Grade 4 UNIT 1: Pronunciation

Grade 4 UNIT 1: Pronunciation

Table of Contents

Introduction 2

Objectives 2

Lesson 1: Stress and Intonation 3 Warm-up! 3 Learn About It! 4 Check Your Understanding 7 Let’s Step Up! 8

Lesson 2: Vowel Sounds 9 Warm-up! 9 Learn About It! 9 Check Your Understanding 13 Let’s Step Up! 14

Performance Task 15

Self-Check: How Well Did I Learn? 17

Wrap Up 18

Bibliography 19

GRADE 4 | ENGLISH

UNIT 1 Pronunciation

Communicating with others can be a

difficult task. There are instances where we

cannot understand what the other person is

saying or we may take what they are saying

the wrong way because we misunderstood

them based on the way they speak or the

loudness of their voice.

In this unit we will develop our communication skills through proper pronunciation.

Objectives In this unit, you should be able to:

● speak clearly using appropriate pronunciation and intonation; ● read with accuracy words, phrases, poems, and stories with diphthongs; and ● read with accuracy words, phrases, poems,and stories with silent letters.

Copyright © 2018 Quipper Limited 2

Lesson 1: Stress and Intonation

When we ask a question, politely request for a favor, or give out a strict command, we often use different tones and emphases. This will also depend on what we would like our listeners to understand based on what we said. In this lesson, we will find out how to improve our speaking skills through stress and intonation.

Warm-up!

Practice reading the chant below and be ready to recite it in front of the class.

Sh! Sh! The baby’s sleeping (2X) What did you say? (2x)

Hush! Hush! The baby’s sleeping (2x) What did you say? (2x) Please be quiet. (2x)

The Baby is sleeping (2x) What did you say? (2x)

Shut up (2x) the Baby’s sleeping (2x) WHAAAAAAAAAAAAA.

NOT Anymore!!! How did you say the words in small caps? How about in all caps? Share your answer with a classmate.


Learn About It!

Words can be divided into syllables. Some syllables are

pronounced with more force than others. This force or

emphasis given to a particular syllable when pronouncing a

word is called stress.

Let us look at this example: You can divide the word “member” into two syllables. When

you say the word out loud, the first syllable is given more

emphasis: MEM-ber. This means that the first syllable is

stressed, while the second syllable is unstressed.

Stress can also be given to a word in a sentence. Giving stress to a particular word in a

sentence can change the meaning of the sentence.

Consider this sentence:

A Filipino won in the competition held in Japan.


If you want to emphasize who won in the competition, you should say, “A FILIPINO won in the competition held in Japan.” But if you want to emphasize the place where the Filipino won, you should say, “A Filipino won in the competition held in JAPAN.” Observing proper stress in speaking will help you communicate clearly and effectively. Besides stress, intonation is also important in talking to other people. It is the accuracy of the pitch or the highness or lowness of one’s voice. Pitch is also used to emphasize something when speaking. There are two main patterns of intonation. They are the rising intonation and the falling intonation. Rising intonation means the pitch rises at the end of the sentence. Take a look at the

examples below and read them aloud:

Rising intonation:

Was the exam ➚hard?

I finished the ➚race!

Am I ➚pretty?

Questions that can be answered with a “yes” or “no” usually end in rising intonation. The

voice tone goes up at the end of the sentence.

On the other hand, falling intonation means that the pitch falls at the end of the

sentence. Falling intonation is common in wh- questions. Look at the following sentences:


Why are you sad?

Who won the crown?

Where have you been?

Questions that go down in pitch at the end are all other type of questions. Moreover, falling intonation is used for asking and giving information in normal, quiet, unemphatic style. At the same time, falling intonation conveys certain emotions, such as completion, finality, confidence.


Check Your Understanding

Write RI if the sentence has rising intonation and FI if the sentence has falling intonation.

______1. Are you insane? ______2. Unicorns are fluffy. ______3. Who gave you that scar? ______4. When will you arrive? ______5. I need more coffee!

Write a sentence based on the usage of the word indicated by the stress mark. 1. Export What part of speech?:________________ Sentence:__________________________________________________________ 2. Export What part of speech? _______________ Sentence: _________________________________________________________ 3. Decrease What part of speech? ______________ Sentence: _________________________________________________________ 4. Decrease What part of speech?_______________ Sentence: ________________________________________________________ 5. Discuss What part of speech? _________________________ Sentence: _______________________________________________________


Choose your favorite nursery rhymes. Mark the stressed syllables in the poem and identify the intonation of the lines.

Let’s Step Up!


Lesson 2: Vowel Sounds

Imagine if all letters had the same sounds. It will be difficult to communicate with others. Vowels sounds help us in identifying different words in language. In this lesson, you will learn to recognize and differentiate vowel sounds.

Warm-up! Take a look at the words below.

mountain know soil scent cow psychic

What do you notice about these words? Discuss your thoughts with your seatmate.

Learn About It!

The words in the table are categorized into different sounds. The words in the left are called

diphthongs, while the words in the right are words with silent letters.

1. Diphthong

A diphthong is a combination of two vowel sound that come together to make up one


syllable. The word diphthong comes from the Greek word, dis, which means two times.

Remember the key to pronunciation is the position and the diphthongs are a combination of

two sounds, so your mouth will change position as you say

the sound.

The most common diphthongs are the following: ou, oi/oy,

au/aw, ow, and ew.

Diphthong /ai/ starts with an open mouth position and

then moves closer to a closed position.

