng. Need to be aware of this use of stress in order to follow discussions, agreements, and exchange of opinions
Shifting Stress
“New” words and “old” words – a variable activity to explore the way stress is allocated to words according to their status as “new” or “old”
A: Could I borrow some whitesugar?
B: Sorry, I only have brown sugar.
Weak forms:
conjunction “and”
- exploit written forms such as: {fish ‘n chips; bacon ‘n eggs; salt ‘n pepper : why do you think ‘n is used?};
- start a chain sentence in which verbs and nouns are connected with “and” in a sentence of potentially infinite length - I can see a desk – I can see a desk and a lamp -: draw attention to the pronunciation of “and”}
weak “of” {vocabulary work which involves phrases with “of”:{ bunch of grapes, pair of shoes, group of people..}
POINTS TO REMEMBER:
- no sound is an island
- position of sounds ( better is the new sound is in the initial position of the word, then to middle position, and finally in combination with other sounds
- self-correction
- self-assessment
IDEAS FOR IMPROVING LEARNER’S PRONUNCIATION:
- imitation of teacher or recorded model of sounds, words, and sentences
- recording of learner speech, contrasted with the native model
- systematic explanation and instruction (including details of the structure and movement of parts of eth mouth)
- imitation drills (varied speed, volume, mood)
- learning and performing dialogues (as with drills, using choral work, and varied speed, volume, mood)
- learning by heart of sentences, rhymes, proverbs, sayings, poems, limericks
- jazz chants (see Graham, 1978)
- tongue twisters
- self-correction through listening of recordings of own speech