tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59638569724176333392012-01-29T21:25:48.920+01:00Learning and Teaching Phonetics Through SongsAna López Pozohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01961355790962055702noreply@blogger.comBlogger241100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5963856972417633339.post-13644427002868444062011-11-30T14:11:00.274+01:002011-12-14T09:07:31.284+01:00

    Not understanding can be  a good reason to disconnect, both in daily communication and in life. The clues in the gap- fill exercise for this song, Communication by the Cardigans, can help you  recognise linking features of connecting consonants to vowels and identify flap or tap t, /ɾ/, in order to understand  speech better, so that you don't have to disconnect! In General American,

Ana López Pozohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01961355790962055702noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5963856972417633339.post-36138065133368847892011-10-28T11:17:00.007+02:002012-01-09T12:17:49.534+01:00

This post is dedicated to all those Spanish State Teachers, colleagues of mine, who  are suffering the consequences of the regional governments  education cutbacks  in various Spanish Communities and to all those thousands of now unemployed teachers who have not been contracted by these regional governments in order to transfer the public money, thus saved,  to Private Education.  A tough

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The song If you were a sailboat composed and interpreted by the  Georgian-British singer, songwriter and musician  Katie Melua, will help us this time to sail through vowels /ɪ/  /ɪː/  /ʌ/  /ɑː/  /ɒ/  /ɔ:/  /ʊ/  /uː/, diphthongs  /aɪ/  /eɪ/  /aʊ/ and conditional sentences. This post has been inspired by the work of the English teacher  José Álvaro Álvaro, who participated in the course 

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Inspiring month for a rainy song, December by Norah Jones. The front vowels /ɪ/ /iː/and central vowel and diphthong /ʌ/ /əʊ/ mix harmonically in this almost syllabic song sung with nearly every syllable distinctly pronounced. Listen to the song and complete the gap fill activity using the words in the box and the clues given in the ? buttons. Here's a version with lyrics and a live

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A long awaited post for those who asked for a song rich in the contrasting front-close vowels /i:/ and /ɪ/ and the diphthong /aɪ/. Andrew LLoyd Webber's Think of me can serve as an example. Listen to the song and complete the gap fill activity using the clues given in the '?' buttons. Here's an amateur version and a version with lyrics. For more practice with minimal pairs /i:/ and /ɪ/.

Ana López Pozohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01961355790962055702noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5963856972417633339.post-87752778837217423012010-04-21T18:27:00.025+02:002011-11-04T17:59:06.981+01:00

Listen to British singer Robbie William's song Morning sun. As you are listening, try to locate the words containing long vowel sounds /ɑ:/ /ɜ:/ /i:/ /ɔ:/ /u:/ Then do the crossword exercise with the transcribed words given. The words are taken from the song lyrics. To see the words, scroll down the crossword bar. Listen now to this version with lyrics. More on long vowel sounds.

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Norah Jones' swirling singing will, this time, take us into the slippery world of some diphthongs /eɪ/ /aɪ/ /əʊ/ /aʊ/ (phonemically analyzed as a sequence of a semivowel and a monophthong) with her song Chasing pirates. WARNING: don’t confuse /əʊ/ and /aʊ/ (they are often mixed up!). Click first on the phonetic chart on the right to hear the difference.I have to admit I chose this song

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Some stuff for advanced level. Tim Minchin's witty humour can be difficult to follow for non native speakers of English, but he's certainly a treasure source of material to practice all aspects of connected speech. It contains language that might be offensive, but be aware that the intention is purely humorous. The song Some People Have It Worse Than Me composed and interpreted by Tim Minchin.

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Some latin based languages tend to add an intrusive 'e' sound before the /s/ sound when it is followed by a consonant in initial position. eg: 'e'Steve 'e'speaks 'e'Spanish. The song That Day by Natalie Imbruglia will help in the practice of the sound /s/ in initial position as well as the practice of this sound in connected speech. Try to hear the language as chunks of speech rather than

Ana López Pozohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01961355790962055702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5963856972417633339.post-80528077006597323292009-01-13T11:29:00.008+01:002010-12-08T01:36:45.976+01:00

Here is a great page on phonetic resources where you can download PhoTransEdit , a free Windows tool created to help you typing phonetic transcriptions. The tool includes:Automatic phonetic transcription of English texts. A phonetic keyboard to edit/create phonetic transcriptions. Statistics on the number of times a sound is found in a transcription. A converter of IPA symbols into HTML code

Ana López Pozohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01961355790962055702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5963856972417633339.post-84690212230667001692008-09-04T00:44:00.036+02:002011-02-16T13:13:20.979+01:00

This post has been designed principally for Spanish speakers, but it can also be useful for other nationalities by skipping the first activity and doing the rest.There are 46 sounds in the English sound system, 22 of which are vowel sounds. Compare this with Spanish, which has 5 vowel sounds, none of which are equivalent to any vowel sound in English. English vowels are difficult to identify and

