Describing Sounds

Hello!

Today while we were waiting for the rest of the class to arrive, we did a quick review of the symbols we learned yesterday. I used the flashcards and quizzed you on the symbols for all the consonants. You gave me words for each.

Next I drew a picture of a cross-section of a head with an open mouth on the board. This is called a Sammy diagram. You can see more Sammy diagrams here. We learned the parts of the mouth: top lip, bottom lip, top teeth, alveolar ridge or tooth ridge, palate or roof of the mouth, hard palate, soft palate (also called velum), tip of the tongue, back of the tongue.

Then I put this on the board:

1) Where

2) How

3) Voicing

We can talk about the consonant sounds in three ways. We can talk about where we form them in the mouth. We can talk about whether we stop the air or let it flow. And we can talk about voicing. I asked you what are the two kinds of voicing. Those of you who have been in pronunciation class for a few weeks gave me the answer: voiced and voiceless.

We put our hands on our throats to determine the difference between voiced consonants and voiceless ones. Then Lina came up and helped me. She showed you each flashcard and I stood at the board with a marker. You had to tell me which column to put each sound into: voiced or voiceless.

Next I gave you a handout. On this handout was a graphic organizer just like mine on the board. I asked you to work with a partner and the list of symbols from yesterday. You had to put the symbols into the correct box. This took a while, but it was fun! I heard lots of debate and saw you all touching your throats. Wonderful!

Lina gave us the answers to the voiced consonants and Esterlin gave us the answers to the voiceless ones. Great job!

Then we had some questions to answer. For example: If you say the /f/ sound and then add voicing, what sound do you make? You are right. You have the /v/ sound!

If you say the /b/ sound and take away the voicing, what sound do you make? Yes, it's a /p/!

Which sounds are made by bringing both lips together? You all did a great job brainstorming together. Someone said /b/; someone else said /p/. And then someone said /m/.

Which sounds are made by touching the tip of the tongue to the alveolar ridge? I heard /t/ and /d/ and /n/ and /l/ and /tʃ/ and /dʒ/. I love it when you are all shouting out answers faster than I can write!

Which sounds are made by closing the velum against the back of the tongue? You said /k/ and /g/ and also /ŋ/. I didn't even think of that last one until you said it! You are becoming linguists.

This was a really fun class. I noticed that the level one students were busy filling in their boxes with the right symbols. I also saw some surprised expressions on the faces of the upper level students as you discovered that the only difference between /d/ and /t/, /g/ and /k/, /f/ and /v/ is the voicing! They are produced in the same manner and in the same place. Only the voicing is different.

Tomorrow is conversation day. See you then!

Potluck and Pronunciation Lesson

Hello!

There was no blogpost yesterday since it was just another lab day; we followed our routine of choosing among Ellis Master Pronunciation Course, Ellis Intro with Pronunciation Quizzes, or Internet-based pronunciation sites. Many of you have told me that you really like Ellis Intro.

Today we started class by clearing up an earlier confusion. I said I thought there was a caribou on the Canadian quarter, but one student said that in another class, they learned that it was a moose. So I brought in a picture of a moose and a picture of a caribou and let you decide for yourselves. Florin, Bashar and Federico decided it's a caribou. Wikipedia also says it's a caribou. However, many Canadians think there's a moose on their quarter. Maybe you should tell them!

A caribou is an animal like a reindeer that migrates in very large herds--south in fall, north in spring. The caribou are very important to the native peoples who live in their territory. They use every part of the animal from antlers to meat to pelt to hooves. Nothing goes to waste!

I gave you each a scavenger hunt sheet to help you review everything we've covered so far, and we went to the potluck. Unfortunately, there was some confusion around whether our whole class had been invited by Zakieh or only the women. I will do a better job of communicating with Zakieh next time, if there is a next time.

Wen finished the scavenger hunt page. She found a food with an alphabet vowel sound, a food with a relative vowel sound, a food that forms its plural with /s/ and one that forms its plural with /z/. She found a food with linking and one with each kind of consonant sound: voiced and voiceless. Back in the classroom by 12:15, we took up the answers together.

Hopefully Thursday will go more smoothly.

See you then!

Stress and Flap T

Hello! I hope you enjoyed your long weekend.

Monday we talked about true t and flap t. The symbol for "true t" is /t/. The symbol for "flap t" is /D/. We practiced saying two columns of words to listen for a difference in how "t" is pronounced. In the first column we had words like: talk, toy, telephone, attack, photography, retire. In the second column we had words like: butter, pretty, litre, bitter, batter, letter.

We decided that the "t" in the words in the first column really sounds like a T. We held paper in front of our mouths and saw the paper move. There is a lot of air coming out with this T.

We decided that the "t" sound in the words in the second column sounds like a quick D. This is called "flap T" or "tap T." We make the sound by quickly tapping the tooth ridge with the tip of the tongue.

Next we tried to discover the rule for when T is /t/ and when it is /D/. Bashar said that it is true /t/ at the beginning of words. That's right. It is also true /t/ at the beginning of a stressed syllable.

What about a rule for the second column? When does T become flap /D/? We decided this happens when the T sound is between two vowel sounds AND when the previous syllable is more stressed. Bashar said he noticed that the following syllable often had schwa in it. That's a good observation.

We talked about the fact that a Level One teacher might pronounce "daughter" with a true /t/. But that is just because she is trying to pronounce things very carefully for beginners. We also sometimes speak carefully like that when speaking to children. But when adult Canadians talk to each other, we pronounce "daughter" with the flap /D/.

Next we practiced stress in numbers, contrasting the zero numbers (20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90) with the teens (13, 14, 15, 16, etc.) The teen numbers have a true /t/. The the zero numbers have a /d/ or flap /D/. Seventy has a /d/ sound; eighty has a flap /D/ sound.

We practiced a little dialogue about the VIA Rail schedule for trains that run between Windsor and Toronto.

Finally, we did an information gap activity. I gave you each a train schedule, but each of you had different pieces of information missing. You had to go around to your classmates to find the missing times on your timetable. This was a good chance to practice saying "9:15" or "9:50" correctly.

Computer Lab Day

Hello, students,

Are you done using Ellis?

You may use any of the websites in my sidebar (the links on the right). Have fun!

If you want to watch a funny teacher explaining the TH sounds, click here. That is Teacher Dave. He also has a good lesson about the SH sound. Try not to laugh at his hair, okay?

High intermediate students, you might want to try "Listen and Read Along." You can stop the audio whenever you want. You can click a line of text to play it again. Please notice which words the speaker stresses. Also notice which syllables are stressed in the words. Call me if you need help.

Very advanced students, you might want to try watching a TED Talk. Many of them have been translated into your language. You can read the text in your first language, then you can watch the lecture while reading the English text. This is good practice in listening, but it is very advanced. If you decide to try this, call me and I can help you learn your way around the website.