Pronunciation: Theory and Practice

1. Pronunciation: Theory and Practice Katie Bain English Language Fellow ktbain53@gmail.com www.elfellowkbain.wordpress.com

2. First – Where to find stuff • http://reloandes.com/ • http://shapingenglish.ning.com/ • http://americanenglish.state.gov/ • http://elfellowkbain.wordpress.com/

3. Objective Participants will become more familiar with general guidelines and strategies to help develop pronunciation skills for their students.

4. Agree or Disagree? • Meaning is more important than pronunciation. • Pronunciation is easy to teach. • Pronunciation is easy to learn. • It is important to have a perfect English accent. • Pronunciation is the least important element of language teaching.

5. Agenda • Prosody • Discussion • Practical Application • The Color Vowel Chart • What is it? • How can we use it in the classroom? • Activities!

6. Video Viewing • Stress and Rhythm In American English Pronunciation

7. Prosody The rhythm and melody of English. (Gilbert, 2008)

8. The pitch makes the difference. Example a. Jane said, “Is that Mister Fogg?” b. Jane said, “Is that mist or fog?” (Gilbert 2005, 136) (Gilbert, 2008)

10. Thought Groups to Say and Draw • Have you tried Butifarra? • Bogota is so cold! • The people in Barranquilla are warm and happy. • What did you have for lunch? • What news do you have to tell me? • Everything is good, thanks.

11. Syllables are important! • Teachyourstudentstocountthenumber of syllables in words. • Thisis a firststep in understandingwheretoputthestress in words. (Gilbert, 2008)

12. Stress it! BUTterfly uniVERsity eduCAtional EScalator

13. Stress mistakes can cause stress! Example Student: Mrs. Stiebel, can you help me with comedy? Teacher: Comedy? Student: Yes, comedy is big problem. Teacher: I don’t quite follow. Student: (Patiently) Problem – this is worry. Teacher: Yes, a worry. Um . . . you mean you have a problem with comedy on TV? Student: TV? (Trying again) The boss put me on department comedy. Everybody on comedy, all the time argue. Teacher: Oh, you mean committee! Student: Yes, what I told you, comedy. (Gilbert, 2008, p. 5)

14. Other words that might cause stress • dessert / desert • foreign / for rain • his story / history (Gilbert, 2008)

15. Heteronyms • He was content that the content of the box was undamaged. • I’ll need more than a minute to arrange the minute details. • We can’t excuse your lame excuse. • How long did it take you to record your record?

16. The stressedwordisimportant! • What’sthedifference? I wantedtwohamburgers. I wantedtwohamburgers. (Gilbert, 2008)

17. The Prosody Pyramid (Gilbert, 2008)

18. Thought Groups… Thought groups are separated by… (a) a pause (b) a drop in pitch (c) lengthening of the last stressed syllable (the most subtle signal) (Gilbert, 2008)

19. Focus Word: The most important word in the thought group (Gilbert, 2008)

20. Thefocuswordisusually a contentword. Content Words • Noun • Main Verb • Adjective • Adverb *Usually stressed. Do you want some pancakes? Structure Words • Pronouns • Prepositions • Articles • Verb “to be” *Usually reduced or de-emphasized. Do you want some pancakes? (Gilbert, 2008)

21. The stressed vowel sound/ The Peak • The most important sound in the sentence! “How do you spell easy?” (Gilbert, 2008)

22. What are two types of vowel sounds?

23. Two Types of Vowel Sounds Alphabet Vowel Sounds • Sound like letter names • Make • Green • Size • Go • Use • When spoken, the tongue shifts upward Relative Vowel Sounds • Sometimes referred to as “short” • Bat • Bet • Bit • Stop • Luck • Do not have off-glides • Tongue is more stationary (Gilbert, 2008)

