Talk like a Canadian

1. Talk like a Canadian A two-pronged approach to teaching English pronunciation.

2. Objectives • Objectives: • To help volunteers identify their clients’ specific pronunciation problems. • To demonstrate strategies to help clients overcome these problems. • To provide take-home material for these strategies.

3. Sample 1 “This book is safe for my children.” “Deessbukeeeess seff for my cheeldren.”

4. Sample 2 • “All of us laughed when we ran to the city pool.” • “Ol off us lauft ven vee rran to d’ seety poowul.”

5. Sample 3 • “If I have a headache, I take a pill.”

6. Two elements of pronunciation • English Sounds 44 sounds in English • The Sound of English. i.e. English Prosody Stress... and changes in stress Pitch... and changes in pitch Volume... and changes in volume Speed... and changes in speed Flow

7. The English th-sounds The Unvoiced th-sound...which newcomers often pronounce as a /t/ The Voiced th-sound... which newcomers often pronounce as a /d/

8. Making the unvoiced th-sound (1) • Instructions: • Inhale and exhale through the mouth. • Inhale, put the tip of your tongue between your teeth, and exhale.

9. Making the unvoiced the-sound (2)

10. Making the voiced th-sound (1) Instructions: • Inhale and exhale through the mouth. • Inhale, put the tip of your tongue between your teeth, exhale... and, at the same time, say uuuuh—the schwa sound.

11. Making the voiced th-sound (2)

12. Making the r-sound (1) The r-sound is difficult for many newcomers. It is usually the last sound that children learn to make even when English is their first language. • Here is a website that might help: • http://www.mnsu.edu/comdis/kuster2/therapy/rtherapy.html

13. Making the r-sound (2) • Instructions: • With the tip of your tongue, gently touch the roof of your mouth at the point where the roof of your mouth meets the back of your two front teeth. • Curl the tip of you tongue slightly backwards so that it just loses contact with the roof of your mouth. • With your tongue in this position, make the “uuuuuh” or schwa sound.

14. Making the r-sound (3)

15. The i-sounds as in kit (1) • There are three possible sounds associated with the letter i. • It could be the i-sound as in “bike”. • It could be the i-sound as in “kit”. • It could be the i-sound as in “police”.

16. The i-sounds as in kit (2) Usually no problems with the i-sound as in “bike”. The problem is usually in saying the i-sound in “police” instead of the i-sound in “kit”. • it comes out as eet. • kit comes out as keet • sit comes out as seet

17. The i-sounds as in kit (3) • Help clients to distinguish between the i-sound in kit and the i-sound in ski. • Say the following words and have them tell which column they words belong in.

18. The i-sounds as in kit (4) • Instructions: Making the i-sound as in kit. • Part your lips just slightly. • Lower your jaw slightly. • Pull the corners of your lips up slightly. • Hold that shape and make the uuuuh-sound—the schwa sound. • Practice with the words in the left-hand column of the previous slide.

19. The v-sound and the w-sound (1) • Substituting v-sound for w-sound. • Substituting w-sound for v-sound. • Two distinct sounds in English. • Need to know both and use them appropriately. • In English we kiss the W and bite the V.

20. The v-sound and the w-sound (2) • Instructions: Making the w-sound • Pucker your lips as though to kiss. Leave just a tiny opening at the center of your lips for air to come in and out. • Hold that shape and say “uuuuuuh”. • Instructions: Making the v-sound • Gently touch your lower lip with your top front teeth. • Hold that shape and say “uuuuuuh”.

21. The v-sound and the w-sound (3)

22. Final-consonant drill (1) • People from east Asia often don’t pronounce the final consonants when they say English words. Or if they do pronounce them, they don’t pronounce them clearly enough. • Explain the importance of making these sounds clearly, and then provide lots of practice.

23. Final-consonant drill (2) • Say the following words, making sure to pronounce the final consonants firmly and clearly.

24. Final consonant drill (3)

25. End Clusters (1) • Just as people from east Asia often don’t pronounce final consonants properly, they often have problems with final end clusters. • Say the following words, making sure to pronounce the end clusters firmly and clearly.

