Category: Command

Accent Honing and Neutralisation

Command

Accent Honing and Neutralisation: Language learners often neglect honing a good accent in favor of focusing on grammar and vocabulary — but it’s important to practice your accent too. The demand for a neutral global accent in the call centre industry is seeing Indian workers stripped of their mother tongue.

  • Accent is the part of dialect concerning local pronunciation. Vocabulary and grammar are described elsewhere; see List of dialects of the English language.

 

  • Secondary English speakers tend to carry over the intonation and phonetics of their mother tongue in English speech

For example  English language in England:

  • Northern (In the northeast, local speech is akin to Scots) Cheshire. Cumbrian (Cumbria including Barrovian in Barrow-in-Furness) …
  • East Midlands.
  • West Midlands. Black Country. Brummie (Birmingham) …
  • East Anglian. Norfolk. Suffolk.
  • Received Pronunciation. …
  • West Country. Anglo-Cornish.
ROLEPLAYS AND CONVERSATIONAL ACTIVITIES
  • Accents arise because people that speak the same language separate geographically or socially and the versions of the shared language they speak being to differentiate from each other.
  • This could be because the two groups are geographically closer to different languages.

 

What do you mean by neutral accent?

  • It means an accent that is easy on all ears across the globe, an accent that is understood by all in the international community, no matter who the listener is an American, British, Australian or a Canadian or people from any other country.
  • This Accent is called neutral accent.

 

 

IMPROMPTU SPEECHES

Intonation

Command

Intonation: Intonation is variation of spoken pitch that is not used to distinguish words; instead it is used for a range of functions such as indicating the attitudes and emotions of the speaker, signalling the difference between statements and questions, and between different types of questions, focusing .

  • The definition of intonation is the way the pitch of your voice goes up and down as you talk or reciting something by singing it.
  • An example of intonation is the way your voice raises in pitch at the end of a question. An example of intonation is given below..

 

  • Thus intonation can be done.
  • Two people just walked by you, speaking in a foreign language.
  • You didn’t understand a word, but you still somehow know what language they were speaking.

 

How can that be?

  • All languages have their own distinct melody, or music. To know what I mean, take a look at this video.
  • The girl in the video is not actually speaking any of the languages, she’s just using sounds with the right speed, tone and stresses.
  • This music of languages is called intonation, and it’s something you probably don’t even think about when speaking your native language.
  • Intonation is the rise and fall of your voice when you speak. Many times, it’s just as important as your words in expressing what you want to say.

That’s why when you’re learning English, you shouldn’t just learn what to say, you should also learn how to say it.

So to help, I’m going to show you seven situations where intonation matters in English, with examples of each type.

 

How Intonation Changes Meaning

  • Using the right intonation can actually change the meaning of your words.
  • Think of your voice as a musical instrument. As you speak, your voice gets louder and softer, places emphasis on certain parts, and goes up and down the notes.
  • The notes of your voice are called its pitch, and the change in pitch is what we call intonation.

For example, say this sentence out loud:

“How you doin’?”

  • This looks like a simple, very informal way to ask someone how they’re doing. It’s not grammatically correct (it should say “How are you doing?”), but it’s easy to understand.
  • When you said it out loud, you probably started on a low note and rose up to a higher note on the “doin’.”
  • Now listen to Joey from the TV show “Friends” say it in this video. He stresses the word “you” instead, which gives the phrase a completely different meaning.
  • His version of this simple greeting is suggestive(hinting at something sexual) and a bit flirtatious (he’s flirting). (Of course, his facial expression doesn’t help!).
  • And it doesn’t stop there! Something as simple as the word “really” can have many different meanings depending on your pitch.
  • A rising pitch shows surprise, a falling pitch shows disbelief.
  • Not changing your pitch at all can sound sarcastic (when you say one thing but mean the opposite).

 

So imagine that your friend just told you he won the lottery. How you say the word “really” will influence how he thinks you feel about this (and might influence whether he shares his prize money!).

