PRONUNCIATION

NOW: Tuesdays 18:00-18:45
NEXT: Wednesdays 19:00-19:45
THEN: Wednesdays 14:00-14:45

In Level 1 we learn the 44 sounds of English covering the full phonemic chart. Each week is a different group of sounds:

Vowels

Class 1V:
Introduction
– IPA Chart
– Spelling to Sound
– Articulators

Class 2V:
Schwa
– /ə/
– Function Words
– Weak vs Strong
– ‘er’ Endings

Class 3V:
Short Vowels
– /ɪ,ʊ,ɛ,ʌ,ɒ,a/
– Spelling to Sound
– Unusual Spellings
– Northern /ʌ/

Class 4V:
Long Vowels
– /iː,uː,əː,ɔː,ɛː,ɑː/
– Spelling to Sound
– Reduced Vowels
– TRAP/BATH Split

Class 5V:
Diphthong Vowels
– /ɪə, eɪ, aʊ, əʊ, ʌɪ, ɔɪ/
– Spelling to Sound
– Word Construction
– /ʊə/ (new vs old)

Consonants

Class 1C:
Introduction
– IPA Chart
– Articulators
– Voicing

Class 2C:
Fricatives
– /f,v,θ,ð,s,z,ʃ,ʒ,h/
– /θ/ vs /ð/
– Homophones
– S Endings
– TH Fronting

Class 3C:
Plosives & Affricates
– /p,b,t,d,k,g,tʃ,dʒ/
– /t/ vs [ʔ]- ED Endings
– Silent Letters

Class 4C:
Approximants
– /w,r,j,l/
– Clear vs Dark /l/
– Silent R
– Linking R
Rhoticity

Class 5C:
Nasals & Clusters
– /m,n,ŋ/
– Clusters
– Syllabic Consonants
– G Droppin’

INTONATION

NOW: Tuesdays 12:00-12:45
NEXT: Tuesdays 18:00-18:45
THEN: Wednesdays 19:00-19:45

In Level 2 we learn the rules of stress and how to use intonation patterns (Tone).

Stress

Class 1S:
Stressing
– What is Stress
– Dictionary Stress
– Words, Syllables, Sentences
– Function & Content

Class 2S:
Sentence Stress
– Tonic Syllable (TS)
– Choosing a TS
– Information
– Function Words

Class 3S:
Tone Units
– Onset
– Head
– Pre-head
– Tail

Class 4S:
Choosing Stress
– What’s Stressed?
– Names
– Negatives
– Compounds

Class 5S:
Shifting Stress
– Abbreviations
– Phrasal Verbs
– -teen Numbers
– Syllable-final Stress

Tone

Class 1T:
Basics
– 4 Patterns
– Pitch Diagrams
– Steps & Bends
– Tone & Meaning

Class 2T:
Tones
– Falling
– Rising
– Fall-rising
– Rise-falling

Class 3T:
Questions
– Wh-
– Yes/No
– Tags I
– Tags II

Class 4T:
Statements
– Definitive Fall
– Implication
– Friendly Rise
– High Fall

Class 5T:
Tone Combinations
– Sequences
– Subordinates
– Adverbials
– Lists

PHONETICS

NOW: Wednesdays 14:00-14:45
NEXT: Tuesdays 12:00-12:45
THEN: Tuesdays 18:00-18:45

The syllabus for level 3 follows the same pattern as Level 1, but delves deeper into each group of sounds. We cover phonetic charts, connected speech, phonemic vs phonetic transcription and many other areas of phonetics that are relevant to English pronunciation.

Vowels

Class 1PH:
Vowel Charts
– The grid
– Monophthongs
– Diphthongs

Class 2PH:
Weak Vowels
– [ə,ɪ,i,u] – Different Schwas
– Phonemic vs Phonetic
– Weak vowel joining

Class 3PH:
Minimal Pairs
– /ɪ,iː/ /ʊ,uː/ /ʌ,a,ɑː/
– Position & Length
– Identifying focus sounds
– Phonemic vs Phonetic

Class 4PH:
Vowel Length
– Pre-fortis clipping
– Vowel length and stress
– Length diacritic [ˑ]

Class 5PH:
Diphthong vs Monophthong
– Centring “Diphthongs” /ɔə,ʊə,eə,ɪə/
– “Monophthongs” /iː,uː/
– Mapping diphthongs

Consonants

Class 6PH:
Consonant Charts
– Place, Manner, Voicing
– GB English Chart
– Full IPA Chart

Class 7PH:
– Elision
– Dental joining
– H Dropping

Class 8PH:
– 10 Pronunciations of /t/
– 3 Uses of the Glottal Stop [ʔ] – Aspiration [ʰ] – Devoicing

Class 9PH:
– 5 Pronunciations of /r/
– Vowel/vowel joining
– Vowel assimilations before [ɬ] – Yod dropping

Class 10PH:
– /n/ assimilations
– NG coalescence
– Nasal diacritic

ACCENTS

NOW: Wednesdays 19:00-19:45
NEXT: Wednesdays 14:00-14:45
THEN: Tuesdays 12:00-12:45

In Level 4 we apply everything we have learnt to using it in accents. Always our reference accent is GB English, so you practise this accent every class, and we compare it to a different accent each class using phonetics. This level has 4 goals:

1) Ear training
2) Phonetic awareness
3) Accent training
4) Explore history of accents

And we have a lot of fun playing with sounds. The class is delivered in the target accent, and we do a different one every week from:

– Cockney
– MLE (Multicultural London English)
– Queen’s English
– Yorkshire
– Scouse
– West Country
– General American
– Northern Irish (Ulster)
– Irish (Dublin)
– Scottish
– Welsh
– Manchester
– Geordie

And we regularly add more to the list (including requests from students).