december 2009 in this issue: the pronunciation pie this issue: the pronunciation pie..... page 1...

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eDecember 2009

In this issue:The Pronunciation Pie ....................Page 1Rhythm ..........................................Page 1Word and Sentence Stress ...............Page 2 Intonation ......................................Page 2Blending and Linking .....................Page 2Vowels and Consonants ..................Page 2Steps to Improving Pronunciation ..Page 2Connections ...................................Page 3Having Fun with English ...............Page 3

“Language is the road map of a culture. It tells you where

its people come from and where they are going.”

Rita Mae Brown

“The limits of my language mean the limits of my world.”

Ludwig Wittgenstein

This newsletter is funded by:Alberta Advanced Education and TechnologyAlberta Employment and ImmigrationDirect comments to: Lorene AndersonPhone: 403-247-3308E-mail: lorene.anderson@norquest.ca

The Pronunciation PieWhen teaching pronunciation, many instructors and tutors focus on the sounds of the letters. Yet, we can still understand ESL speakers even if they mispronounce the sounds of the vowels and con-sonants. The components that create the greatest misunderstanding in pronunciation are stress, rhythm, intonation, and linking and blending. Consonants and vowels are the building blocks. Without the “glue” of the other four components, meaning is lost.

Word Stress In English, we do not say each syllable in a word with the same force or strength. Only one syllable in each word has the major stress. The other syllables are unstressed. Some languages, such as French and Japanese, do not use word stress. They stress all syllables equally. When people speak English with all syllables having the same stress, the speech sounds monotonous and is sur-prisingly difficult to understand even if the voice is clear and audible.

In English there are general rules for which syl-lable is stressed, and which words in the sentence are stressed. As fluent English speakers, we have internalized the rules of our language, making it difficult to remember these rules! The best way to ensure you are accurate when teaching word and sentence stress is to have a good grammar reference and a good dictionary on hand. The best way for your learners to learn is to listen, listen, listen. Teaching them to use a dictionary to check pronunciation and word stress gives them the skills to learn independently.

Ways to practise stress:

Use an elastic band to show the stressed and unstressed syllables. Each syllable has one vowel sound with the unstressed vowel sounds having the schwa sound [ ].

You can beat your hand on the desk or clap the syllables to show the rhythm.

You can also show your learners how to “feel” the syllables by placing their chins into the palms of their hands. Your jaw will drop each time you make a vowel sound.

RhythmThe alternation of stressed and unstressed syllables gives English its characteristic rhythm. Deviation from this rhythm can confuse listeners.

The schwa [ ] contributes most to the creation of rhythm in spoken English. It is also the most fre-quent vowel sound. Function words (prepositions, conjunctions, articles) are typically said very fast (with schwa). Because they are the unstressed words in the sentences, they are difficult to hear. ESL learners will often omit them entirely or give these words their full stress. Helping your learners first to hear these words and then to say them quickly and without stress will help your learn-ers to create a more native-like rhythm to their speech. Examples:

“Do you know?” is pronounced “D’ya know?”

“Talk to me” becomes “talk tuh me.”

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ESL Rural Routes

Ways to practise rhythm:

Poems, chants, limericks, and rhymes are excel-lent ways to practise rhythm. Teach one line by line, modelling it and getting your learners to re-peat it. Be sure your rhythm and stress are natural. Once your learners can properly say it by memory, hand out the written form and have your learners mark it for the stresses, and then for the schwas.

Sentence StressIn any English sentence, some words carry stress and others do not. Stressed words carry the meaning or the sense behind the sentence. They are called “content words.” These include verbs, nouns, adjectives, adverbs, negative auxiliary verbs, demonstratives, and question words. Unstressed words tend to be smaller words that have more of a grammatical significance. These are called “function words” and include pronouns, prepositions, articles, conjunctions, auxiliary verbs, such as the verb “to be.”

Ways to practise stress:

You can beat your hand on the desk or clap the syllables to show the rhythm.

We teach our own children the rhythm of our language through nursery rhymes, songs, and chants. By teaching these to your ESL learners, you will give parents in your class a way to help their children with English rhythm.

Stress different words in a sentence to change the meaning of the sentence.

For example I like pizza.

I like pizza.

I like pizza.

IntonationIntonation is the music of the language. It is used to signal emotion, parts of speech, and mean-ing. Mistakes in pronunciation of sounds can be overlooked, while mistakes in intonation can have a lasting impression.

ESL speakers will usually use the music from their first language when speaking English. Often, the first language music and cultural factors cause problems. For example, Asian speakers tend to use a narrower range than English speakers while Latin speakers tend to use a broader range.

Ways to practise intonation:

Humming is an excellent technique for practising intonation. One activity is to put your learners into pairs. Give Student A a list of questions or state-ments. Give Student B a list of replies. Student A should hum the intonation patterns of her/his utterances and Student B should reply with the correct response. If all the sentences have the same number of syllables, then Student B has to listen carefully to the intonation.

Some examples are as follows:• List intonation: I like pizza, pickles, and chips.• Choice intonation: Would you prefer coffee

or tea?• Double-rising intonation: Would you like

some ice cream and cake?• Falling intonation: Next week we are flying

to Rome.• Rising intonation: Is he going to the dentist?

