Module 2 (2 of 3)

TASK 1
Complete the three activities below.

PRIMARY & SECONDARY STRESS

Activity 1
Find the two stresses in the following words. Transcribe the words
phonemically and indicate the stresses. Which is the main or
primary kntrvrl stress?

Transcriptions
Information = nfrmen
Controversial= kntrvrl
Motivation= motven
Popularity= ppjlrti
Activity 2
Compare the lines of the traditional English song Three Blind
Mice. Mark the stress and count the syllables.
The stressed syllables are in boldface.

THREE BLIND MICE

SEE HOW THEY RUN
THEY ALL RUN AFTER THE FARMERS WIFE

WHO CUT OFF THEIR TAILS WITH A CARVING KNIFE

DID YOU EVER SEE SUCH A THING IN YOUR LIFE
AS THREE BLIND MICE?

Comment on this.
I notice that for sentence stress, it normally falls on the nouns, verbs,
adjectives, adverbs and the first word of compound nouns. The unstressed
parts of speech are the articles, conjunctions, pronouns, prepositions, or the
words that only serve to make the sentence grammatically correct.

Activity 3
Now compare this to the following utterances said in natural, rapid
speech.
The stressed syllables are in boldface.

one two three four

one and two and three and four
one and then two and then three and then four
its one and then its two and then its three and then its four
Mark the stress and make comments.
Words with the same function have the same kind of stress, just like
when we say
one two three four. They all function as adjectives and share the same
kind of stress. When they are grouped with other parts of speech such as
pronouns, they gain a higher stressing that set them apart, and therefore
clearer. It shows that content words are spoken longer, louder and stronger
compared to grammar function words.

TASK 2
ACTION RESEARCH
Devise an original activity which deals with English word stress or
adapt one from a source book such as Hancock, or any other book
you are familiar with, but it must be clearly of your own design.
Plan a lesson (or part of a lesson), teach it and write a post
teaching reflection. In your reflection include a brief description of
the learners and notes about any other materials you used, Did your
learners benefit from the materials? Would you use the activity
differently in future?
Submit your plan, simples of materials, and your reflection.
Lesson: Introduction to Schwa Using An English Song
Materials:
Mp3 and Lyrics for the song:

THE CASCADES
"Rhythm Of The Rain"
Listen to the rhythm of the falling rain
Telling me just what a fool I've been
I wish that it would go and let me cry in vain
And let me be alone again
The only girl I care about has gone away
Looking for a brand new start
But little does she know
That when she left that day
Along with her she took my heart
Rain please tell me now does that seem fair
For her to steal my heart away when she don't care
I can't love another when my hearts somewhere far away
The only girl I care about has gone away
Looking for a brand new start
But little does she know that when she left that day
Along with her she took my heart
[Instrumental Interlude]

Rain won't you tell her that I love her so

Please ask the sun to set her heart aglow
Rain in her heart and let the love we knew start to grow
Listen to the rhythm of the falling rain
Telling me just what a fool I've been
I wish that it would go and let me cry in vain
And let me be alone again
Oh, listen to the falling rain
Pitter pater, pitter pater
Oh, oh, oh, listen to the falling rain
Pitter pater, pitter pater
Lesson Flow:
I.

II.
III.
IV.

Let the students listen to the song The Rhythm of the Falling Rain.
Point out to the students that nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs,
negative auxiliary verbs, wh words (who, where, when, which, what,
which & how) and the first words of compound nouns are the
stressed parts of speech. Also, the students should realize that
grammar-function words are not stressed, are more prone to have
the schwa sound.
Let the students find the stressed parts of speech and with a pencil
put a stress sign (`)on the syllables that are stressed in the
sentence.
Allow the students to sing along with the song Rhythm of the
Falling Rain and realize that the unstressed syllables of the song
have the schwa sound in them.
Sing along with the students and ask for their feedback about the
activity.

Post-teaching reflection:
Clearly, songs are always helpful in ESL. The students in my class are
from different countries such as Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Vietnam and China.
Geographically, students who come from large or capital cities seem to
comprehend the gist about unvoiced sounds faster than the others who are
from smaller cities and they can quickly get lessons about the voiced sounds
in the English language. However, all of them could understand about the
stressed and unstressed words and syllables. To me, this is due to the fact
that the lesson had singing in it. Singing a song, lets one hear the intonation
and rhythm in the wording. I played the song three times in class. First, was
just to let them hear the melody, second was to allow them to determine the
difference of stress in the different parts of speech and finally was to let

them sing along with the song. I then introduced the schwa sound, the most
common sound in English,. My students were amazed to learn that the
unstressed syllables in a given English sentence has the schwa sound in it.
They were able to realize that English is pretty much simpler especially when
it comes to pronunciation. It enabled me to realize how important it is to
understand what parts of speech are included in a particular sentence. Quite
ofen, I used to have a problem teaching pronunciation to ESL students, but
this lesson made my style of teaching intonation and stress easier and that is
easy it by simply pointing out what parts of speech they belong to and
finding a fun way to teach it to them.

TASK 3
MATERIALS EVALUATION
Choose ONE pronunciation activity from any source book (such as
Hancock).
Use it in a class exactly as described in the source book.
Write an evaluation of the activity and include suggestions for
improvements where appropriate.
Submit only a photocopy of the activity and your evaluation of it.

Evaluation:
At first, the students did not understand why I let them bring a rubber band.
Quite a few students did not take the instructions seriously, as expected, so
brought some extra rubber bands. As they started to get the link between
the stretching of the rubber band and making their voices longer and louder,
they were surprised that the English language functions that way. At the end
of the class, they were able to get the picture as to how vital the staircase
intonation is in making oneself more understandable to others.