UNIVERSIDAD TECNICA PARTICULAR DE LOJA

La Universidad Católica
de Loja

ENGLISH PHONOLOGY PRONUNCIATIONS

[A]

PHONOLOGY INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT

NAME: Ma. Soledad Roman

TITULATION: Ingles

TEACHER: MSc. Nina Aleksandrovna Nesterenko

Loja, 16/07/2018
 Development

Handout: “Sports. How sporty are you.”

Those following activities are designed based on one unit of an English book of the students All the
activities are design according with the different instructions. in to the book has parts of vocabulary,
reading, listening, i focus in the part of vocabulary. that's why I had to identify and analyze part for
part of the book in the pronunciation

Introduction

Teacher is going to ask questions related to the topic. In this case, the question will be “which is
your favorite sport?”. The teacher will provide the model of how they have to answer this question.
(this activity allows students to speak)

In the activity number one according to “How sporty are you?”, teacher will read two
times in what consists the activity and the different options to select.

Note: In this process, the teacher has to pay attention about how they pronounce some words related
to the topic.
With the list of students’ errors, the teacher is going to introduce the explanation about
pronunciation specially in those ones related to the topic that they are studying.

Here are the explanation and the activities to develop in order to introduce pronunciation in
the class.

ACTIVITIES

CONSONANTS
The activity will focus on two consonants: “t” and “s”

The teacher is going to present some flashcards related to the vocabulary of the unit and the
consonants. For example:

Clear explanation

Teacher is going to present this explanation. Then, the teacher is going to make students to repeat
after him the word of the flashcards using the explanation showing the mouth positioning.
Firs practice

Students has to interpret a performance in front of the class using this conversation.

S1: hi friend, did you see the SOCCER match?

S2: yes, I did. But I like TENNIS than SOCCER.
S1: Oh really, I used to play TENNIS in a TEAM.
S2: SPORTS are amazing. Let’s go to play TENNIS.
This activity has a positive reaction from the students because at the same time they learn, they have
fun.

At the end, students have to repeat the word when the teacher shows them the flashcards.

VOWELS

VOWELS

Students are going to learn the i: and I

i:
You should focus on the correct position of your lips, tongue and
jaw. Open your mouth a little, stretches your lips as wide as you can
and make them tense. Raise your tongue very high and push it to
the front of your mouth. The tip of your tongue should be lowered
just behind your bottom from teeth.
Examples:
BEAD–BEAN –CHEAP- CLEAN- CREAM
I
To pronounce the /I/ sound, you should focus on the correct position of your tongue slightly open
your mouth, spread your lips and relax them. Raise your tongue high in your mouth and push it to
the front. The tip of your tongue can be lowered just behind your bottom from teeth.
Examples:
BIG-CHIN-CHIP-DRINK- FISH

Then, teacher is going to present a video related to vowel explanation:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72M770xTvaU
First practice: listening
In this activity, the teacher is going to present a listening activity using the MINIMAL PAIR
DRILL.
Note: Why use Minimal pair drill? -
IT INCREASES ACCURACY in: pronunciation, differentiation of sounds, comprehension
/discrimination between, crucial sound differences that change and word meaning.

The list of minimal pair drill is:

Sheep (i:) and Ship (I)

Seat (i:) and Sit (I)
Eat (i:) and it (I)
Feel (i:) and fill (I)

Then, the teacher is going to provide to the students a worksheet in order to practice:

WORKSHEET

1 2 3 4 5 6
/ʊ/ /u:/ ʌ ɜ ɪ I
could __1__ Love 3

up 3 would ___1_

do ___2__ zoo ___2__

biscuit 5 feet 6

business 5 meet 6

feel 6 district 5

above 3

STRESS

 If students mispronounce words, first use self- correction technique (then ask another
student for correction.)
 In this part, Teacher will explain the grammar section explaining the structures with
different colors. Then, with the explanation of the teacher about the grammar, students have
to write sentences using the vocabulary and the structure of the grammar class. Finally,
students are going to put in practice the four skills doing the activities of the section.

Here are some strategies to use in order to introduce stress in the class. The teacher has to take
into consideration that he has to use the different strategies using the grammar explanation

 Model stressed and unstressed syllables by selecting a sentence from your book and writing
it on the board, marking the stressed syllables with a dash or a dot. Then read the sentence
aloud, emphasizing the stressed syllables. Have students practice with you.
 Explain “what is it about?”:
 The stressed words are content words, which deliver contents of stories; the content words
tell the listeners where to focus his or her attention to do that speakers stress the content
words to get listeners to hear them easily.
Unstressed words are function words speakers use them to make sentences grammatically
correct, the word’s don’t give listener main information, so speakers don’t stress them so
that they do not get listeners to focus on them.

 Explain that most unstressed syllables in English are reduced and pronounced as a
“schwa.” Teach the schwa sound (the “uh” sound as is the second syllable of “station”).
Modeling the expressions “Uh-huh” (for “yes”) and “huh-uh” (for “no”) is a humorous way
to teach this sound. The American English greeting “How are you doing?” for example is
really pronounced /how’r yuh doin’/ --the structure words “are” and “you” get reduced to
schwa.

TECHNIQUES

Get the Class Speaking

To get students’ voices warmed up, start by writing the sentence “Playing sports are….” on the
board and ask a few students to read it aloud. From there, practice saying the sentence with a
distinct stress on a different word each time; see if students can tell which word is being
stressed, and how that affects the overall meaning. Encouraging students to put some emotion
behind the delivery (rather than just saying one word louder than the rest) will get good laughs
from the rest of the class and help everyone loosen up.

