Improve Your Pronunciation Part 2

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In my last post I wrote that word stress and intonation are very important if you want to speak English clearly.   

Here is an excellent article  by Kenneth  Beare from esl.about.com  on a specific method you can use to help yourself to improve your stress and intonation. 

Recently, while creating a course on presentation skills in English, I came across a wonderful book by Mark Powell entitled Presenting in English. In it, there are "sound scripting" exercises which help learners become more expressive by taking sentence intonation skills to the next level. 

These examples use a method of bolding key content words and CAPITALIZING the most important words chosen for the best emotional impact. This starts off with a simple sentence paragraph that an intermediate student might use to practice and ends with a more advanced selection that is typical of a presentation. Click on the example link at the end of each, then click back on your browser to return to this page. 

Easier Paragraph to be Read

Our school is the best in town. The teachers are friendly, and very knowledgeable about English. I've studied at the school for two years and my English is becoming very good. I hope you will visit our school and try an English class. Maybe we can become friends, too!

Paragraph with Sound Scripting Markup

Our school is the BEST in town. The teachers are friendly, and VERY KNOWLEDGEABLE about English. I've studied at the school for two years and my English is becoming VERY GOOD. I hope you will visit our school and try an English class. MAYBE we can become FRIENDS!   To hear an example, go back to the original article at About.com  

More Difficult Paragraph to be Read

In this day and age, facts, statistics and other numbers are used to prove everything. Intuition, gut feelings and personal preferences are all out the door. Of course, there are some who are trying to battle this trend. Recently, Malcolm Gladwell wrote Blink, a best-seller which explores the usefulness of making split-second decisions based on intuition rather than careful consideration of all the facts and figures.

In this book, Gladwell argues that initial impressions - or gut-feelings - are quite rational. However, that this "split-second" thinking process moves faster than what we usually associate with thinking. If you are one of these people - and there are many of us - Blink provides "proof" that you're actually quite a rational human being.

Paragraph with Sound Scripting Markup

In this day and age, facts, statistics and other numbers are used to prove EVERYTHING. Intuition, gut feelings and personal preferences are all OUT THE DOOR. Of course, there ARE some who are trying to battle this trend. Recently, Malcolm Gladwell wrote BLINK, a best-seller which explores the USEFULNESS of making SPLIT-SECOND DECISIONS based on INTUITION rather than careful consideration of all the facts and figures.

In his book, Gladwell argues that INITIAL IMPRESSIONS - or GUT-FEELINGS - are quite rational. However, that this "split-second" thinking process moves FASTER than what we usually associate with thinking. If YOU are one of these people - and there are MANY of us - Blink provides "PROOF" that you're actually quite a RATIONAL HUMAN BEING. - To hear an example, go back to the original article at About.com  

Try it: You might be surprised at how much better you sound 

Record yourself trying out this method and see how it sounds. Use the microphone on your computer, or better yet use your cell phone.  Then, try to create some of your own practices. Choose several easy paragraphs, bold important content words and CAPITALIZE them. Record yourself several times until you feel that you are beginning to sound right. Then, repeat the activity as often as you can.

The READING PAGE  has many articles in the Intermediate reading section that would be useful for this kind of practice. Start slowly with only one paragraph until you build your skill and confidence.Then try reading for a longer period of time. 

Remember put some expression in your voice. English speakers do not speak in one tone. Our voices go UP and DOWN. We pause AND we STRESS important words in sentences. .

Here are a number of other useful articles on improving your pronunciation. 

• Reading Tips to Help Pronunciation This is another short article by Kenneth Beare that describes how to use reading to help yourself improve your pronunciation. 

• Pronunciation Techniques  This is an excellent series of 25 articles from Kenneth Beare at About.om on various techniques and strategies to improve your pronunciation.  

• How to Improve Your Pronunciation   This is an article specifically aimed at Chinese speakers which has a lot of very useful information on aspects of their pronunciation they should work 
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Don't forget to visit the PRONUNCIATION PAGEwhere you will find an increasing number of pronunciation tutorials and practices.  Also check out the pronunciation links on the right hand page.