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One of the most difficult aspects of teaching pronunciation in the classroom is connected speech. It is difficult to know exactly how to incorporate some elements of practise to raise learner awareness of this area of pronunciation and it took me a number of years to develop confidence. In the following video below, I share three teaching idea associated with teaching connected speech. You are more than welcome to include the following ideas with your students.

I have also made a video below to help you better understand how you could also use connected speech in the classroom. It would be great if you could watch this video and leave a Like. If you haven't subscribed, please Subscribe to my YouTube Channel.

Teaching Idea 1: How Many Words

I like to raise student awareness of connected speech by doing a simple dictation exercise. I explain to students that I am going to read out ten sentences or questions twice at natural speed and all they have to do is count the number of words within each utterance. If you use contractions, I give them some leeway with regards to counting them as either one or two words. They then write down how many words that they hear, before sharing their answers with a partner. You could read out the following but obviously grade the language at a suitable level:

Once they have shared their answers, I tell learners that they are going to listen to each utterance twice again and they need to write down each sentence or question. Once they have written down the ten utterances, they then compare with a partner and then we elicit these as a whole class.

At this point, I like to highlight how the words merge and blend together at natural speed. I highlight on the board the words that connect together and then I get learners to think if they can create their own phrases sharing their own ideas of connected speech. It is a simple task but it really does raise learner awareness of this area of pronunciation.

Teaching Idea 2: Word Blending

I was only introduced to this teaching idea a few weeks ago when I decided to focus a bit more on connected speech and as it was so successful, I wanted to share this with you. Make sure you have the following written down on a piece of paper:

loadsa (loads of)

p'haps (perhaps)

'cos (because)

gimme (give me)

kinda (kind of)

hasta (has to)

dunno (don't know)

s'pose (suppose)

'cept (except)

'em (them)

I tell students that I am going to dictate some natural phrases that speakers of English include when speaking and that they must write down what they hear. I explain that it isn't important to focus on spelling. Each phrase is repeated twice and then I get students to share their answers with each other.

I elicit possible answers, complementing wherever necessary, and then share the actual answers. I give out each of the phrases above to the students and tell them that they need to work out what the words might be. If they are having trouble, you could hand out a worksheet with full sentences (see below) and they have to match them to the phrases above.

Once students have finished matching phrases to the sentences above, you could drill and correct pronunciation wherever necessary. As an extension, you could students to try to create their own sentences using the phrases.
*This teaching idea was based on The Book of Pronunciation (p.102), Comic effect, but amended slightly to incorporate sentences and a matching task.
Teaching Idea 3: Word Combinations

Just with the activity below, which was inspired and evolved from a task in The Book of Pronunciation, the final task, which focuses on connected speech, is based on Nothing a tall (p.106) and again has been slightly amended to prompt a more student centred approach. In this task, I hand out the following words to each pair or small group of students, all cut up:

I explain to the learners that they don't need to know the meaning of the words but practise saying them. I check as a class and then do some choral drilling. Once complete, I hand out the following sentences or questions to students below and ask learners to try to match certain parts of the sentences or questions to certain individual words above.
Student Sentences:
Make sure all the sentences are cut up. I demonstrate one match so learners are aware of what is required: 'She knows nothing at all about this' > 'tall'. Once learners are aware, leave students to work in their pairs or small groups.

A variation of this is not to hand out the sentences or questions to the students but just hand out the individual words and tell them that you are going to read the utterances at natural speed. They need to listen and when they hear the word, put the word in the air. Demonstrate the first sentence as an example.
Teacher Worksheet & Answers:

1. She knows nothing at all about this. (tall)

2. I fancy having an ice cream now. (nice)

3. Put your coat in the wardrobe, please. (tin)

4. You might earn more if you worked harder. (turn)

5. Steve called out the answer. (doubt)

6. Do you know when the number eight bus will be here? (rate)

7. He took all the money with him. (call)

8. Look up all the words in the dictionary. (Paul)

9. David will help in anyway possible. (pin)

10. They're under the tree, yeah? (run)

Monitor and read out each sentence at natural speed. Focus on the individual words and area of the connected speech. This will raise awareness and you can then get students to repeat the phrases after you.

