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This unit went over pronunciation of the English language. A pretty standard rule for pronunciation is as follows: \"Only vital syllables in the words conveying essential information are stressed. The remainder are needed for grammar.\" Auxiliary verbs (be, have, do) are rarely stressed except when special emphasis is desired; articles (a, an, the) are normally unstressed, and pronouns (prepositions) are also normally unstressed. Stress on a syllable can be shown in a variety of ways to the students. Examples from the unit include: saying the word correctly then repeating it with stress on a different syllable. However, it is vital that the teacher remembers to always leave the students with hearing or repeating the proper pronunciation/stress of a word/sentence. Other methods to help teach stress include: use of gestures, choral work (i.e. chanting, singing), use of the board for visual aid (i.e. underlining, boxing, arrows), and stress marks. Furthermore, this unit went over sound joining, which include four major ways: linking, sound dropping (t, d), sound changing, and extra lettering. Examples of these were provided in the unit. The biggest challenge in English for new learners is that the \"spelling of words and their pronunciation often differs.\" This can cause confusion, as does words that sound the same but are spelled differently and have different meanings. A tool to help in this challenge is a simple English dictionary. Dictionaries are helpful because they state the meaning of the word (definition/s), give the class (noun, adjective, verb),provides pronunciation, and sometimes provides example sentences. Lastly, both teachers and students should be familiarized with the international phonemic alphabet, which this unit gave practice on. The phonemic alphabet is described as \"the set of symbols that represent the way English speakers put sounds together to form words.\" A helpful hint when teaching is to encourage students to forget the way that words are spelled and focus on sounds. To translate using the phonemic alphabet, you have to find the symbol that produces each individual sound, put them together, and the phonemic spelling is formed. Examples of pronunciation lessons include; whole lessons, lesson slots, and as and when required. It is up to the teacher to know their class well enough to know when lessons on pronunciation should be included and what works best for their students' learning.
