Test Results

I have now marked the Test done on Wednesday 5th June. In order to know how you did, and particularly if you need to re-take the Test, book an appointment in the Choice file Friday Group Interviews for End-of-2nd Semester Test in our section of the page. Given that this is a busy time, if you simply want to know whether you have passed or not, you can come for a quick appointment (although if you have not passed you will need to have a long appointment before you re-take the Test), if you want to look carefully at your Test with me, it will be a longer appointment. This means that the times may not be entirely accurate.

Lesson 9  Friday 24th May

Today was the last formal lesson. The End-of-Semester Test will be in 10 days time: Wednesday 5th June from 1 to 3 pm in Aula 1, Viaq Laura. This is because next week there is a strike of the portering staff and Via Capponi, Via Laura and Via S.Reparata will all be closed. 

We went through the correction of the  Mock exam. (“Daniel”, pp.34-36) which you had done for Homework. 

We marked the Finding Homophones -exercise which you had done fro Homework and the syllable structure analysis of 'amongst'

We talked about the structure of the exam, as well as the practical details of how it will be held. Obviously for the exam. there will be no use of Dispense, notes (except your transcription of the first half of the text), no talking, consulting, copying (marks will be deducted or the exam invalidated should this occur) will be tolerated and I shall confiscate your mobile phones for the duration of the exam.  The real exam will be very similar in form to the Mock exam,, but with a longer sentence or sentences to do for full phonemic transcription and some more short questions on, for example, finding an example of a homonym, finding an example of a word using a high/close front unrounded vowel (the 'Happy Vowel', /i/), finding an example of a word transcribed by only one phoneme, etc. I repeated the importance of not using any word from the text more than once in your answers to the Questions and the need to plan which words to use for which answers carefully in order to avoid using words twice. I reminded you also of the points which I have repeated since the 1st Semester: to use the diagonal lines to show that you are writing in phonemes, to be careful to write the phonemes as they appear on the Chart (and not as letters you write in your personal handwriting style), not to use punctuation in full phonemic transcription. I repeated the rules for the transcription of the 'ed' for regular past tenses and the '-s' for plurals or 3rd person singular present tenses, the fact that syllabic consonants always need to have the 'dot' placed beneath them and are always in the unstressed syllable. schwa, /ə/, is also always in the unstressed syllable. When a question on the text asks you to find examples of words which have schwa, /ə/, in their strong forms, this means /ə/, not diphthongs! The only time you will need to use weak forms of words in the Test is in Questions 1 (Full phonemic transcription). I pointed out some frequent words which have homophones: to, by, so, for, which, some, I, you.

We did a Dictation similar to the End-of-Semester Test one, i.e. only 8 words. We also did another (10-word) Dictation.

We went (rather quickly) through the material on Homographs - words which have the same graphic form but different transcription and semantic meaning - on pages 28-29 of the Dispense.

I shall put up the first half of the exam text in our section of the Moodle page two or three days before the Test so that you can begin to transcribe it (and think carefully about the words in it!) in order to be partially prepared for the exam when I shall give you the complete text. Please bring your copy of the first half of the text with you to the exam, including your transcription of it. The first page(s) might be blank, but just scroll down and you should find it. If you can't open it or download it, send me a message.

I have put up some Syllable Structure Analysis Practice Exercises for  you to use as Test preparation if you wish. The Answers are included, but try to do the analysis on your own first!

I have put up another End-of-2nd Semester style Test for you to use for exam preparation if you wish: Lost in Translation II Semester Practice Exercise. The Answers are included.

There are 2nd Semester Dictation Practice Exercises in the Sounds of English (includes Practice Exercises) Section of the main page. (Don't click from here, it will take you to Dott.sa Dvorak's material - the ways of Moodle are mysterious! Go via the main page). These would be very useful as preparation for the Test on Monday!

I shall divide you into groups for the Dictation, as I did for the End-of-1st Semester Test, and put up the names at the end of this week. Please let me know before Friday 31st if you need to be in an early group (because you have a pressing appointment at 2.45 (such as another exam at 3pm) or in a later group because you are busy with another exam until 1 pm.