It can also explain why sometimes people don’t seem to understand you even when you use the right words and grammar.

The Main English Intonation Patterns

There are two main American English intonation patterns:

  • Falling:This is when your voice lowers its pitch at the end of the sentence, and it’s the most common pattern in American English. Use this for most regular statements and questions that are not yes or no questions.
  • Rising:This is when your voice raises its pitch at the end of the sentence. Use this when you’re asking a yes or no question or to show disbelief or anger. This is a simplified explanation, and there are a number of other different ways you can change your pitch to change your meaning. But if you can learn these two main patterns well, the rest will follow! You’ll find out more about them in a bit, but first it’s important to learn how to study intonation.

Pronunciation Exercises

Tips on Practicing English Intonation

  • To improve your intonation, you will first need to become aware of it.
  • So before you do anything, record yourself speaking. Choose a paragraph that has different kinds of sentences, like the first few sentences in a book you’re reading (here’s one you can see online, just click on the book cover on the left to “look inside”).

Now that you have a recording of yourself speaking, you can listen to it and hear what needs work. Does your voice sound flat? Does it rise and fall in a way that sounds natural? Do you “sound” like a native speaker?

Group discussions

Overcome Mother Tongue Influence

Command

Overcome Mother Tongue Influence: Mother tongue influence, the habit of native speakers of one language to modify non-native languages with phonetics and vocabulary of their native tongue. Movie tie-in (book) edition of a book is often indicated by “(MTI)” after its title.

  •  The evidence of mother tongue influence on English is very obvious.
  • This manifests in the form of incorrect pronunciation. Pronunciation error may be due to many issues.
  • Guesswork or vagueness of the correct form of a word or sentence, or a general ineptness of the language could be the reason of mispronunciation.
  • Mother–tongue refers to one’s native language or parent language. (“mother tongue,” 2015).
  • Mother–tongue interference refers to the influence of the native language of the learner on her/his acquisition of the target language.

Articulation (phonetics), the movement of the tongue, lips, jaw, and other speech organs to make speech sounds. Manner of articulation, how speech organs involved in making a sound make contact. Place of articulation, positions of speech organs to create distinctive speech sounds.

Resume Preparation

Creative speaking:

  • Students will continue to fear an audience that they don’t know.
  • They can tackle unknown audiences as they get better at public speaking.
  • A few suggestions for activities that start small are: Ask students to think of a topic they are knowledgeable about.

 Mastering

  • The art of speaking is the single most important aspect of learning a second or foreign language and success can be seen in terms of the ability to carry out a conversation in the language.
  • In relation to speaking and oral interaction, learners need the ability to articulate the sounds comprehensibly, mastery of stress, rhythm, intonation patterns, an acceptable degree of fluency, transactional and interpersonal skills, skills in the management of interaction, skills in negotiating meaning, conversational listening skills, using appropriate conversational fillers, etc.
  • Learning to speak in a second or foreign language will be easier when learners are actively engaged in attempting to communicate.
  • Learners learn to speak by speaking. It is, then, our role to give our students opportunities to speak English more spontaneously and creatively.
  • It is not unusual for people who study another language not to have a desire to speak it Most students are eager to converse in the new language, and conversation practice therefore assumes primary importance in their learning experience.
BODY LANGUAGE AND NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATIONS

Improve your Pronunciation and Diction

Command

Improve your Pronunciation and Diction: First, it’s important to concentrate on speaking your words.  If you are nervous try a few different techniques to calm your nerves before speaking.  When you are calm, you speak more slowly, and this improves your diction and clarity of your voice.

Steps to improve your Pronunciation and Diction:

  1. Learn to listen.
  2. Before you learn how to speak, you’ll need to learn how to listen.
  3. Notice how your mouth and lips move.
  4. Pay attention to your tongue.
  5. Break words down into sounds.
  6. Add stress to sounds and words.
  7. Use pronunciation podcasts and videos.
  8. Record yourself.
  9. Practice with a buddy.

