May Week Two

It happens every year of course, the once-a-year class where we can down and dirty with pronuciation! That means individual sounds (think minimal pairs), rhythm and intonation. There are several general resources that I recommend:

• Sounds of English
• Ship or Sheep
• Perfect Pronunciation
• Daily Listen and Repeat

LISTENING
To practice your listening skills, learners can try one of the many listening excersises regarding pronunciation and minimal pairs at American English Pronunciation Practice or some of the BBC radio programmes that talk about pronunciation.

For original version, check out Sarah Jone's great TED Talk where she assumes the role of many different characters just by changing her accent.

READING
Learners can try an interesting and hopefully useful article called Accent Reduction: Improving Pronunciation Skills or 7 Tips to Drastically Improve Your English.

For original version reading, try an article about the Decline of the NY Accent or Talk This Way about accents in Hollywood.

WRITING
So what's your plan? For writing this week I'd like you to write down what your plan is to improve your pronunciation. Do you have a model of someone to follow? Would you like to speak like Scarlett Johannsen or Brad Pitt? Describe what steps you will take to improve your pronunciation. Then, please record your writing and send me the mp3!

Best,
Kelly