Homework 

(i) Do the Homograph Pairs Exercise on page 30 of the Dispense.  The Answers are in our Section of the page so that you can correct it yourselves;

(ii) Do the Exercise on Homophones on page 25 of the Dispense. The Answers are in our Section of the page so that you can correct it yourselves;

(iii) You know which sections of the Test you are weakest on now, so work on those using all the practice material in our section of the page and in the Practice Exercises Section. 

Lesson 8 Friday 17th May 

Next week will be the last formal lesson. The week after that (Friday 31st May), there will be the end-of-Semester test during the lesson time. The Test will be held in Aula 16, VC. I'll divide the class up into smaller groups to do the Dictation, as I did with the End-of-1st Semester Test.

This week we tried to go as quickly as possible in order to cover as much of the outstanding material as possible. We went over some of the Italian Homonyms you had found for Homework: 'vite', 'boa', 'riso', and I took in your examples. We did three Dictations (one left over from Lesson 7 last week)! We marked the last Full Phonemic Transcription Sentences (Nos.51-60), the syllable structure analysis of 'drifts', 'splashed' and 'squelch' and the 'Naming a Child' Exercise which you had done for Homework.  

Next week we shall (as well as marking the Mock Exam ‘Daniel’ - on pages 34-36 of the Dispense, to be done as Homework) Homograph Pairs.

Homework for the next lesson (24.05.19)

(i) Do the 'Daniel' Exercise on pages 34-36 of the Dispense; Try to do it under exam conditions as a Mock Exam. Don't use any word from the text more than once in your answers. We shall mark it next week in class;

(ii) Do the Finding Homophones Exercise in our Section of the page;

(iii) Make a syllable structure analysis of the word 'amongst';

In order to catch up with all the missed lessons, today we did two lessons, one after another. Well done those of you who stayed until the very end! It was quite exhausting for all of us, but now we are back in parallel with the Monday group and shall be able to have the End-of-II Semester Test on Friday 31st May. In order to do a Mock Test so that you know what the real one will be like, I shall give you a Test to do as Homework after Lesson 8 and we shall mark it together in Lesson 9.

We began by marking last week's Homework, Sentences 36-50, and then the Consonant  Revision Exercise, including the Homophones in Text 2. We also marked the syllable structure analysis of 'stripe' which you had done for Homework and the Exercise on Page 17. 

We then continued to look at Syllable Structure Analysis, moving on from where we had got up to last week, that is Codas.  We then moved on to Codas. If there is one consonant phoneme in the Coda, it is called a final phoneme and can be any consonant phoneme except /h/, /r/, /w/, or /j/. With two consonant phonemes in the coda, it is called a two-consonant cluster and can be of two types: Type 1 which has one of five pre-final consonant phonemes (/m/, /n/, /η/, /s/ or /l/) followed by a final consonant and Type 2 which consists of a final consonant followed by one of 5 post final consonant phonemes (/t/, /d/, /s/, /z/ or /θ/. These are the phonemes which serve to make the past simple tense of regular verbs ('-ed'),the plural of nouns or the 3rd person singular present tense of verbs and the form for a noun made from an adjective (such as 'warmth', from the adjective 'warm'). It used to be, several centuries ago, also a verb inflection.

We then looked at 3-consonant cluster Codas which are also of two types: Type 1: pre-final,  final,  post-final and Type 2: final,  post-final 1,  post-final 2 

We then went over 4-consonant clusters which can also be of two types: Type 1 which consists of a pre-final consonant followed by a final consonant followed by 2 post-final consonants and Type 2 which consists of a final consonant followed by 3 post-final consonants. Luckily this type of coda is quite rare as it is very difficult to pronounce! It is essential to remember that Syllable Structure Analysis is performed on phonemes (not letters) and that the word should be transcribed before you begin it!  Notes on Codas are available in a file in our section of the page: Syllable Structure Analysis: Codas and so are notes on Onsets and the instructions for How to make a syllable structure analysis.

 We looked at Homonyms, words which are identical graphically and phonologically but have different semantic meanings, such as  'well' or 'might'. 

