Hilton English Pronunciation UFR-LLSH L1 English Pronunciation Heather HILTON office

Hilton English Pronunciation Objectives for LEA Course organization/ syllabus The importance of pronunciation English pronunciation in particular French learners and English pronunciation LECTURE 1

Hilton English Pronunciation A "triple major" (you specialize in 3 things) 2 languages + international business General objectives for LEA

Hilton English Pronunciation 2 languages, at an advanced level Better language skills than the average French learner of English (German, Spanish, Italian)... … to "give you an edge" in the job market. Language objectives for LEA

Hilton English Pronunciation How can you improve your English? We find that students leaving the French secondary schools are often quite weak in basic language knowledge: English pronunciation English vocabulary English grammar English objectives for LEA

Hilton English Pronunciation This language knowledge is essential for effective communication, both * speaking, of course, * but (more importantly) listening. English objectives for LEA

Hilton English Pronunciation In an international business situation, it's not enough to communicate approximately ("Me Tarzan, You Jane" fashion…) In negotiation, details are very important! If you want to be convincing, you have to be very sure of WHAT you're saying, and HOW you're saying it! English objectives for LEA

Hilton English Pronunciation [ Cultural information, too... - background, content ] English objectives for LEA

Hilton English Pronunciation In this course, we will try to motivate you to improve your English pronunciation. We cannot improve your pronunciation for you... Only YOU can do that! Objectives for this course

Hilton English Pronunciation Course organization: 5 lectures: important concepts for English pronunciation. 12 lessons (interactive classroom ): intensive practice session, with the teacher 10 lab sessions (self-access lab ): individualized practice, using special software. Course organization

Hilton English Pronunciation COURSE GRADE COURSE GRADE: Final oral exam Written test + attendance, participation in lessons and labs. Course assessment 50 %

Hilton English Pronunciation Students who haven't... attended lectures, lessons, and labs, worked on the words in the course booklet, practiced A LOT outside of class,...probably will NOT pass the final oral exam. IMPORTANT EXCEPTION: Bilingual students (English-speaking parent/s) can see me for special status (lessons, labs). Course assessment

Hilton English Pronunciation Any questions?? Course organization & syllabus

Hilton English Pronunciation Objectives for LEA Course organization/ syllabus The importance of pronunciation English pronunciation in particular French learners and English pronunciation LECTURE 1

Hilton English Pronunciation A baby learns its first language (L1) by: 1. listening to the sounds that adults make 2. playing with the sounds s/he can make (INTONATION first, then SYLLABLES) 3. trying to imitate the sounds adults make 4. learning that certain sounds mean certain things The importance of pronunciation

Hilton English Pronunciation LISTENING LISTENING is the most fundamental language skill (the one we use to learn how to speak). You may not care how well you can pronounce the sounds of English, but you will certainly need to know about these sounds if you want to UNDERSTAND normal spoken English. The importance of pronunciation

Hilton English Pronunciation Will you have pronunciation courses in Italian? in Spanish? in German? Probably not. So why a special course for L1 English? English pronunciation

Hilton English Pronunciation The pronunciation of English is a particularly "tricky" (= difficult) problem. Can you tell me why? English pronunciation

Hilton English Pronunciation 1. Complicated groups of letters may represent relatively simple sounds... English pronunciation combboughtweigh

Hilton English Pronunciation (This is the same in French…) beaux ils travaillent grenouille

Hilton English Pronunciation 2. The same letters/ groups of letters frequently do NOT sound the same! BUT: in English pronunciation... goes does now snow wear dear nodognodog student study hat made

Hilton English Pronunciation sound - symbol correspondance word through although bough rough home hot woman women to sword toward The chaotic nature of in English could out you soul

Hilton English Pronunciation This does NOT happen in French! – au is always /o/ – ou is always /u/ – é is always /e/ …

Hilton English Pronunciation Another problem in English is word stress: (accentuated syllable in polysyllabic words) Examples: 'perfect (adj.) to per'fect (vb.) 'mountain mountai'neering 'celebrate ce'lebrity Apparently "irregular" (unpredictable). English pronunciation

Hilton English Pronunciation Look at these English words: chaos, jury, horrible, leopard They certainly LOOK familiar, don't they? These are what we call COGNATES: words that look the same, and have the same meaning in two languages. Special problems for French learners

Hilton English Pronunciation Cognates are GREAT when you're READING! ( >50% of English vocabulary comes from French or Latin ) Special problems for French learners

Hilton English Pronunciation But cognates are a special problem for French learners of English (and English learners of French), because they NEVER sound the same in both languages! chaos theater amateur Special problems for French learners

Hilton English Pronunciation Our two languages are very close, lexically, but very different phonologically. Many French learners of English simply pronounce English words with French phonemes. Special problems for French learners

Hilton English Pronunciation This type of (lazy) "Frenglish" pronunciation is not good enough for our advanced level in LEA. In this course, we are going to require you to work very intensely on producing and understanding the sounds of English. Special problems for French learners

Hilton English Pronunciation Brainstorming topic: chaos - leopard - horrible - amateur Say them in French. Listen to them in English. Can you describe – precisely – the differences in pronunciation?

Hilton English Pronunciation chaos - leopard - horrible - amateur

Hilton English Pronunciation chaos - leopard - horrible - amateur vowel sounds (the biggest difference)

Hilton English Pronunciation chaos - leopard - horrible - amateur

Hilton English Pronunciation chaos - leopard - horrible - amateur certain consonant sounds [ h ] [ th ] [ r ] final consonants

Hilton English Pronunciation chaos - leopard - horrible - amateur

Hilton English Pronunciation chaos - leopard - horrible - amateur word stress (always on final syllable in French) various places in English

Hilton English Pronunciation English vowel sounds Certain consonant sounds + final consonants Word stress These will be our major preoccupations (our major focus) for the semester (see course syllabus).