Unit6 Lesson Plan (With Notes for Teachers) Back Vowels Date: 0ct.21-25 Class Classes 1,2&3,Grade 2011 Subject: English Pronunciation for Communication Purpose: The students will learn back vowels in English Objectives:Students will be able to: 1.Define-in their own wordsa definition for back vowels/a://A//://u//: 2.Compare-based on the understanding of the basic concept,compare them with other vowels: 3.Practice-imitate the soundsand do practice. Resources/Materials 1 Textbook:Wang.Guizhen.An English Pronunciation Course.Higher Education Press,Beijing,2000; 2.Handouts:illustration of the phonemes in focus; Recordings of native speakers Activities and Procedures: 1.Warming-up:Asking the class to read the following phrases in falling tone and rising tone,pay attention to the words containing /a://A/://u//u:/sounds. /a:/a fast ca orrow a novel/clocks and watches 5:/more and more on the fourth floor/a short story /w/look for the cook/woolen socks/stood in the foot /u:/a new rule /useful tools /stoop by a cool pool 2.Display examples by playing the recording of the native speakers showing the ciation in nglish.For all of them the tip ngu e is withdr towards the soft palate.lip-rounding plays an important part in producing all the back vowels except for /a:/ 3.Have the students imitate the sound in focus. .The tongue /a:/is held very low.The mouth is opened with no lip-rounding. the so nd is like the excla ation“Ah ●The e sound /is made with open jaw and slight open lip-rounding.the back of the tongue is kept very low and far back. This sound /has a low,mid-back tongue position;the lips are tense and protruded. This sound /uis produced with the tongue in a relaxed position.The lips are
Unit 6 Lesson Plan (With Notes for Teachers) Back Vowels Date: Oct. 21-25 Class: Classes 1, 2 & 3, Grade 2011 Subject: English Pronunciation for Communication Purpose: The students will learn back vowels in English. Objectives: Students will be able to: 1. Define - in their own words a definition for back vowels/ɑ:/ /Λ/ /ɔ/ /ɔ:/ /u/ /u:/; 2. Compare – based on the understanding of the basic concept, compare them with other vowels; 3. Practice – imitate the sounds and do practice. Resources/Materials: 1. Textbook: Wang, Guizhen, An English Pronunciation Course, Higher Education Press, Beijing, 2000; 2. Handouts: illustration of the phonemes in focus; 3. Recordings of native speakers Activities and Procedures: 1. Warming-up: Asking the class to read the following phrases in falling tone and rising tone, pay attention to the words containing /ɑ:/ /Λ/ /ɔ/ /ɔ:/ /u/ /u:/ sounds. /ɑ:/ a fast car / a large shark / a starved artist /ɔ/ socks and stockings / borrow a novel / clocks and watches /ɔ:/ more and more / on the fourth floor / a short story /u/ look for the cook / woolen socks / stood in the foot /u:/ a new rule / useful tools / stoop by a cool pool 2. Display examples by playing the recording of the native speakers showing the typical pronunciation in English. For all of them the tip of tongue is withdrawn towards the soft palate, lip-rounding plays an important part in producing all the back vowels except for /ɑ:/ 3. Have the students imitate the sound in focus. ⚫ The tongue /ɑ:/ is held very low. The mouth is opened with no lip-rounding, the sound is like the exclamation “Ah”. ⚫ The sound /ɔ/ is made with open jaws and slight open lip-rounding, the back of the tongue is kept very low and far back. ⚫ This sound /ɔ:/ has a low, mid-back tongue position; the lips are tense and protruded. ⚫ This sound /u/ is produced with the tongue in a relaxed position. The lips are
loosely rounded 。The/a:/back of theto is raised the highest.This sound is the most tense and most lip-rounded ofthe back vowes 4.Have the students make a comparison between /a:/&//:/&//and /u//u:/ and share what they have leamned by reading out the practice materials in pairs. Pair work A:Hey,don't walk on the lawn B:Sorry,I'm lookin for my wallet A:You lost your wallet?Anything important in it? B:Yes.A lot of money.Almost four thousand dollars. A:That's too bad.Better report to the police officer walking there. 5.Have the students listen to the conversations recorded by native speakers of English and try to get the e sounds in focus in their Have the students practice the guled conversions 6. them to pay special attention to the sounds in focus in speech. Practice:Tick the right word you heard: Did you buy a(cart cat)? He likes her (for The (clerk,clock)is slov It's a good coat,but I don't like the (colour.collar). She wanted to find a(potter,porter). The man was (shot.short). 1. Comment on the students'performance e by highlighting the achievement of the students and the effors theyneed for the improvemen Give advice to the students o Some students often confuse /a/with //In their pronunciation.part/pat/ sound like pot/pot/.This mistake may be corrected if they round their lips a little ●Man students substitute:/for//In their spot /spt/sound alike.To avoid such a mistake,they should open the lower jaw less wide (about two thirds of the jaw-opening for //)and raise the back of the tongue higher. .Students sometime confuse /u:/with /u/.Remember the English /u:/is higher.too 9.Ask the students to do more practice after class and get ready for presentation during the next session 10.Summary of the English Back Vowels:The English back vowels have the following fea ures inc The tongue is retracted,the back part is raised to various levels in the direction of the soft palate. The tip of the tongue is slightly drawn away from the lower teeth. o For/o:uu/the lips are rounded.but for/a/the lips are not