We went over Continuants, since some members of the class thought we had never done them (although others thought we had - I couldn't remember!) which are used in the pronunciation (and therefore transcription) of continuous discourse when a word which ends with a vowel phoneme is followed by a word which begins with a vowel phoneme, in order to smooth the pronunciation. We looked at slides, but there are also notes in the Dispense (pp.12-13) and those who had survived thus far did the Exercise on page 13 and we marked in in class.

We did three Dictations, one of invented words and two of 'normal' words.

Homework for the next lesson (17.05.19):

(i) Do numbers 51-60 of the Full Phonemic Transcription Sentences on pages 39-40 of the Dispense;

(ii) Find five examples of Homonyms in Italian. Write them down on a piece of paper to hand in next week;

(iii) Make a syllable structure analysis of the words 'drifts',  'squelch' and 'splashed' 'Make a syllable structure analysis of  the word 'stripe'. Remember that the first stage in syllable structure analysis is to transcribe the word;

(iv) Do the 'Naming a Child' Exercise on pages 33. Make sure you do not use any word from the text more than once in the Answers to the Exercise. 

Lesson 5 Friday 3rd May

Because we have missed so many lessons due to 'sospensioni', holidays and 'ponti', next week we shall cacth up and do both Lesson 6 and Lesson 7 on Friday 10th May. We shall begin at approx. 1pm, as usual, and then go through until 4.30 pm. It will be hard work, but I would like you  all to try your hardest to come to the whole session as otherwise we shall not be able to get all the lessons finished until June and then it will be really difficult to fit in the End-of-Semester Test.

We marked Sentences 26-35 (pp.38-39). 

We then continued to look at Syllable Structure Analysis: the centre (vowel phoneme), the onset (consonant phoneme[s]) and the coda (consonant phoneme[s]). We began to look at the onset and discovered that if it consists of only one consonant phoneme, that phoneme is described as an initial consonant and that any consonant phoneme can be an initial consonant except for /ʒ/ and /ŋ/.  We then began to look at 2 consonant clusters for onsets, of which there are two types: Type 1, which consists of pre-initial /s/ followed by one of six initial consonants: /t/, /p/. /m/, /n/, /k/ or /f/; Type 2 which consists of (one of) 15 initial consonants (/p/, /b/, /t/ ,/d/, /k/, /g/, /f/, /v/, /Θ/, /s/, /∫/, /m/, /n/, /h/, /l/) followed by one of 4 post-initial consonants /l/,/r/,/w/ or /j/.

We then looked at three consonant cluster onsets which always have /s/ as pre-initial consonant followed by /p/, /t/ or /k/ as initial consonant and one of the 4 post-initial consonants : /l/, /r/, /w/ or /j/.

 Analysis is performed on phonemes (not letters) and the word should be transcribed before you begin it!   

We did two Dictations, one made up from some  words invented by one of the groups last year.

We didn't have time to mark everything so we shall mark Sentences 36-50 and the Consonant Revision Exercise (p. 21) next week. Don't forget to  look for Homophones in the second text;

Homework for the next lessons (10.05.19):

(i) Do numbers 36-50 of the Full Phonemic Transcription Sentences on pages 39-40 of the 'Dispense';

(ii)  Read through the notes on Syllable Structure Analysis on pages 16, 17 and the first half of page 18 and do the Exercise on Syllable Structure Analysis (a first taste!) on p.17;

(iii) Make a syllable structure analysis of the word 'stripe'

Lesson 4 Friday 5th April

We went over the dates for the next lessons and you told me that there is no teaching on Friday 26th April, which I had not known (nobody tells us teachers anything!) so that means that we shall have Lesson 5 next week on Friday 12th April Last minute change of plan:

no lesson on Friday 12th April due to official sospensione della didattica ordered by the rettore. My attempts to get round this were not successful, so all we can do is be patient until our next lesson on Friday 3rd May. I shall be in Room 19B, VSR during the lesson time on Friday 12th, if anyone wants to come to consult me about anything.Lesson 5  will therefore be on Friday 3rd May (don't worry, I'll give you lots of Homework to do to prevent you being bored!). New Homework now added below.

