Unit 5 Lesson Plan (With Notes for Teachers) Front Vowels & Central Vowels Date: Oct. 14-18 Class: Classes 1, 2 & 3, Grade 2002 Subject: English Pronunciation for Communication Purpose: The students will learn the consonants: front vowels & central vowels in English. Objectives: Students will be able to: Define - in their own words a definition for front vowels & central vowels; Compare – based on the understanding of the basic concept, compare them with other vowels; Practice – imitate the sounds and do practice. Resources/Materials: Textbook: Wang, Guizhen, An English Pronunciation Course, Higher Education Press, Beijing, 2000; Handouts: illustration of the phonemes in focus; Recordings of native speakers Activities and Procedures: Stimulating: Begin by asking the class to find out how much the students know about what they are required to learn. Make sure that it serves the purpose of stimulating the students to think about the issue and have the desire to find out the answers themselves. Display examples by playing the recording of the native speakers showing the typical pronunciation in English. Ask the students to listen to the tapes to make a good discrimination of the sounds in focus. Have the students imitate the sound in focus. Have the students share what they have learned by reading out the practice materials in pairs. Have the students listen to the conversations recorded by native speakers of English and try to get the sounds in focus correct in their pronunciation. Have the students practice the guided conversation. Ask them to pay special attention to the sounds in focus in speech. Highlight the language function in the conversation in the practice. Have several pairs of the students present their conversation in the class. Comment on the students’ performance by highlighting the achievement of the students and the efforts they need for the improvement. Ask the students to do more practice after class and get ready for presentation during the next session. Notes for Teachers Front Vowels & Central Vowels In this unit, we will learn the front vowels and central vowels in English. Vowels are sounds in which there is no obstruction to the flow of air as it passes from the larynx to the lips. There are 20 vowels in English, among which 12 are pure vowels and 8 are diphthongs. The English pure vowels can be classified according to the height of the raised part of the tongue; the part of the tongue raised, and the position of the lips, i.e. whether they are rounded or unrounded. There are four front vowels in English: /i:/, /(/, /e/ and /(/. The reason these are called front vowels is that the tongue body is shifted forward, causing the vowels to be produced in the front of the mouth. In addition, the front vowels may be subdivided into those that are high (or close), like /i:/ and /(/, mid, like /e/, and low (or open), like /(/. For the two vowels in the high front space, /i:/ and /(/, the tongue is close to the hard palate. Likewise, for the low vowel /(/ the tongue is nearly flat and the lower jaw more open than for the other front vowels. There are two central vowels in English: /з:/ and /(/ They are called central vowels because they tend to be produced at a point midway between the front and back vowels and between the high and low vowels. It has become traditional to locate vowels on a four-sided figure. The following is a description of the four English front vowels and two central vowels. i: /i:/ & /(/, /i:/ is a very common sound in the world's languages. It is made by raising the body of the tongue from its rest position and shifting it forward. The /(/ sound is made by lowering the tongue slightly from the high-front position for /i:/. Besides, /i:/ is a much more tense sound than /(/. The fact that English has these two high front vowels, differentiated by muscle tension in the