Useful activities to develop the students’ oral expression. Suggested procedures.

DEBATE

  1. Select the debate Ask which students would like to be “pro” and which “con”.
  2. Select the two teams. Each team will have a “captain.”
  3. Allow the students enough time to prepare their arguments. They can speak from their notes, but they cannot read them.
  4. Have the two teams sit in front of the class.
  5. The “captain” will give his presentation and summarize the team’s view points at the end.
  6. After each presentation, the rest of the group can ask questions on either team.
  7. The teacher may also want to ask questions to the students.

The different parts of the debate are: introduction, development, and conclusion.

Debates

ROUND TABLE

  1. Select the topic.
  2. Select the teams. Each team will have a ‘captain’.
  3. The spokesman introduces the topic and its importance.
  4. The spokesman introduces the participants emphasizing the aspect they master.
  5. The participants speak when they are asked to expressing their ideas, opinions, and taking decisions about the topic.
  6. The spokesman summarizes the activity talking about the most significant aspects and saying thanks to the participants.
  7. The spokesman intervenes whenever necessary.

 

PANEL

  1. Panel members sit at a table in front of the class.
  2. The spokesman, previously selected, introduces the topic and the participants.
  3. The spokesman opens the discussion with an appropriate question or call on one of the members to begin.
  4. Panel members talk about the topic in voices loud enough to be heard easily.
  5. The spokesman is familiar with the material each participant wants to present and sees to it that all the points are covered in the discussion.
  6. After a period of time, the spokesman invites the rest of the group to participate, either by asking questions or by giving their viewpoints.

Preparing Effective Presentation

POETRY

  1. Read the poem two or three times to your students before they see it in the written form. They should listen for meaning, rhythm, intonation patterns and pronunciation.
  2. Give each student a copy of the poem.
  3. Explain the meaning of words the students do not know. Use the strategy for conveying meaning you consider: contextual procedures- definition, synonym, opposition, multiple context- realia, cognate words, and pictures.
  4. Read the poem again while the students follow the written form.
  5. Discuss the message in the poem. Ask the students why they agree or disagree with the poet’s viewpoints.
  6. Have the students restate the message in prose.
  7. Discuss the poet’s life, his works, other poems he has written, and any other important information that would interest your students.
  8. Analyze the cultural elements appearing in the poem. Have the students compare these elements in their own culture.

PLAYS

  1. Select a short play according to the students’ needs.
  2. Give each a student a copy of the play.
  3. Have the students read the play and look up any unfamiliar
  4. Discuss the play in class. Be sure each student understands the structure and vocabulary.
  5. Analyze the setting of the play, the characters, the plot, and the author’s message.
  6. Analyze the students’ viewpoints and experiences about the play.

 

Interview Skills

Creative Speaking

Command

Creative Speaking : Creative Speaking is a Strategy for the Preparation and Delivery of Oral Presentations

Creative Speaking

SPEECH

  1. Allow the student sufficient time to prepare his speech beforehand.
  2. Have the student select the topic of his speech.
  3. Limit time for the speech.
  4. The student can write out his speech in advance and show it to the teacher to correct any mistake.
    Have the student practice the speech several times before presenting it in class.
  5. The student can stand in front of the group, or you can permit him to sit down.
  6. After the student has finished his speech, ask questions to the rest of the group about the speech.
  7. The rest of the group can ask questions to the student who delivered the speech.

Communicate Information

DISCUSSION MOTION PICTURES

  1. Select an appropriate film to the students’ age, interest, needs, and level of language proficiency.
  2. Discuss the background.
  3. Anticipate the vocabulary, grammar, or any other aspect you consider difficult for the students.
  4. Encourage the students to take down notes about the film while they watch it.

Etiquette classified dining etiquette, corporate etiquette, telephone etiquette

With these skills it would be easy to communicate with others, the level has improved your skills to bring your learnt.