UNIT 3 PHONOLOGY

 What is Phonology?

During the review of unit 3 about Phonology, I can see that phonology is the study of the sound system of any language. It includes features like phonemes, word stress, sentence stress and intonation. Also, one of the most relevant element that we need to analyze are the phonetics because it studies how speech sounds are produced. In other words, phonetics and phonology of English mean how, why, we speak the way we do.

Importantly, the phonemes of a language are represented in writing by phonemic symbols such as /eə/ /ɛə/ /aɪ/ so each phonemic symbol represents just one phoneme. Additionally, we as  English teachers have to take into account this part about phonetics because this is the correct way of how to pronounce accurately. I consider that the phonetic chart  will help me at my teaching classroom because I can emphasise and teach to my students how each vowel and consonant is pronounced , and it will be an effective material for English classes. 

Mostly, the vowel sounds give to  words their volume  such as;  fish so  /i/ vowel sound is louder than fsh, on the other hand, the consonant sounds are the quieter sound. In fact, the Phonology covered more than you believe such as; voiced, unvoiced sounds, word stress, the syllable, primary stress all of those elements help us to identify its own function when we  pronounce , but we can improve our pronunciation by practicing the sounds and reviewing our knowledge about phonology.

I found those educational videos that I want to share with you.

Ortiz Lira´s IPA for Spanish speakers Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4.

PHONETIC CHART 

Additional Information

Books:

1. Well, J.C.( 2006) English Intonation- An Introduction. Cambridge: CUP

2. Teach, P. (1996) The intonation System of English London: CASSELL

Bibliography: 


Spratt, M., Pulverness, A., & Williams, M. (2011). The TKT course. Ernst Klett Sprachen.

The TKT course. Module 1,2,3 

UNIT 2 LEXIS

What is Lexis?

During the review of unit 2, I conclude that lexis is one of the most important parts of the second language acquisition. At classroom teaching, teachers need to teach vocabulary in context so our students are practicing constantly and they can use many words as they can. Also, when teachers illustrate the words in many sentences are more helpful to them than lexical explanations but we as an  English teachers have to look for the best way to teach it, where students become masters of the use of various syntactic and semantic uses of words in authentic English sentences or phrases.

In addition, there are many elements that are covering this unit as collocations they are words can be used together  in a language  as in this example lined paper. As well as,  Idioms and fixed expressions can be considered items of special collocation but those restricted collocation which can not normally be understood from the literal meaning of words which make them up such as An arm and a leg, it means that something is very expensive or costly. 

Furthermore, the varieties of English are ways in which words can relate to another language like False friends it means that they are words which have the same or similar form in both languages but with a different meaning  as jubilation – jubilación  in English it means happiness, but in Spanish it means pension or money. 

Finally, I consider that lexis should come before grammar in teaching English, and classroom teachers and  need to focus on the meaningful of lexical elements.  It is needed to focus on phrases and patterns as contents of lexis teaching; on the other hand, this does not mean that teachers should overlook  grammar.  What is truly expected from teachers is to make connections between grammar and lexis, for example, lexical patterns may link grammar and lexis. I will apply this knowledge in my teaching classroom with activities like crossword or puzzles because that is the way to help my students to understand better the meaning instead of just reading and memorizing the definition and also where students use the  new vocabulary is by  playing games, is another fun way to learn easier the language.

I found this educational video that I want to share with you.

Well, this what I have learned from unit 2.   


Bibliography: 


Spratt, M., Pulverness, A., & Williams, M. (2011). The TKT course. Ernst Klett Sprachen.

The TKT course. Module 1,2,3 

Additional  information

Books:

1. Gairns, R. & Redman, S. (1986). Working with Words: A Guide to Teaching and Learning Vocabulary. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

2. Redman, S. (2003). English Vocabulary in Use. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

3. Schmitt, N. (2000). Vocabulary in Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

UNIT 1 GRAMMAR

WHAT IS GRAMMAR?

In my review  grammar refers to system and structure of any language. I consider that most of the students hate grammar because it includes many parts of the speech, rules and principles guiding the use of the language within the sentence but we as English teachers must focus on communicative activities in order to get students be motivated to study the grammar. According to the TKT (Teaching Knowledge Test Book) Grammar helps us to combine, organize and change parts of words and groups of words to share a meaning. In addition, we have grammatical forms it refers to how words are made up and presented in speech or writing. 

Indeed, we have nine parts of speech such as; verbs, nouns, pronouns, adverbs, adjectives, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections, determiners or articles. They play a main role in a sentence for that reason we have to know how to recognize the parts of the speech and how they joined in a sentence in order to write or speak correctly and legible. Also, it has a high level of importance because it helps  how to punctuate sentences. For instance, something that can I said about nouns. They are divided into two main categories, but  many students are confused between proper nouns and common nouns.  Proper nouns refer to the names of people or places that are capitalized as (Aims Community College, John Smith, etc.).On the other hand, Common nouns are named that do not require capitalization like (pen, table, bag, etc). 

Finally, I learned useful information about grammar  during the review of unit 1 through reflective blogs, tests, and activities developed in the classroom. I will apply this information in my teaching process by creating flashcards, posters , presentations with examples and definitions of each part of speech in order to emphasize the essential elements of grammar and achieve the objectives at my teaching classroom.

 I found this video with educational  information that I want to share with you.

Well, this what I have learned from unit 1.



Bibliography: 


Spratt, M., Pulverness, A., & Williams, M. (2011). The TKT course. Ernst Klett Sprachen.

The TKT course. Module 1,2,3 

Additional Information

Books:

1. Aitchison, J. 2003. Words in the Mind. (3rd ed.) Oxford, UK: Blackwell.

2. Cruse, A. 1986. Lexical Semantics. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. 

3. Labov, W. 1973. The boundaries of words and their meanings. In C.-J. N. Bailey and R.W. Shuy, (eds). New Ways of Analyzing Variation. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.