Teaching Pronunciation

Vocalic Segment....................................................................................................................... 3 Perception Activities......................................................................................................4 Production Activities.....................................................................................................5 Consonantal Segment.............................................................................................................11 Perception Activities...................................................................................................12 Production Activities...................................................................................................13 Connected Speech...................................................................................................................17 Perception Activities...................................................................................................18 Production Activities...................................................................................................20 Stress..........................................................................................................................................22 Perception Activities...................................................................................................23 Production Activities...................................................................................................25 Intonation.................................................................................................................................28 Perception Activities...................................................................................................32 Production Activities...................................................................................................34 Assessment...............................................................................................................................37 Teaching Unit...........................................................................................................................45

Table of contents

Vocalic Target Language Segment The vocalic segments which make up the nasal vowels in French are / /, //, //, / /. The production of nasal vowels as compared to their oral counterparts are often necessary for intelligibility. My students are currently at an intermediate level and all continue to struggle with the production of nasal vowels. The nasal vowels are very important in French as they differentiate the language from the students' first language, English. While the nasasl vowels exist in other romance languages, they are very rarely present in the L1, seen in words such as sun, sum, and sung but even here they are allophones of the oral vowels whereas the French nasal vowels are their own phonemes. I personally don't remember struggling with nasals until I entered into a French Phonetics course and was asked to do minimal pair drills between the nasal sounds. I struggled differentiating them from one another. My students currently have trouble forming them at all and/or seem to make the nasal sound at random, rather than intentionally forming the correct sounds that go with each vowel. It is something that I often recast for them. The students will generally repeat what I've recasted correctly, so I know that they can hear the difference, but we don't ever take the time to do a drill as a class right then. I would love to form my own classroom syllabus which includes phonology lessons each week to target troublesome phonemes. The French Department at KU isn't currently addressing phonetics until the students declare French a major or minor. The Markedness Hypothesis states that comparing the L1 and L2 in order to predict error is not enough. One must also consider the notion of "relative degree of difficulty," which is measured on a universial scale - rather than in comparison to one or both of the languages being observed - and further must be valid independent of second language acquisition. If I understand their test correctly, a phoneme would be considred more marked if it doesn't exist alone in a language, meaning it's existence is dependent on the presence of second phoneme but that second phoneme is not dependent on the first. The second phoneme, therefore, exists in multiple ways but the first is more marked as it only exists under certain conditions. Therefor, the nasal vowel sounds are more marked than oral vowel sounds. Regarding fossilization, I feel that students may fossilize this concept of using a generic nasal sound for all nasal phonemes rather than differentiating between them (as my students are doing now) but I can't imagine students getting stuck without the nasal all together, as it's rather distinctive of a French accent.

Vocalic Segment Activities

Perception Activity 1: Instructor reads either word a or word b and students circle the correct letter. I included pictures and words because I wouldnt expect them to know all these words.

Perception Activity 2 : The instructor reads the following sentences: 1. Oh regardez! Jean est dans le bteau! 2. Mon dieu! Il y a une panne au bord de la rivire. 3. O se trouve le vent?

Perception & Production Activity 1 : I have several poems/rhymes/dialogues which use this sound that I think could be fun to have students perform for the class. I would give each pair of students 1 text (no two pairs would receive the same) and then let them practice together to then present to the class. The class could guess on a worksheet the theme of each poem.

A.

B.

C. Ecrits par Marie Tenaille

D.

E. Vers dors par Grard de Nerval

Perception & Production Activity 2 : IGA between two students, Who's Who?

Production Activity 3 : The students work shown in order to get the correct answers is incorrect. I think it would be interesting to watch the students realize that their character did in fact cheat! Would they try to argue their way out of it or admit to cheating? The numbers 30, 40, 50, 60, 70 and 100 all use the targeted sound.

