All about English pronunciation!

Spenser Lemaich, MA TESOL

Cita Hati Senior School East
September 2021
 Aspects of Pronunciation
1.) Individual sounds
2.) Correspondence between letters and sounds
3.) Rhythm
4.) Strong and weak forms
5.) Word stress
6.) Sentence stress
 Basics of English pronunciation
• How many letters are in the English alphabet?
– 26: a,b,c,d,e,f,g,h,i,j,k,l,m,n,o,p,q,r,s,t,u,v,w,x,y,z
• How many are vowels?
– 5: a, e, i, o, u
• How many are consonants?
– 21: b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, v, w, x, y, z
• How many sounds are in English?
– 40 – 44 vowel and consonant sounds
 THREE TREE TEN THEN THEM TINK TEAK
TIN
TEEN
THIN
THING
THINK
TICK
How many letters, how many sounds?

• best [4 letters, 4 sounds]

• dentist [7 letters, 7 sounds]
[5 letters, 4 sounds]
• green, happy [5 letters, 4 sounds]
[6 letters, 5 sounds]
• bread [3 letters, 4 sounds]
• listen
 Practice 1 – how many?
Letters Sounds
green 5 4
1.) all
2.) back
3.) could
4.) knee
5.) sixty
6.) thing
7.) who
8.) address
 Practice 1 – how many?
Letters Sounds
green 5 4
1.) all 3 2
2.) back 4 3
3.) could 5 3
4.) knee 4 2
5.) sixty 5 6
6.) thing 5 3
7.) who 3 2
8.) address 7 5
Practice 2 – which vowel sound is different
in each row 1/2/3/4 ?
on top stop one gone
1.) give time sit think rich
2.) apple bad wash catch bank
3.) much bus sun push up
4.) many maths man hat flat
 A poem about English (a)
I take it you already know
Of tough and bough and cough and dough?
Others may stumble, but not you
On hiccough, thorough, slough, and through.
Well don’t! And now you wish, perhaps,
To learn of less familiar traps.
 A poem about English (b)
Beware of heard, a dreaful word
That looksk like beard but sounds like bird.
And dead: it’s said like bed, not bead,
For goodness sake don’t call it deed!
Watch out for meat and great and threat
(They rhyme with suite and straight and
debt).
 A poem about English (c)
A moth is not a moth as in mother
Nor both as in bother, nor broth as in
brother,
And here is not a match for there,
Nor dear and fear, for bear and pear.
And then there’s dose and rose and lose –
Just look them up – and goose and choose
 A poem about English (d)
And cork and work and card and ward
And font and front and word and sword
And do and go, then thwart and cart,
Come, come! I’ve hardly made a start.
A dreadful language? Why man alive!
I learned to talk it when I was five.
And yet to write it, the more I tried,
I hadn’t learned it at fifty-five.
 Pronunciation Practice
in Listening: Correspondence
between Letters and Sounds

Get a POINT for your team by typing

the CORRECT ORDER in the chat –
A/B/C/D ??
 1. Which sound – what order?

a) Pete
b)Peter
c) Pet
d)Bet
 2. Which sound – what order?

a) Mick Wilson
b)Mike Wilson
c) Mack Wilson
d)Mark Wilson
 3. Which sound – what order?

a) Mary Pears
b)Marie Pierce
c) Mary Pierce
d)Marie Pears
 4. Which sound – what order?

a) Lucille
b)Lucy
c) Lucia
d)Luke
 5. Which sound – what order?

a) Peter Bales
b)Peter Vales
c) Pete Bales
d)Pete Vales
 6. Which sound – what order?

a) Barbara Eaton
b)Barbara Heaton
c) Barbie Eaton
d)Barbie Heaton
 7. Which sound – what order?

a) Joe Newman
b)Joan Newman
c) Jay Newman
d)Jane Newman
 8. Which sound – what order?

a) Sir Ralph Grigson

b)Sir Alf Grigson
c) Sir Alf Gregson
d)Sir Ralph Gregson
 9. Which sound – what order?

a) Bet
b)Beth
c) Betty
d)Bess
 10. Which sound – what order?

a) Gert Fraser
b)Curt Frasier
c) Gert Frasier
d)Curt Fraser
 11. Which sound – what order?

a) Rita Lennon
b)Lita Lemon
c) Lita Lennon
d)Rita Lenin
 12. Which sound – what order?

a) Alec Shearer
b)Alex Shearer
c) Eric Shearer
d)Erica Shearer
 13. Which sound – what order?

a) Carl Bley
b)Carla Bley
c) Carla Bligh
d)Carl Bligh
 14. Which sound – what order?

a) Corin
b)Colin
c) Corinne
d)Karina
 Rhythm
Read the following sentences:
1. Mice eat cheese.
2. The mice eat the cheese.
3. The mice will eat the cheese.
4. The mice will have eaten the cheese.
5. The mice will have been eating the cheese.

