Intonation, rhythm, and stress are a major part of learning how to speak English well. Students should be given plenty of speaking practice during their classes and may occasionally need special lessons devoted to these topics. We have 45 such activities on Busy Teacher. This intonation worksheet, for example, is a well organized role play activity you can use to give your students practice using English in a real life situation. The activity includes all directions and teaching materials including a script.
Intonation, rhythm, and stress become very important topics for advanced learners.
Beginners should be taught what syllable of new words are stressed but are not expected to have excellent intonation or rhythm when it comes to speaking or reading aloud. Advanced learners may have an excellent understanding of English but having incorrect intonation and rhythm when they are speaking will prevent them from coming across that way. Slash reading is an excellent method to practice this with intermediate and advanced learners. For slash reading, have students place slashes where a native speaker would naturally pause. “I have been studying math, / science, / and history / for many years. /” You can also use arrows to give students some guidance too. In the example above the arrows would go down, down, up, and down. These are some very simple approaches to a complex topic.
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In linguistics, intonation is variation of pitch while speaking which is not used to distinguish words. It contrasts with tone, in which pitch variation does distinguish words. Intonation, rhythm, and stress are the three main elements of linguistic prosody. Intonation patterns in some languages, such as Swedish and Swiss German, can lead to conspicuous fluctuations in pitch, giving speech a sing-song quality. Fluctuations in pitch either involve a rising pitch or a falling pitch. Intonation is found in every language and even in tonal languages, but the realisation and function are seemingly different. It is used in non-tonal languages to add attitudes to words (attitudinal function) and to differentiate between wh-questions, yes-no questions, declarative statements, commands, requests, etc. Intonation can also be used for discourse analysis where new information is realised by means of intonation. It can also be used for emphatic/contrastive purposes.
You can use this list to practice the /ɔ/ pronunciation sounds, or as a list of words to be careful when pronouncing. There is a list of word phrases that vary only by one having th ...
This resource shows each of the 44 International phonetic alphabet symbols with phrases or sentences illustrating each example. It can help to practice speaking each IPA symbol as it's u ...
This resource shows each of the 44 International Phonetic Alphabet symbols with phrases or sentences illustrating each example. It can help to practice speaking each IPA symbol used in E ...
Learn how to pronounce rhyming words when the spelling is different by matching lists of rhyming words to their pronunciation. Students need to listen carefully to hear the correct match ...
These IPA flashcard powerpoint slides can help students learn & review the international phonetic alphabet. There are three sample words and their phonetic spellings for each sound/symbol, th ...
This is a creative writing prompt to help English as a Second Language students practice rhyming words, with a minor emphasis on poetry rhythm. Familiar words with multiple familiar words as rhyme ...
An amusing idea of how to practice intonation and communication. The students are asked to put the missing punctuation marks, make dialogues according to some specific clues, use their imagination ...
FDR's request to Congress to declare war on Japan in retaliation for the attack on America is historic and iconic, as much for the structure of the speech as for the gravity of the attack itself. ...
I have taught several students whose first language is Spanish, and this worksheet is one I have designed to help them practise some of the sounds in English that they seem to find most challengin ...
This is a worksheet for practicing short and long vowels. It includes two activities. First, the students are asked to find the stress in some words. Next, they are asked to use their dictionaries ...
This is a game-like worksheet for students to work on phonetics. Watch the video, listen to how different places in the UK are pronounced and then try to match them with their pronunciation. Suita ...
This is a worksheet for elementary level students (specially to kid audience). The task is explained inside the document attached for more references on how to do the exercise. There are 6 rows wi ...
Extensive listening practice for America Headway Elementary. The file provides the link where audio tracks are available for download. For each track I wrote the related questions. Exercises range ...
How to teach with music and lyrics: listen to this song , fill in the blanks with these words in the box.You can sometimes use them several times.Then find the rhyming words .Finally find the ...
Gerard Nolst Trenité (1870-1946), who wrote under the pseudonym of Charivarius, was a Dutch writer, traveler and teacher. In 1922 he wrote The Chaos (also often known by its opening line, D ...
You can use this worksheet as a handout just to make your ss aware that car makes are pronounced differently in English. I did it as a matching exercise: you cut it into pieces and ss task was to ...
Pronunciation practice with digraphs. Give worksheets to the students with the words that include letters "sh" and "ch". The task is to indicate how the letters "sh" and “ch” are prono ...
This a cloze exercise based on the song Iris by Goo Goo Dolls, and its purpose is to have students practice listening to function words that are reduced, contracted, or pronounced with weak sounds ...
I created this worksheet as a starter at my lesson on public speaking, but it might be used as a warmer or a part of any lesson where ss have to speak. It contains the information on how importan ...
If you can pronounce correctly every word in this poem, you would be speaking English better than the most native speakers in the world. After trying the verses, a French man said he'd prefer six ...
A 4 page early reader and additional activities for review of sightwords and to introduce vocabulary for public transport. Sight words: a, the, see, I, look, at, can. Vocabulary:&nb ...
Gerard Nolst Trenité (1870-1946), who wrote under the pseudonym of Charivarius, was a Dutch writer, traveler and teacher. In 1922 he wrote The Chaos (also often known by its opening line, D ...
This is a tutorial worksheet related to the english sound /p/, /b/, /t/, /d/. The tutorial will help the students to understand each phonic sound with examples. The pictures used in th ...
Useful when you are teaching phonetics/sounds of English - helps students to see how the phonemes work. Takes only a few minutes but is a great pair or small group activity. Can be modified if you ...
This ppt has a short conversation that could be read by students using several intonations. You can ask ss to read the conversation laughing, crying, scared etc. Then, it includes "guessings" abou ...
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