Role Play

Finally, it’s time for a role-play. The dialogue can expand from the “I didn’t play soccer
yesterday” sentence above, or teachers can give a different dialogue to each pair. Teachers can
also assign emotions to each student to have them put as much emphasis behind their lines as
possible. This exercise is bound to get loud and rowdy, but it’s a great way for students to find
their voice. Some may ham it up and exaggerate, but that’s okay. It’s unlikely they’ll push it
that far in the real world and the teacher can always gently guide students the middle ground if
needed.

ACTIVITITES

Listening Activities

1. After completing a listening comprehension task in class, give the students the tape script
about SPORTS and play a very short extract. Students mark on the tape script the words
that are stressed. Discuss the kinds of words that are stressed. They will usually be the
words that give meaning: verbs, nouns and adjectives.
2. Give the students the tape script to a listening before they hear it and ask them to predict
which words they think will be stressed. Play the tape to check the predictions.
 3. Play a fairly short listening extract, maybe a paragraph in length, students write down the
important (stressed) words they hear. You can play the tape several times.
4. Emphasize that this isn't a dictation exercise you don't want students to try to write down
every word.
5. In groups ask the students to try and recreate the listening extract using the words they have
and their knowledge of the English language. Compare the students' version with the
original.
6. Discuss with students the aim of this activity - to show how native speakers listen and
understand the language, taking note of the important words, usually stressed ones, and
using their knowledge of the language to build meaning.

Also, the teacher has to present or explain about content and function words.

Types of Content Words

This is a chart showing a list of the content words that receive the stress when saying sentences
out loud. These receive more emphasis and sound louder than the other types of words. Content
words are useful since they help the listener understand the meaning of the sentence.

The teacher could present the following chart in a big poster:

Types Explanation Examples

Nouns(Not People, Places and Jack, Dog, Cat, Brazil, Texas, Car, Hat
Pronouns) Things

Main Verbs Verbs Excluding Walk, Talk, Think, Run, Speak, Chew
Auxiliary(Helping)
Verbs

Adjectives Words That Blue, Happy, Pink, Helpful, Harmful, Fast,

Modify(Describe) Slow
Nouns

Adverbs(Excluding Words That Totally, Quickly, Eagerly, Nervously, Safely

Adverbs of Modify(Describe)
Frequency) Verbs

Negatives Words That Negate Never, No, Neither, Nothing, Nowhere, Not,
Or Change Things To None
A Negative

Wh Question Words Used For Question Who, What, Where, When, Why, How
Sentences

Types of Function (Structure) Words

Function words are not as useful when it comes to understanding the meaning of the sentence.
Function words are important for making the sentence grammatically correct. This is a chart
showing a list of the function words that DO NOT receives the stress when saying sentences out
loud.

Types Explanation Examples

Used To
Pronouns Replace Known He, She, It, They, Them, Us, We
Nouns

Used To
Auxiliary(Helping)
Support The Is, Will, Shall, May, Might, Has, Would, Need
Verbs
Main Verbs

Used To Show
The
Prepositions Relationship After, Around, Beneath, Beside, To, Up, Upon, Within
Between
Content Words

Used To Join
Conjunctions For, And, After, Because, However, Either Or, Neither Nor
Clauses

Used To Give
Determiners Details To A, An, The, Some, Any, Every, Each, This, That, Those
Nouns

Used To Tell
Adverbs of Always, Rarely, Usually, Normally, Infrequently, Often,
How Often An
Frequency Sometimes
Action Is Done

 At the end, the teacher has to make students to underline with different colors the content
and function words that they could find in the practice lecture.
REMEDIAL ACTIVITIES

In my personal experience, I could realize that students have difficulties at the moment to remember
vocabulary and how to pronounce those words. Therefore, there are some activities that the teacher
should apply in order to help them to improve their knowledge.

First. Have in mind what do students need? It involves:

An awareness of formal / informal language and practice at choosing appropriate language

for different situations.

The awareness that informal spoken language is less complex than written language. It uses
shorter sentences, is less organized and uses more 'vague' or non-specific language.

Exposure to a variety of spoken text types.

The ability to cope with different listening situations. Many listening exercises involve
students as 'over hearers' even though most communication is face-to-face.

To be taught patterns of real interaction.

It is important to know that there are hundreds of thousands of words in the English language,
teaching vocabulary can seem like a very daunting prospect. Remember though that the average
native speaker uses around only five thousand words in everyday speech. Moreover, your students
won't need to produce every word they learn, some they will just need to recognize. Selecting
what to teach, based on frequency and usefulness to the needs of your particular students is
therefore essential. Once you have chosen what to teach, the next important steps are to consider
what students need to know about the items, and how you can teach them.

Ideas to practice VOCABULARY:

 Vocabulary exercises and games

  Writing / giving descriptions

 Free Conversations

 Exchange of questions

Once the teacher had explained vocabulary, he has to explain or remind students the correct
pronunciation. In order to achieve this, he could make a story containing contrasting words trough
minimal pairs with those respective sounds. Then, make a role play, or use body language to
represent a word and ask the whole class to repeat the world.

Here are examples of role plays interaction:

Another activity consists

on deal with the
different
problems of pronunciation trough a game called “BINGO”
Conclusion:

All the strategies and activities mentioned before allows students to learn, practice and solve some
common mistakes in pronunciation. It is very important because at the moment of learning a second
language, it involves not only grammar and the development of different skills but also it is about
pronunciation. In order to avoid misunderstandings and know how to communicate correctly,
learners must have the proper knowledge of all the aspects about how to pronounce and use the
second language skills.