Which one takes the longest to read?

 Rhythm
These sentences should all take the same
amount of time to read!

This is possible because of “weak/short forms”

 Strong and Weak Forms
• Because of the nature
of English “rhythm” and
word and sentence
stress – some words
end up being
pronounced “weakly”
• Listen to the sentences
with weak forms and
decide which words go
in the blanks
 Strong and Weak Forms
• Listen to the sentences with weak forms and decide
which words go in the blanks

1. I think they _______ gone

_________ library
 Strong and Weak Forms
• Listen to the sentences with weak forms and decide
which words go in the blanks

2. They thanked me ______

helping _________ find the
money
 Strong and Weak Forms
• Listen to the sentences with weak forms and decide
which words go in the blanks

3. _______ know ________

Mary is?
 Strong and Weak Forms
• Listen to the sentences with weak forms and decide
which words go in the blanks

4. Last night we went to a

place _________ lots of
cafes.
 Strong and Weak Forms
• Listen to the sentences with weak forms and decide
which words go in the blanks

5. Last time I saw

_________, she was on
________ way out of town.
Contrastive Stress (in sentences)
1. I didn’t paint the house
yesterday...

a.) ... I CLEANED it.

b.) ... LINda did.
c.) ... I did it on SATurday.
d.) ... I painted the garAGE.
2. Joe didn’t buy the house in
nineteen ninety-six...

a.) ... that‘s when he SOLD it.

b.) ... it was nineteen EIGHty-six.
c.) ... it was his BROther.
d.) ... it was nineteen ninety-FIVE.
 Predict the stress – (a)
1.) I’ve got one sister, and my wife has two
sisters.
2.) I didn’t say we’d meet at quarter to six; I said
quarter past six!
3.) My sister was born in 1959, and my wife in
1969.
4.) Joe lives in North America, and Pablo in
South America.
 Predict the stress – (b)
5.) Diesel engines cause more pollution than
petrol engines.
6.) I’ve never been to South America, but I have
been to South Africa.
7.) My grandfather was born in 1904; and my
grandmother was born in 1905.
8.) He served not only in the First World War,
but also in the Second World War.
 Conversation (example)
A: I fancy seeing a film.
B: What kind of film?
A: Oh, any kind of film.
B: How about a comedy?
A: I can’t stand comedies. I’d rather
see an action movie.
 Conversation (extra example 1)
A: Where did you put the potatoes?
B: Where do you think I put the potatoes?
There’s only one place to put them!
A: Well, I can’t find them!
B: They’re in the cupboard.
A: But I’ve looked in the cupboard.
B: You can’t have looked in the cupboard.
A: Well, I have.
B: Sorry...they’re still in the shopping bag.
 Conversation (extra example 2
A: Where are you spending your
holidays?
B: In France.
A: Where in France?
B: The south.
A: I’ve never been to the south of France.
B: But I’ve lived in the south of Spain.
A: Where exactly in the south?
B: In Seville.
 Conversation (continued)
A: That’s a coincidence. My daughter
lives in Seville!
B: Which of your daughters?
A: Susan, my eldest daughter.
B: What’s she doing there?
A: Working as a teacher. An English
teacher.
 Shift in dialog - 1
1. White coffee with sugar, please.
2. Black with sugar for me, please.
3. Black without sugar.
4. I’ll have mine white without sugar.
5. Tea without sugar for me, please.
 Shift (extra example 1)
1. What kind of pullover are you looking for?
2. Light blue, I think.
1. You’d look better in dark blue, in my opinion.
2. If I wanted something dark, I’d go for dark
green.
3. OK. A dark green pullover, then.
4. I’ve changed my mind. I’d like a dark green
shirt instead.
 Shift (extra example 2)
1. I’d like an apple pie.
2. I think I’d prefer a cherry pie.
3. I’d like some cherry tart.
4. I don’t want anything sweet. I’ll have a
cheese roll.
5. And I’ll have a cheese sandwich.
1. I’ve changed my mind, I’ll have a cheese
sandwich, too.
 Make a conversation with your
group! (8-10 lines)
Scenario choices: (add characters as necessary)
1. A conversation in a shop
2. A conversation between husband and wife about money
3. A conversation between a teacher and student about
grades
4. A conversation between 2-3 students about an
assignment
5. A conversation between a pastor and a church member
6. A conversation between two strangers on a street
7. A conversation between a flight attendant and an airplane
passenger
8. A conversation between a boss and some employees
 Word stress

NOW TRY THIS  (with a group) https://learningapps.org/watch?v=p1zxzg93n21