24. The SCHWA!!!!

25. Spelling Rules forLow-LevelStudents The Two Vowel Rule: • If there are two vowel letters in a short word, the first vowel sounds like its alphabet name. The second vowel is silent. cake these ice cone fruit maincream pie soapSue The One Vowel Rule: • If there is only one vowel letter in a short word, it sounds like a relative of the alphabet vowel. (Note: No off-glide.) had bed his hot sun Jan Ben Kim John Russ (Gilbert, 2008)

26. Spelling Rules for High-Level Students The Two Vowel Rule: • If there are two vowel letters in the stressed syllable, the first vowel usually sounds like its alphabet name. The second vowel is silent. available complete advice approach recruit arrangement agreement mileage unloading accuse The One Vowel Rule: • If there is only one vowel letter in the stressed syllable, it usually sounds like a relative of the alphabet vowel. applerelativeinterestingpossibleredundant adapted integrity articulatory accomplish husbandry (Gilbert, 2008)

27. Consonants! What are two types of consonants?

28. Two Types of Consonants Stop Consonants Formed by stopping the air flow to the mouth. • /b/ • /p/ • /d/ • /t/ • /g/ • /k/ Continuant Consonants Can be continued as long as desired. • All other English consonant sounds are continuants or combinations between continuants and stops (like in church and judge). (Gilbert, 2008)

29. Stop vs. Continuant (Gilbert, 2008)

30. How can this knowledge affect your instruction?

31. Pronunciation Part 2

32. The Color Vowel Chart

33. How do you use the Color Vowel Chart? Once you’ve identified the stressed syllable, identify the color of the stressed vowel – the peak.

34. The Color Vowel Chart

35. More Video Viewing • Demonstration of Color Vowel Chart • Color Vowel Yoga

36. cow proud drought house tea thief seize scene dress said dead guess shirt verse heard worst pin give busy women sock stop father knowledge cup of flood glove cat mad have plaid hook put could woman moon two soup through toy boy noise annoy tie mind height rhyme

37. Part 3: Activities

38. Try to have students LISTEN first. (Thompson, 2012)

39. Use rubber bands to emphasize stress (Thompson, 2012)

40. Make Color Word Charts (Thompson, 2012)

41. Engage students in QUALITY REPETITION. (Gilbert, 2008)

42. Choral Reading

43. Linking Words in Sentences Example Exercise Have students practice linking with /s/ in the following sentences. 1. The boats entered the water. 2. The coats all need to be cleaned. 3. She has less of everything. 4. Is the boss in the office? 5. The nights are long here. (from Gilbert 2005, 82)

44. Practice Intonation with Kazoos • Wouldyoulikefrenchfriesor chips? • I’veneverbeentothe zoo before. • I don’tknowwhichwaytogo. • Ifitrains, no onewill come toclass. (Gilbert, 2008)

45. Repeat Dialogues Various Times in Different Voices and Volumes A: Hi! How are you? B: Good, thanks. How are you? A: Great! Are you going to the party this weekend? B: You bet I am! Are you? A: Yep! What are you going to bring? B: I think I’ll bring some cheese. A: Okay, I’ll bring some bread. See ya there! B: See ya there!

46. Use Jazz Chants • How do you spell dog? d-o-g • How do you spell cat? c-a-t • How do you spell octopus? Don’t ask me! Jazz Chant Video (Thompson, 2012)

47. Organize new words according to their color

49. Grammarchant: Irregular Verbs from Grammar Chants by Carolyn Graham Say, said. Stop on red. Eat, ate. Don’tbe late. Break, broke. Have a coke. Take, took. Learntocook. Speak, spoke. Tell a joke. Write, wrote. Get off theboat! (Thompson, 2012)

50. IF IT RAINS I’LL WEAR MY RAINCOAT BY CAROLYN GRAHAM If it rains / I’ll wear my raincoat. If it doesn’t rain / I won’t. When it’s cold / I always wear my gloves. When it isn’t cold, / I don’t. If it snow I won’t wear sandals. If the sun comes out I will. But if it rains I’ll wear my brand new coat. If I don’t I’ll get a chill. (Thompson, 2012)