root of the tongue, sets it apart from Chinese and many languages of the world. Both /i:/ and /(/ can occur in initial, medial, and final position in words. Very little difficulty should be encountered by the Chinese learners in the pronunciation of /i:/, but /(/ is a problem sound. It is easy for the learners to detect the difference in length. What counts here, however, is the difference in quality. It is therefore important to point out the fact that to pronounce a correct /(/, you need to lower you tongue a little bit from the position for /i:/, and make it a lax sound instead of a tense sound like /i:/. The importance of correct pronunciation of /(/ lies in the fact that it is the second most frequent vowel in English. /e/ & /(/ /e/ is also an English vowel with high frequency of occurrence. The tongue body is shifted forward in the mid-plane. /(/ is produced by shifting the body of the tongue forward from its relaxed state, and lowering it from the position for /e/. It is the lowest of the front vowels. /e/ and /(/ do not occur in final position in English words. /e/ and /(/ are not really problem sounds for the Chinese learners, but many of them fail to make a clear distinction between the two in their speech. The difficulty is that they have to make the clear distinction consistent. /з:/ & /(/ /з:/ and /(/ are central vowels. /з:/ is made with the tongue in the approximate middle of the mouth. It occurs only in stressed syllables. /(/ is also called a schwa. It is made similarly to /з:/, but with less tension. /(/ is the most frequently used vowel in English. Both /з:/ and /(/ may occur in all three word positions. Most learners do not have problems in the pronunciation of /з:/ and /(/, still we need to give special attention to the schwa. The problem with the schwa may not generally be in production, but in knowing when to use the sound. No other vowel, with the exception of the other reduced vowel, /(/, is as important to an understanding of the English sound system and the way it functions in unstressed syllables. 元音: 前元音和中元音 本单元介绍英语的前元音和中元音。 发音时气流由肺部泄出，不受任何阻碍，气流输出过程畅通无阻不带任何摩擦，这样发出的音叫做元音。 元音音素之所以彼此有别，是受到发音器官调节的结果。发音过程中发音器官采取某一固定位置直至发音结束的，是单元音，如/i:,u:/。双元音又称“滑音”，即在发音过程中发音器官的位置或形状有所变化，从一个单元音滑向另一个单元音，发/e(/这一双元音就是从发/e/开始，朝/(/的方向滑动，构成/e(/。 英语的元音中，有12个音元音，8个双元音。 单元音的音质取决于以下三个因素：一是舌头在口腔中位置的高低，即舌头前、中、后哪一部分抬得最高；二是牙床张开的大小，即张口程度是合、半合、还是开；三是唇形，发音时唇形是扁平还是圆唇。在元音发音的过程中起关键作用的是舌头，因此学习元音时就要重点学会正确调节舌位。元音的音素也正是根据发音时舌位的变化情况进行分类的。单元音可按发音时舌头前、中、后哪一部分抬得最高而分成三类：前元音，中元音，后元音。这一单元我们学习的是英语的前元音与中元音。 我们先来看看英语前元音与中元音的舌位图（见课本p50）。图的左方为口腔的前部，右方为其后部。竖线把舌头分成前中后三个部分；横线表示牙床的开合程度，图中的框框与圆形表示元音音素发音时舌头抬得最高的那一部分在口腔中的位置，同时框框中的元音为非圆唇音, 圆形中的元音为圆唇音。 从图中可以看到，/i:/与/?/都是前元音,但是发/i:/时牙床近于全合；发/?/时，牙床近于全开。可见，发音时调节口的开张程度就产生的不同的前元音。试发以下元音/i:, (, e, ?/。 /i:/ /(/ 把这两个元音放在一起学是为了更好地进行比较。/i:/的发音与汉语的“衣”发音有点相似，发音时牙床近于全合，舌尖抵下齿，舌前部抬得很高，升向硬腭，双唇扁平。/i:/与汉语“衣”的发音不同之处在于：汉语“衣”在发音时舌前与硬腭之间的距离更窄一些，且有轻微的摩擦。大部分中国学生对发好/i:/这个音都有很大的把握。第二号元音/I/的学习则给大家带来很大的挑战，不少人将//(/看作是/i:/的短元音：发音时舌位相同，只是将其发作短音。其实，/i:/与/(/的区别主要不在其长短，更重要的是质的不同，即发音时发音器官的位置不同。从舌位图中我们看到：这两个音发音时有两个不同之处。首先是发/(/时舌在口腔中的位置比发/i:/时要低一些。也就是说/i:/在发音时牙床近于全合，而/(/则属半合。其次，发/(/时，舌头抬高的最高点要比/i:/更靠后一些，因而口腔中形成的气流通道也更宽一些。此外，在发音时/i:/的双唇呈扁平状，口腔肌内紧张，而/(/的双唇形式居扁平与中常之间，口腔肌内较为放松。掌握好以上区别，对发好这两个音极为重要。 /e/ / ? / 从舌位图我们可以看到：/e/与/ ? /也是前元音。/e/在发音时口的开张度居半合与半开之间，/ ?/在发音时，口张至近于全开。 中国学生在学习这两个音时最常见的错误是用[(]——一个半开元音——代替/e/与/ ? /。也就是说，在发音时，应该发/e/的时候口张得太大，应该发/?/时口的开张度又嫌太合，/e/与/ ? /同时发作[(]。对于这些学生来说，掌握好口的开张度是发好这两个音的关键。 在学习/e/音时，还须注意的另外两点是：第一，莫将/e/发成中元音，例如，我们有时候听到一些人将when说成汉语的“问”，问题就出在这里。第二，莫将/e/发成双元音，如将setting说成*[`s((t((]。要解决这个问题主要是注意在发/e/的过程中，口的开张度与舌位要保持稳定，不能有变化。 /з:/ /(/ 从舌位图中我们看到：这两个音在发音时采取的中立的位置，牙床半开合，舌的中部稍稍隆起，双唇偏平或中常，就可以发出/з:/与/(/。 在学习这两个音时，需要注意：一、/з:/只出现在重读音节中而/(/则只出现在非重读音节里，亦被称作“非重读央元音”。二、/з:/的发音与/(/不完全相同: /з:/ 并不是/(/的单纯延长, 发/з:/时口形得比/(/小，舌位也略高于发/(/时; 同时发/з:/ 时双唇偏平，肌肉紧张，而发/(/时双唇中常、肌肉松弛。三、/(/是英语元音中出现频率最高的，也是所有英语音素中出现频率最高的音素。学习中的难点是掌握什么时候应该发这个音。