Within a Sentence

• Tell trainees that, in normal speech, words such as to, do and of are often unstressed in sentences, and thus are also reduced to schwa. In the following sentences are examples of schwa; these are indicated with "ah."
• "I would have liked to see him there" might sound more like "I'd've liked dah see him there."
  • (In this sentence, the "t" sound in liked to is also replaced with a "d" sound.)
• "It is on the tip of my tongue" may sound more like "It's on the tip ah my tongue."

An additional note

Let trainees know that intonation, word stress and sound reductions can be difficult to teach. A tutor cannot do a "lesson" on intonation and word stress in the same way one could do a lesson to improve or enhance other skills. However, having an awareness of this is important, and tutors may find that they are able to help learners, when required, with these areas sporadically throughout the lessons.

Jazz Chants ² are a set of books by Carolyn Graham, which feature short exercises that can assist learners in developing some of these skills. They cover a variety of themes and may complement the themes your learner would like to work on during her tutoring sessions.

E: Fun Activities for Teaching Pronunciation

• Introduce some of the following activities. Make sure to frame each by discussing how it can be used and at which proficiency level it works best.
• Tell trainees that, while these activities are designed for youth, they can use them with any learner if it is appropriate.

² Cheryl Graham, Jazz Chants: Rhythms of American English for students of English as a Second Language. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1978.)
Cheryl Graham, Smalltalk: More Jazz Chants (New York: Oxford University Press, 1986.)
Cheryl Graham, Grammarchants: More Jazz Chants (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993.)