Tie Die why

The diphthong /oi/oy/ is initially made with rounded mouth and then moving to a closed smiling position.

Boy Toy oil


Another diphthong is /aw/ which is made by initially opening your mouth and then moving to

a lip rounded sound.

Out Bow now

2. Silent Letters

Have you noticed that words such as know, scent, and psychic have letters which are not

pronounced? These words are known as words with silent letters.

Silent letters are there for number of reasons:

1. Silent letters help us distinguish between homophones or words that has the

same sound but has different meanings. Here are some examples:

in-inn to-too-two knot-not

2. Silent letters also distinguish the meaning and pronunciation of words. Look at the

following examples:

sin - to break a religious law sign - to write one’s name


hour - made up of 60 minutes

our - belonging to the speaker and others

rat - a rodent that resembles a large mouse rate - a fixed price

3. Some short vowel sound words that contain an ‘e’ at the end has an elongated

sound. Look at these examples:

hop-hope tap-tape

at-ate

Here are more examples of words with silent letters:

Silent letter Example u guess, guard, guide t listen, watch h honor, herb, hour w wrap, wrist, wrong


Check Your Understanding Write the correct word that completes the statement. Choose your answer from the word bank.

knock writing knife kneading kneel checking

1. Catholics usually ________when they pray. 2. ___________before you enter the faculty room. 3. Andrew is ___________ a poem for the contest. 4. The mechanic is ____________ the engine before the race begins. 5. Use __________ and fork in eating steak.

Supply the correct word that completes the sentence.

1. I’m sorry, she went _______ for a walk today. (out, about, scout) 2. Do not be a coward and __________ your sword! (row, draw, crawl) 3. I forgot that she __________ via Cebu Pacific. (drew, sew, flew) 4. I found couple of _________ t-shirts under the table. (chew, you, new) 5. Maggie is the __________ character of the short story. (famous, stain, main)

Pick your favorite song. Identify words with diphthongs and classify them according to its category on the table below.

Table Heading Table Heading ou

oi/oy

au/aw

ow

ew


Let’s Step Up!


Performance Task

A Queenly Advice

Goal: Your task is to coach the Queen of England on how to present her last official public speech with your knowledge on stress, intonation, and vowel sounds. Role: You are her mentor as a speech therapist. You will demonstrate how to read her speech in public. Audience: The direct target audience is the Queen, so you must use formal tone and language while the indirect audience would be the masses who will listen to the Queen’s final speech before giving the throne to her son. Situation: The challenge is to help the Queen with her stuttering problem by showing her how to pronounce the words in her speech correctly. Product/Performance and Purpose: You will create a speech suited for the Queen and record yourself to serve as a sample audio file for practice training of the Royal Majesty.

1. The speech should be addressed to the new king of England as a congratulatory speech for his coronation.

2. It should be 2-3 minutes long and must be recorded in mp3/mp4 format. 3. Submit a copy of the speech printed on a short bond paper. Highlight the diphthongs

and silent letters used in the speech. Standards & Criteria for Success: Your product must meet the following standards:

Criteria Beginning (0-12 points)

Developing (13-16 points)

Accomplished (17-20 points)

Score

Content (Focus on details/events are clearly evident; it is clearly related to the topic.)

Organization


(Logical progression of details/events; clear transitions between ideas.)

Language (spelling, mechanics, grammar and usage)

Clarity Speaks clearly and distinctly all the time, and mispronounces no words.

Pauses used 2 or more times to improve meaning and/or dramatic impact.

Enthusiasm Voice should generate a strong interest and enthusiasm about the topic in others.


Self-Check: How Well Did I Learn?

Do a self-check on how well you learned the lessons in this unit. Place a checkmark in the appropriate box.

Skills I think I need more

practice and assistance

I am familiar and can perform well

with minimal assistance

I am confident that I can perform this on

my own

I can speak clearly using appropriate pronunciation and intonation

I can read with accuracy words, phrases, poems, and stories with diphthongs

I can read with accuracy words, phrases, poems,and stories with silent letters.


Wrap Up

Stress is the force or emphasis given in pronouncing a particular syllable in a word or

uttering a word in a sentence. Intonation is the rise and fall of voice when speaking.

● Rising intonation - pitch rises at the end of the sentence ● Falling intonation - pitch falls at the end of the sentence

A diphthong is one vowel sound created by a combination of two vowel sounds.

Silent letters are important in distinguishing meanings and pronunciations of words.


Bibliography

British Council. “Intonation.” Accessed April 4, 2017.

https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/intonation.

“The Difference Between Diphthongs and Digraphs.” The Center For Development and

Learning.

http://www.cdl.org/articles/the-difference-between-dipthongs-and-digraphs/.

Accessed April 6, 2017.

“Diphthongs.” The Sound of English.

http://thesoundofenglish.org/diphthongs/. Accessed April 6, 2017.

“silent letter.” Cambridge Dictionary.

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/silent-letter.

Accessed April 6, 2017.

Maclin, Alice. Reference Guide to English: A handbook of English as a Second Language.

Washington: Office of English Language Programs US Department of State, 2001.

Howtospell. n.d. Silent Letters. Accessed February 12, 2018. https://howtospell.co.uk/silentletters.php.

Skillswise. n.d. Silent Letters. Accessed February 12, 2018. http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/factsheet/en21watc-e3-f-silent-letters.


https://howtospell.co.uk/silentletters.php

Grade 4 UNIT 1: Pronunciation

Documents

Transcript of Grade 4 UNIT 1: Pronunciation