loosely rounded. ⚫ The /u:/ back of the tongue is raised the highest. This sound is the most tense and most lip-rounded of the back vowels. 4. Have the students make a comparison between /ɑ:/ & /ɔ/, /ɔ:/ & /ɔ/ and /u/ /u:/ and share what they have learned by reading out the practice materials in pairs. Pair work : A: Hey, don’t walk on the lawn. B: Sorry, I’m looking for my wallet. A: You lost your wallet? Anything important in it? B: Yes. A lot of money. Almost four thousand dollars. A: That’s too bad. Better report to the police officer walking there. 5. Have the students listen to the conversations recorded by native speakers of English and try to get the sounds in focus correct in their pronunciation. 6. Have the students practice the guided conversation. Ask them to pay special attention to the sounds in focus in speech. Practice: Tick the right word you heard: Did you buy a (cart, cat)? He likes her (form, farm). The (clerk, clock) is slow. It’s a good coat, but I don’t like the (colour, collar). She wanted to find a (potter, porter). The man was (shot, short). 7. Comment on the students’ performance by highlighting the achievement of the students and the efforts they need for the improvement. 8. Give advice to the students. ⚫ Some students often confuse /ɑ:/ with /ɔ/. In their pronunciation, part/pɑ:t/ sound like pot/pɔt/. This mistake may be corrected if they round their lips a little. ⚫ Many students substitute /ɔ:/ for /ɔ/. In their pronunciation, sport /spɔ:t/ and spot /spɔt/ sound alike. To avoid such a mistake, they should open the lower jaw less wide (about two thirds of the jaw-opening for /ɔ/) and raise the back of the tongue higher. ⚫ Students sometime confuse /u:/ with /u/. Remember the English /u:/ is somewhat relaxed though it is a long vowel. In the pronunciation of /u:/, the lips are more rounded and closed than for /u/. The back of the tongue is raised higher, too. 9. Ask the students to do more practice after class and get ready for presentation during the next session. 10. Summary of the English Back Vowels: The English back vowels have the following features in common: ⚫ The tongue is retracted, the back part is raised to various levels in the direction of the soft palate. ⚫ The tip of the tongue is slightly drawn away from the lower teeth. ⚫ For /ɔ ɔ: u u:/ the lips are rounded, but for /ɑ:/ the lips are not
11.After-class assignments:Review and memorize the words,phrases,sentences in class.Make sen nces containing back vowels/u Reading practice“The Boy Who Cried Wolf" Notes for Teachers Back Vowels In this unit,we will learn the back vowels in English. There are six back vowels in English.The back vowels are produced by shifting the body of the tongue back from its central position.The tip of the tongue remains a the level of the lower teeth The front and back vowels have several features in common as well as some differences.Unlike the front vowels that are made with a fairly neutral lip posture,four of the back vowels are rounded.The back vowels may also be subdivided into those that are high (/u:/and /u/),mid (/:and //)and low (/a:/and /A/).The following is the description of the six English back vowels. 0 a /u:/and/u/ /u:/and /u are both high,back,rounded vowels.The /u:/marks the highest boundary for the back vowels,as/i:/does for the front vowels.Therefore,the tongue is retracted from its rest position and raised toward the soft palate.This vowel is quite in the lang of the world and appears most Chir leamers.Along with/u:/u/completes the vowels in the high back space on the vowels chart.Its corresponding front vowel is/i/.When mak ing the sound,the tongue is retracted as for /u:/but not elevated to the same extent.In addition,the/u/vowel is not made with as much tension in the root of the tongue as /u/The same tensellax ntrast is also seen for /and /il Thiss und is found very pho neme in the languages of the world, certainly not in Chinese e Putongh a.In English,it is not very common despite the fact that it appears in some frequently used words,such as should,good,and book./u:/occurs at all the three positions of a word while/u /occurs only in the middle position of a word,like book and hook.To ensure correct pronunciation,it is important to make the following distinction between/u/