Production Activity 4 : Students record themselves and compare that recording to that of a native speaker using spectrogram analysis. They will record themselves again in their final assessment to compare to this recording as well.
Vocalic segments:

/ / v //

// v //

// v /o/

/ / v /y/

Consonantal Target Language Segment The consonantal segment that American students often find most difficult in French is the [] rather than the English [] with which they are so familiar. The Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis asserts that some sounds in a foreign language will come easily to a learner if they also exist in the learner's L1. Likewise, sounds that do not exist in the learner's L1 can be predicted to cause difficulty. This is certainly true of the [], a voiced uvular trill, which I believe all learner's struggle with. The few students that I have seen succeed with this sound early on were learning French as a third or fourth language and had already mastered the sound in another language, including Dutch, German and Portuoguese. I have personal experience in learning the French [], as well as seeing my students struggle with it. I think the most important thing for a teacher to do in helping students to learn this sound is explicitly teach the difference in articulation between [] and []. This will at least get students on the right track to pronunciation, which will improve with practice and instruction, such as to relax the throat. I know personally I went through a shift from the American English
[] to a rather German sounding [] which was still hard, almost a hacking. Eventually I relaxed

my efforts and finally found the soft French [], which isn't much more than a pushing of breath in the back of a nearly closed throat. I would guess that the [] is more marked than [] because [] exists in 13 langauges whereas [] exists in 48 languages. Looking at lists of languages in which both are spoken, the difference seems to sometimes be an issue of dialect. This goes back to deciding which form of the foreign language will be taught as the standard. In teaching French, we generally choose Parisian French which uses the []. [] however is found in French as well in southern France, rural Quebec and African French. Regarding fossilization, I believe that [] is likely to become fossilized if learners aren't made to form the []. The difference between the sounds doesn't necessarily lead to intelligibility but rather maintains a strong American accent where, ideally, there should be none. I've heard many students working on their major coursework in the French department who had terrible pronunciation, including the [] but were never corrected by teachers. I think this was doing them a disservice as I know they often felt self-conscious of their speaking abilities. From what I understand, there is currently no consensus on which IPA symbol to use for the French /r/. The following notes may be given:

IPA: [] the voiced uvular fricative represents how /r/ is pronounced in standard French. IPA: [] the voiceless uvular fricative is characteristic of a Parisian accent, and is therefore quite familiar/common on French TV broadcasts etc. It is also the symbol used by all the major French print dictionaries, including the Robert and theTrsor de la Langue Franaise.

Perception Activity 1 : Teacher gives students worksheet or asks students to write this list of names. They must listen to the instructor who says each name with either a French or American English pronunciation.

Production Activity 1 : While this is a quick move to production, our text suggested that this type of production which practices spelling/pronunciaiton correspondance is not an authentic pronunciaiton and therefore can be useful and helping students transition. Students read a dialogue with a partner which is rich in the target sound [] as well as being contextually relevant. I would ask students to read, switch roles and read again, and continue switching and reading until I have had a chance to walk around and listen to each person speak. This practice in reading the same dialogue over and over gives students a chance to practice these specific vocabulary words as well as the target sound. Because the server role is long each student can kind of take a break when they play the Jean-Louis role. Walking around gives me the opportunity to give students one-on-one feedback without the pressure of the entire class watching.

Production Activity 2 : IGA between two students Student A

 Student B

 IGA Answers

Perception & Production Activity 3 : Students work with partner to write a sotry using the following words which contain the target consonant, [].

Other students listen to the stories and check off the words that are used and if they were pronounced well.

Production Activity 4 : Students record themselves and compare that recording to that of a native speaker using spectrogram analysis. They will record themselves again in their final assessment to compare to this recording as well.
Consonantal segment:

[]

Connected Speech - Liaison Making liaison in French isn't entirely unfamiliar to students who speak English as a first language. Liaison and certainly deletion exist in English and are used quite regularly, however students aren't really aware of their own use. On top of that, often students are still struggling to understand when to pronounce final consonants and when to make them silent. There is an easy rule for the pronunciaiton of final consonants: only pronounce the consonants c, r, f and l as in the word careful. Liaison must be added to this rule to allow for the final consonant of a word to carry over to the next word if it begins with a vowel. Some examples include, "mon ami, mes amis, entre eux, pour elles, quel ge a-t-il?, neuf ans, etc. Not only are these sounds carried over, but some change. [s] becomes [z] and [f] becomes [v].

Perception Activity 1 : The teacher reads the following list while the students match word with picture, paying attention to cases of liaison between article and noun. 1. un agneau 2. des alligators 3. labeille 4. des agneaux 5. laigle 6. des cureuils 7. un araigne 8. des oiseaux 9. un autruche 10. un lphant 11. un oiseau 12. des lphants

Presentation & Analysis: While mandatory liaisons exists in nominal groups, verbal groups, after monosyllabic prepositions and adverbs, after quand, dont and tout, and in many fixed expressions, I would prefer that we focus on one at a time and keep the general rule in mind. They can keep practicing throughout the semester with these many examples and learn the exceptions to the rule later. Also, I find that color coding grammar terms helps students to keep them straight/find patterns.

