EMI one-day course

1. EMI one-day course English Pronunciation Basics for Cantonese Speakers

2. Pronunciation • Consists of the phonemes (sounds from alphabetic letters)… • 24 consonant sounds • 20 vowels sounds • …and stress, rhythm and intonation

3. Cantonese speakers • Cantonese is in a different language family than English • English is a Germanic language in the Indo-European family • Chinese is in the Sino-Tibetan family • This results in very different ways of making sounds with our mouths.

4. Strategy for 90-minute lesson • Focus on the areas where English and Cantonese are most different • Practice some of these starting with vowels and consonants

5. Th- sound • Three-free • Thin-fin • Thread-Fred • Death-deaf • They-day • Those-doze • Words from your subject area:

7. l-n-sound • Lot-not • Night-light • Life-knife • Lame-name • Line-nine • Words from your subject area:

8. V-sound • Vic-wick • Wine-vine • Why-vie • Advice • Arrive • Five • Words from your subject area:

9. l-r-(w)-sound • lamp ramp • lace race • lake rake (awake) • lock rock (wok) • light right (white) • load road • Words from your subject area:

10. S-sh-sound • Sea-she • She sells seashells on the seashore. • Words from your subject area:

11. Most difficult word • What do you think is the most difficult word to pronounce in the English language?

12. Why is English sometimes so hard to pronounce? • ⅓ • ⅕ • ⅚ • five-[sIksθs]

13. Task: Consonant clustersPartner A • How do you spell: • Grow • Bloom • Flea • Fry • Clock

14. Task: Consonant clustersPartner B • How do you spell: • Grass • Free • Frame • Flute • Crown

15. Vowels/i/ /I/ • Sheep- ship • Beat-bit • Chip-cheap • Seed-sit • Words from your subject area:

16. Vowel length • Perhaps the most characteristic feature of a Cantonese accent in English is the clipping of vowels on words ending in a consonant. • “Voiced” consonants (g,d,b,z,v) at the end of a word require the vowel to be longer. • Compare these two words and listen to the vowel sound • “Dock” and “dog”

17. Vowel Lengthening • Pick-pig • Lived-lift • Lock-log • Tab-tap • Miss- Ms. • Lake-leg • Save-safe • Feet-feed • Knees-niece • Lice- lies • Plays-place • Proof-prove • Belief-believe • Excuse (n)-excuse (v)

18. Lengthening Exercises • Example: • What’s a cap? • A kind of hat. • What’s a cab? • A taxi

19. Lengthening ExercisesPartner A • What’s a seat? • What’s a seed? • How do you spell “tight?” • How do you spell “tide?” • What does wrote mean? • What does rode mean?

20. Lengthening ExercisesPartner B • What is a rope for? • What is a robe for? • What does “bright” mean? • What does “bride” mean? • How do you spell “beg?” • How do you spell “bake?”

21. Regular past tense • Walked (t) • Liked (t) • Laughed (t) • Closed (d) • Filled (d) • Smiled (d) • Agreed (d) • Hugged (d) • Planned (d) • Decide • Want • Need • Add • Start • Rent • Crowd • Visit

22. Past tense exercise Partner A Partner B Plant Wait Work Divide Open Save Add Record • Wash • Cause • Arrange • Load • Cause • Calculate • Subtract • Practice • Multiply

23. Nouns and verbsVerbs have a longer (last) syllable Verbs What are the associated nouns? What use is it? Show me the proof. Put your money in a safe. That’s a good excuse. Give me some advice. He has strange beliefs. The device is broken. I need some relief. • Use (it) • Prove (it) • Save (it) • Excuse (me) • Advise (me) • Believe (me) • Relieve (me)

24. Word stress • Word stress in English is so important that it is sometimes more important than the actual letter sounds. • I can swim. [kən] • I can’t swim. [kænt] • All words of two syllables or more have stress on at least one syllable.

25. Word stress • 7/11 • Seven eleven • There is no set system but there are some patterns. • For example, what pattern do you notice: • Reduction, suggestion • Politician, registration • Participation examination • Identification, electrification

26. Stress on second last syllable • Reduction, suggestion • Politician, registration • Participation examination • Identification, electrification

27. More stress patterns • Strategic • Economic • Statistic • Biology • Geology • Astronomy • Policy • equality • Main stress comes on the syllable before: • ic • omy, • ery , • ogy, • ity

28. Where is the stress?Patterns do not hold for all endings, e.g., “ment” • Argument • Establishment • Regiment • Achievement

29. Stress on nouns and verbs Nouns (try making a question starting with “Is it a…” Verbs (try asking a question starting with “Does it…” Record Object Permit Suspect Conflict Contract Increase Produce • Record • Object • Permit • Suspect • Conflict • Contract • Increase • Produce

30. English rhythm • I really like eating apples. • I really likeeating apples. • 我好鍾意食蘋果. • Content words tend to be stressed while function words are unstressed. • In Cantonese, all words tend to be equally stressed.

31. English rhythm • The girl is interested in increasing her vocabulary. • The girl is interested in increasing her vocabulary.

32. Practice rhythm • I ate a chicken salad sandwich • In an hour, I’ll be ready to go to school. • He eats three full meals each day. • Do you like the photo on your passport? • My cat eats fish and she likes to hunt mice in the garden. • Make sure you study for the test during the holiday.

33. Rhythm • I ate a chicken salad sandwich • In an hour, I’ll be ready to go to school. • He eats three full meals each day. • Do you like the photo on your passport? • My cat eats fish and she likes to hunt mice in the garden. • Make sure you study for the test during the holiday.

34. Intonation • English uses rising and falling tone to indicate meaning? • For example • Falling tone indicates the end of a sentence. • Rising tone indicates a yes/no question. • Rising also indicates a list • Get some bananas, oranges, apples and lemons.

35. Coffee or tea? • Would you like coffee or tea? • Two stress and intonation patterns… • …and different expected answers. • Would you like coffee or tea? (Choose one) • Would you like coffee or tea? (yes or no)

36. Common teachers’ question?Either or • Is the answer 2 or 4? • CPU or RAM? • Melody or harmony? • 3-dimensional or 2-dimensional? • Underhand or overhand? • Think of two words or concepts in your own teaching that you ask this type of question.

37. Why is spoken English so hard to understand? • Is he busy? • Ed • edited • it. • ededitit

38. Informal contractionswhich you don’t learn in school • Wanna- I wannastudy English. (want to) • Gonna- I’m gonna study English. (going to) • Hafta- I hafta study English. (have to) • Gotta- I’ve gotta study English. (got to) • Shoulda- I shoulda studied English. (should have) • Do you… [jə]

39. Informal sentences • What are you going to do tonight? • [wǝdǝyǝgǝnǝdutǝnait] • Do you want to go to a movie tonight? • [jəwanəgotəəmuvitənait]

40. Finding the stress in tech words • alphanumeric, asynchronous, proprietary, mnemonic • Acrylics, Assemblage, Maquette, Rhythm • disassembly, ergonomics, translucent, malleable, adhesive • strenuous, sport etiquette, calisthenics • revenue, allotment, Merchandiser, Proprietorship • utensils, recipe

41. Classroom instructional language • http://www.slideshare.net/josemariaagulleiro/classroom-language-simple-instructions • http://www.usingenglish.com/teachers/training/

42. Dictionary help • Check online dictionaries for sample tech words pronunciation • http://www.learnersdictionary.com/search/acrylic • http://www.learnersdictionary.com/search/proprietary • Requests?

43. Pronunciation help • http://www.howjsay.com/