This book covers some simple techniques and activities you can use in any class to help your students speak more clearly.
1. Speaking Clearly: Activities for Improving English Pronunciation Some simple techniques and activities you can use - in any class - to help your students speak more clearly. Shirley Thompson ESL Consultant, Teacher Trainer
2. Goals for this webinar: • To heighten your awareness of what’s important for you and your students to focus on in order to help them speak more clearly. • To help you understand a key component of spoken English– STRESS. • To look at some techniques and activities you can use in a variety of settings and classes.
3. What is Pronunciation?
4. How you can help your students speak more clearly, no matter what you’re teaching. 1. Heighten your awareness and teach your students a few basic rules of how spoken English works. Just as you teach grammar rules, teach your students the basic rules of spoken English. [As a bonus, this will also improve their listening comprehension.] 2. Emphasize comprehensibility. Everyone has an accent, so don’t focus on “sounding like a native speaker” or “having the perfect accent”. Just work on helping your students speak clearly. 3. Start orally. Whenever possible, introduce your lessons orally first. Introduce new vocabulary and phrases orally before students see the written form. Help students learn to trust their ears and not their eyes. Provide opportunities for them to listen to spoken English. If I ruled the world. . .
5. TRUST YOUR EARS, NOT YOUR EYES Help students learn to LISTEN to how something is pronounced and NOT be misled by the spelling. How do we pronounce “a” in English? • gray • black • mustard • auburn • about • any
6. Why should we focus on stress, rhythm, and how we group words together? Everyone, regardless of language background, benefits from these skills. For native English speakers, stress is key to meaning. It’s what we listen for to know what’s important and what to focus on. Speakers can make mistakes with individual sounds (the troublesome “th” for example, or the “l” vs. “r”) and still be understood if the stress is correct. So let’s take a look at stress in English. . .
7. SYLLABLE-TIMED VS. STRESS-TIMED Many languages are “syllable-timed”-- every syllable gets more or less the same stress or emphasis. ed u ca ti on pa pa BUT NOT ENGLISH. . . English is a “stress-timed” language. The rhythm is based only on stressed words and syllables, not all syllables. In other words, the “beat” is based on which words/syllables are stressed. A stressed syllable gets much more time than an unstressed one. And unstressed syllables are reduced. ed u CA tion PA pa
8. Rhythm in Sentences How many syllables? How many stresses? Kids play ball. The kids play ball. The kids are playing ball. The kids are playing with the ball. The kids have been playing with the ball.
9. In a stressed-timed language such as English, the beat is set by the number of stresses, NOT the number of syllables. So, each line takes approximately the SAME amount of time to say, even though the last one has three times as many syllables. Kids play ball. The kids play ball. The kids are playing ball. The kids are playing with the ball. The kids have been playing with the ball.
10. The many levels of STRESS • Words with two or more syllables will always have one primary stress. • photograph, photographer, photographic • Phrases have stress. • an excellent photographer, in digital photography • Sentences have stress patterns. • My grandmother was an excellent photographer. • He’s interested in digital photography. • We use stress to focus attention and show contrast, often to correct, contradict or disagree. – My father liked to paint, but my mother was a photographer. – She was a photographer not a photojournalist.
11. Stress in English impacts meaning. (Other languages may have stress, but often it doesn’t change the meaning.) Word-level: CONvict vs. conVICT, REcord vs. reCORD Even when unintended: I was teaching a speaking & listening class. After class, a student approached me with his cassette tape in his hand. . . Student: I need to talk to you about my cassette. Me: Do I know your cousin?
12. Stress affects meaning at the phrase and sentence level. A conversation in a coffee shop: These sentences have different meanings. Can you guess what the problem is in each case? 1. I asked for two large coffees to go. (Problem: The server gave me only one.) 2. I asked for two large coffees to go. 3. I asked for two large coffees to go. 4. I asked for two large coffees to go.
13. Let’s look at stress, starting at the word level. Syllable stress is something you can help your students pay attention to – in grammar class, reading class or any other class. This daily focus will train your students to NOTICE stress in English – even if they don’t always get it right, at least they’ll be listening for it!
14. Syllable Stress • The RULE: If a word has more than one syllable, one will ALWAYS be louder, higher and [especially!] LONGER than the others. • It’s the vowel sound that’s lengthened. • So. . . stressed vowels are key to the rhythm of spoken English. • Rubber bands are a wonderful way to help your students “feel” and “see” the stress. Hook the rubber band to your thumbs and stretch it as you say (and stretch) the stressed vowel. • (Thanks to Judy Gilbert, the author of Clear Speech and Clear Speech from the Start for this technique.)