Perception & Production Activity 2 : Students are given the exception regarding words that start with the letter h. Some make liaison, some do not. There is not an easy rule for this, students just have to memorize lists. For our chapter on animals, I just want them to start with avoiding liaison with the word for owl, hibou. hibou and hamster = h aspir = no liaison hippocampe = h muet = liaison Directions say: First, listen to the poem (teacher reads) Then, underline all the examples of liaison, pay attention to h aspir! Next, read the poem with a partner Finally, discuss the content of the poem. Do you agree with the description? In discussing the poems description they should be calling on these word combinations that use liaison.

Production Activity 2 : Guided Practice Activity: 1. Students practice the pronunciation of each focusing to make liaison 2. Students ask each other questions about each animal, encouraging one another to add adjectives Modle: Quel animal est-ce que tu aimes le plus? Moi, jaime la petite abeille effrayante.

Production Activity 3 : Communicative Practice Activity: Students are presented with pictures of all the animals that weve been discussing thus far. With a partner, they must choose an animal, describe it without using any English or making the animals sounds, using circumlocution.

Stress - Final Syllable Word stress in English is very confusing. As a native English speaker, we often aren't even aware of the rules. There seem to be many, many rules that guide word stress and a number of exceptions to the rules. Luckily for my students, word stress is very easy in French! The stress
always falls on the final syllable of each word. Examples include: dmocraTIQUE, gograPHIE, and organizaTION. French is a syllable-timed language with fairly regular stress on each syllable. There is value, therefore, in teaching the even and equal rythm that syllables take, with the stress falling on the last syllable.

Perception Activity 1 : Presentation and Analysis : First, students write each word on the line, breaking it up by syllable. Then, the instructor reads each word and students circle the stressed syllable. Students should circle the final syllable each time. Likely they will second guess themselves and try to circle different syllables, the same way that we do in multiple choice exams when we have too many of one answer in a row. Either way, it will be a good lesson in understanding that no matter the number of syllables, the stress always falls on the last word.

Analysis & Description

Perception Activity 2 : Listening Discrimination, Students listen to the model and then attempt to do it themselves. The directions say, listen to the professor who says the same word two times. Choose the correct pronunciation and write the word. Ideally, I would record this rather than trying to do it in class so that they are sure to have a good quality listening. I think in person I may trip up and say it the same way twice, though I suppose that in itself would be a type of listening drill. Because the stressed syllable is always the last syllable, I didnt feel I should provide the written word. 1. entrez 2. choisissons 3. fantastique 4. professeur 5. tudiant 6. association

Production Activity 1 : Controlled Practice, In keeping with the travel theme, students can pack a bag together for various locale using the clothing and personal effects vocab from the previous chapter. Modle: Quand je vais Nice, en France je prends un maillot de bain, des belles robes dt, et des sandales. Aussi, je dois prendre ma brosse dents, du dentifrice, et du maquillage. quand je vais NICE, en FRANCE, je prends un maillot de BAIN, des belles robes dT, et des sandALES. aussI, je dois prendre ma brosse DENTS, du dentifrICE, et du maquillAGE. I would show this model to students before they start so that they can keep it in mind while they speak. Id like them to write down at least once sentence theyve come up with to read to the class paying special attention to stress.

Production Activity 2 : Guided Practice Activity, In the original context of travelling, students can practice planning a trip. Students have a map and detailed information in this IGA which focuses on places they visit and activities/sites at each place. The teacher can either have them record their interactions or (more preferably) walk around listening to students and helping them remember to make appropriate stress. Should I encourage them to write answers with stress indicated? ex: chenonCEAU Student A

Student B

Production Activity 3 : Communicative Practice Activity : Pretty basic conversation set up. Students have prompted location. They ask their partner if theyd like to visit that place. The partner responds yes or no and gives a reason why. They can they pose the same location to their partner or move on to a new location. As these sentences get longer, a reminder to students that the stress falls on the final syllable in single word answers and in rhythmic groups.

Intonation Teaching prominence to students will likely depend on the three examples of prominence listed repeatedly in these chapters: new information, emotional emphasis, and contrast. According to my text Savoir Dire by Diane Dansereau, French uses the same type of prominence in what they call accent of instance. One may also, as I mentioned earlier, add personal pronouns (moi, toi, lui) or the construction 'C'est...que' in order to add prominence. In these examples the prominence accent, it's important to note that the prominence is denoted by elongating the first or second pronounced consonant of the word. For example, "fformidable, iddiot". I think it's important to compare French and English when understanding intonation and prominence. The English language tends to place prominence on syllables and words which carry the most meaning. French, on the other hand, tends to display prominence in rhythmic groups with dramatic highs and lows.

