Describing People for Police

Hello, students!

This week we are learning to describe people.

In this video, we hear two people discussing the physical descriptions of escaped prisoners.



This week we talked  about linking. Watch Rachel's lesson on linking.

You can also practice spelling and sentences with games.

Our Listening / Speaking Strategies

We have begun Listening Boot Camp!

What is a boot camp?

It is intensive training for new military recruits with a strict drill sergeant. Sometimes health clubs also offer boot camps for people who want to get in good shape fast. The personal trainer is there to motivate people to work hard for quick results. The personal trainer doesn't let you make excuses or take the easy way.

I am here to motivate you to awaken and strengthen different areas of your brains. We have agreed to close our bilingual dictionaries during listening lessons. The dictionaries can distract us from the main goal: improving listening and speaking skills.

This week we started building our tool box of L / S strategies. We can:

• Guess an unknown word from context. (Remember the Shillybog!)
• Listen for the gist.
• Use repair strategies. (Communication is a two-way street.)
• Talk around a word we do not know by explaining to the listener what we mean.
• Tune into CONTENT words.
• Practice good linking and prosody so your brain is prepared for the way native speakers really talk.

Here Rachel teaches you about consonant sound to vowel sound LINKING.

Watch this video about HOW TO GUESS A WORD FROM CONTEXT.  Here is another video about the same thing. There are many!

This is a great video on keys to improve your listening comprehension.

If you want to print the words to one of the 265 Short Stories on Mr. Zhang's Listening Page, call me over and we can do that together.

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!

Assimilation and Deletion

Hello!

Today we started looking at two things that happen in fast, native-speaker English: assimilation and deletion.

First we talked about what assimilation means. Florin told us that it means when someone who is different starts to fit in and change to be more like the environment. This happens with newcomers to Canada, and it also happens to sounds in languages!

For example, it can happen across word boundaries. When we say "nice shoes," we don't hear a clear /s/ at the end of "nice" before the "sh" sound. It's more like one slightly longer "sh" sound.

We also looked at deletion or elision. This is when a native speaker, when speaking at a normal to quick conversational speed, doesn't pronounce certain letters. Examples are the second "t" in Toronto, the "d" in Windsor, the "t" in plenty and twenty, etc.

We looked at a passage about someone who found an apartment to rent on Erie Street. We found all the linking, assimilation and deletions. One thing that came up while we were taking up the exercise was whether we can drop the final -s (plural marker). We cannot drop that. When a sound makes a difference in grammar, we have to say that sound. I notice that almost all LINC students have trouble remembering to say the past tense markers /t/, /d/ and /Id/ and the plural markers /s/, /z/, and /Iz/.

I apologize for taking you through today's exercises too quickly. Tomorrow I will slow down and we will have more opportunities to use what we learned in conversation.

Have a nice evening (two syllables in evening)!

Linking C to Same C

Hello!

While we were waiting for everyone to get to class, some of us talked about how the weather is starting to get a bit cooler. Those of us without air conditioning are finding it easier to sleep these past few days. I asked each of you if this will be your first fall in Ontario. Most of you said yes, this will be your first fall here. Those who were here last fall told the newcomers what they can expect to see this fall: lots of colour!

Before starting the lesson, we had a miniature side lesson about "a" and "an." An exception to the rule came up in her class, and I wanted to explain it. Two of the students from that class are in pronunciation with us.

I asked you for the rule and you told me that we use "an" before a count noun when it starts with a vowel. But that's not really true. We use "an" when the next word starts with a vowel SOUND. As usual, there I go stressing the fact that it's the SOUND that matters more than the spelling.

Consider: an umbrella, a unit, a uniform

We talked about why this is so. It has to do with the sound that the letter "u" makes in unit and uniform. It starts with a /y/ sound, doesn't it?

We also talked about how some native speakers say "herb garden" with silent "h" while others pronounce the "h." Those who pronounce the "h" would say "a herb garden." Those who don't pronounce the "h" say "an herb garden."

It's good to have that out of the way!