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Liquid consonants /l/ /r/ are sounds where the airstream is obstructed, but not so much as to either stop it or create friction. Pronounce all or are very slowly and hear the difference between the vowel and the liquid consonants. Some languages trill r's, of course. In American English the /r/ is considered a retroflex because of how the tongue flexes back toward the alveolar ridge (

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Nasal consonants /n/ /m/ /ŋ/ are produced with a lowered velum in the mouth, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. A nasal consonant is also called nasal stop or nasal continuant. It is advisable to click on the phonemes /n/ /m/ /ŋ/ in the consonant chart on the right before you listen to the song. To produce /ŋ/ you obstruct the air stream through your mouth by bringing the

Ana López Pozohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01961355790962055702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5963856972417633339.post-80776331732376117622008-05-14T18:35:00.047+02:002011-10-27T19:42:34.653+02:00

A stop, plosive, or occlusive is a consonant sound produced by stopping the airflow in the vocal tract. Use the consonant chart on the right to hear and repeat each one of these plosive consonant phonemes /p/ /b/ /t/ /d/ /k/ /g/ in isolation as many times as you need to. To help you produce the sounds correctly, place a sheet of paper in front of you, you will probably notice that the

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Fricative consonants are produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together which produces friction, this air flow is called frication. Click on each of these fricative consonants /f/ /v/ /θ/ /ð/ /s/ /z/ /ʃ/ /ʒ/ /h/ /r/ in the chart on the right and repeat these sounds as many times as you need to.The fricative song She, well-known thanks to the film

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The sounds /ʃ/ /ʒ/ can create confusion when associating them to their graphemes (letters) as they are very similar. Madonna's Love profusion is a song very prolific in both these two sounds. First, use the phonetic chart on the right and click on the sounds /ʃ/ and /ʒ/ to hear and repeat the sound in isolation as many times as you need to. Listen to the song and do the gap-fill exercise by

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Get lost into the Universe of Consonants and across the 5 activities proposed. The Beatles song, Across the Universe, interpreted here by the American singer-songwriter Fiona Apple might give us an insight into some of the most difficult consonant phonemes to identify in English /k/ /tʃ/ /dʒ/ /f/ /θ/ /ð/ /ʃ/ /ŋ/ /w/ /j/ . Listen to the song and, if you know it, sing along as you read the lyrics

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This time the song So called friend, composed by the Scottish band Texas, is going to help us identify the phonemes /s/ and /z/ through a gap-fill activity you can do as you listen to the song. Read the instructions in the gap-fill activity below, then listen to the song and write your answers in the gaps provided. Use the bar on the right of the box to move the text up or down. Send a

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Are you one of those enjoying a bit of peace and quiet at home while others burn kilometres on the road?Not to worry, imagination can take you further if you start walking over the Ha'penny Bridge in Dublin, in the photo, not a penny spent!.Here's a TREASURE HUNT activity about Dublin for you. Click here and follow the instructions proposed in the activity. Send your answers to the link 'comments

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He elegido estos dos videos con la misma canción interpretada por diferentes artistas para mostrar la flexibilidad del Inglés en cuanto a pronunciación. El segundo video muestra la transcripción fonética de las palabras que se prestan a esa dualidad fonética 1. Listen to the song let's call the whole thing off interpreted by Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire from the film SHALL WE DANCE? and

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Match the phonetic transcriptions to the fruit. Send your answers in your comment and say which fruit tastes and sounds best in your opinion. A /ˈɒrɪndʒ/ B /ˈæpəl/ C /ˈwɔ:ʈəˌmelən/

Ana López Pozohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01961355790962055702noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5963856972417633339.post-52947465426485936022008-02-12T12:40:00.009+01:002010-03-29T12:37:07.104+02:00

The outstanding existing differences between the English phonological system and the Spanish one, among other problems, make Spanish learners find it really difficult to pronounce properly. I'm convinced that phonetics can help overcome those difficulties as well as provide more autonomy in the learning of a language. So... let's get started! Las notables diferencias existentes entre el sistema

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Lucinda Williams is an American rock, folk, and country music singer and songwriter. A three-time Grammy Award winner, she was named "America's best songwriter" by TIME magazine in 2002. Her song Am I too blue is hopefully going to help us hear the difference between the vowel sounds /ʌ/ /æ/ /ɑ:/ 1. Listen to this song and fill in the blanks. Once you've finished, try to classify the words under

Ana López Pozohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01961355790962055702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5963856972417633339.post-35871572215155201482007-11-15T00:55:00.000+01:002007-11-15T00:56:13.265+01:00

El inminente cambio de planes de estudio para adaptarse a los criterios definidos en el Marco de Referencia del Consejo de Europa fomentando el uso del inglés en todas las etapas y niveles educativos y la creciente demanda por parte de todos los sectores de nuestra sociedad en contar con una población capaz de comunicarse con el exterior, hacen imprescindible apoyar y ofrecer un plan de formación

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