REVIEW...

Please go back to the January 20 post.
There are some good resources there.
Please check them out.
Also, check out the comments.

http://ps2017.blogspot.com/2017/01/012017.html

Enunciation

http://giftarist.expertscolumn.com/article/speech-delivery-importance-enunciation-and-pronunciation

Effortless...

http://effortlessenglishclub.com/english-pronunciation-public-speaking

TED Talk: The Power of Introverts - Susan Cain

http://www.ted.com/talks/susan_cain_the_power_of_introverts

For Future Reference...

In the future, when you have free topics, you MUST NOT talk about religious or political issues in the classroom.  These topics are not allowed. 

Are You Ready?

I will give you a surprise topic on Friday, and you will talk for 3 minutes.

Intonation

Intonation:
https://youtu.be/GPcBJfBTlNo


1.
https://youtu.be/p8DJFNjZiIM


2.
https://youtu.be/qLGJb63mkyA


3.
https://youtu.be/Aoj4HZlLQBY

Rachel - Intonation

http://rachelsenglish.com/intonation/

Video Text:

Today I’m going to talk about intonation. I’ve touched on this subject in various other videos without ever explicitly defining it. And today, that’s what we’re going to do. But I’m also going to reference these other videos, and I really encourage you to go watch those as well.

If you’ve seen my videos on word stress, then you’ve already heard me talk a little about pitch. Stressed syllables will be higher in pitch, and often a little longer and a little louder than unstressed syllables. And there are certain words that will have a stress within a sentence, content words. And certain words that will generally be unstressed, and those are function words. For information on that, I invite you to watch those videos.

Intonation is the idea that these different pitches across a phrase form a pattern, and that those patterns characterize speech. In American English, statements tend to start higher in pitch and end lower in pitch. You know this if you’ve seen my video questions vs. statements. In that video, we learned that statements, me, go down in pitch. And questions, me?, go up in pitch at the end. So these pitch patterns across a phrase that characterize a language are little melodies. that characterize a language are little melodies. for example, the melodies of Chinese. If you haven’t already seen the blog I did on the podcast Musical Language, I encourage you to take a look at that. It talks about the melody of speech.

Understanding and using correct intonation is a very important part to sounding natural. Even if you’re making the correct sounds of American English, but you’re speaking in the speech patterns, or intonation of another language, it will still sound very foreign.

Intonation can also convey meaning or an opinion, an attitude. Let’s take for example the statement ‘I’m dropping out of school and the response ‘Are you serious?’ Are you serious? A question going up in pitch conveys, perhaps, an open attitude, concern for the person. Are you serious? But, are you serious? Down in pitch, more what you would expect of a statement, are you serious? The same words, but when it is intoned this way, it is conveying a judgement. Are you serious, a negative one. I don’t agree that you should be dropping out of school. I’m dropping out of school. Are you serious? I’m dropping out of school. Are you serious? With the same words, very different meanings can be conveyed. So intonation is the stress pattern, the pitch pattern, of speech. The melody of speech. If you’ve read my bio on my website, you know melody is something I’m especially keen on, as I studied music through the master’s level. Yes, that was yours truly, thinking a lot about melody. Now, you know that in American English, statements will tend to go down in pitch.

Let’s look at some examples. Here we see two short sentences. Today it’s sunny. I wish I’d been there. And you can see for both of them, that the pitch goes down throughout the sentence. Here we have two longer sentences, and though there is some up and down throughout the sentences, for both sentences, the lowest point is at the end. I’m going to France next month to visit a friend who’s studying there. It’s finally starting to feel like spring in New York.

The software I used to look at the pitch of those sentences is called Pratt, and there’s a link in the footer of my website. So it’s at the very bottom of every page. I hope you’re getting a feel for how important intonation is to sounding natural and native in American English. I hope you’ll listen for this as you listen to native speakers, and that if you haven’t already done so, that you’ll go to my website and do that you’ll go to my website and do so you hear them several times to get the melody. That’s it, and thanks so much for using Rachel’s English.

Syllable Rules

Top Ten Syllable Rules

1. Every syllable has only one vowel sound. Some syllables have just one vowel; others have two. But even when there are two vowels, there can be only one vowel sound in each syllable, so the two vowels say one sound.

For example, out-side.

2. When the vowel’s at the end of a syllable, it has a long sound. Reading specialists call the Consonant-Vowel (CV) pattern an open syllable.

For example, be-low.