15. Using Rubber Bands to notice syllable stress: cucumbers, margarine, donuts, seafood.
16. Here’s a vocabulary list from a unit about the grocery store in The Oxford Picture Dictionary. When you’re working on vocabulary, always have students identify the stressed syllable. [Primary stress is enough.] Underline the stressed VOWEL since it is the vowel that is lengthened to show Can you identify which syllable is stressed? If you’re not sure you can always use a dictionary – online or hard copy. 2. vegetables 1. aisle 3. tuna 2. customer 4. basket 3. manager 5. ice cream 4. margarine 5. yogurt 1. coffee
17. PEAK /ow/ STRESS pro FOCUS WORD produce THOUGHT GROUP Where’s the produce? Judy Gilbert’s Prosody Pyramid [prosody = melody + rhythm] is another way of looking at the importance of stress. The base of the system is the thought group. . .Within that base unit is a focus word – the most important word in the thought group. Within the focus word, one syllable is given the main stress. That syllable functions as the peak of information within the thought group.
18. The Color Vowel Chart is a teaching tool to help students focus on the stressed vowel in the stressed syllable. It represents the 15 vowel sounds in American English with two key words: a color adjective and a noun. You can find this online at www.colorvowelchart.org
19. Once you’ve identified the stressed syllable, then identify the color of the stressed vowel – the peak. 1. aisle = white 1. coffee 2. customer = mustard 2. vegetables 3. manager = black 3. tuna 4. margarine = olive 4. basket 5. yogurt = rose 5. dairy
20. Here are some ways to use this idea of COLOR: Make a word wall or color coded vocabulary lists. As the students learn new vocabulary, they write the words in the correct boxes based on the stressed vowel. (You can download a blank word list at the Color Vowel Chart website.) GREEN TEA BLUE MOON seed heater season computer food news used seat free cream freedom tool fuel unusual Tuesday stream speaker street moose moody tooth truth usually RED DRESS BROWN COW tennis tenant bedroom clown around sour flower head went dread instead flour hour power noun sound ready telephone ground loud mountain GRAY DAY NOTE: Although English spelling is frustratingly irregular, table baby unable shape students can begin to see that afraid painting stain some patterns do exist. container remainder
21. This class is using the Color Vowel Chart. They refer to it each time they encounter a new word, or a word they have problems pronouncing.
22. Students add new words to the posters and to their personal word lists.
23.
24. More Color- coded Word Lists
25. Some teachers like using colored markers, but once students have learned the vowel sounds associated with the colors, you don’t need colored markers.
26. How Stress Works in Sentences These are rules your students can learn and practice. • content words (the words that carry information) are usually stressed - nouns, main verbs, adjectives, adverbs, demonstratives (this, these, those) and negatives (can’t, won’t, never, no, etc.) • function words are usually unstressed and reduced - a, an, the, pronouns, auxiliary verbs, most prepositions, etc. • in unstressed words and in unstressed syllables, the vowel sounds are reduced and often move to “schwa” the “cup of mustard” sound: How do you spell “dog”? do and you are reduced • typically the last content word in each thought group receives the most stress: by the apples, on the counter, next to the cereal, I put the groceries/ in the bag.
27. Just for fun, let’s see what happens if we (incorrectly!) stress the function (or structure) words and background or reduce the content words. Again, you can do this with your students. We’ll arrive at the We’ll arrive at the airport on Saturday airport on Saturday at 9:46 PM. We’ll at 9:46 PM. We’ll meet you outside meet you outside the baggage area. the baggage area. Don’t forget to Don’t forget to bring the car seat. bring the car seat.
28. English speakers also use stress to indicate what’s new or important in a conversation. We change the focus (by changing the stress) according to what is “new”, or what we want the listener to FOCUS on. A: Where are the keys? B: Which keys? A: My keys. B: I thought you had them. A: No. I gave them to you. I’ll read it again. This time focus on the words that are NOT stressed and notice how the words become reduced, or backgrounded. They’re much less clear because they’re less important.
29. Different languages use different techniques to indicate what is most important, so using stress may not come easily for your students, but it’s perhaps THE most important thing in helping students speak more clearly! 1. What are you doing? I’m listening. 2. Who’s listening? I’m listening. 3. Why aren’t you listening? I am listening. How would you express these ideas in your language?
30. In French, for example, additional words are added to change the emphasis rather than using stress. Some languages use repetition to show what’s important. What does your language do? What are you doing? I’m listening. Je vous écoute. Who’s listening? I’m listening. Moi, je vous écoute. Why aren’t you listening? I am listening. Mais oui je vous écoute. Let’s move now to some very practical things you can do in your classes to help your students learn to notice stress and it’s important role in spoken English
31. An easy jazz chant. • Carolyn Graham’s jazz chant, How do you spell “dog”? is fun and gives student a “template” for asking how to spell a word. • Jazz chants can provide students with useful “chunks” of language – expressions that they learn as a whole rather than word-by-word. • Beat out the rhythm by clapping or marching. It’s fun to have students march in a circle as they chant. It gets the rhythm of English into their bodies. Let’s try it! • 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!