Many thanks and I hope the following ideas have been useful. Please feel free to use some of the ideas suggested in class and see how students respond to the activities. How do you like to incorporate connected speech in the classroom? Do you have any favourite activities?

As mentioned before, The Book of Pronunciation is a wonderful resource and I would recommend anyone to invest in a copy. It is an absolute life-saver.

Happy Teaching! ?

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Episode 6: How To Teach Connected Speech

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One of the most difficult aspects of teaching pronunciation in the classroom is connected speech. It is difficult to know exactly how to incorporate some elements of practise to raise learner awareness of this area of pronunciation and it took me a number of years to develop confidence.

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How To Improve English Listening Skills & Comprehension [Step-by-Step]

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Learn to fix your English listening skills by identifying the problem and doing easy activities to train your ears to understand real English

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niveau B1
1) Pendant le visionnage, appuyez vous sur l'intonation et le ton des personnages, pour comprendre l'humour créé par les décalages.
2) Répondez au quiz.
3) Ecrivez un compte rendu en français. Faites ressortir ce qui rend la scène drôle en vous appuyant sur les aspects phonologiques (ton, intonation, prononciation, accent)

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There is no transcript for this quiz.

This is a very good episode that you might want to use in your classes. It might be adapted to different levels. Joey tries to impress a chick and because of that, he follows a beautiful woman into an English as a Second Language class and tries to impress her with his skills. It works beautifully until he becomes obsessed with being the best in the class.

There is no transcript for this quiz.

This is a very good episode that you might want to use in your classes. It might be adapted to different levels. Joey tries to impress a chick and because of that, he follows a beautiful woman into an English as a Second Language class and tries to impress her with his skills. It works beautifully until he becomes obsessed with being the best in the class.

Quiz by: aidamleis
Description: Joey goes to an English as a Second Language course.
Intermediate

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There is no transcript for this quiz. This is a very good episode that you might want to use in your classes. It might be adapted to different levels. Joey tries to impress a chick and because of that, he follows a beautiful woman into an English as a Second Language class and tries to impress her with his skills.

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niveau B2
1) Pendant le visionnage, appuyez vous sur l'intonation et le ton des personnages, pour comprendre l'humour créé par les décalages.
2) Ecrivez un compte rendu en français. Faites ressortir ce qui rend la scène drôle en vous appuyant sur les aspects phonologiques (ton, intonation, prononciation, accent)

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Friends - Will hates Rachel [ Brad Pitt ]

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1. Click the picture at the bottom of this post to access the BBC website.

2. Video + quiz (répéter les exemples)

3. Listen and practice.

4. Listen and repeat.

5. Dictation : Write down the 4 sentences.

6. Practice

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Programme 1:
Download mp3 (3.4mb)
Script (21k)

Weak form - schwa
This is a very common feature of spoken English which is often found in grammar words such as prepositions and articles and also in many words with more than one syllable. It is never stressed.

In the example sentence below the weak form schwa is shown by its phonemic symbol, which looks like an upside down 'e'.

Download this example (23k)

There is more about this sound on the page Schwa >>

Consonant to vowel linking
When one word ends with a consonant sound and the next word begins with a vowel sound there is a smooth link between the two. In these examples the link is shown in red joining the linked words. These examples also show where the weak form schwa would be pronounced.

Download these examples (57k)

Vowel to vowel linking
When one word ends with a vowel sound and the next word begins with a vowel, another sound, a /w/ or /j/ can be added depending on the particular sounds to make a smooth transition. In these examples the link is shown in red along with the phonemic symbol for the sound which is added to make the link smooth.

Download these examples (36k)

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BBC Learning English | Pronunciation Tips

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Programme 1: Download mp3 (3.4mb) Script (21k) Weak form - schwa This is a very common feature of spoken English which is often found in grammar words such as prepositions and articles and also in many words with more than one syllable. It is never stressed.

