PRONUNCIATION

MODULE

THE RATIONALE OF EFFECTIVE ENGLISH SKILLS

 Effective English skills are a must for professionals who will be working abroad.
 Vocal skills are components to successful communication
 Accent, grammar and comprehension facilitate effective expression /
communication.

COMMON AREAS OF DIFFICULTY

 Not speaking clearly enough
 Not responding appropriately
 Not sounding confident
 Mispronouncing
 Not observing correct grammar
 Obviously memorizing
 Being disorganized and lacking focus
 Using may un-American expressions

AMERICAN ENGLISH SOUNDS

Vowel Sounds Consonants

\a\ - bank, tan \ch\ - champ, chin

\ä\ - palm, bar \sh\ - shore, chevy
\o\ - stop, lock \f\ - fill, laugh
\ā\ - lake, break \p\ - pull, pit
\e\ - net, kept \b\ - best, bill
\ē\ - meet, speak \v\ - vibrant, vet
\i\ - wit, been \th\ - think, path
\ī\ - like, dine \th\ - that, mother
\ō\ - glow, so \r\ - roll, party
\ό\ - core, wall \s\ - sand, pass
\ú\ - look, pull \z\ - zealous, has
\ü\ - move, tool \zh\ - treasure, occasion
\aú\ - bough, now \j\ - gel, jump
\όi\ - coy, poise \hw\ - white, nowhere
\ә\- among, label, pencil, some, but \ŋ\ - bring, linger
\әr\ - pillar, teller, firm, armor,

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A. Short ‘o’ versus Short ‘a’ Short ‘a’
Short ‘o’ back
color parallel
column lamp
solid stamp
shopping task
conference cash
icon slash
modern laughter
technology answer
embossed laptop
revolve

B. Italian ‘a’ \ä\ versus Schwa \ә\ Schwa

Italian ‘a’ courtesy
cargo funds
garage bug
palm blurred
bark junction
barge dozen
park company
arc front
armor enough
farm indulge
harmless

C. Schwa \ә\ versus Short ‘ a’ Short a

Schwa man
tough plaid
flush mass
flood manner
glove add
shovel traffic
multiply fascinated
function companion
comfortable natural
double capacity
troubleshoot

D. Short ‘i ’ versus long ‘e’ Long ‘e’

Short ‘i’ season
will delete
midget achieve
admirable sheet
simulation reason

forfeit

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disc compete
give three
sister immediate
trivial receipt
extremist
E. Short ‘e’ versus long ‘a’

Short ‘e’ Long ‘ a’

repetitive vacation
parallel elite
modem debris
fluorescent vacate
bury suede
jeopardize Gabriel
Leonard wafer
adolescent cadence
centennial humane
diskette pate

F. Long o versus circumflex o

Long ‘o’ Circumflex ‘o’

gross forfeit
control flaw
colon awesome
modem yawn
roll drawl
logo call
robot halt
protocol authentic
dosage walnut
quota install

G. Short ‘u’ versus long ‘u’

Short ‘u’ Long ‘ u’

Brooklyn intuitive
crook museum
cook coupon
took obscure
book improve
look Luke
would sewage
should prove
good true
push tomb

technique H. ‘ch’ versus ‘sh’

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‘ch’
Rachel ‘sh’
which chandelier
peach Chicago
culture sachet
voucher mustache
speech chef
righteous chiffon
spiritual pressure
adventure brochure
picture chaperon
charades
I. Voiceless ‘th’ versus voiced ‘th’

Voiceless ‘th’
worth Voiced ‘th’
theme further
Nathaniel the
south then
thirteen breathe
Elizabeth northern
three clothing
enthusiastic together
Thursday southerner
something leather
farther
J. ‘S’ versus ‘Z’

‘s’
essence ‘z’
mass likewise
listen flimsy
bus choose
gas business
juice season
grace busy
loose pleasant
dosage visit
vice deserve
please
K. ‘P’ versus ‘F’

‘p’
pipe ‘’f’
wipe philosophy
lips wife
beep lifts
beef

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TONGUE TWISTERS (students should be timed while they read the tongue twisters)
Felice Peter, a friend of a friend of Peter’s, felt Peter thought she taught Theology at St. Peter’s. But it
was Peter Fifer, who taught Theology at St. Peter’s and not Felice Peter. Now, Thelma, thinking Felice
taught Theology, thought of thanking the latter for teaching Theology at St. Peter’s where she took
theology three times.

