Pronunciation Unit 5 Problems (Group: Celia, Joanna, Lorena)

Hi everyone. I am posting the two pronunciation problems our group covered in class as well as ways to teach them. You can reference pg. 39-42 in the second tab of your binder.

Problem: Distinction between tense vs. lax 

Some examples of this include
/iy/ vs. /I/ ('beat' vs. 'bit')
/ey/ vs. /E/ ('bait' vs. 'bet')
/uw/ vs. /U/ ('boot' vs. 'book')

• A great way to teach this is by simply exaggerating your pronunciation of the vowels of these words. You can hold the sides of your cheeks or place the back of the hand under the chin to physically feel the difference when pronouncing the words.
• You can get students to write a short list of the two different vowel sounds. For example: bit/beat, ship/sheep, slip/sleep. This can provide students of a visual distinction between the words (short vs. long).
• To expand on the point above, pair up students. Get them to read/ask each other short sentences which include the words above. Their partner will have to listen for the distinction then answer which one is the correct word. For example: "John bit the dog." vs. "John beat the dog." 

Problem: /E/ vs. /ae/ vs. /ʌ/ vs. /a/ as in 'bet', 'bat', 'but', and 'pot'

• As previously mentioned, a great way to teach this is by actually pronouncing the word, and using methods such as placing the hand under the chin to feel the difference. 
• Make columns of different vowel sounds. For example: bet/bat, set/sat, pen/pan, men/man. You could have a picture of one of the words in the pair, then get the student to decide which word belongs to the picture. 
• As a teacher, create sentences repeating the same vowel in the sentence. If you can, get your students to make sentences as they become more advanced. Examples include: "He sent the letter.", "She lent me ten dollars.", and "Ken did his best on the English test." Get students to dictate these sentences so they becoming more used to using them by repetition. 

Thursday Night Already

Hi Class. I wanted to post a thank you for making this group so awesome. I am really enjoying teaching this class and so far I think the class is going quite well. So thanks! I hope you are all enjoying the program so far. Also, don't forget to be working quietly in the background on your portfolios. We'll talk about that again next week as we start to prepare for our first class quiz coming up in a couple weeks! See you soon!

Ah, Spring ........!

When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie...

I thought I'd keep with Marilyn's nature theme. It was hard to capture how beautiful it looked in real life, but this is a photo of the moon hanging above the clouds and mountains. I took this on a ferry ride to the Sunshine Coast a few weeks ago. I am visiting the coast again on Friday, so I hope there are more opportunities to capture the beautiful nature we are so lucky to be around. See you all in class!

A little inspiration...

Good Friday Afternoon! The sun is shining, and I just spoke with my family in Ontario... -15 degrees, wind so strong there is zero visability, and 2 feet of snow....

Aren't you glad to be living in Vancouver where daffodil bulbs are starting to sprout in our gardens?

Marilyn

The Next Thing to do is...

My beautiful students! I hope you are having a wonderful day. Your next Blog assignment is simple! Please post on to the blog so I can be sure you are getting more comfortable using this tool. I also would like you to include a picture to learn how to do that. I've attached a picture of my house (just because it was in the directory on my computer lol). Have an awesome day!

Practicum Preference

Hi Class. This will be an interesting test. I am curious to see who is reading the blog so far. I noticed only 2 people (Susan and Lorena) are officially registered for this blog....so. Here's the assignment (and it's easy): please email me with your preference for the practicum. I need to know several things: 1) your preference of morning, afternoon, and evening; 2) your preference of level (lower levels including literacy, or higher levels); 3) your favourite colour. (well, that's just for fun actually). Thanks!

Week 3 Finishing...

Hi Class. I hope you are all well. I'm very happy about the direction our class is going in and all your hard work. I wanted to let you all know that I put in my proposal in for the SAT Prep class I spoke to you all about. I received some immediate feedback and everything looks pretty good. In addition, part of the proposal I created used elements from our course. I promise to keep you all updated as this process continues.