Intonation and vocab work with a nurse lecturer at Sydney University

Every so often you get a client who you really get on well with. This has happened with Tebbin and me. She is a lecturer in the School of Nursing at Sydney University so her English is very good. However, she felt that the students were having a bit of trouble with a bit of left over interference from her first language, Cantonese and especially her lack of appropriate grammar at times and of course vocab.

We have worked on the usual vowels, softening language, assertive language and recently chunking of her lectures to introduce more pausing and stressing of key words. It has had a dramatic effect and the students are much happier.

Today , however we had a great laugh. She ws talking to one of the other academic staff and they were discussing the students. Tebbin said "I really like that student.". The other lecturer raised her eyebrow sand said "What?" Tebbin said that no she didn't mean it THAT way as he was married with children etc.

We discussed today whether the other lecturer interpreted her sentence the wrong way because she only meant that she thought he was a nice person.

We decided that the usual stressing of the  last word in a chunk, that is the tonic stress, was as in example 1, the best way to sound unambiguous. However as in examples 2 and 3 stressing really or like can make the statement ambiguous.

1. I really like that student.
2. I really like that student.         
3. I really like that student.

The main reason we had laugh was over he mis understanding and misuse of a word for many years. In her lecture she was talking about a certain type of care that "Can sometimes be timely."  I said that something either is or isn't timely .It couldn't sometimes be timely. She thought that timely meant for a long time. Then she said "Now I know why this sentence never made any sense to me."

"Nurses must perform their duties in a safe and timely manner."

Fung Koo    Lecturer in Nursing at Sydney University

Intonation teaching can be fun

Trying to fit a pronunciation course into an inflexible national system based on competency assessment is difficult as pronunciation is a skill that fits into every spoken competency. However, if they want boxes ticked I'll do it and chose the competency "Can negotiate a complex problematic exchange". We watched many snippets from Getting it Right at Work by NSW AMES (I worked on the video scripts) and used good models.

Then we looked at the intonation patterns and their associated meaning  from eachclip, such as assertively stating needs or establishing rapport or showing empathy. Like any aspect of training in pronunciation, these were of course drilled and practised independently.

Part of the analysis of the texts was also looking atstressed  keywords as well as pausing and chunking into thought groups.

Finally it was all put together and the students produced wonderful role plays. They all still have pronunciation issues but the way they communicate their intended meaning has improved. The work on chunking and pausing has increased fluency and intonation work has 'softened' their more direct ways of speaking.

One student who has a very direct manner has softened her language and is using upward rising intonation more. She is also putting more emphasis on keywords with a change of pitch and this has had the effect of softening her speech as well. Another has benefited from pausing and intonation which alleviates, to some degree her difficulty with the actual sounds. Another has been helped with his linking problem by grouping words together and focusing on "chunks" rather than individual words. One, who you will readily be able to recognise, has used intonation, expressions and body language to emulate his boss! He sounds like a very laid-back Aussie! (Don't you just love the classroom effect of the snake-like cord)

Listen to Olga, Nanpha, Wassim and Rodrigo negotiate their needs beautifully.

New year started with a bang

I started the new year with a major computer crash and unfortunately lost some data. Instead of mourning the loss I'm being very 'Pollyanna' about it and looking at the whole experience as a means of starting afresh and redesigning many of my resources.

The crash is a blessing in disguise as it means that my resources will incorporate all the little problems that I have discovered over the last two years of delivering pronunciation training.

At the moment I have a number of clients who need to give high level presentations which cause a lot of stress and anxiety for them. Delivering presentations in your first language can be daunting let alone in a second language. One of my clients is a university lecturer and even though his speech is quite clear a number of students had complained that it was difficult to understand him sometimes.

We have been working on 'thought groups' or 'chunking' and intonation. This has slowed down his speech a lot. The other main feature that is important in giving lectures or presentations is the use of appropriate discourse markers or 'listening signposts'. These make it easier for the listener to follow the speaker's intentions and assists in reading any visuals that the speaker may be using.