Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Zackback]

Ok here's what's going on. I have to do some demo (15 minutes) teaching 15 students (ages 20 to 30) who are extremely advanced in English.
I was told to cover intonation, pronunciation and accent reduction.
Any tips on how to do this? It seems like a tall order with that many students in that time period.
How can I impress the higher ups with the above scenario?

Thank you.

[movybuf]

You could do some tongue twisters? They're fun and help with pronunciation.

[thrylos]

I also found that (even with advanced) students, giving them a Dr Seuss book (Green eggs and Ham) and having them read it as it should be read gets them to better understand the intonation of sentences by using the reduction/assimilation of weak forms pretty well.

Try to stay away from minimal pairs or working on individual phonemes (Boring), but rather the stress and flow of sentences...Getting them beating the table to emphasize the strong forms and tapping for weak forms can be helpful as you read it first...They can then lead their partners by tapping out the rhythm and correct each other's stress/intonation. Lots of laughs and good times all around, at least for me.

"ta-TA-ta-ta-ta-TA-ta-ta-ta-TA-ta-ta-ta-TA-ta"

That SAM-I-am-that-SAM-I-am-I-DO_not-like-that -SAM-I-am....

[chrisblank]

cover some simple intonation topics like Content/Function words, rhythm (thought groups)groups, linking sounds...explain, present examples, give some simple activities to illustrate the ideas, then practice... that'd be three 15 minute classes right there.

move on to sentence intonation, rising intonation, falling, tag questions, etc.

[Cacille]

Try poetry. The harder types but not old types. Not shakespere, but more like Robert Frost. Go for the rhyming types, so students can learn what words rhyme and have the same intonation and such.
Also some songs might be good with this, although none are popping into my head at the moment.