Similarities: Intonation falls at the end of: o isolated words o declarative, imperative and exclamatory sentences o questions which start with an interrogative word Intonation falls at the end of: o yes/no questions o incomplete sentences or thoughts for which the ending is implied Questions which offer contrasting answers experience a rise on the first option and a fall on the second o ex: Habite-t-il Lille ou Paris? Differences: In English, there can be a change in tone in the middle of a syllable, creating a diphtongue (ex: tw-o) whereas in French the change in tone must occur between syllables. (ex: par-tez) In French, the rise or fall or syllables in a word is progressive and even until the final syllable, which will drop or rise dramatically. For example: o intercomprhensibilit o in ter comp o r hen si o bi li t In rhythmic groups throughout a sentence, the final word or syllable will always rise in French whereas in English it may rise or fall. This means that in general, the French language will have many more rising groups than descending groups. o ex: Est-ce que Catherine et Michel, les enfants du voisin, sont dj partis pour l'cole? Teaching intonation to students should begin with extensive practice in distinguishing the meaning conveyed through prosodic clues in both receptive and productive points of view. Only some of this information will be shared with students initially to help them begin producing more natural French intonation.

Perception Activity 1 : Practicing the rise and fall of intonation based on meaning of the question.

Perception Activity 2 : Practicing the rise and fall of intonation based on meaning of phrase.

Perception Activity 3 : Teacher reads the following sentences: Choisissons une salade et un dessert. Le professeur arrivera midi. Le petit enfant joue avec la balle bleue. Monique et Paul cherchent les cls de leur voiture.

Perception & Production Activity 1: Teacher reads the following Part A 1. Non, tu empruntes les livres la bibliothque. 2. Non, tu achtes les livres la librairie. 3. Non, cest la capitale de France. 4. Non, Ottowa est la capitale du Canada. Part B 1. Non, Cline Dion est une chanteuse clbre. 2. Non, Marion Cotillard est une actrice clbre. 3. Non, les lgumes sont bon pour la sant. 4. Non, le fast-food est mal pour la sant.

Production Activity 2 : Students attempt to model a conversation while focusing on new intonation rules for a given mood.

Production Activity 3 : Information Gap Activity between partners

Assessment:
Perception
A. Voyelles orales et nasales As you walk around town, you overhear strangers conversations. It can be difficult to hear the full sentences. Try to make sense of what you hear by listening to the following sentences and for each sentence, circle the word that you hear. 1. pan / panne. 2. sa caban / cabane 3. son / sonne 4. bonbons / bonbonnes ! B. Consonant [] Your uncle has just returned from a weekend away in France. He is telling your cousin about one evening in which he went to dinner with some friends. Listen to the following sentences, circling the words or expressions that you hear on the each line. 1. connatre savoir ignorer 2. Paris: Le Centre le Quartier Latin Montmartre 3. avoir faim avoir soif avoir sommeil 4. repas copieux repas frugal repas plantureux 5. manger boire digrer 6. addition facture quittance 7. fouiller fourrer bourrer 8. portefeuille porte-monnaie sac main 9. grant matre dhtel patron 10. cuisine salle manger salon

C. Intonation Listen to the following questions and statements about your uncles story. Based on the intonation, decide if each utterance is a question or a statement.

Utterance 1. Il avait envie de manger et de boire 2. M Saint-Hilaire a fouill dans ses poches 3. M Saint-Hilaire a expliqu le problme au garon 4. Le grant a conduit Saint-Hilaire la cuisine
D. Word Stress

Question

Statement

Listen to the following sentences about a snowy day. For each underlined word, write small and large circles to represent the syllable stress. The first one has been done for you. 1. Allez donc la fentre voir si la neige continue de tomber. o o O 2. Si cela continue, toute la ville sera bientt ensevelie.

3. Bientt des quipes douvriers en enlveront une bonne partie. 4. Et demain, selon le journal, la neige cessera de tomber. 5. Alors, leau inondera la rue, et le pitons y pataugeront.

