Web International Lower Intermediate Salon 24

Lower Intermediate Salon 24

Pronunciation & Intonation

Goal of the Lesson:

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To practice word stress, sentence stress and sentence intonation.

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Classroom Activities:
Activity 1: Word Stress

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Get the students to ask each other some introductory questions in pairs and then report back to the class
as a whole – e.g. “Bobo is from Shanghai and she is a nurse.. She has been at Web for 2 months.”

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Then get each student to read out the following sentence you have written on the board “My colleague’s
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clothes are always very interesting” Get them as a class to eventually come up with the correct
pronunciation.

Then write some of the following on the board and ask students which syllable in each word is stressed.
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NB: it is a good idea to ensure they all know what syllables are before the activity – get them to give you
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a definition.

photograph photographer
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absurd amazing
fantastic fabulous
successful surprising
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terrible terrific
object (n.) object (v.)
flower (v.) flower (n.)
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desktop turn off

graduation thermometer

Listen to the students say the words and make sure that they are saying them with the right stress.
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Activity 2: Sentence Stress and Timing

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• Ask students if anyone in the class knows anything about music.

• If yes, ask them what rhythm, or the beat, is in music.
• If no, explain the idea of a steady rhythm, like a heartbeat.
• English uses this same idea of a regular rhythm; we often have the stressed words fall on a beat
and squish the unstressed words between the beats.

• Write the first line of the example on the board and read the numbers slowly.

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 Web International Lower Intermediate Salon 24

• Add in the extra words for each line, and show students that you can say more words in the
same amount of time.

1 2 3
1 and 2 and 3 and
1 and a 2 and a 3 and a
1 and then a 2 and then a 3 and then a

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• The four sentences take the same length of time to say and you will notice the numbers are
stressed and the unstressed words in between are said much more quickly

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Show them another example with words:

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end day
the end of the day
at the end of the day

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at the end of a long day
at the ending of a long day
at the ending of another long day

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• Ask them to try to do this along with you.
• Start at the first sentence and slowly increase.
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• Explain to students that this concept is the reason that native English speakers can speak so
quickly. The unstressed sounds in the words are said faster- we call this “reduced”.
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Activity 3: Reduced forms

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there is/there are

Model the following sentences for the students. Ask them to try to pay attention to how there is and there
are, are reduced in conversation.
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There's a gym across from the shopping center.

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There's a bookstore near the Laundromat.

There are some restaurants on Elm Street.
There are some grocery stores across from the post office.

Write the sentences on the board, mark the sentence stress and ask them to practice.
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‘did you’
Model the following sentences. Ask the students to pay attention to how did you is reduced in the
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following questions.
[didja] Did you skip breakfast this morning?
Did you cook your own dinner last night?
Did you have a good time?
What did you do last night?

Write the sentences on the board, mark the sentence stress and ask them to practice.

‘Have’

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 Web International Lower Intermediate Salon 24

Write the following short dialogue on the board. Model the dialogue. Ask the students to pay attention to
the way have is usually reduced to ‘hav’ in questions but in short answers, have is usually not reduced.
[Note excerptions below]

Write the sentences on the board, mark the sentence stress and ask them to practice.

A: Have you ever been in a traffic accident?

B: Yes, I have.
A: Have you ever eaten Greek food?

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B: No, I haven't.
A: Have you ever tried Indian food?
B: I’ve never been to India.

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A: Have you ever eaten snails?
B: Oh Yeah, I’ve been to France!

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Activity 4: Contrastive stress.

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Model the following sentences for the students. Ask them to pay attention to the way the stress changes
to emphasize a contrast.

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A: Is Paul the one wearing the red shirt? A: Is Judy the short one in jeans?
B: No, he's the one wearing the black shirt. B: No, she's the tall one in jeans.
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Ask them to practice, paying attention to the emphasis on the adjective.

Model the following questions.

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Ask the students to pay attention to the intonation usage for questions where there is a choice.
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Which country is bigger, China or Russia?

Which is the largest desert in the world, the Australian or the Sahara?
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Which country is the most interesting: Korea, Brazil, or France?

Ask them to practice the above with appropriate stress.

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Activity 5: Intonation of Questions

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Ask the students to listen to you as you say the following four sentences.
Say them altogether and then individually. Ask them to see if they can hear the fall and rise in each
question type.
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What time does the duty-free shop open? Where is the taxi stand?

Can you tell me what time the duty-free shop opens?

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Do you know where the taxi stand is.

Write the sentences on the board. Explain that Wh-questions usually have falling
intonation. Indirect questions usually have rising intonation.

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 Web International Lower Intermediate Salon 24

Activity 6: A Short Conversation

• Pair the students.
• Write the following brief conversation on the board.
• They should decide which words they are going to stress.
• This conversation allows them to practice their timing, articulation, intonation and rhythm.
A: Has it been a year since I last saw you?
B: No, it's been two years.
A: Have you been losing weight?

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B: Well, actually, I've been gaining weight.
A: Oh, and have you been going to school?
B: No, I've been teaching school.

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i on
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 Web International Lower Intermediate Salon 24

Lower Intermediate Salon 24: Student Preparation Sheet

This lesson is about word and sentence stress. You will be able to understand these concepts better by
reviewing this information before the lesson.

Word type Where is the stress? Examples

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center
Nouns on the first syllable object
flower

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Two syllables
release
Verbs on the last syllable admit

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arrange
desktop
Nouns
pencil case

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(N + N) on the first part
bookshelf
(Adj. + N)
greenhouse

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well-meant
Compound Adjectives hard-headed
(Adj. + P.P.) old-fashione
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on the last part (the d
verb part)
understand
Verbs
overlook
(prep. + verb)
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outperform
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turn off
Phrasal Verbs on the particle buckle up
hand out
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economic
-ic geometric
electrical
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the syllable before

the ending technician
-tion, -cian, -sion graduation
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Word with added cohesion

ending photography
-phy, -gy, -try, -cy,
biology
-fy, -al
the third from the geometry
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last syllable parameter

-meter thermometer
barometer
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 Web International Lower Intermediate Salon 24

Take a look at the following list of stressed and non-stressed word types.
Basically, stress words are considered CONTENT WORDS such as
• Nouns e.g. kitchen, Peter
• (most) principle verbs e.g. visit, construct
• Adjectives e.g. beautiful, interesting
• Adverbs e.g. often, carefully

Non-stressed words are considered FUNCTION WORDS such as

• Determiners e.g. the, a, some, a few

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• Auxiliary verbs e.g. don't, am, can, were
• Prepositions e.g. before, next to, opposite
• Conjunctions e.g. but, while, as

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• Pronouns e.g. they, she, us

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Content or Function?
Write down 'C' for content and 'F' for function.
• went

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• with
• just
• quickly

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• the
• hard
on
• next to
• CD ROM
• open
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• had
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• for
• information
• in order to
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• difficult
• much
• exacting
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• in front of
• Jack
• he
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• however
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