Betty Botter had some butter,

"But," she said, "this butter's bitter.
If I bake this bitter butter,
it would make my batter bitter.
But a bit of better butter--
that would make my batter better."
So she bought a bit of butter,
better than her bitter butter,
and she baked it in her batter,
and the batter was not bitter.
So 'twas better Betty Botter
bought a bit of better butter.
A flea and a fly flew up in a flue.
Said the flea, "Let us fly!"
Said the fly, "Let us flee!"
So they flew through a flaw in the flue.
A bitter biting bittern
Bit a better brother bittern,
And the bitter better bittern
Bit the bitter biter back.
And the bitter bittern, bitten,
By the better bitten bittern,
Said: "I'm a bitter biter bit, alack!"

Mr. See owned a saw.

And Mr. Soar owned a seesaw. I need not your needles, they're needless to me;
Now See's saw sawed Soar's seesaw For kneading of noodles, 'twere needless, you
Before Soar saw See, see;
Which made Soar sore. But did my neat knickers but need to be kneed,
Had Soar seen See's saw I then should have need of your needles indeed.
Before See sawed Soar's seesaw,
See's saw would not have sawed
How much wood would a woodchuck chuck
Soar's seesaw.
if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
So See's saw sawed Soar's seesaw.
He would chuck, he would, as much as he could,
But it was sad to see Soar so sore
and chuck as much wood as a woodchuck would
Just because See's saw sawed
if a woodchuck could chuck wood.
Soar's seesaw!

Moral lesson: you should not speak too fast so you wont stutter and you wont get your tongue tied. ; p
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EXERCISE: NOUN OR VERB?

1. read the following words and ask the class if it’s a noun or a verb

 address  permit
 comment  present
 conduct  progress
 conflict  project
 content  protest
 contest  rebel
 digest  record
 increase  subject
 insult  survey
 object  suspect
1.

EXERCISE: MEANING
I didn’t say he stole the money.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Waco Lewis Aaron primary
Worcester Isaac Lindsay annual
Tucson Thomas Daniel complimentary
Leigh Joan advertisement transaction
Louis Joanne fraudulent gross
Louise Graham speak motor

INTONATION

Rising – used for “yes” and “no” questions

“Do you like it?
“Is it good?”

Falling – used for statements and questions not answerable by yes or no

“She likes it”
“How did that happened”

Circumflex – used to enumerate things, with the last item using a falling intonation.
“I want to buy bags, shoes and make-up.”

PITCH

a. Extra High or Very High - What a catastrophe!

b. High - I’m happy for you.

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c. Normal - You’re classmates aren’t you?

d. Low - Just sit down and relax.

PHRASING
 the grouping together of words that convey a thought
 separated from each other by pauses
 no definite rules that govern the grouping of words

EXERCISE

Every night, Frank would go down to the liquor store, get a six pack, bring it home, and drink it
while he watched TV. One night, as he finished his last beer, the doorbell rang. He stumbled to
the door and found a six-foot cockroach standing there.  The bug grabbed him by the collar and
threw him across the room, then left.

The next night, after he finished his 4th beer, the doorbell rang.  He walked slowly to the door
and found the same six-foot cockroach standing there.  The big bug punched him in the stomach,
then left.

The next night, after he finished his 1st beer, the doorbell rang again.  The same six-foot
cockroach was standing there.  This time he was kneed in the groin and hit behind the ear as he
doubled over in pain.  Then the big bug left.

The fourth night Frank didn't drink at all.  The doorbell rang.  The cockroach was standing there. 
The bug beat the snot out of Frank and left him in a heap on the living room floor.

The following day, Frank went to see his doctor.  He explained events of the preceding four
nights.  "What can I do?" he pleaded.  "Not much" the doctor replied.  "There's just a nasty bug
going around."

THE IMPORTANCE OF GOOD VOCAL QUALITIES

P I C T U R E
PITCH – refers to how high or low the voice is
INTONATION – some words should receive more emphasis than others.
COMPOSURE – refers to how confident you are in speaking
TONE – it’s not what you say, but how you say it.
UNDERSTANDABILITY – make everything crystal clear
RATE – not too fast, not too slow
ENUNCIATION – speaking distinctly, pronouncing every syllable