Tasks: Pronunciation

Read through the poem aloud a few times. It will take a few tries to get it right.
Work with a partner, so that you can work out the tricky parts together.

Pronunciation Poem

Here is some pronunciation.
Ration never rhymes with nation,
Say prefer, but preferable,
Comfortable and vegetable.
B must not be heard in doubt,
Debt and dumb both leave it out.
In the words psychology,
Psychic, and psychiatry,
You must never sound the p.
Psychiatrist you call the man
Who cures the complex, if he can.
In architect, chi is k.
In arch it is the other way.

Please remember to say iron
So that it'll rhyme with lion.
Advertisers advertise,
Advertisements will put you wise.
Time when work is done is leisure,
Fill it up with useful pleasure.
Accidental, accident,
Sound the g in ignorant.
Relative, but relation,
Then say creature, but creation.
Say the a in gas quite short,
Bought remember rhymes with thwart,
Drought must always rhyme with bout,
In daughter leave the gh out.

Wear a boot upon your foot.
Root can never rhyme with soot.
In muscle, sc is s,
In muscular, it's sk, yes!
Choir must always rhyme with wire,
That again will rhyme with liar.
Then remember it's address.
With an accent like posses.
G in sign must silent be,
In signature, pronounce the g.

Please remember, say towards
Just as if it rhymed with boards.
Weight's like wait, but not like height.
Which should always rhyme with might.
Sew is just the same as so,
Tie a ribbon in a bow.
When You meet the queen you bow,
Which again must rhyme with how.
In perfect English make a start.
Learn this little rhyme by heart.

When you have practised the poem a few times, you can hear it read aloud by following link below. Did you get everything right? If not, go back and try again.

Link to audio recording of 'Pronunciation Poem' (www.learnenglish.de)

Compete with a partner in saying each tongue twister as quickly as possible four times in a row. If you slip up or stop, you don't get a point. Whoever gets the most points wins.

• When vacating a water closet, vent the water first.

• Reverend White was very right.

• I went away to Venice where the women are very worrisome.

• Four fine fresh fish from Florida for a fiver.

• Six sticky skeletons skidded sideways.

• He found a back black bat in his black top hat.

• I have never weathered wetter weather better than when wearing leather.

• Can you imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie?

• How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? He would chuck, he would, as much as he could, and chuck as much wood as a woodchuck would if a woodchuck could chuck wood.

• Betty Botter bought some butter. But she said the butter’s bitter. If I put it in my batter, it will make my batter bitter. But a bit of better butter will make my batter better. So, it was better if Betty Botter bought a bit of better butter.

Choose either the short story 'Fable' by Mark Twain or the short story 'She Shall Not be Moved' by Shereen Pandit found here on NDLA.

Listen to a few sentences read aloud, and then try to read them in the same way. Continue playing and reading the text until you have completed the short story.

When you have finished, write a few sentences where you consider:

• Was the work useful?

• Did you learn anything new about working on pronunciation?

Use any recording equipment you have to hand, for example your PC or mobile phone.

1. Make a recording of yourself reading a news story that is at least 250 words long. You can find news stories on various webpages, for example BBC.com or CNN.com. Make sure you challenge yourself, so don't pick the easiest one you can find.

2. Listen to the recording.

3. Make notes as you listen: What did you do well? What should you work on?

4. Make the recording again with improvements. Let a classmate listen to it and give you feedback. What did you do well, and what could you improve? Reciprocate by listening to their recording and give them feedback.

5. Make the recording again with improvements. Hand it in to your teacher. Get feedback.

6. Write a few sentences about the process of making the recording. Was it a good idea to make several recordings? What, if any, improvements did you make along the way?

Below you will find some of the longest words that are in everyday use in the English language. Where do you put the stress in these words? How do you pronounce them?

1. Work with a partner and practise saying the words out loud until you are fluent.

2. Look up the meaning of any words you do not already know.

3. Either pick five of the words and use them in relevant sentences, or try to make a tongue twister using as many of the words as you can.

• incomprehensibilities

• interdisciplinary

• inconsequential

• hypothetically

• surreptitious

• susurration

• unimaginatively

• serendipitous

• pernickety

• picturesque

• capricious

• kaleidoscopic

• dwindling

• overbejewelled

• vowelisations

• overwhelming
  

Below. you will find two paintings. Work with one or two partners and have a conversation about each painting. Aim to talk for as long as possible without repeating yourselves. You can talk about what you see in the painting, what you know about the artist, what you think the artist wants to express, what the painting reminds you of, etc.

Below you will find a link to 'Crash Course Linguistics: Phonology'. Watch the video. Take notes. What you learn will come in handy in the next task.

Link to 'Crash Course Linguistics: Phonology' on PBS' website

Below are a number of words written in the phonetic alphabet. Are you able to find out what the words are and how to pronounce them?

For help, see the document 'Sounds of the English Language' found in the article 'Pronunciation', or google English phonetic chart. (The words have been ranked as some of the hardest for English learners to say.)

1. /ˈkɜːn(ə)l/

2. /ˈpeŋɡwɪn/

3. /ˈskwɪrəl/

4. /ˈlɪt(ə)rəli/

5. /aɪˈrɒnɪk/

6. /ˌpɒləˈtɪʃ(ə)n/

7. /pəˈlɪtɪk(ə)l/

8. /ˈeəriə/

Work in a group.

Create a pronunciation challenge for your classmates. The challenge can have any format you want (for example tongue twister, quiz, poem, or relay race).