View Content #24487

By Misaki Kato

This activity was created for beginning – intermediate ESL/EFL learners with the goal of increasing their awareness of English stress patterns and to provide them with practice pronouncing targeted words in various contexts (in isolation and in sentences).

Objectives: Learners will be able to:

• Identify the primary word stress of two-syllable nouns, two-syllable verbs, words that end in –ic,–sion, and –tion,
• Pronounce new vocabulary words with the correct primary word stress in isolation and in sentences.
• Demonstrate understanding that the English rhythm is made up of both strong and weak syllables.

Modes: Presentational and Interpretive

Materials needed: PowerPoint Slides and Word Stress Map

Procedure:

Note: Each step below is represented on the PowerPoint slides. Please make sure that students pronounce the targeted words on each slide as you progress.

1. Introduce the general rules that for most two-syllable nouns, the first syllable receives the stress, and for most two-syllable verbs, the second syllable receives the stress. Students will  see examples: Slide 2 shows words with one syllable, Slide 3 shows words with two syllables, Slide 4 shows two-syllable nouns, and Slide 5 shows two-syllable verbs. In each slide, give students time (less than a minute is okay) to talk to one another and to pronounce the words together. In Slide 6, introduce the exceptions indicated.

2. Next, introduce the general rule that for words that end in –ic, –sion, and –tion, the second-to -last syllable is stressed. Again, students will see examples (Slide 7-10). It is important to point out that this time that determining what syllable to stress is not determined by the number of syllables in the word, but rather by how the words end.

3. Give each student the map to play the word stress map game. Students can form groups of 3-4. Explain the rules found on Slide 12, and then facilitate practice with Slide 13. As students play, they write down the correct words in the underlined blanks in the map. Encourage students to pronounce the words with group members to find the correct path. Once they are done, show them Slide 15 with answers. If necessary, check the correct pronunciation with students.

4. To close, have students practice reading the sentences with one another (Slide 16). Then, ask the questions on Slide 17. You can pronounce the sentences so that students can identify not only the strong syllables, but also the weak syllables.

5. If time allows, show students the video on Slide 18. Finally, use Slide 19 and read the four words in isolation and in sentences with students. Ask students if all the vowels are equally strong (or maybe some of them are even deleted in actual pronunciation!).

Note:

When doing this activity with students, please highlight that comprehensibility of speech is greatly influenced by stress patterns. This activity, though largely focused on specific words, is intended to give them the tools that they need to improve their overall comprehensibility.