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Vérifier la prononciation avec le site suivant tophonetics.com

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Schwa

Schwa is the name for the most common sound in English. It is a weak, unstressed sound and it occurs in many words. It is often the sound in grammar words such as articles and prepositions.

Getting the schwa sound correct is a good way of making your pronunciation more accurate and natural.

The phonemic symbol for this sound is .

Listen to the sound schwa:

In unstressed syllables
Any vowel letter can be pronounced as schwa and the pronunciation of a vowel letter can change depending on whether the syllable in which it occurs is stressed or not.

Listen to these two words:

In the word 'man' the letter 'a' has its full sound - represented by the symbol /æ/.

In 'postman' the syllable 'man' is not stressed and the letter 'a' is pronounced as schwa, represented by the symbol .

Not just a letter
The sound schwa does not only represent a single letter. In some words it is the sound of several letters or even a whole syllable.

This is often, but not only, seen in words which have a syllable made up of a vowel letter followed by the letter 'r'. Remember the schwa sound is only used if the syllable which it is in is not stressed.

Listen to these examples, the schwa sounds are marked in red:

This present is for my brother. It's a book about a boy wizard.

To survive the cold weather you have to make thorough preparations.

Download these examples (39k)

Exercises:
In these activities you have to identify where in a word or phrase the schwa sound appears.

Schwa exercises (32k)
Download the exercise examples (316k)

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BBC Learning English | Pronunciation Tips

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Schwa Schwa is the name for the most common sound in English. It is a weak, unstressed sound and it occurs in many words. It is often the sound in grammar words such as articles and prepositions. Getting the schwa sound correct is a good way of making your pronunciation more accurate and natural.

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Context : Chandler has a pet chick!

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ESL Level: Intermediate / Upper-intermediate

Class time: 25 minutes

Handout Download: connected-speech-friends.docx
Description:
I spent an hour or so trying to find a funny clip containing connected speech to show my class. This (slightly) funny clip was the best I could find. It has some good examples of connected speech. Be forewarned that it has the word 'hell' in it (" What the hell is that?").

Note: Before showing the clip, tell the class that the guys have a pet chick in their apartment.

Connected Speech - Friends

Before listening: Mark dialogue for connected speech (C+C) and (C+V)

After listening:

1) Mark stress in each sentence.

2) Mark intonation

[Rooster Crowing]

Rachel: What the hell is that???

Rachel: What the hell is that??? Is that you?

[Growling angrily]

Monica: Wow. You're really not a morning person.

Rachel: Just back off!

[Walks to neighbors' apartment]

Rachel: Get up! Get up!

Rachel: What is that noise?

Chandler: You!

Joey: It's the chick. She's ... going through some changes.

Monica: What kind of changes?

Chandler: The vet seems to think that she's ... becoming a rooster. [Crowing ] We're getting a second opinion.

Of course, after the students change the dialogue into connected speech and listen for stress and intonation, then you should have them practice it twice. Get the best pair to stand up and perform the skit in front of the class.
- Matthew Barton of Englishcurrent.com Related:

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Friends' Video - Listening for Connected Speech (ESL)

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ESL Level: Intermediate / Upper-intermediate Class time: 25 minutes Handout Download: connected-speech-friends.docx Description: I spent an hour or so trying to find a funny clip containing connected speech to show my class. This (slightly) funny clip was the best I could find. It has some good examples of connected speech.

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sons :
/ ɪ / fit
/ɜ:/ bird
/aɪ /  bye
/i:/ magazine
/ aiə/ fire

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Vocaroo is a quick and easy way to share voice messages over the interwebs.

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sons /ʊ/ pull
/ juː/ music
/ ʌ/  but
/ɜ:/ murder

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sons :
/ɒ/  lot
/ ɔ:/  sport
/əʊ/ told
/ ɛ:/ work
/ ʌ/done

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/θ/ this
/ð/think
1. Listen and repeat.
2. Do the exercises.
3. Listen to the tongue twisters. Repeat them and record yourself.