26. End Clusters (2)

27. Two ways to say “the” (1) • Have your students read along silently as you read aloud the following sentences. Ask them whether they can hear the two ways in which English-speaking people say “the”. • The boy ate the apple. • The octopus swam in the sea. • I found the car at the auto show. • She put the umbrella in the closet. • The Americans live south of the Canadians.

28. Two ways to say “the” (2) • Explain that if the next word starts with a consonant, “the” is pronounced thuh; but if the next word starts with vowel, “the” is pronounced thee. • I have the (thuh) key to the (thuh) house. • The (thee) apples are with the (thee) oranges. • Note that when we say thee, we separate thee from the following vowel sound with a y-sound.

29. Two ways to say “the” (3) • The rabbit lived beneath the elm tree. • The ship crossed the Atlantic. • The English people are at the seashore. • She had the idea of running in the race. • The prime minister sent the army to Europe. • The ink stained the shirt. • They drove the car to the east coast. • The elephant walked through the yard.

31. The t-sound and the d-sound (1) • In Canada and the United States there are times when we substitute a d-sound for a t-sound. For example... • Alberta • United States • city • computer

32. The t-sound and the d-sound (2) • Here are some more words of that sort: • rattle, political, water, anatomy, notice, later, capital, getting, better, beautiful, crater, bottle, creator, potato, notice, splatter, British, letter, pretty, ratty, letting, potted, permitted, latest

33. The t-sound and the d-sound (3) • Read aloud the following sentences. Say the t as a d where appropriate. • The little girl wrote a letter. • She wrote to the little boy. • The little boy lived in the city. • They city was called Ottawa. • Ottawa is a beautiful city. • It doesn’t matter what city we’re in. • They come from the United States. • I need a bottle of water.

34. The b-sound and the v-sound (1) • Some of our Spanish-speaking students say the b-sound when they should be saying the v-sound. For example, they might say Bictoria instead of Victoria, or they might say boice instead of voice.

35. The b-sound and the v-sound (2)

36. The b-sound and the v-sound (3) • Underline the letter v in each of the following sentences; then read the sentences aloud. • Steven lives in Victoria. • Vincent lives in Venezuela. • He shaved his face this morning. • Lava came out of the volcano. • They are removing the pavement. • She shoved him away. • Violet lives in Vancouver.

37. Two ways of saying oo (1) • In Canadian English there are two pronunciations for the double-o (oo). The first pronunciation is in words like too. The other pronunciation is in words like took. • It’s too hot in here. • I took the bus to work. • There aren’t any rules for when to say oo as in too and oo as in took. Each word has to be learned individually.

38. Two ways of saying oo (2) Here are some more words of each type:

39. English prosody (1) The prosody of a language is the “music” of the language. Every language has its own prosody. Prosody includes: stress, flow, rhythm, pitch, volume, speed, intonation, cadence... and variations in each of these.

40. English prosody (2) How do we teach English prosody? • by providing direct instruction • by providing models to imitate

41. Linking words (1) In English we often link words together so they sound as though they are all one word. • We link vowels to consonants. • We link consonants to vowels. This linking makes the words flow more smoothly, and this flow is characteristic of English prosody.

42. Linking words (2) • I want an apple. • Hold on. • She can find it.

43. Linking words (3) • Taxis are on the road. • Sharon will go to work. • Is it cold or hot?

44. Separating vowels with W and Y (1) • In English we don’t like the sound of two vowels together. It sounds choppy to us. • Therefore, we often separate adjoining vowels with the consonants y or w. • e.g.. cafeteria

45. Separating vowels with W and Y (2)

46. Stressed/Unstressed words and syllables (1) A characteristic of English prosody is we stress some words and not others; and we stress some syllables and not others. “I wantto improve my Englishpronunciation.” We stress the content words and leave unstressed the function words.

47. Stressed/Unstressed words and syllables (2) • Read aloud the following sentences. The stressed words are underlined, and the stressed syllables are in boldface. We met when we were in university. I went to the library and borrowed a book.

48. Stressed/Unstressed words and syllables (3) • We turnback the clocks by onehour in the fall. • She’d neverseenCanada in the summer. • There are morecattle in Alberta than people.

49. Reduced words (1) • In English, not all words are created equal. • Some words we stress. • Others we reduce: a, an, and, or, for, can, of, have, and had

50. Reduced words (2)