Pronunciation

Here are the notes from this week's workshop. There are also some activities to practise at home.


Discussion

Do you think you need to improve your pronunciation?
Who do you want to sound like?
What areas of your pronunciation will you concentrate on?
How will you improve?
How can using the phonemic chart help you?

Task one: try these tongue twisters

How many cookoos could a good cook cook if a good cook could cook cookoos.

Three free throws.

Knapsack straps.

A noisy noise annoys an oyster.

The two-twenty-two train tore through the tunnel.

Good blood, bad blood, Good blood, bad blood, Good blood, bad blood, Good blood, bad blood etc…..

She sells sea shells by the sea shore.The shells she sells are surely seashells.So if she sells shells on the seashore,I'm sure she sells seashore shells.

I am not the pheasant plucker,I'm the pheasant plucker's son.I am only plucking pheasants'til the pheasant plucker comes.

Task two: what’s difficult?
Common Problem Areas.

Vowels
Health, feature, earn, wears, theatre, pleased, heard, leave, rehearsing, leather, break, teacher, appeared, yeah, ideal, increases, colleagues, death.

All the above words have vowel sounds spelt ea. However, ea can be pronounced at least 6 different ways. What are they?

Difficult Sounds
Why might some mother tongue Italian speakers have problems with the following words and phrases?
I hope he is.
Thin, other, thought, truth, Thursday
Pleasure, occasion
Sixths, clothes, rough, magnolia, significant
The jury convicts the defendant & the judge passes sentence.

Word Endings
Write the phonetic symbol for each -ed verb ending: [d], [t] or [Id]:
1
landed

2
expected

3
asked

4
regarded

5
decided

6
packed

7
locked

8
answered

9
stopped
[t]
10
requested


11
added

12
wished

13
liked

14
divided

15
played

16
multiplied

17
listened

18
listed

19
permitted

20
explored


Can you work out what the rule is?

Words commonly confused because of their pronunciation

What is the difference in pronunciation and meaning between these 4 pairs of words.
(a) rise, raise
(b) breathe, breath
(c) use, use
(d) bathe, bath

Have a look at the phonemic chart. Discuss with your partner which ones you find difficult.


Task three: stress, pauses and weak forms

You

me

him

her

You
and
me
and
him
and
her

You
and then
me
and then
him
and then
her

You
and then it’s
me
and then it’s
him
and then it’s
her

Where is the stress in the following phrases (usually)?

As far as I’m concerned, ………..
From my point of view, ……..
From the point of view of the shop owners, …..
I see what you mean, but…..
I see what you’re getting at, but……….
As far as the people in other parts of the world are concerned, …………….

Mark where the pauses and main stresses are.

The world’s most popular drink is water. You probably knew that already. After all, it’s a basic requirement of life on earth. But did you know that the world’s second most popular drink is Coke? And that the human race drinks six hundred million Cokes a day? Now let’s just put that into some kind of perspective. It means that every week of every year people drink enough Coke to fill the World Trade centre.

Answer:



The world’s most popular DRINK
is WATER.
You probably knew that ALREADY.
After all,
it’s a basic requirement of life on EARTH.
But did you KNOW
that the world’s SECOND most popular drink
is COKE?
And that the human race drinks
six hundred million Cokes a DAY?
Now let’s just put that into some kind of PERSPECTIVE.
It MEANS
that EVERY WEEK
of EVERY YEAR
people drink enough COKE
to fill the World TRADE centre.




Some to try at home


sheep/ship /
tin/ten /
bet/bat /
bet/bait /
bat/bad /
cat/cut /
cat/cart /
cart/cut /
cut/curt /
look/loop /
cart/caught /
caught/cot /
caught/coat /
caught/curt /
coat/cot /
coat/coot /
darling/dialling /
air/"A" /
tail/toil /
tail/tell /
tail/tile /
tile/toil /
hour/are /
rot/lot /
pull/bull /
heart/art / -
worse/verse /
worse/worth /
ass/as/ash / /


Why use the Phonemic Chart?
You need to learn the pronunciation to make the word part of your active vocabulary
Helps you train your ear – often fossilised grammar mistakes come from mis-hearing sounds e.g. been/being
Helps with spelling
Avoids confusing words with similar sounds or spelling

Many thanks to Andy Harris at London Metropolitan University for providing the format and some of the exercises for this lesson.

Presentations

Here are two sites you might find useful when preparing for your presentations:

http://elc.polyu.edu.hk/CILL/tools/presplan.htm

http://www.uefap.com/speaking/spkfram.htm

Discussion Topic Five. Euthanasia & the Law

Last week in class we touched on the topic of Euthanasia. This is a very emotive and controversial issue and the legal arguments for and against Euthanasia highlight some important differences between various legal philosophies. For example, a Natural Law theorist would probably argue against Euthanasia while a Legal Positivist might be in favour of it.

In the U.K. Euthanasia is still technically illegal though the Courts have made a distinction between acting and refraining to act. Mick Hume, in his editorial in The Times, "Forget A New Euthanasia Law" (http://timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/coulumnist/mick_hume/article3308471.ece )
argues that there is no need to reform the law on Euthanasia in the U.K. because Common Law Judges are able to deal with the complexity of the issue on a case by case basis.

