Kingsway English Centre, Worcester, England

Although there are 26 letters in the English alphabet, there are 44 sounds (or phonemes). Each of these sounds is given a symbol in the International Phonemic Alphabet (IPA). Once you have learnt the sounds and the symbols you have the key to unlocking some of the mysteries arising from the discrepancy between English spelling and pronunciation.

PRONUNCIATION

The Monday Pronunciation Class

All Kingsway’s courses emphasise speaking and listening skills. For this reason we place great importance on pronunciation.

On the first Monday of every course we have a special pronunciation class for all new students from 16h45 – 17h30. This class is an introduction to the International Phonemic Alphabet (IPA) which is a useful tool for improving your pronunciation.

The Monday pronunciation class is simply an introduction to the IPA. After that you will need to put in some effort to learn it. We have an excellent interactive programme loaded on to our computers which will help you plus we have lots of other stimulating practice material.

Pronunciation Lessons

You will see on our skeleton timetable that all groups have 2 x 1.5 hours per week dedicated to pronunciation. Depending on the level of the group we cover different aspects of pronunciation but here are some examples:

Identifying and producing individual sounds (phonemes).
Linking words together to make your English sound more natural.
Practising the rhythm of English.
Identifying and practising word stress and sentence stress.
Understanding the importance of intonation – especially how to sound polite!
Understanding fast speech.

However, in addition to the introductory class and the 2 dedicated pronunciation lessons, all our teachers integrate pronunciation work into all lessons. This means that you will be guided towards correcting/improving your specific pronunciation errors as they arise.

If you need to interact in English by speaking to people (as opposed to writing), good pronunciation is essential. It is no use having perfect grammar if no one can understand what you are saying! Native English speakers are more likely to understand a grammatical mistake than a pronunciation mistake.

Speaking and listening skills are linked, so once you improve one you improve the other. All our teachers believe in the importance of practising these skills and have lots of interesting material to use in class. You will soon see the difference in your speaking and listening skills!

Kingsway English Centre, 40 Foregate St,
Worcester. WR1 1EE. UK
Tel +44 1905 619877 Fax +44 1905 613388
E Mail info@kingsway-english.com