6. En attendant, les gamins feront de grosses boules de neige quils lanceront la tte des passants.

7. Heureusement les agents surviendront pour mettre fin ce jeu de petits sauvages.

8. Je crois que je ferais bien de ne pas sortir par un temps pareil.

9. Je vais donner un coup de tlphone au bureau pour dire quon ne mattende pas aujourdhui.

10. Jaurai bientt assez de ce dur hiver, de cette ternelle neige. E. Liaison While your uncle was in France, he took his children to visit the zoo. Listen as they describe some of the animals that they saw and try to decide if they saw one of each animal or several of each animal.

Production
A. Voyelles orales et nasales Read the following children's story aloud as if you are reading it to your nieces and nephews. It is about young wolves learning the ABC's of being a wolf. As you practice, focus on your pronunciation of vowels, both oral and nasal. Once you feel comfortable that you have the correct pronunciation, record yourself reading each sentence. L'abcdaire croquer par Agns de Lestrade et Dankerloux -Dis Papa, comment on devient aussi fort que toi? -Installe-toi, mon petit... Je vais t'apprendre l'alphabet des grands mchants loups. A comme amis Le loup a plein de petits amis : monstre, dragon, ogre, vampire... Et crois-moi, de tous, c'est encore lui le plus gentil! B comme bois Promenons-nous dans les bois, pendant que le loup n'y est pas... Si le loup y tait, il nous mangerait, mais comme il vient de dvorer son voisin, il n'a plus faim! C comme cache-cache Ne joue jamais cache-cache avec le loup. ce jeu-l, tu perdrais tous les coups... Il te trouverait, et puis c'est tout. Hou!

B. Consonant [] Reading that children's story has heightened your interest in other types of French literature. Read the following short story aloud, paying special attention to you pronunciation of the French /r/. Once you feel comfortable that you have the correct pronunciation, record yourself reading the story. Aristophane, flnant au Jardin du Luxembourg, aperoit un livre oubli sur un banc. Cela excite sa curiosit parisienne. Il se demande ce que cest. Sapprochant doucement du banc, il ramasse le livre. Il a de la chance. Lagent ne sest aperu de rien. Puis Aristophane sen va se cacher derrire un gros buisson. Il ne veut pas quon le drange. Aprs avoir pos le livre par terre, il stend plat ventre. Il regarde le volume de coin de lil. Ensuite, saisissant le livre, il le secoue avec violence. On a peut-tre laiss dedans un billet de cinq mille francs. Non, rien. Puis il ouvre le livre et, le nez fourr dedans, il se met tourner et retourner les pages avec frnsie. Il a lair de lire vite et avec ardeur. Aprs, il commence dchirer le livre en petits morceaux. Mais quest)ce quil a, cet Aristophane ? Tout coup Aristophane lche le livre et sen va, le cou tendu, le museau frmissant, la queue en branle. Il vient dapercevoir un cureuil. C. Liaison You enjoyed that short story but now feel you're ready to tackle the liaison that is characteristic of French poetry. Read the following poem by French poet Charles Baudelaire about an albatross effect on a group of sailors, paying special attention to make liaison when appropriate. Once you feel comfortable that you have the correct pronunciation, record yourself reading the poem. L'Albatros Souvent, pour s'amuser, les hommes d'quipage Prennent des albatros, vastes oiseaux des mers, Qui suivent, indolents compagnons de voyage, Le navire glissant sur les gouffres amers. peine les ont-ils dposs sur les planches, Que ces rois de l'azur, maladroits et honteux, Laissent piteusement leurs grandes ailes blanches Comme des avirons traner ct d'eux. Ce voyageur ail, comme il est gauche et veule! Lui, nagure si beau, qu'il est comique et laid! L'un agace son bec avec un brle-gueule, L'autre mime, en boitant, l'infirme qui volait! Le Pote est semblable au prince des nues

Qui hante la tempte et se rit de l'archer; Exil sur le sol au milieu des hues, Ses ailes de gant l'empchent de marcher.

