Building up a story: Friends

In this activity we are going to divide the class in different groups. Each group will watch one part of a TV episode. The episode corresponds with the 1st season of the TV series "Friends", episode 4.

GROUP A will watch this part of the episode (part 1):

here

GROUP B will watch this part of the episode (part 2):

here

GROUP C will watch this part of the episode (part 3):

here

PRACTICE: Vowels

You can review the pronunciation of American vowels here

http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/english/frameset.html

Practice your listening here:

http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/pronunciation/mp3/tae_pronunciation1.mp3

SESSION NO. 3: Pronunciation of vowels (Minimal Pairs)

In English, it is very important to pronounce vowels correctly. English has an extensive vocabulary, but many words are monosyllabic. If we don't pronounce vowels correctly, we risk making a mistake in the meaning we want to infer. A minimal pair is a pair of words which have different meanings, but their pronunciation is almost the same: the only difference (minimal) is one sound.

Beat and bit are examples of minimal pairs.

Can you come up with more examples?

..................

Let´s practice minimal pairs in English here

SESSION NO. 3: Evaluating a cell phone

In this activity we are going to make decisions, share with our peers, and prepare a short presentation on the decision we have made. We will work in groups. Follow the instructions.

...................

Adam is a very busy businessman. He travels Monday through Friday to supervise different departments of his company (an international company) throughout the world. He is always on the move and needs to keep in touch with his central office for various reasons. He also needs to meet up with clients to discuss various details. On the weekends, however, Adam likes to spend time with his family. He likes outdoor activities, trekking and mushroom hunting. He likes to spend time with his little children.

....................

Adam needs to buy a cell phone, and his company gives him 3 choices: iPhone, Nokia N97 and Samsung Omnia.

...................

Pay attention to all of the specifications of these 3 types of terminals and discuss, in your group, which of the three would suit Adam's needs better. You will need to write some notes on your decision and present them to the rest of the class. Choose a "speaker" to speak in public.

....................

At home, write a list of words related with a cell phone and send them in the form of a list through the "comments" area in this blog post.

SESSION NO. 1: Homework

You can further practice at home by working on these links:

BBC Learning English .- Pronunciation Tips

Minimal pairs exercises here

"Sheep or ship" here

SESSION NO. 1: Learning Phonetic Symbols

English does not have a one-to-one relationship between spelling and sounds. That is why it is necessary to learn, if only a little bit, about phonetic symbols. With the following games you will learn some of them in an easy way.

Click here

SESSION NO. 1: Test your perception

The first thing we are going to do is test our perception of the English sounds. If we can´t distinguish English vowels, or English consonants, or English intonation, it will be difficult to improve our pronunciation.

First, take a Perception of English Test here