We marked the Exercise on p. 2 which had got left behind and Sentences 16-25 and we collected five of the homophones you had found: heel/heal, isle/aisle, sum/some, sun/son, sight/site and I took in the 10 homophone pairs/triplets which you had done for Homework. We finished off looking at Weak Forms by looking at when 'some' and 'there' have weak forms: when 'some' is an unidentified person or quantity: I know somebody took my book (though I don't know who); Somebody voted for Salvini (we don't know who, but they must have done since he was elected; when 'there' is not demonstrative, but for example, impersonal: There were a lot people in the room.) 

 I told you (since nobody offered any they had found) some 5-letter words which seem to be identical between graphic and phonemic transcription forms, most of which were 4-letter words with the plural or 3rd person singular present form in 's' pronounced /s/ (therefore ending in an unvoiced consonant phoneme in the base form) such as tests, vests, nests, tents rents, helps, There were also some past forms such as slept, swept, spelt.  

We began to look at the other major area of work for the II Semester: Syllable Structure Analysis. We went through the notes on page 15 up to the middle of the page.

We did two Dictations, one featuring nasals and one featuring fish!

I have made available some II Semester Dictation Practice Exercises in the Sounds of English (includes Practice Exercises) Section on the main page. The first Exercises are by one of my colleagues and the Answer files include the graphic version of the words. This, as you know, is not the method I use, so don't get too used to it! The later Exercises are by me again (with no graphic versions!). In the first Exercises syllablc consonants do not have the dot under them marked, so provide it yourselves! Don't forget to do the Dictations in Louise William's section, following the Instructions given in last week's Lesson Summary.

Homework for next  lesson (03.05.19)

(i) Find 5 more Homophones from your reading, listening, etc., not from the Dispense and not from Google!

(ii) Do Writing Full Transcription Sentences nos. 26-35 on pages 38-9 of the Dispense;

(iii) Read carefully through the material we did today on Syllable Structure Analysis (p.15) and carry on to page 16 if you are interested.

Homework for Easter + Break 

Lots of time until the next lesson, so lots of Homework

(i) Do numbers 36-50 of the Full Phonemic Transcription Sentences on pages 39-40 of the 'Dispense';

(ii) Find 10 more Homophones (from your reading, listening or knowledge)

(iii) Finish the Consonant Revision Exercise on page 21  and also look for Homophones in the second text;

(iv)  Read through the notes on Syllable Structure Analysis on page 17-18 and do the Exercise on Syllable Structure Analysis (a first taste!) on p.17  ;

(v) Do the Happy Easter Exercise on pages 30 and 31 of the Dispense;

(vi) Do the Extra Dictations which I shall put in our section of the page.

We marked the Homework, i.e. numbers 6-15 of the Writing Full Transcription Sentences on page 37. We forgot to mark the Exercise on page 2, so we shall do that next week. We went through some of the seeming-identical graphic-phonemic words with more that 4 letters, but could not get beyond 5 letters: spent, tests, nests, rests, spend, helps.

We did a dictation at the beginning of the lesson and another one at the end. 

We looked at the notes on Weak Forms on pages 9-11.  It is important not just to be able to recognise weak forms in transcription and be able to use them correctly in transcription, but also to incorporate them appropriately into your pronunciation in order to sound more natural. 

(i) Do Sentences numbers 16-25 on page 28 of the Dispense;

(ii) Read carefully through the material we looked at today on Weak Forms (pp.8-11);

(iii) Find 10 homophones, write down the two or three words, the transcription and semantic meaning: to hand in at next week's lesson.Do NOT simply Google homophones, but find them from your own knowledge, reading or listening.

Lesson 2 Friday 22nd March

I apologised for having had to cancel the lesson last week through illness. I gave back

copies of the Inter-semester Break Work handed in last lesson for me to check that you had done it. Please remember that this was a compulsory piece of work and that anyone who has still not handed it in must do so as soon as possible.

We marked the Homework, i.e. numbers 1-5 of the Writing full Transcription Sentences on page 37, and the Word Stress Exercise on page 3. We also looked at the notes on page 4.