32. THE COLOR SOUNDS OF THE ALPHABET: You can use the idea of colors representing vowel sounds to help students learn to spell orally. (You can download this at www.colorvowelchart.org and post it on a wall or hand it out.) • A is grey. • Q is blue. • B, C, D, and E are • R is olive. green. • S is red. • F is red. • T is green. • G is green. • U is blue. • H is gray. • V is green. • I is white. • W is mustard. • J and K are gray. • X is red. • L, M and N are red. • Y is white. • O is rose. • Z is green. • P is green.
33. In grammar classes. . . • Whenever possible, introduce grammar points orally. • Have students read practice sentences aloud. Help them read in thought groups with correct stress on content words. • Focus on the individual sounds that DO matter in English – final sounds that indicate grammatical features such as • /s/,/z/, /t/ /d/, and /Id/. • Teach students to notice how stress can change the meaning of a sentence. I ordered two hamburgers. vs. I ordered two hamburgers. • Teach students to use contrastive stress. This is very common in talking about grammar points. “ You should use the past tense here, not the past progressive because. . .” “That should be a comma, not period.”
34. Grammarchant: Irregular Verbs from Grammar Chants by Carolyn Graham Say, said. Stop on red. Eat, ate. Don’t be late. Break, broke. Have a coke. Take, took. Learn to cook. Speak, spoke. Tell a joke. Write, wrote. Get off the boat!
35. Chants can be used to teach or reinforce grammar points while at the same time providing speaking & pronunciation practice. Student can quite easily absorb complex grammar points through this type of quality repetition. 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.
36. POETRY: Poets, of course, have a wonderful sense of the rhythm of language. Again, select poems that mirror natural speech rhythm. HOLD FAST TO DREAMS (excerpted) by Langston Hughes Hold fast to dreams, For if dreams die, Life is a broken-winged bird, That cannot fly.
37. Review parts of speech by having students identify all of the nouns, adjectives, adverbs and other content words that will be stressed. Then have them identify the function words that will be reduced. You can do the same activity with a paragraph from a reading you’re studying, or grammar sentences. Is the Post Office Open Tomorrow? (excerpt from Jazz Chants by Carolyn Graham) Is the post office open tomorrow? It’s open from nine to five. Is the post office open tomorrow? It’s open from nine to five. What time does it open? It opens at nine. What time does it close? It closes at five. It opens at nine and closes at five. It’s open from nine to five.
38. Reading & Pronunciation: Use recorded reading passages to help your students practice both listening and speaking. • There are several ways to use a recorded reading. • First, have your students listen several times and write down whatever words they hear. This will help them notice that important words are stressed. • Next, have them listen and read along with the script. • Then, select a couple of lines and have them mark the text. Where are the thought groups? Which words are stressed? • I’ll read a couple of sentences now so you can see how this works. Write down whatever words you hear. • I attend English classes / at a language program in my city/ because I want to improve my communication skills./ English has become the international language /around the world,/ and I might be able to get better employment/ and make more friends /if I learn to speak fluently. • Finally, have the students “mirror” the speaker, that is, read along with the speaker mimicking the pauses and stresses. This passage is from www.dailyesl.com, a free site. Or ask a colleague to record a reading for you. Please share ideas on the ning.
39. Conversely, you can ask students to predict where the speaker will pause, which words will be stressed, which will be reduced, and which words will receive the focus stress. Then have students listen several times to the sentences read aloud as they check to see if their predictions were correct. • I attend English classes at a language program in my city because I want to improve my communication skills. English has become the international language around the world, and I might be able to get better employment and make more friends if I learn to speak fluently. • Round robin reading is another way to practice. Each student reads one thought group.
40. An easy way to bring pronunciation practice into your reading lessons: Questions • Questions are common in pre- and post-reading exercises. Or ask questions about a picture, chart or other graphic. • Focus on intonation patterns for questions: yes/no, information, choice • As always, focus also on thought groups and stresses – Is it raining in the picture? (rising) – What’s the woman doing? (falling) – Is she happy or sad? (rising/falling)
41. Let’s recap. . . • TEACH some basic rules of • Practice basic features. spoken English. • Always identify stressed • All words with more than one syllables in words, stressed syllable have a stressed syllable words in phrases, and focus with a lengthened vowel. words in conversations. • Practice language in “chunks” • English has a distinct rhythm or thought groups. pattern based on stressing • Whenever possible, have some syllables and words and students listen before they reducing others. read, write or speak. Help • Stress affects meaning in English them learn to trust their ears. so it’s worth paying attention • Spoken English is learned by to. lots of listening to good models, and lots of repetition or phrases and sentences.
42. Stress is a powerful tool! Stress is the main technique that English uses to draw the listener’s attention to what is important. It “points” us to what the speaker wants us to focus on. If this is the only thing you have time for, it will help your students spoken English immensely!
43. Thank you for joining this webinar! • I look forward to your questions and comments on the ning. • Please share resources that you use to work with your students on speaking clearly.
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