Teaching Tips 78

Toning it down

Real Why Questions

Phoning

Toning It Down

 

 

 

 

We have had quite a few Tips related to phonology & although we have looked at prominence, we haven't yet looked at tonal movement. This is  a tricky area as a lot of people find it very difficult to identify what actually happens in an utterance. From the tonic syllable – the last major stress in the tone unit, does the tone rise, fall, rise-fall, fall-rise or level – the five tones in English? And as it is difficult to identify ourselves, we are very cautious about dealing with this in class.

One attractive treatment of tonal movement is the discoursal approach. This was first put forward by David Brazil & uses the 'given' & the 'new' ideas. Basically, if we are talking about something we think the listener already knows about or has experience of then we rise or fall-rise – known as referring tones. If we think it is new for the listener we fall – known as the proclaiming tone.  Look at the following utterances:

Talking about weekend plans:

If we can't go on Saturday, why don't we go on Sunday?

Well, on Sunday, I'm supposed to be visting Ben.

In 'If we can't go on Saturday' the tonic syllable is on 'Saturday ' & takes a fall-rise pattern as it is part of the weekend plan conversation already underway.

The second part of the utterance 'why don't we go on Sunday?', the tonic syllable is in 'Sunday' with the proclaiming tone, a fall, as it is introducing a new idea.

And in the second utterance, the first part, Well, on Sunday' has the fall-rise on Sunday as it is shared, & the fall, the new information in the second part,  'I'm supposed to be visting Ben.' is on 'Ben'.

If you're not familiar with this approach to intonation, it is well worth investigating & passing on to your students. When dealing with dialogues, discourse, look for instances of proclaiming & referring tones & get your students to notice them.  Not only does this promote an awareness of this approach but gives a depth to their awareness on discourse in general. In a future Tip, we'll look at activities to
consolidate proclaiming  referring tones.

Rules are very useful, students appreciate them as a way to make the learning process more manageable & although the discoursal approach to intonation does not necessarily answer all of the questions, it contains relatively noticeable aspects with the basic manageable proclaiming & referring tendencies.

Here are some teaching materials based around this discoursal approach
to intonation:

Pronunciation for Advanced Learners of English - David Brazil (CUP)
To buy this book:

Intonation in Context – Barbara Bradford – (CUP)
To buy this book:

Richard Cauldwell's article 'The two-sides rule in teaching listening and pronunciation':
http://www.developingteachers.com/articles_tchtraining/two_sides1_richard.htm
Richard's article 'Grasping the nettle: The importance of perception work in listening comprehension':
http://www.developingteachers.com/articles_tchtraining/perception1_richard.htm

Other related Tips:
Setting the tone
http://www.developingteachers.com/tips/pasttips59.htm
Thought groups & prominence
http://www.developingteachers.com/phonology/groups_prominence.htm

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Real Why Questions

 

 

 

 

A couple of things this week, a speaking activity & a lesson plan.

You may have heard of the mayhem that surrounded the opening at 12 midnight of an Ikea furniture store in London last week. They had put on some special offers & expected a couple of thousand to turn up but six thousand actually appeared & the store wasn't prepared for the ensuing problems. The lesson plan is about this & uses an article from the Guardian Online. There is a lot of interesting language in the article & it is ideal for the basis of speaking activities. You can find the lesson plan at:
http://developingteachers.com/plans/ikeamadness.htm

The article is for upper intermediate & upwards, although at a push, could be used for intermediate students. It could be adapted for lower levels with the teacher orally summarising the article & situation in general, & then on to the speaking tasks.

The second thing this week is the Real Why Question Activity. This consists of the students writing down three or four questions that they would really like the answers to. You might give examples to get them thinking:

- Why is English food so bad?
- why don't the Spanish have milk delivered to their door?
- Why are the trains in the UK so slow?

Whatever, so long as the students choose the why questions that they really want answers for. Then the students mingle, listening to the ideas & answers to their questions, & in turn giving answers to others. When the mingle comes to a close, the students decide on the best answers to their questions. Finally, elicit questions & best answers & have a general class discussion.

This activity can be lots of fun, with lots of meaningful speaking practice. One of the questions we had with the activity recently was 'Why is space black?' - answers on the back of a postcard. It's one of those activities that you can use again & again, similar to the Train Compartment activity as described in the 'Stranger On A Train' Tip:
http://www.developingteachers.com/tips/pasttips19.htm

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