What are your views on Euthanasia?
What is the situation in Italy?
Do you think the law should be reformed? Why/Why not?


For more information on Euthanasia and the law in the U.K. and Europe go to:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/background_briefings/euthanasia/1044740.stm

Conditionals and other Hypotheticals

The English Tense system may be organised differently to your own language. In English, for example, “time” is only one concept that the tenses describe. It may be helpful to think of the English tenses as describing different forms of “distance”. Look at the examples below:

(1) Distance in Time


PRESENT TENSES
I am going to the shop.
^
PAST
TENSES
I went to the shop yesterday.
^
PAST PERFECT TENSES
(EVENTS THAT HAPPENED BEFORE ANOTHER PAST EVENT)
I had been to the shop before he came home.

(2) Social Distance

Direct
Personal
Informal
Close Relationship

Use PRESENT TENSES e.g. You can't smoke in here!

Indirect
Formal
Polite
Distant Relationship

Use PAST TENSES, e.g. I’d rather you didn’t smoke in here.



(3) Hypothetical Distance

REAL/POSSIBLE
FACT
ALWAYS TRUE
PRESENT TENSES

When I come home I eat something.


REAL POSSIBILITY IN THE PRESENT /FUTURE
use PRESENT TENSES

If I have time, I’ll eat something later.

UNREAL /UNLIKELY
PRESENT
use PAST TENSES

If I had time, I would eat something but I’m very busy today.

I wish I had a car

UNREAL PAST (THEREFORE COMPLETELY IMPOSSIBLE)
use PAST PERFECT

If I had had time, I would have eaten something yesterday.

I wish I had gone to the party last night.


For this reason it is always important to consider the context of a sentence first – the use of the simple past tense does not always mean we are talking about a time in the past!

CONDITIONALS – AN OVERVIEW:
Typically (but not always) hypotheticals are expressed using conditional structures. Look at the 6 main types below.

“0”
Always true (e.g. rules, laws, beliefs)
Present + Present

“1st”
Real Situations in the present or future (e.g. the outcome is really possible)
Present + will + bare infinitive

“2nd”
Unreal/Hypothetical Situations in the present or future (imaginary situations, unlikely events)
Past + would + bare infinitive


“3rd”
Unreal/Hypothetical Situations in the past
(imagining past events in a different way)
Past perfect + would + perfect infinitive (have + past participle)

Mixed 2/3
Hypothetical present affects a hypothetical past.
Past + would + perfect infinitive

Mixed 3/2
Hypothetical past affects a hypothetical present
Past perfect + would + bare infinitive.


(A) Find an example for each type from the sentences below.
1. If I went out tonight , I would see John but I’m going to stay in.
2. If I had gone out last night, I would have seen John.
3. If I go out, I see John, he’s always in the pub.
4. If I go out tonight, I will see John, he said he was going into the West End.
5. If I couldn’t speak English well, I wouldn’t have gone on the Erasmus programme.
6. If we had listened to the instructions properly, we would know what to do.

(B) Other modals apart from will and would can also be used. Now add the sentences below to the groups above.
1. If you hadn’t reminded me, I might have forgotten his birthday.
2. If I had the money, I could lend it to you.
3. If you get sick, you should see a doctor.
4. If you make an appointment, you can see the doctor tomorrow.


Choosing the Best Conditional:
The conditional you use not only depends on the situation and time but also how you see it. For example 3 different people might use 0, 1st or 2nd conditionals to describe the same event depending on views and beliefs from their own experience.

Look at the 3 sentences below. How is each situation different? (n.b. they are all present situations)

(a)If the train is late, what do you do?
(b)If the train is late, what will you do?
(c)If the train was late, what would you do?

Which speaker:
Lives in Germany where the trains are never late?
Lives in Italy where the trains are sometimes late?
Lives in England where the trains are always late?


Problems With Past Hypotheticals:

1
Many students find past hypothetical structures such as the 3rd conditional very difficult. There are a number of common mistakes:

· Using the past tense instead of the past perfect.
If I know English better, I would work in the U.S.A.
If I knew English better, I would work in the U.S.A.


· The over use of would
If I would have known that it was cancelled, I wouldn’t have gone.
If I had known that it was cancelled, I wouldn’t have gone.

· Forgetting the auxiliary verbs when forming the perfect infinitive.
If I had won the lottery, I would bought a car.
If I had won the lottery, I would have bought a car.

Discussion Topic Four:

Last week saw Barack Obama win the U.S, Election in a historic victory. Obama is the 27th lawyer to become presiedent of the United States. Why do you think so many lawyers go into politics? Do you think lawyers make good politicians? Why/Why not?


See also:

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/11/03/election.trivia/index.html

Podcasts

As we discussed in the lessons this week, the best way to improve your listening skills is to practise a little, often. Make it easy on yourself - use films, songs and podcasts on subjects you find interesting and enjoyable. Below are some podcasts reccommended by the British Council. Try them out and write about what you think of them in your self study folder/notebook or blog.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/podcasts/directory Levels: Pre Intermediate - Advanced
Ages: Teens/Adults
.

http://www.capitalradio.co.uk/on-air Levels: Pre Intermediate - Advanced
Ages: Teens/Adults


www.mtv.com Levels: Beginners - Advanced
Ages: Teens/Adults