We looked at the notes on Sentence Stress on pages 5-7 and learnt that even monosyllables can have the stress sign when they appear in continuous discourse and are "Content Words", that is, they are essential to the meaning of the sentence or clause (nouns or verbs, possibly adjectives or adverbs). "Function or Structure Words", those forms of words essential to grammatical structure but not essential to the message of a sentence  (pronouns, prepositions, articles, quantifiers, conjunctions as well as auxiliary verbs and modals) never have the stress sign in continuous discourse transcription (unless they are polysyllabic in which case they will have the stress sign according to which syllable is stressed). 

We then looked at the Two New Phonemes /i/ and /u/ on pages 1-2 of the 'Dispense'. I discovered that I had inverted the definitions of the /i:/ and the /ɪ/  in the notes. /i:/ is the high front long vowel and /ɪ/  is the high central short vowel. /i/ is the High/Close front unrounded vowel and is midway between /i:/ and /ɪ/, just like the Italian /i/. It is used especially in words which end with an unstressed syllable with 'y' as the final letter, such as 'happy', 'very', 'many', family', 'university', 'money', 'worry', etc. It is also used in the weak forms of 'she', 'he', 'me', 'we', 'be'. The other new vowel phoneme, the High/Close back rounded vowel - /u/ -  is less frequent and is the sound halfway between the short /ʊ/ and the long /u:/. Its main use is in the weak forms of 'you', 'do', and 'to' when they come before a word beginning with a vowel phoneme (and thus will have a continuant too).

We went over the words you had found for part of the Inter-semester Break Work which, like 'bed' appear to be identical between their graphic form and their phonemic transcription (which is why we need to use diagonals when writing in phonemes!): /bed/. We discovered that all these words contain the vowel phoneme /e/ which is the only vowel phoneme which is identical between its graphic form and its phonemic form, when this represents the pronunciation of the letter 'e'.. We found lots of three and four letter words such as: 'pen', 'hen', 'ten', 'led', 'red', 'net', 'let', 'help', 'step', 'nest', 'test', 'went',  We shall try to find some longer words for Homework.

We did two Dictations. 

I have discovered that my colleague Louise Williams has recorded versions of Dictations which she used with her Sounds group in the 1st Semester and she has given us permission to use them for practice.

Go the Courses with Louise Williams on the main section of the page; scroll down past Study and Production of Tests material to Sounds of English material; Click on Sounds of English Semester 1 audio material practice book; from the bar menu on the right hand side, scroll down until you come to the link Dictation Lesson 2, Dictation Lesson 3, etc. Click on the link. The transcription of the words will appear, but try to ignore this and click on the sound icon and you will hear the words being dictated (only once and very quickly! I spoil you!). Write down the transcription and then check.

Homework for next week's lesson:

(i) Do numbers 6-15 of the Writing Full Phonemic Transcription Sentences on page 37 of the Dispense

(ii)  Do the Exercise on page 2

(iii) Try to find longer words (than 4 letters) which appear to be identical between their graphic form and their phonemic transcription form

(iv) Read through all the material we did today on Word Stress and Sentence Stress (pages 4, 5 and 6).

Lesson 1  Friday 8th March 2019

Happy International Women's Day!

After spending a lot of time checking who was here, who had signed up, why people hadn't signed up, etc., etc., we managed to start the lesson! It seemed as though some people were missing because of the train strike.

We began by brushing up our Reading Full Transcription skills and by doing so found out what will be the material for the 2nd Semester (by reading the cover page of the II Sem. Dispense); we then marked the Inter-semester Break Work together. I collected it in to check that it had been done! Those students who have not yet done this work, or had not brought a copy of it to the lesson, must do it and bring it to hand in to me at next week's lesson (or leave it for me in my pigeon-hole on the ground floor of VSR, number 23 of the set facing you as you go into the pigeon-holes room).  

We did two Dictations.

Homework for next week's lesson:

(i) Do numbers 1-5 of the "Full Phonemic Transcription Sentences" on page 37 of the 'Dispense'.

(ii) Read the notes on Word Stress on page 4 and then try to the Exercise on page 3

(iii) Find five more Homophones (graphic form, transcription and semantic meaning)