3. When the vowel is not at the end of a syllable, it has a short sound. Reading specialists call the Consonant-Vowel-Consonant (CVC) pattern a closed syllable.

For example, bas-ket.

4. Divide syllables between doubled consonants, unless the doubled consonant is part of a syllable that is a base word.

For example, din-ner and tell-er.

5. Usually keep vowel teams together in the same syllable.

For example, boat-ing.

6. Keep the silent final “e” and the vowel before in the same syllable. The silent final “e” makes the vowel before a long sound if there is only one consonant in between the vowel and the “e”.

For example, basement.

7. Keep the r-controlled vowels (ar, er, ir, or, and ur) in the same syllable.

For example, or-al-ly.

8. Keep the consonant-“le” sounds (ble, cle, dle, fle, gle, and ple) in the same syllable. These syllables have the schwa sound between the consonant and the “le”. The schwa sound sounds like a nasal short u.

For example, cra-dle.

9. All words have one syllable that has a primary accent. The vowel in the accented syllable receives the stress. Words may also have secondary accents. The primary accent is usually found on the vowel in the root, not the prefix or suffix. Also, the syllable before a double consonant is usually accented.

For example, slów-ly and swím-ming.

10. Unaccented vowel sounds frequently have the schwa sound, especially when there is only one letter in the syllable. All vowels can have the schwa sound.

For example, a-boút.

(http://blog.penningtonpublishing.com/reading/the-top-ten-syllable-rules/)

01/20/17

Dear Students,

I enjoyed listening to your goals and dreams! 

Here are a few things to check out:

The Bucket List (movie)

The Joy Luck Club (movie)

The Way (movie)

http://www.volunteermatch.org/ (website)

Veronika Decides to Die  (book) Paulo Coelho

http://www.webmd.com/balance/guide/ayurvedic-treatments#1 (website)

Are You Ready?

Are you ready to talk about three things you want to do before you die?

Practice your speech in front of a mirror.

When you speak in class, remember to speak clearly and to make eye contact with your audience.

Review the basic rules: http://www.presentationtrainers.com/Free-Stuff/Fundamentals-of-Public-Speaking.php

See you Friday at 8:30am.

TED

What would happen if you didn’t sleep?

https://youtu.be/dqONk48l5vY

ESL CLASSES

I am also teaching ESL at the Downtown Anaheim Community Center, located at 250 E. Center Street, Anaheim, CA 92805, from 8:30am to 11:00am, Monday through Thursday.

If you are interested in joining the class, you can just show up and I will give you a form to register for the class.

Remember that Monday January 16 is a holiday.  The next class will be on Tuesday, January 17.

Participial Adjectives

Check out these three websites on participial adjectives:

http://web2.uvcs.uvic.ca/courses/ELC/STUDYZONE/490/grammar/participial-adjectives.htm

http://www.ucl.ac.uk/internet-grammar/adjectiv/particip.htm

http://www.perfect-english-grammar.com/participle-adjectives.html

TED TALKS

Check out this website:
http://www.ted.com/

Find a topic that interests you; then listen to a full talk.

Miss Congeniality

https://youtu.be/tcItlVmksyM

https://youtu.be/dQreewCwGQg?t=30s

Public Speaking Glossary

These words are not necessarily words that you use when you speak.
They are words that are used when you learn about public speaking.
Just take a quick look and get familiar...

 

Vocabulary 

(This is a word list with the definition, the pronunciation, and an example for each word.)
https://www.vocabulary.com/lists/184869

Glossary - Comprehensive List of Terms with Definitions
http://www.speaking-tips.com/Glossary.aspx

TOASTMASTERS

TOASTMASTERS

Toastmasters International is a world leader in communication and leadership development. Our organization has more than 345,000 memberships. Members improve their speaking and leadership skills by attending one of the 15,900 clubs in 142 countries that make up our global network of meeting locations.
The world needs leaders. Leaders head families, coach teams, run businesses and mentor others. These leaders must not only accomplish, they must communicate. By regularly giving speeches, gaining feedback, leading teams and guiding others to achieve their goals in a supportive atmosphere, leaders emerge from the Toastmasters program. Every Toastmasters journey begins with a single speech. During their journey, they learn to tell their stories. They listen and answer. They plan and lead. They give feedback—and accept it. Through our community of learners, they find their path to leadership.

https://www.toastmasters.org/

Warm Up...

Fundamentals of Public Speaking
http://www.presentationtrainers.com/Free-Stuff/Fundamentals-of-Public-Speaking.php