Page 10 - DENG401_Advance Communication Skills

Unit 1: Simple Rule for Pronunciation & Intonation

help learners link words, try starting at the end of a sentence and have them repeat a Notes
phrase, adding more of the sentence as they can master it.

Example: ‘gowaway,’ then ‘aymeegowaway,’ and finally ‘Willaymeegowaway’ without
any pauses between words.

6. Vowel Length: You can demonstrate varying vowel lengths within a word by stretching
rubber bands on the longer vowels and letting them contract on shorter ones. Then let the
students try it.

Example: The word ‘fifteen’ would have the rubber band stretched for the ‘ee’ vowel,
but the word ‘fifty’ would not have the band stretched because both of its vowels are spoken
quickly.

7. Syllables
(a) Have students count syllables in a word and hold up the correct number of fingers,
or place objects on table to represent each syllable.

(b) Illustrate syllable stress by clapping softly and loudly corresponding to the syllables
of a word. For example, the word ‘beautiful’ would be loud-soft-soft. Practice with
short lists of words with the same syllabic stress pattern (‘beautiful,’ ‘telephone,’
‘Florida’) and then see if your learners can list other words with that pattern.

8. Specific Sounds
(a) Minimal pairs, or words such as ‘bit/bat’ that differ by only one sound, are useful
for helping students distinguish similar sounds. They can be used to illustrate voicing
(‘curl/girl’) or commonly confused sounds (‘play/pray’). Remember that it’s the
sound and not the spelling you are focusing on.
(b) Tongue twisters are useful for practicing specific target sounds, plus they’re fun.
Make sure the vocabulary isn’t too difficult.
(c) The Sounds of English, American Accent Training, and EnglishClub.com websites below
offer guidelines for describing how to produce various English sounds. You can find
representative practice words for every English sound on the English is Soup site.

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