Blending and LinkingNative English speakers join words together so that they flow smoothly. When words in a sentence are linked, they don’t sound the same as when they are pronounced individually. This makes it difficult for ESL learners to understand native English speakers.

ESL learners tend to stop the sounds between words, making their speech choppy and unnatural. Helping your learners to understand the way we link and blend words together will help them to “hear” the language more clearly, as well help them to speak with a more native-like rhythm.

Two of the most common types of linking are consonant-to-vowel linking, and vowel-to-vowel linking.

Examples:• likes it = like-sit • laughed at = laugh-tat • explain it = explai-nit • wake up = wa-kup • too early = too wearly • who is it = who wizit • I am = I yam • do it = do wit

Ways to practise blending and linking:

Use tongue twisters to help learners learn to “link” their words together.

Give your learners lots of listening practice. Tapes or CDs are a good way to introduce voices other than yours.

Vowels and ConsonantsUnderstanding common pronunciation errors with the sounds of the letters will help you to identify areas where your learners may need extra work. Remember, these common errors are generalities. Knowing the common errors is not a substitute for knowing your learner!

For a list of common pronunciation errors by language background, check out the following website: www.btinternet.com/~ted.power/phono.html

Steps to Improving Pronunciation

Share the following tips with your learn-ers to help them speak more clearly:

• Speed – it is important to stress clar-ity, not speed.

• Pauses – pause between thought groups. This makes it easier for your listener to understand.

• Interjections – these are sounds or words that people put into their speech while they are thinking about what to say next. They can be very distracting.

• Conciseness vs. Wordiness – think before you speak, say the most impor-tant fact. Begin with the main idea and go from general to specific.

• Volume – use the correct volume for the situation and environment.

(The above points are paraphrased from NorQuest College’s Common Ground Training Manual)

Pronunciation practice should always fol-low these three stages:

• Listening discrimination:∙ lots of listening activities∙ dictation - to prevent frustration, allow lower level learners to look at the text while you dictate

• Guided practice:∙ repeating after the teacher∙ repetitive activities

• Independent practice:∙ conversation with other learners∙ role plays, interviews ∙ learner then practices in a real world setting

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Routes

Connections Rainbow Literacy Society in Vulcan was fortunate to have a couple of its tutors develop worksheets for learning the specialized vocabulary necessary to obtain a Class 1 driver’s license. The vocabulary words are listed at the bottom of each worksheet. The learners choose the correct word to fit in the blank for each sentence. Learners with a reading level as low as Grade 3 have found these worksheets helpful in learning the specialized vocabulary.

Yukon Learn published a manual titled “Easy to Read Air Brake Manual,” written by Richard Steele and Cindy Moug. Resources such as this are very helpful for use with ESL learners who need to learn the terminology to obtain their tickets for working in the trades.

I met an ESL learner who, although he is past re-tirement, continues to take various safety courses for the trades. He has done a fair bit of travelling, and he acquires certification for his trade in each country that he lives!

Got any unique tidbits to share? If so, send them to Martha Urquhart to be shared in this newslet-ter! Either phone 780-805-0091 or email: martha.urquhart@norquest.ca

Having Fun with EnglishAnd when all is said and done, have fun with our wonderfully wacky language!

There is a two-letter word in English that perhaps has more meanings than any other two-letter word, and that word is up. It is listed in the dictionary as being used as an [adv], [prep], [adj], [n] or [v].

It’s easy to understand up, meaning toward the sky or at the top of the list, but when we awaken in the morning, why do we wake up? At a meet-ing, why does a topic come up? Why do we speak up, and why are the officers up for election, and why is it up to the secretary to write up a report? We call up our friends and we use the word up to brighten up a room and polish up the silver. We warm up the leftovers and clean up the kitchen. We lock UP the house and some guys fix up the old car.

At other times the little word has a really special meaning. People stir up trouble, line up for tick-ets, work up an appetite, and think up excuses. To be dressed is one thing but to be dressed up is special.

And this up is confusing: A drain must be opened up because it is stopped up. We open up a store in the morning but we close it up at night. When it threatens to rain, we say it is clouding up.

When the sun comes out we say it is clearing up When it rains, it wets up the earth. When it does not rain for awhile, things dry up. We seem to be pretty mixed up about up!

To be knowledgeable about the proper uses of up, look the word up in the dictionary. In a desk-sized dictionary, it takes up almost one quarter of the page and can add up to about thirty definitions. If you are up to it, you might try building up a list of the many ways up is used. It will take up a lot of your time, and if you don’t give up, you may wind up with a hundred or more.

One could go on and on, but I’ll wrap it up, for now my time is up! Oh, one last thing, send this on to everyone you look up in your address book.

For more fun with English, check out the following website: www.english-test.net/lessons/47/index.html.

If you scroll down, you will find a list of grammar concepts on the left hand side. Scroll until you see “phrasal verbs.” Click on the phrasal verb you want (such as “break,” “bring,” “fall,” etc.). Then as you scroll down the page, you will find a story using that phrasal verb in the centre box. A great activity to use with your beginning tutors and instructors to help them realize how confusing English can be!

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Best Wishes for a successful 2010 from

the Rural Routes Team.

Lorene Andersonlorene.anderson@norquest.ca

Lilli FortierLilli.Fortier@NorQuest.ca

Shelley GouletShelly.Goulet@Norquest.ca

Martha Urquhart martha.urquhart@norquest.ca