11. After-class assignments: Review and memorize the words, phrases, sentences in class. Make sentences containing back vowels / u / / u: /. Reading practice “The Boy Who Cried Wolf” Notes for Teachers Back Vowels In this unit, we will learn the back vowels in English. There are six back vowels in English. The back vowels are produced by shifting the body of the tongue back from its central position. The tip of the tongue remains at the level of the lower teeth. The front and back vowels have several features in common as well as some differences. Unlike the front vowels that are made with a fairly neutral lip posture, four of the back vowels are rounded. The back vowels may also be subdivided into those that are high (/u:/ and / u /), mid (/ɔ:/ and /ɒ/), and low (/ɑ:/ and /Λ/). The following is the description of the six English back vowels. : : /u:/ and / u / /u:/ and / u / are both high, back, rounded vowels. The /u:/ marks the highest boundary for the back vowels, as /i:/ does for the front vowels. Therefore, the tongue is retracted from its rest position and raised toward the soft palate. This vowel is quite common in the languages of the world and appears without problem in most Chinese learners. Along with /u:/, / u / completes the vowels in the high back space on the vowels chart. Its corresponding front vowel is /i/. When making the sound, the tongue is retracted as for /u:/ but not elevated to the same extent. In addition, the / u / vowel is not made with as much tension in the root of the tongue as /u:/. The same tense/lax contrast is also seen for /i:/ and /i/. This sound is not found very frequently as a phoneme in the languages of the world, certainly not in Chinese Putonghua. In English, it is not very common despite the fact that it appears in some frequently used words, such as should, good, and book. /u:/ occurs at all the three positions of a word while / u / occurs only in the middle position of a word, like book and hook. To ensure correct pronunciation, it is important to make the following distinction between /u:/ ɑ: ɒ ɑ: Λ ɔ: u: u
and/u/ 1./u/is the highest back vowel,so the raised part of the tongue for//is higher than that for/u/ 2.the part of thetongue raised for/u/is not as back as that for/u/ 3./u:/has quite strong lip rounding while the lips are only slightly rounded for/u/. /3:/and/p/ isa mid-back vowel For the tongue is retracted and almos flat in the mouth The vowel is almost fully back and has quite strong lip-rounding./ is a low vowel.The lips are slightly rounded.//is a difficult vowel for the Chinese learners.Many of them use a shortened version of/:/as its substitution.To ensure correct pronunciation,it is important to make the following distinction between these more open for// 2.:/has quite strong lip rounding while the lips are only slightly rounded for/ la:/and /A/ The /is made by lowering and flattening g the tonguc cavity.It is a low vowel.but not as back as other back vowels Englishis quite different fron other vowels in this group in that it is more like a central vowel than a back vowel (see the vowel chart)./A/is made with the tongue in the approximate middle of the mouth,perhaps shifted back slightly.It is lower than the other central vowels/3/and A/.The lip position is neutral.It is important for the leamners to make a clear distinction between/a/and /in their pronunciatior
and / u /: 1. /u:/ is the highest back vowel, so the raised part of the tongue for /u:/ is higher than that for / u /; 2. the part of the tongue raised for / u / is not as back as that for /u:/; 3. /u:/ has quite strong lip rounding while the lips are only slightly rounded for / u /. / ɔ:/ and / ɒ/ / ɔ:/ is a mid-back vowel. For its production, the tongue is retracted and almost flat in the mouth. The vowel is almost fully back and has quite strong lip-rounding. /ɒ/ is a low vowel. The lips are slightly rounded. / ɒ/ is a difficult vowel for the Chinese learners. Many of them use a shortened version of / ɔ:/ as its substitution. To ensure correct pronunciation, it is important to make the following distinction between these two vowels: 1. / ɒ/ is a low vowel while / ɔ:/ is a mid vowel, so the mouth is more open for / ɒ/, 2. / ɔ:/ has quite strong lip rounding while the lips are only slightly rounded for / ɒ/. /ɑ:/ and /Λ/ The /ɑ:/ is made by lowering and flattening the tongue in the oral cavity. It is a low vowel, but not as back as other back vowels in English. /Λ/ is quite different from other vowels in this group in that it is more like a central vowel than a back vowel (see the vowel chart). /Λ/ is made with the tongue in the approximate middle of the mouth, perhaps shifted back slightly. It is lower than the other central vowels /з:/ and /Λ/. The lip position is neutral. It is important for the learners to make a clear distinction between /ɑ:/ and /Λ/ in their pronunciation