Charles Baudelaire

D. Intonation You love French literature so much that you've decided to go to France yourself! You'll need to speak French in order to buy train tickets, shop and eat at restaurants. Read the following dialogue aloud with two partners in order to practice for your upcoming trip. After youve practiced each part a few times and feel comfortable with your intonation and pronunciation, record yourselves reading through the dialogue. As you record yourselves a second and third time, switch roles so that each group member plays each role once. Romain: Jai faim. On va au McDo? Hlne : Des hamburgers, des frites et du coca, quelle horreur! Allons au caf, cest plus sympa. (au caf) Le serveur : Quest-ce que je vous sers ? Hlne : Jai trs soif. Je voudrais seulement quelque chose boire. Euh, une limonade, sil vous plat. Romain : Moi, jai faim. Je prends un croque-monsieur et une bire. (plus tard) Romain : Monsieur ! Laddition, sil vous plat. Le serveur : JarriveVoil. Hlne : Cest combien ? Romain : Seize euros. On partage? Hlne : Sans problme. E. Word Stress Before leaving for you trip, you would like to practice your French with your uncle and cousins who speak it quite well. Take a few minutes to rehearse what you might say in describing the picture below including activities, weather, location, etc. You will need to speak for two full minutes about the picture. If you run out of words to describe it, try talking about the activities and how they relate to your life or that of friends or family. As you speak, focus on how words should be given stress in French.

ANSWER KEY

Perception
A. 1. 2. 3. 4. B. 1. Voyelles orales et nasales La machine esten pan / panne. Sa caban / cabane est ct de ltang. Le tlphone de Gaston son / sonne. Donne-moi donc des bonbons / bonbonnes ! Consonant [] Script Vous connaissez monsieur Saint-Hilaire, nest-ce pas, madame ?

2. Eh bien, figurez-vous quhier monsieur Saint-Hilaire flnait dans le Centre, aux environs de lOpra. 3. Il avait faim et il avait soif. 4. Il est donc entr chez Prunier, o il a command un repas copieux et bien arros. 5. Il a mang de bon apptit. 6. Le repas termin, il a fait signe au garon, qui lui a prsent laddition. 7. Alors, aprs avoir vrifi laddition, monsieur Saint-Hilaire sest mis fouiller dans toutes ses poches. 8. Puis il a dclar en riant quil avait d laisser son portefeuille la maison. 9. Le garon a fait signe grant. 10. Celui-ci, prenant Saint-Hilaire par le bras, la conduit la cuisine. C. Intonation 1. 2. 3. 4. Il avait envie de manger et de boire ? M Saint-Hilaire a fouill dans ses poches ? M Saint-Hilaire a expliqu le problme au garon. Le grant a conduit Saint-Hilaire la cuisine ? o o O o o o O

D. Word Stress 1. continue 2. ensevelie

3. douvriers 4. cessera

o o O o o O

5. Alors o O 6. attendant 7. sauvages 8. sortir 9. tlphone 10. ternelle E. Liaison 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

o o O o O o O o o O o o O

Regarde maman! Il y a des escargots! Nous pouvons les manger? Oh la la! Un alligator vert! C'est effrayant! Il y a les grands oiseaux avec les ailles brillantes! Eeeek! Des araignes! J'ai peur!! Oh maman, un lphant! Il est si adorable! Oh mon dieu! Cette autruche est si grande! Plus que papa!

Unit Design :
U n it - Travel

Learners - Intermediate, High School Students Teaching Context Meet three hours per week 30 minutes per week with pronunciation focus Average unit take three weeks Goals of Instruction 1. Increase comprehension of spoken French 2. Develop appropriate intonation and stress patterns in French 3. Compare consonantal and vocalic segments between French and English 4. Improve personal monitoring abilities. Selection of Teaching Points Unit covers travel, food, weather and animals. MANY opportunities to teach pronunciation Targeted pronunciation points: o Connected speech - liaison o Stress on final syllable o Intonation - question/statement, requesting repetition/more information o Prominence - disagreeing & correcting o Consonantal [] Sequencing of Teaching Points Food - Consonantal [] Travel/Weather - Stress on final syllable Travel/Weather - Intonation Travel - Prominence Animals - Connected speech, liaison Delivery of Instruction Activities are already created for each of these lessons but I would like to add physical features. o Consonantal [] could use sliding scale to show spectrum between aga and ara where the correct pronunciation of [] exists. o Stress on final syllable can be practiced with tapping each syllable lightly with pencil but then hitting table with palm for final syllable. o Intonation has a rising/falling element so students could stand or sit to show rise/fall. I would prefer something with a medium starting point, however. For example maybe they have a small musical scale in front of them and move the musical note up or down as we practice. o Prominence needs to focus word stress on the first syllable of an emphasized word. This could also be done with tapping. o Connected speech, liaison could be practiced with sweeping motions of the hand, stretching a rubber band, or perhaps drawing the letter in the air with your finger of what sound is being carried over, i.e. mes amis, draw the letter z.