Intonation and stress

INTONATION: that the changes we make in the voice when we speak to convey different   meaning.

For example: happy intonation to share good news, sad for bad news or to express we are unhappy, surprised when we want to show we didn´t expect something, etc.



Examples: 
STRESS: is the part of the word of a sentence you pronounce stronger.

Question tags

We use tags in spoken English but not in formal written English.

They are not really questions but are a way of asking the other person to make a comment and so keep the conversation open.

Making a tag is simple:

- use the first auxiliary

- If there is no auxiliary, use do, does or did. 

- With a positive sentence, make a negative tag and with a negative sentence, make a positive tag.

Check these activities!

1 2 3 4 5 6

The schwa sound /ə/

The schwa sound /ə/ is very similar to the short /u/ sound, but it is softer or weaker.

Here are some words which will help you 'hear' the schwa phonics sound:

·       Important

·       Teacher

·       Station

·       Festival

The sounds /ʌ/ and /ɑː/

THE SOUND /ʌ/

The jaw is quite wide open, almost as far open as in  /ɑː/ but not quite.

The middle of the tongue rise in the centre of the mouth, just a little, relaxed.

Lips are relaxed.

THE SOUND /ɑː/

Open your jaw, relaxed lips, flat tongue pulled back a little.
The sound made in the back of your mouth

Try this fantastic web page with activities about the sound /ɑː/

The /z/ sound.

TO PRONOUNCE THE /z/ SOUND... 

•      Gently close your front teeth and leave your lips slightly open. 
•     Position your tongue very close to the upper-front roof of your mouth. 
•  Leave a small gap between the tip of your tongue and the front roof of your mouth. 
• Push air out through your tongue and the roof of your mouth. 

Do you remeber Geraldine the Giraffe? She is going to help us with the pronunciation of the /z/ sound! Watch this video!

Which words do you pronounce with /z/? Choose the correct one from the groups of three. Post your answer in a comment with your name.

Sometimes, it is difficult to distinguish sounds that are similar. Check how well you distinguish the /s/ and /z/ sounds in this webpage: :3

The /n/ /m/ and /ŋ/ sounds.

/m/ is the sound in me, summer, 
and comb.
To make the /m/ sound:
-Keep your lips together.
-Use your voice to make a sound.
-Let the sound go through your 
nose as you breathe.

/n/ is the sound in now, sunny, 

and new.

To make the /n/ sound:

-Push your tongue to the top of your 

mouth

-Make sure the sides of your tongue

are touching your side teeth

-Use your voice to make a sound 

and let the sound go through your 

nose as you breathe

/ŋ/ is the sound in thing, think, 

and single.

To make the /ŋ/ sound:

-First, practice the /g/ sound.

-Push the back of your tongue up 

against the roof of your mouth as

if you were making the /g/ sound.

-Keep your tongue in that position

while you use your voice to make

a sound.

And now...some practice:

Practice the /ŋ/ sound here: /ŋ/

Practice here the three sounds: /n/ /m/ /ŋ/

The / ʃ / and /s/ sounds.

Learn how to distinguish and pronounce these two sounds with Geraldine the giraffe!    

* The /s / sound... 

...and / ʃ / sound:

Long i sound /ɑɪ/

Have you ever notice the great amount of words that have the sound /ɑɪ/? This sound correspond to the pronunciation of a long i, like, for example:

- Light
- Sigh
- Smile
- Nine 
- Five
- Island
- Try
- ...

In these webs you will find practice and audio recordings about  the sound /ɑɪ/.  
Click here to go to the webs: {the sound /ɑɪ/}
                                                                                                  {more practice}

Can you think of more words with this sound! Post all the words you think that have the sound /ɑɪ/in a comment! 

Exclamatory sentences.

Remember!

We use EXCLAMATORY SENTENCES to express:

                                                       
 Surprise
  Agreement
  Disagreement
  Greetings
       Attracting attention
      Etc.

EXCLAMATORY SENTENCES have always EXCLAMATION MARKS (!)

Practice exclamatory sentences with the following activities!

Rising and falling intonation

Listen to these questions and try to guess if they are ponounced with rising or falling intonation

/u/ and /u:/

Sometimes reading in English can be tricky. We are going to learn how to distinguish these words with long "u" /u:/ or short "u" /u/

Here you have some examples of words with long and short u

And to practice, try these worksheets with information about both short and long "u"

      Short "u" practice

                            Long "u" practice