Today we looked at another type of linking. When you have the same consonant sound at the end of one word and the beginning of the next word within the same thought group, you say the sound only once, but hold it slightly longer. Examples: call Laura, phone number, big girl, bad dog. This also occurs between the two parts of a compound noun, such as bookcase. However, when a consonant is doubled inside a normal word, we say the consonant sound only once: carrot, bullet, simmer.

We practiced this chorally and individually in words. Then we found the links in sentences, wrote them in, then practiced those sentences aloud.

Next we read a passage about what makes leaves turn orange, yellow, red, purple and brown in autumn. We practiced pausing, keeping thought groups together, and all three types of linking that we've learned so far.

After a brief interruption so we could learn about an upcoming session for the Men's Group, we asked each other some questions while paying attention to linking. We asked our partners things such as:

• Will this be your first fall in Ontario?
• Do the leaves change colour in your first country?
• Are you looking forward to seeing the changing colours?
• Have you ever been to the Muskoka area of Ontario?
• Have you ever been to Quebec?

Have a nice weekend! I'll see you on Monday. Oh, and click here if you want to see some beautiful photos of northern Ontario in the fall.

Linking V to V

Hello!

Today we talked about another type of linking in English. This is the linking between vowel sounds. You remember the alphabet vowel sounds, right? They are /ey/, /iy/, /ay/, /ow/, and /uw/. We also have relative vowel sounds, but we don't need to talk about them because English words never end in relative vowel sounds.

Today we saw once again that English is not pronounced as written. We write "I am," but we say, "I yam." There is no pause between the two words. The little /y/ sound at the end of "I" acts like a bridge or link to take us smoothly into the next vowel sound.

We practiced vowel-vowel linking in some phrases together.

Next we practiced writing a tiny Y or W between words to remind us of the link. Then we practiced saying those word pairs out loud.

We also practiced a dialogue. First we found the links and wrote them on our papers to remind us when to link. Then we practiced the dialogue with a partner. Finally you each had a chance to perform the dialogue for the class.

For the last activity, we asked each other some questions. Did you remember to link your final and initial vowel sounds?

Tomorrow we will be in the computer lab. See you then!

More Linking C + V

Hello!

Today we finished Thursday's worksheet on linking final consonant sounds to initial vowel sounds. First we did a quick review of Thursday's work.

Next we worked on the dialogue, which I had put up on the whiteboard before class. You all took turns telling me where the links were, and I drew them on the board in red ink.

Next we practiced the dialogue together and then in pairs.

Then I passed out a little quiz on partitive and collective nouns. Partitives are the words that we use to count things, like a grain of rice or a drop of water. Collective nouns describe groups of things or animals. For example, we say a flock of sheep but a herd of cattle. The worksheet was divided into three sections: beginner, intermediate and advanced.

I gave you a couple of minutes to try the beginner's section, then we took it up. As you gave me the answers, I asked you also, "where is the linking?"

For example, we say, "a glass of orange juice." There are two C + V links there: glass-of and of-orange.

Great job! We didn't have time to go over the next two sections, but you have the answers on the back. Tuesday we will finish up that worksheet and start talking about V + V linking.

Don't forget: this week's computer lab day has been changed to WEDNESDAY. Another teacher needs the lab tomorrow. Thank you for understanding.

See you!

Linking C to V

Hello!

Today we started our unit on linking, but before that, we finished Wednesday's worksheet on pausing and thought groups.

Then we began our unit on linking by learning about one kind of linking: the linking of a final consonant sound to an initial vowel sound. Why do I say "sound?" Because it doesn't matter what LETTER the word ends in or starts with. What matters is the sound, right?

An example of C to V linking:

We write "North America," but we say "Nor thamerica."

We practiced some pairs of phrases that sound exactly alike when said naturally at a normal conversational speed, such as "made a mistake" and "made him a steak."

Next we practiced some phrases that had the link lines drawn on them for you.

On the next exercise I gave you a couple of minutes to draw the link lines on some sentences. While you were working, I wrote them all on the board. To take them up, I said them and we repeated them and said how many C to V links there were and where they were.

We didn't get to the dialogue, so we'll do that on Monday. We'll be going to the computer lab this coming week, and you'll be able to practice linking with the Ellis software.

I was very happy to see such a big class! Pretty soon we will run out of chairs, eh?